CONCRETE — Major improvements to the wastewater treatment plant are back on track after a consulting firm agreed to return to work and the town indicated willingness to pay the firm some additional money, the town’s attorney said.

HDR Engineering walked off the job in mid-December over a contract dispute. HDR said Concrete was five months behind on its payments, but town officials said they had already paid in full the $200,000 called for in their contract with the firm.

Bob Powell, HDR’s project manager, has said the work put in by the firm exceeded the contracted amount halfway through the 15-month project. HDR was within its rights to ask the town for more money, he said last month.

Town Attorney David Day disagreed with Powell’s position in a strongly worded letter sent to HDR on Dec. 21. Day said a phone call from Concrete Mayor Judd Wilson to HDR headquarters in Omaha, Neb., appeared to break the impasse.

“We told them in no uncertain terms that the contract would not be amended, but we did offer and are working now on an agreement that would get them some additional money,” Day said.

The additional money could amount to $200,000, half of which could come from an economic development grant from Skagit County, Day said.

“They asked for $300,000. I don’t know if they’ll ever get to that,” Day said.

The county is reviewing an application for a $100,000 grant that would go to HDR. A committee will consider that application, along with 19 others, in late January or early February, county Finance Administrator Trisha Logue said.

A senior vice president at HDR said the firm didn’t want to put Concrete in a bad position and agreed to work on the project while a resolution was being negotiated.

“We’ll work through the dispute but continue to work on the project, which I believe is in everybody’s best interests,” HDR Senior Vice President David Peters said. “The important thing is, we’re talking. When folks are able to put the emotions aside and discuss things reasonably, I fairly believe we’ll be able to resolve it.”

The project wasn’t seriously delayed after HDR stopped work in mid-December, Concrete Public Works Director Alan Wilkins said. Several rounds of tests on the new plant should begin the first week of February, he said.

The upgrade will boost the town’s sewage capacity from 100,000 to 164,000 gallons a day, with room to expand up to 240,000 gallons. The total cost, including design, is $7.6 million, and the rural upriver community of 845 residents benefits from several grants and loans that fund the project.

To repay the loans, the council in October approved a sewer fee increase of $35 per month. Homeowners pay $80 per month for sewer service, compared with $45 last year.

* Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .