| Cottonwood
City Council meets
A catering permit for the VFW’s beergarden at the fair was approved at the Cottonwood City Council April meeting held Monday, April 8. Action on a similar request from the Rome Pilgrimage group was tabled partly due to some problems with the request and also no one was in attendance from that group. The problem that came up was pointed out by city attorney Joe Wright. State statute appears to say that catering permits need to be submitted by someone holding licenses within the jurisdiction of the event. The Pilgrimage group’s request was through Keuterville Pub & Grub and as councilor Ron Grant pointed out, just because the council has approved such requests in the past does not mean they should once it has been pointed out that it is illegal to do so. In other business the Walco contract was approved for 3 more years. There were no price increases at this time. Mayor Denis Duman reported that an agreement was reached with Ironwood, LLC on the water and sewer service for the Housing area. Currently they have been charged water base plus usage for 18 units and a flat sewer rate for 18 units. The agreement is to charge water base plus usage for the finished units plus any that are currently being worked on but still charge 18 units on sewer until the sewer system problems are fixed. Currently 6 units are finished and 2 are being worked on. This agreement would be for 2 years and at that time if the water and sewer lines have been brought up to city standards, annexation would be addressed. The agreement would not take effect until they get it drawn up and it is signed by both parties. There was discussion on consumption of alcohol at events at the hall and the park. Even though the ordinance was recently updated they discovered there are still some things not addressed. It was decided to redo the rental lease agreements for the hall and the park cabana to include a checklist item as to whether there will be alcohol present. This would be cover those events at which a catering permit is not really needed as there would be no sales of alcohol. A request from Relay for Life to waive the hall rent for their fundraising event was approved with the stipulation that they clean up the kitchen and bathrooms after the event is over. In reports Pat Holthaus reported they pumped just over 2 million gallons of water in the past month and sold about 1.8 million for a 17% loss. No new leaks have been reported but apparently there are some out there. He also reported the testing came back okay. Ron Grant reported they hope to get the stormwater drain project going soon. The pipe has arrived. They also received a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency. They are in compliance but the EPA had some issues with the way things were reported. Jack Duman reported a sign grant request to put a speed sign at Front and Oak Streets is proceeding. They are looking at doing some crack sealing with a machine purchased by Cottonwood Highway District through the West Camas Transportation Consortium when it is available to the city. He also reported the state crew seen along King Street is surveying for a storm drain to run down that street. Shelli Schumacher reported that the recycling station located across Broadway from Columbia Grain should be open for business on April 20. It will be open to start with on Saturdays from 9 to 11. She also reported they refinished the floors on the main level of the hall. In the fire department report Grant noted the only fire responded to was a dumpster fire in the same dumpster as reported last month. There was also one false alarm outside the city. He also noted they have been receiving more burn permit requests since the new ordinance was adopted and the information published in the paper. A budget hearing was set for August 26 at 7 p.m. The council meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, May 13 at 7 p.m. |
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