| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council held their April meeting Monday, April 13. Cliff Jones, a deputy with the Idaho County Sheriff’s Department presented information about a county inmate work program. He is the new Jail Resource Officer for the department and has revived a work program where county minor offenders can do community service work to reduce the time of their sentence. Each day worked takes a day off their sentence. He would contact cities on Monday to see if they have a project and then would work out a schedule with work done on Thursdays. The program was well received by the council and they will see what they can some up with. Clark Christiansen of the Idaho Department of Lands presented some new Tree City items to the city. This is the 8th year Cottonwood qualifies as a Tree City. There were a couple new signs to put on the city entrance signs and a new banner as well as some other items. He encouraged the city to keep submitting for Arbor Day grants which as a Tree City they are eligible to receive every other year. Patrick and Marietta Holman were in attendance representing Walco to ask if their contract could be renewed for a longer period this time. The current 2-year one is up this month. Later in the meeting the city agreed to renew the contract with Walco for a 4-year period. In the reports, Pat Holthaus reported there were 2.2 million gallons of water pumped with about 1.9 million sold for a lost of about 12%. Roy Uhlenkott reported there was a leak found that was fixed. Testing all came back good. Later in the meeting the water lines at Seubert Excavators yard and shop were discussed. Apparently there is a leak somewhere in the middle that they Seuberts felt the only way to fix is to place a new meter and put in a new line. To find the current problem could mean digging up much of their equipment yard. It was proposed to place the new meter at Camas Drive and Lewiston Street and Seuberts would run a 2” line from there along the fence line up to where they could take it to their shop. They may have to get an easement as the fence line is in the city’s street right of way. Ron Grant reported the agriforest has been cleaned up and is ready for sprinkling. The camera is also back in operation. Jack Duman reported he met with the West Camas Transportation group and they have decided not to seek bids for Mag Chloride this year. They didn’t feel they were getting any better of a price than each entity could dealing direct with the supplier. He also reported Cottonwood Highway District would be the lead sponsor on seeking bids for street oil. Duman and Uhlenkott are working up what the city could afford to get to cover the projects they would like to get done this year. Shelli Schumacher reported she is still waiting to hear whether they got the grant for making the hall into a senior center. There are some problems with the elevator and she is holding off on getting that fixed pending the grant as well. The grant would pay to build a handicap ramp to access the lower level of the hall and they could then just put the troublesome elevator out of commission. If they don’t get the grant they would look into replacing the motor in the elevator. Grant reported the Fire Department had no fire calls but had one ambulance assist in the past month. An extrication call wound up being cancelled. The Fire Department had several reserve accounts that they are going to combine into one. This would be used to save money for turnouts, air bottles, hose, etc. as well as for future engine upgrades. Grant said the current Verizon lease money has been put into the Fire Department reserve fund and he would like to see some of that put into a stormwater reserve fund. This will be discussed during budgeting for 2016. In unfinished business they got a firm offer from Winchester for the 1988 fire truck of $10,000. A motion was made and passed to accept the offer. In new business the Idaho County Recycling lease was renewed. Only a small portion of the site is city property and the lease is for $1 per year. A budget hearing for Fiscal Year 2016 was set for Monday, August 24 at 7 p.m. Relay for Life has requested a waiver of the hall rent fee for their fundraiser dinner for the American Cancer Society. RoDonna’s Country Haus had also requested approval of a catering permit for that dinner. Both were approved by the Council. Seubert Enterprises asked to have their airport lease changed to reflect that they were selling off a couple of the lots they were using. The matter was tabled pending a promise to get the fuel tanks removed. The city’s building inspector sent a letter to the entities he served asking for a contribution to help cover his drastic increase in the errors and omissions insurance policy he has to carry. City Attorney Joe Wright pointed out the proper way to do that would be during contract negotiations as he is an independent contractor. Mayor Denis Duman wanted to put it in the council minutes that the council chambers are off limits when it comes to renting out the hall. If the rest of the lower level is rented, the council chambers doors would be locked. The council adjourned to an executive session concerning personnel at 8:47 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, May 11at 7 p.m. |
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