| Ron
Grant appointed to Cottonwood City Council
Ron Grant was approved for appointment to fill the vacant position on the Cottonwood City Council at their January meeting Monday, Jan. 14. Grant was appointed to fill the position being vacated by Jim Steinke, who declined to run for election to the seat he was appointed to when Max Nuxoll moved out of town. Grant will serve as sewer commissioner and will also serve as fire commissioner. Jack Duman was re-elected as Council President and was reappointed as streets commissioner. Shelli Schumacher will continue to serve as land and buildings commissioner and will also be the council representative on the planning and zoning commission. Jay Hinterlong will continue to serve as water commissioner. Mayor Denis Duman has also asked Hinterlong to work with him on solid waste. They will look into recycling, what to do with inert waste and ways for more efficient and less costly pickup. Mayor Duman said he also wants to look into projects on upgrading the sewer system. The agriforest bond should be paid off either this year or next and he would like to have projects in place to repair or replace the worst places for inflow and infiltration in the system. He would also like to look into more marketable trees for the agriforest that would do the same job as the poplars in absorbing effluent. Another goal he has is to try and get legislation passed to make city elections like the school and road district ones where you don’t have to run an election if it is not a contested election. Council meetings will continue to be the second Monday of each month except in October when the meeting will be moved to Tuesday because of the Columbus Day holiday. Alcohol beverage permits were approved for Cottonwood Cash & Carry, Riener’s Grocery, the Country Has and Busdastublup. They hadn’t yet received applications from the Mini-Village or Royale Room. Two petitions for utility rate reductions were read and approved. One is for the American Legion Hall and the other is for the warehouse building owned by Duman Enterprises on Myrtle Street (the former Ironworks shop building). The Legion Hall was approved for cancellation of garbage service while the Duman building was approved for minimal sewer rate. Shelli Schumacher served as chairman for the vote on the Duman building as it belongs to the mayor and council president Jack Duman is the mayor’s brother. The vote on the Duman request was 3 votes yes by the council members with Jack Duman abstaining. Other appointments made at the meeting were Carol Altman as city clerk/treasurer, Joe Wright as city attorney, Terry Cochran as Chief of Police and Roy Uhlenkott as director of public works. In the water report, Hinterlong reported that over 51 million gallons of water were pumped this year. Over 11 million from well #2, over 5 million from well #4 and over 34 million from well #5. They sold over 47 million for a loss of 7.5%. Some of that can be accounted for in water use that isn’t metered such as filling fire trucks, flushing lines, etc. That’s a huge improvement over several years ago when they were pumping nearly twice the water that was being sold. There was no sewer report due to the change in councilors at that position. In the street report Jack Duman noted they have been doing lots of plowing. He said they’ve tried some different things to cut the ice. They’ve managed to keep the ice buildup down on the south side of Main Street. They’ve also closed Madison Street for sledding. Jack said sledding has been great the few times they’ve had it although it got so slick one time they had to sand it. Work is being don of 3 grant applications. Ron Grant is working on one for Safe Routes to Schools. Jack has been working on resubmitting the sidewalk grant and a grant that would re-do Lewiston Street. Jack said that any letters of support for either the sidewalk or Lewiston Street grants would be welcome and can be submitted to City Hall. If you want to write in support of both you need to do a separate letter for each project. Jack also reported the Horizons group is working on getting signage to direct people to the river. They are planning signage for in town as well as at the Twin House Rd.-Hwy 95 intersection. The city has offered to put up the signs once they are purchased. In the land and buildings report, Schumacher reported the Horizons group has asked for a waiver of hall rent for their meetings as they are a community support group. She put that request in the form of a motion which was seconded by Hinterlong and passed unanimously by the council. Roy Uhlenkott reported they are looking at redoing the main floor in the hall this year. In the fire report, Ron Grant noted they had 22 fire calls in 2007, city and rural combined, down from 30 in 2006. They have also been approached by NICI about a possible fire suppression agreement. This is something that has been talked about on and off over the past several years. The council adjourned at 8:10 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, February 11 at 7 p.m. |
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