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Cottonwood City Council meets The Cottonwood City Council held their April meeting Monday, April 11. Under action items, the Council voted to approve extending the Hall Janitorial contract. It had been a 3-month trial period but the Council voted to make it a 1-year contract as the city was happy with the work being done. The Council also voted to approve renewing the Prairie Mountain Nutrition contract for use of the Hall’s lower level as a Senior Center. A budget hearing date was set for August 8, which will also be the regular meeting date for August. The hearing will start at 7 p.m. and once it is done the Council will adjourn the hearing and then move on to the regular meeting. They plan to have at least one and maybe two budget workshops prior to that time. The Council voted to waive the hall rental fee for an Idaho Department of Correction training session set for this Friday, April 15. The training is mandatory for any non-profits or government agencies who would supervise an inmate work crew. It will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Community Hall. Idaho County Sheriff Doug Ulmer was at the meeting and explained the ICSO has been having a lot of turnover in their dispatchers. He is going around to the entities in the county asking them to consider adding in their budgets a $1 per hour increase in their dispatching contracts with the county. This would amount to $8760 per year. The Idaho County Sheriff dispatchers provide service for the Cottonwood Police and Fire Departments as well as the St. Mary’s Ambulance crew. This extra money would be used to raise the salaries of their dispatchers and hopefully cut down the turnover. Ulmer also stated he feels the relationship between and city and the department has been great lately. This was confirmed by Cottonwood Police Chief Terry Cochran. In reports Debby O’Neill reported they pumped 2.065 million gallons of water and sold 2.027 million gallons for a loss of about 1.5%. There were a couple of small leaks that were found and fixed. In the sewer report Lynn Guyer reported they had a big uptick in ammonia and had to shut off discharging into the creek. Mayor Keith Holcomb said he saw a posting on Facebook from the City of Grangeville listing what should not be sent down your drains into the sewer system and suggested maybe Cottonwood might want to do something similar. In the street report Kristie Holthaus said they have been working on filling potholes. She also reported the West Camas Transportation Group met and opened bids for mag chloride and for sealcoating. In land and buildings Linda Nida reported that Shawn Kaschmitter is still working on Prairie Youth Sports proposal for the Wimer Fields. Holthaus reported she has submitted the grant request for the slurry seal on the airport runways. They also needed to replace 4 runway lights that had been damaged by plowing snow. Nida reported the Fire Department had just one call in the past month, a rollover extrication call this past Sunday. In unfinished business Nida reported she met with the playground equipment group. The park has been surveyed and they are waiting for that report to decide where to place the proposed new equipment. She also said there are issues with the proposed splash pad that will need to be worked out. They are researching to see if they can find something that will work. In other business to come before the Council, Mayor Holcomb asked if they would want to add Juneteenth as a holiday for the city employees as it is now an official federal and state holiday. It may be added to the May meeting agenda. The meeting adjourned at 8:51 p.m. The next regular meeting will be May 9 at 7 p.m.
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