Variance request is approved
A variance request was approved at the November meeting of the Cottonwood City Council held Monday, Nov. 14.
Ron and Debbie Schnider and Melissa Sonnen had put in a request to have a drive-through and a patio area which at their new business in the former Olive’s Auto Parts building. They would be in the street right-of-way. Their request was run past the Planning and Zoning Commission and they worked out an agreement. 
A concern was stormwater flow once the drive-through is installed. The business owners will add a sidewalk along one side and provide proper curbs and gutters on the drive-through side.
Two alcohol beverage licenses were approved. A permanent license was approved for the Country Still and new owners Rick and Deborah Frei. They had been granted a temporary license last month. Also a temporary license was approved for the new owners of what is currently called Harley’s (the former Twins Bar). They plan to open on December 3 after some remodeling work.
In the water report Martin Fowler reported they had worked on 3 different leaks. A couple of those areas need to be kept under observation as he feels the lines may be deteriorating. 
For once the water pumped was only a little more than the water billed indicating the leaks were minor.
In the sewer report Max Nuxoll reported they had one customer who experience a collapsed line. That was fixed and in fixing it they discovered he and a neighbor had a shared service connection. That was remedied and now both residences have their own connections.
Nuxoll also reported that he thinks the city can save considerable money by collecting their own data for a required lagoon leakage test. The data could be compiled by City Clerk Carol Altman and provided to the engineers for their review.
Jack Duman had an extensive street report. He said they are going to try a chemical treatment for icy streets to see if it works this year.
They are also looking into some grants. One would help repave Broadway. They plan to resubmit the sidewalk grant application.
He was informed they’ll be getting the street sweeper grant in 2007 and the mag chloride grant in 2008.
Denis Duman reported they are looking at working with the state to get the street lights on Main and King replaced.
City credit cards were discussed. Several local banks were contacted with Mayor Duman feeling that U.S. Bank had the best program. If each card is used at least once during the year, the annual fee is waived. 
Mayor Duman said the idea is that city employees shouldn’t have to pay out of their own pocket when traveling on city business to training sessions or whatever and then have to wait until the next council meeting to get reimbursed.
Max Nuxoll made a motion to go with U.S. Bank and to have a resolution developed that would spell out all limits and  who gets to use them.
Under new business Altman reported the city of Tensed is looking for old water meters. It was voted to offer the ones the city has been replacing for the salvage value, F.O.B. Cottonwood.
Altman informed the council on the new state law that for building permits where a contractor is involved that the contractor’s license number needs to be on the permit application.
Another item was that the state has recommended they develop a safety policy. What employees are to do in reporting an accident. Several sample policies were to be provided to the council members and city attorney for review and a policy will be discussed further at the December meeting.
Hall use requests were made. Holli Wessels would like to rent the basement hall for her dance classes. Also Mary Spencer and Patty Gehring have a painting class that wants to use that room. The dance classes would be on Tuesdays and the painting classes on Wednesdays.
Both requests were approved with a charge of $30 per month for each.
The ballots were canvassed from the Nov. 8 election. 68 ballots were cast with Max Nuxoll receiving 67 votes, Shelli Schumacher 56 and Bill Hill 52. 
A motion was passed to declare those 3 the winners in the election.
Shaun Maxey of IdaLew Economic Development appeared and gave a report on the group’s recent activities.
He reported that biodiesel shows some promise. He provided a spread sheet that using conservative figures on feed stock available in the Idaho, Lewis and Clearwater county area could sustain a 1 million gallon a year plant. He reported the chairmen of the county grain producers and cattlemen are looking further into this.
He said they State Dept. of Commerce is developing a photo library of businesses and he passed around some of the pictures that will be provided from Cottonwood.
He also said they’re looking into the new federal Fuels for Schools program. He will be meeting with school superintendent Stan Kress later in the week on this.
Maxey also said they have approved a new reporting system which will allow them to give a lot more info to the board members of IdaLew. The City of Cottonwood is one of those board members.
The council adjourned to an executive session to discuss an overdue utility bill at 10 p.m.
The next regular meeting of the council will be Monday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m.

Cottonwood, Idaho 83522

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COTTONWOOD
CHRONICLE
503 King St.
P.O. Box 157
Cottonwood, ID 83522-0157
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