The Cottonwood City Council voted to go
with a solid waste collection proposal from Simmons Sanitation at their
July meeting Monday, July 13. They had requested proposals and Simmons and Walco both submitted proposals. Simmons proposal scored higher and the council voted to go with them. The council also voted to add some new fees to the fee structure. They will take effect on Oct. 1. The first is a shut-off fee for water. This will be $1,000 or cost, whichever is higher. The second is a shut-off fee for sewer, which is also $1,000 or cost, whichever is higher. This is not for just turning the service but for removing the connections. They also approved adding $5 per month to the sewer bond fee. The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027 was also approved at the meeting. Zwygert John and Associates CPAs, PLLC was approved to do the city audit again. Cost is $400 higher than it was last year. The joint service agreement with Idaho County for dispatch fees was approved. A pair of public affairs specialists from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Recovery were present Natalie Butz talked about the national and state disaster declarations currently in force. Idaho County is part of a national declared disaster for the wind storms we had in mid-December. Most of the state is in a state-declared disaster for drought. What these declarations do is allow survivors of these disasters to apply for low-interest loans to pay for rebuilding or personal property damage. Loans start at 2.875% interest with 30 year terms which don’t hit your wallet or bank account as hard as using credit cards or regular personal loans which both have much higher interest rates. You can contact the SBA if you feel you might qualify. City Clerk Lynn Thompson has contact information. In the police report Mayor Keith Holcomb said he talked with the Sheriff about the recent vandalism at the park. In the water report Debby O’Neill reported they pumped 4,077,600 gallons of water in June and sold 3,922,410 gallons for a loss of just 2.63%. The water reservoir is about to go back online. They are just awaiting results of water testing. In the sewer report they did some pipe replacement last month and are working on the pivots in the new project area. They pulled over 1200 feet of pipe in town for replacement. Amy Uptmor of JUB Engineering reported they met with DEQ last week. Some of the issues they are having in dealings with the DEQ is that portions of the DEQ do not communicate well with other parts. They had the director at the meetings and Uptmor was encouraged by some of the things he said. State Senator Cindy Carlson, State Representative Charlie Shepherd and Idaho County Commissioner Brad Higgins were also at the meeting giving support to the city. They also took everyone out to the project to get a first hand feel of what’s going on. Uptmor also reported they had run into some unexpected challenges with the Phase I portion and that the city crew helped a lot. Mac Hankins said he was looking into a shut off system. Currently the pump shuts off when it goes too high on pressure and comes back on when it gets too low. If there’s an issue it can sit there and toggle back and forth causing extra wear and tear on the pump that could be avoided. In the streets report Kristine Holthaus reported they are prepping streets for chip sealing which will start next week. In the land and buildings report Linda Nida talked about the vandalism issues at the park. The could look into locking the restroom doors each night. Holthaus reported they will chip seal at the airport when they do the city streets next week. Nida reported the fire department has some training coming up. Terry Cochran got a grant for some coloring books to hand out when the Kindergarten classes visit the fire station. They had 2 fire calls this past month- a field fire on Stubbers Road and a dumpster fire. In other business Pat Enneking asked about the school crossing at East Street and Business 95. Holthaus said we need to get it checked out before school starts. It doesn’t seem to be working like it should. The meeting adjourned at 8:19 p.m. The next regular meeting is set for Monday, August 10 at 7 p.m. |
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