Failed water tanks caught the attention of Highline School Board members at their Aug. 27 meeting.

Board members signed off on the completion of a water tank project at Camp Waskowitz.

Waskowitz is the district's outdoor education facility near North Bend. Highline sixth-graders spend a week at the camp each year learning about the environment.

The water tank was one of three projects for Camp Waskowitz that was included in a 2006 bond approved by voters.

Board Vice President Bernie Dorsey questioned why the project took so long to complete.

"My concern is that we can build new schools in a year, but it takes us almost that long to replace a water tank," Dorsey said.

The water tank began leaking heavily before the job could be put out to bid, according to Assistant Superintendent Gerri Fain. She said that the leaking was getting to the point that it was eroding the roadways.

An emergency resolution was approved by the board in 2006 to replace the tank ahead of the other projects.

In March 2007, district facilities staffers and the contractor decided that instead of replacing the tank a better solution would be to replace the liner.

While the ground was torn up, some work from the other projects was moved up so that they would not have to dig twice, Fain said.

The project was finished in May. Fain added that the resulting paperwork from moving the work up delayed its completion.

The board also approved an emergency resolution to replace the failed hot water tank at Cascade Middle School.

Facilities Director Andrea Johnson noted the Cascade tank, which was estimated to have a 15-year life span, lasted 18 years.

Hawk Mechanical Contractors was hired for the $150,000 job. The old tank was to be replaced with two new hot water tanks, with life expectancies of 25 years. The work was scheduled to be completed before students resumed classes.

Board members also recessed into an executive session to discuss the controversial proposed sale or easement of property to the developers of the Emerald Pointe condominium project above Seahurst Park.

The board may take action on the sale or easement at its Sept. 10 meeting.

At earlier meetings there have been many members of the public speaking out against the sale or easement of the property. But at this meeting there was no public discussion.

Also at the Sept.10 meeting Superintendent John Welch said that he would discuss the district's results from last school year's Washington Assessment of Student Learning.