| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The library and hall remodeling projects were discussed at the January meeting of the Cottonwood City Council. Land and buildings commissioner Shelli Schumacher reported the new wall is up and the library is getting things set up in their extra space. As to the hall remodel, the interior work is coming along well. The kitchen appliances will be moved back in later in the week. The bathroom walls are done and once the floor is done, the stalls and fixtures will be going in soon. The outside stairway work is stalled by weather and water problems but should continue soon. New council member Shaun Riener was sworn in as was re-elected councilman Ron Grant. Grant was then elected as president of the Council. Appointments made by Mayor Denis Duman were approved by the council. They are: Jack Duman-streets commissioner; Shelli Schumacher-land and buildings commissioner; Ron Grant-sewer commissioner and fire commissioner; Shaun Riener-water commissioner; Terry Cochran-chief of police; Roy Uhlenkott-public works supervisor; Joe Wright-city attorney; and Carol Altman-city clerk. Liquor licenses were approved for the Country Haus for beer and wine sales for on-premise consumption, Riener’s Grocery and Cottonwood Foods for beer and wine sales for off-premises consumption; Mini-Village for beer sales for off-premises consumption. Those were all that had submitted applications at this time. In the reports, outgoing water commissioner Jay Hinterlong reported they appear to have a big water leak somewhere that they have yet to discover as over 1 million gallons of the 3.5 million gallons pumped in December didn’t make it to the water meters. The city is asking citizens to keep their eyes and ears open for possible leaks and report them to city hall or the city maintenance shop. Grant reported they had camera crews in checking out some of the problem areas in the sewer lines and were able to clean out some tree root problems. Jack Duman reported that they have been plowing some snow. He said it would probably be the end of February before they have any word on some of the grant applications. Grant reported the fire department had only 1 call in the past month and that was an ambulance assist. They have done some CPR training as well. In the Planning and Zoning report, Schumacher said that Rob Stinson was elected chairman of the new commission with Debby Arnzen elected secretary. Nick Forsmann was in attendance and presented an alternative to his earlier request to have a portion of Washington St. closed. He asked if the right of way could be narrowed instead. He is concerned about the new house he wants to build coming too close to the right-of-way. His previous request had never been acted on, just tabled until further information was provided. There was some concern though about closing the street because it is the only access to one lot that is owned by the railroad. Because of the time lapse since the first request, city attorney Wright suggested doing a new public notice and public hearing even though legally they could just consider this request an amendment to Forsmann’s earlier request and act on that. Jack Duman made a motion to go ahead and do a new notice and public hearing. The hearing will start prior to the next council meeting which will be February 8. The council adjourned at 8:10 p.m. and then toured the hall to check on the upgrade work. |
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