| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council met Monday, Sept. 12 for their regular September meeting. A piece of good news came out of the airport report. Linda Nida reported that Denis Duman got a price estimate of $23,000 from the company that did the airport surfacing in the past where the state estimated it would cost well over $100,000. The City coming up with a 50% match would be considerably easier for that price. Nida also reported she had an engineer from JUB come and inspect the airport and he commended the city on keeping it repaired and that the aprons need to be redone. That is the first stage of the airport resurfacing project. In the water report Pat Holthaus said they pumped 8.23 million gallons and sold 7.26 million for an 11.6% loss once unmetered loss was accounted for. Roy Uhlenkott reported they found a leak at a hydrant on the east side of town. Water samples came back good. Holthaus also reported he received a letter from the Division of Environmental Quality on the well-head protection at the airport. He said it appeared there isn’t a problem with their 50 foot protection radius although there were some options they can look at. The letter will get sent out to the councilors so they can review it and discuss the options at the October meeting. Ron Grant had nothing new to report on the sewer system. Jack Duman reported they came in a little over budget on the East St. project but not as bad as he was afraid it would be. He reported an environmental impact study on the sidewalk grant noted that since the bushes near the housing area were planted by Air Force personnel that they could not be disturbed by a project using federal funds. Duman said this will lead to narrowing the sidewalk in that area, which actually fits better anyway. Grant reported there were no fire calls this past month. He said they are looking into grant money to get their airpacks updated. The current ones are enough out of date that replacement parts are very hard to find. In unfinished business an airport hanger lease and insurance coverage problem seems to be nearing resolution. Apparently the lessee looked to save some money by combining his hanger, home and auto insurance and that turned into a nightmare. They don’t have all the paperwork done yet but they were told they do have coverage now. It was decided to revisit the matter at the October meeting since their termination deadline isn’t until Oct. 31. A request for a tiedown rental reimbursement was denied. Apparently 3 months was paid for in advance and it was only used one month. The city’s argument for denial was that the tiedown was unavailable to rent out to anyone else since it was prepaid for 3 months. In new business the council agreed to write-off some bad debts. Two were utility bills for deceased parties and the third was an extrication billing for the fire department. The Idaho County Dispatch Agreement was renewed. The council also voted to renew the water bond certificate of deposit with Cottonwood Credit Union for 5 years at 2.4%. This CD is a requirement of the bond and enough has to be in it to cover the final bond payment. A catering permit was approved for Wolftrack Brewing for the Community Hall on Sept. 24. This is for their Oktoberfest celebration. In other business Jack Duman noted he will be asking for a reserve fund for a new street sweeper to be started in the FY 2018 budget cycle. The council adjourned to an executive session at 8 p.m. |
 |