• In 2019, the states of Oregon and Washington approved funding to restart work on replacing the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River, and directed ODOT and WSDOT to open a bi-state program office to lead this work.
• The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBRP) is engaging agencies within the Portland-Vancouver metro region to develop design options for a bridge replacement and associated enhancements to meet the Program’s Purpose and Need.
• As one of these core agency partners for the IBRP, the City of Vancouver is and will continue to engage in discussions related to planning, engagement, design and engineering of a replacement bridge solution.
• On August 2, 2021, an Intergovernmental Agreement was presented for Council consideration that outlined City of Vancouver agency commitments and responsibilities related to this work for purposes of reimbursement by the IBRP. At that session, Council remanded the Agreement back to staff for further negotiation with WSDOT, specifically to incorporate bilateral indemnification of both City and WSDOT from legal challenge related to the Program.
• The attached revised Intergovernmental Agreement addresses the concerns raised at the August 2, 2021 session by indemnifying both City of Vancouver and WSDOT equally (Section 8).

Goal 1: Ensure our built urban environment is one of the safest, most environmentally responsible and well maintained in the Pacific Northwest.

Goal 6: Facilitate the creation of neighborhoods where residents can walk or bike to essential amenities and services "20-minute neighborhoods."

The IBRP has begun the process to develop design options for replacement of an Interstate 5 bridge and associated elements. City of Vancouver staff are participating in this process through regularly scheduled staff level group meetings and support for community and executive leadership meetings. Additionally, staff is participating in communication efforts, transportation planning, environmental review as defined through federal processes, transit planning/engineering, and design engineering. These efforts in addition to administration of staff engagement are further defined in Attachment C, Exhibit A.

The attached revised Intergovernmental Agreement addresses the concerns raised by Council at the August 2, 2021 session by indemnifying both City of Vancouver and WSDOT equally (Section 8). Specifically:

The language that now appears within Section 8.4 was previously the only indemnity language in the agreement. This imposed an obligation on the planning agency (the City) to indemnify and defend WSDOT and ODOT and their respective officials.

In response to Council’s feedback, a new section (8.3) was added which requires WSDOT to also defend and indemnify the City and its officials for any liability arising from WSDOT’s work on this project.

In addition, the revised Intergovernmental Agreement:

• Changes the City of Vancouver’s status from ‘subrecipient’ (of Program reimbursement funds) to ‘vendor’. Per Federal Highways Administration direction, every City WSDOT enters into a contract with is considered a vendor, not a subrecipient, of federal funds. This means that the federal funding subrecipient requirements do not flow through WSDOT to City of Vancouver (new section 1.3 clarifies this and CFR references in 3.1, 6.3, and 15.1 in the August 2, 2021 version of the  Agreement have been deleted, since these are requirements for subrecipients).
• Revises the total authorized reimbursement amount to include an increase in the Limited Notice to Proceed amount (see: Attachment C, Exhibit A). The increase is included to correctly capture costs accrued for consultant work that the City has commissioned for review of traffic modeling.

This Agreement sets forth the terms and conditions for the City of Vancouver to receive reimbursement for engagement in the IBRP as defined in Attachment C, Exhibit A, Scope of Work, Limited Notice to Proceed.