Cottonwood City Council meets The Cottonwood City Council held their May meeting Monday, May 9. They approved a request to exempt a property from water and sewer service provided dwellings are removed. The property of Steve Walton currently has a pair of mobile homes on it that he plans to sell and have removed. He plans to return the property to nature and plant some trees. In other business the council approved adding the Juneteenth Holiday to the list of work holidays for city employees. It is already a federal and state holiday. The budget workshop date was set for Thursday, June 23 at 6 p.m. An airport lease was discussed for Todd and Aime McAllister, who have purchased one of the airport hangars. This prompted discussion on updating the ordinance on airport leases. Especially when they found out the 3 cents per square foot rate was established by ordinance in 1983 and hadn’t been changed since. Other discussion revolved around ordinance requirements that only airplanes and airplane related items can be stored in a hangar. The ordinance also addresses the fact that you can’t live at the airport, either in a hangar or in campers. City maintenance supervisor Pat Enneking said he thinks there may be violations occurring on both matters. It was finally decided to approve the new lease on a month-by-month basis and pro-rating the lease rate while the council looks into updating the ordinance. In correspondence the city received a letter from Idaho County Sheriff Doug Ulmer informing them the dispatch rate will go up to $8760 per year. Also the hospital ambulance service will be billed directly instead of including that with the city and then the city billing the hospital. In reports, Terry Cochran noted he is seeking a couple of grants. He also thanked everyone who helped with the flood mitigation on Saturday night. It worked very well with the city crew and fire department’s help. Also having the sandbags ready to go that were previously filled by NICI work crews. Cottonwood Creek got right up to the edge of flooding but not quite. Even so it was good they were prepared. If it hadn’t stopped raining when it did there would have been flooding. In the water report Debby O’Neill reported they pumped about 2.2 million gallons and sold a little less than 1.9 million for a 14+% loss. Much of that can be traced to a leak that was found. Enneking said there is a main they will need to replace. In the sewer report they had correspondence from Amy Uptmor, their engineer. They also found a sewer line blockage when they were running the camera through the lines. Enneking said there is a 16 foot section of pipe that will need replaced due to tree roots. They had just started sprinkling the agriforest when the storm hit and they had to shut down sprinkling and let the lagoons fill. In the street report Kristie Holthaus didn’t have anything to report. Enneking said they received the tar so they are ready when they get a chance to do crack sealing. In the land and buildings report Linda Nida said she hasn’t received any updates from Shawn Kaschmitter yet on the Wimer ballfields. She also said they got a grant from Northwest Farm Credit for the park playground equipment/splash pad and she has a couple more submitted that she is waiting to hear from. The topological survey came back and it looks like they will need to turn the Pavilion about 45 degrees for the sewer to work. They also may have to relocate the playground equipment due to the slope. They are still working on a location for the splash pad and what to do with the water once it is used. Enneking said he priced out culvert and work to tie into an existing stormwater drainage at about $21,000. That appears to be their best option. In the Airport report, Holthaus said she attended the Aeronautics Board meeting and said it appears they should be getting the grant money for the airport slurry seal. It appears they may get enough to do the whole runway and not just the runups. Nida said the fire department had several calls. A 1 vehicle rollover. A 2-vehicle crash involving a school bus. A camper fire and a bonfire plus the flood mitigation on Saturday. She said Joe O’Neill scouted out some possible sites for a new fire station. They are looking into grants to help fund this. In other business it was reported that their insurance carrier is doing some online training sessions. If all the city employees and council members take part they can get about $1100 taken off their annual insurance billing. The training has to be done by July 31. They also need to work on an Environmental Information Document for those portions of the stormwater project not covered by NRCS. The meeting adjourned at 8 p.m. The next regular meeting of the council will be Monday, June 13 at 7 p.m. |
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