The Cottonwood City Council held their November meeting Monday, Nov. 10.
City employee Mac Hankins reported on the water issue. He said it appears to have been a point source problem, as in where the sample was taken. The test was positive for e coli. They took another test at a different location and if it had come in clean  there probably wouldn’t have been a boil order. However it came back positive for a different contaminant necessitating the boil order. Hankins said he was impressed with how water usage went down to nearly nothing after the order went out. He said this was a problem too though once they started chlorinating and flushing the lines as water flows by users would have helped get the chlorination to the whole system quicker. The hope was to lift the order by Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Contracts with Avista for moving some power lines at the re-use site were discussed. One needed moved due to being affected by the sprinkling system. Another went underground through the site to a residence and needed to be moved. City Attorney Joe Wright said his only issue with the contracts was an indemnity clause. Public entities such as cities cannot be held to that. The council voted to approve contingent on Avista removing that line.
Placement of the new scoreboards at the Wimer Fields was discussed were approved pending Pat Enneking’s input when he gets back from vacation.
The council meeting dates for 2026 were also approved. They will be the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. except for October when the second Monday is a holiday. That meeting will be on Tuesday.
The question of what to do with aged receivables was discussed and the council voted to go with Automated Accounts. They do a 65-35 split where they take 35% of money collected for doing the collection. City Clerk Lynn Thompson said they were used by Moscow as well as Cottonwood Credit Union. They advantage they have over others is the ability to track things online.
In reports Police chief Terry Cochran reported he had received an IDL grant that would help pay for some equipment. He also reported on some counterfeit money received and passed around a twenty and a five that were counterfeit.
It was reported the city had pumped 3,216,900 gallons of water in October and sold 2,853,902 for a loss of 7.56%.
In the sewer report Hankins reported they had finished the line on East Street from Foster St. to Church St. Amy Uptmor of JUB Engineers updated the council on the sewer treatment project. She said there was a pre-construction meeting for phase I and the contractor wants to get going if the weather holds. Substantial completion is set for June 1 but the contractor is hoping to finish up in March.
Uptmor also reported the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality is anticipating review of the new permit in December.
The Phase 2 design is moving forward and they hope to put it out to bid in March.
Kristy Holthaus reported they have been sweeping streets and that she recently attended a West Camas Transportation Council meeting.
Linda Nida reported they have picked out spots for new picnic tables in the park. The concrete pads have been poured and construction has started on the covers.
Holthaus didn’t have anything to report from the airport although Hankins reported they changed a light. They are down to just one remaining incandescent light and once it is replaced they will be all LEDs.
Nida reported they had just 1 fire call for a smoke smell investigation at t barn. Fire training was held in burning the old house on the new sewer reuse site.
At the end of the meeting it was reported that the well #5 upgrade had been stuck at the manufacturer’s. It has now arrived but some hardware pieces aren’t correct. They are looking at mid-December to do the replacement.
The meeting adjourned at 8:06 p.m. The next regular meeting is set for Monday December 8 at 7 p.m.