Cottonwood City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council approved the construction contract for work on well #5 at their May meeting Monday, May 12.
Integrity Pump will be doing the work. They will pull and replace the current pump and the current pump will then be saved as short-term replacement if any of the city wells go down.
An alcohol catering permit was approved for the VFW for August 20-23 at the City Park. This is for their Idaho County Fair Beergarden.
Removal of the house at the newly purchased sewer system reuse site was discussed. They would like to have it either sold and removed or demolished. Gus Hoene made a motion to declare it as surplus so they can gauge whether there is interest in someone buying and removing it. The motion passed unanimously.
An aging infrastructure grant contract was approved. This was money awarded last September and gives the city $2 million if they spend $6 million upgrading infrastructure.
Donn Clark requested haying the pasture ground near the Wimer Ballfields. He has a lease to pasture horses there but with the death of one of his horses hasn’t been pasturing his own horses there anymore. The council members discussed the fact that the ground is leased out for pasture mainly to keep it cleaned up. City attorney Joe Wright said if you authorize such a use, you can add conditions. The council voted to authorizing haying it this year then revisit the lease next year. The council approved the motion with Hoene removing himself from discussion due to Clark being his brother-in-law.
In public comments, Rick Johnson asked about removing the slabs left from the covered picnic tables that were moved from the park to the Wimer Ballfields. It is unlikely those slabs would be reused for the new tables. He suggested putting the new tables closer to the street and spacing them about 30 feet apart near the park ballfield. This would put them away from the Pavilion is someone wanted to use them while a group is using the Pavilion. He said the VFW is also looking into adding barbecue pits.
In reports Jason Rambo reported the police department is working with St. John Bosco in familiarizing themselves with the facility and their lockdown procedures.
Hoene reported the city pumped 2,371,300 gallons of water and sole 2,082,700 for a 12.05% loss. He also reported the city crew is looking to get a transducer into well #2 so they can read the static levels because currently they can’t. This probably should have been done when the pump was replaced but the nature of the well-head kept them from doing so. Maintenance supervisor Pat Enneking said they have also had to replace a couple of service lines.
Brett Miller reported the agriforest is ready to go.
Kristine Holthaus reported the city did some work on Elizabeth Street and have also been filling potholes.
Linda Nida reported the city received an Arbor Day grant and received 6 trees that have been planted at the city park. The sunshade materials for the new tables have been ordered. The splash pad is set to go online on Memorial Day. Mayor Keith Holcomb asked about moving the RV cleanout. Enneking said when they can. The Lions Club may be interested in helping with that. Holcomb said he would like to get it done this year so they can turn that stretch of King Street between the park and fairgrounds into a 1-way street.
Holcomb also asked Wright what they would need to do to reduce the speed limit in that area. Wright said they would need to amend the ordinance if you want to make it a permanent thing. For a temporary speed limit reduction, such as during the Fair, you can do that by resolution.
Holthaus said the airport had an increase recently in planes tying down at the airport due to the Grangeville Airport restriping their runways.
Nida reported the VFW cleaned up firetrucks as their annual day of service. They had a false alarm on April 30. At their last meeting the firemen checked hose. They are currently working on the fire rating with the state fire marshal to be here soon.
The meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, June 9 at 7 p.m.