| Cottonwood
City Council meets
Lynn Guyer, warden at NICI, made a presentation to Cottonwood Police Chief Terry Cochran at the July meeting of the Cottonwood City Council Monday, July 12. Apparently Cochran helped out in a situation that developed when the wife and newborn baby of the guard assigned to escort an inmate to the hospital had to be rushed to Spokane. With the manpower cutbacks due to the state budget crunch NICI couldn’t get a relief guard to the hospital so that the guard could be with his wife and baby and Chief Cochran stepped in to take the guard’s place. In other business Donna Wassmuth and Laurine Nightingale from the Prairie Community Library asked for input on some concerns. The book sign has been redone but they needed to know where to put it and if they could get help putting it up. They also have and open/closed sign to put up somewhere. Council member Shelli Schumacher will work with them on this. They also asked about Internet service. Mayor Denis Duman told them they couldn’t use the city’s service as that is a secure network used for police business. He suggested they check with Christy Frei of CEDA. In the police report there’s still some problems with people parking too close to the RV dump station at the fairgrounds. It is posted as no parking as the dump station is unusable if someone parks too close. It was suggested to look into getting a pair of signs that state “No Parking Between Signs.” In the water report the loss rate was up but it was felt some of that might be the end of the sewer line work on Lewiston St. and the reading dates of the meters as there were no major leaks reported. They will keep tabs on this. Jack Duman reported the mag chloride dust control application is done. He also reported the state is nearing completion on the handicapped access ramps on the sidewalks along the business route although one may need to be redone. He has no definite startup date on the Lewiston St. work as of yet but had heard they may start on the sidewalk corners this week and street work next week but that hasn’t been confirmed. They are also going to look into putting a storm drain on Idaho St. while the sidewalk is torn up for the handicapped ramp at the intersection of Idaho and Main Streets (at Bud’s Saw Service). Schumacher reported they will need to get an NICI crew back down to finish the painting on the backside of the Community Hall. Ron Grant reported there were no fires this past month. He also reported the state insurance ratings official will be here July 29. The last time they were rated Cottonwood was rated about as high as they possibly could be for a town this size. He’s hoping they can maintain that rating. They also received some inflatable air bags through a grant. These can be inflated from their air packs and can be used for many purposes. In new business the council approved allowing NICI to use the Hall for training meetings at no charge. They felt as much money as the inmate work crews have saved them it didn’t seem right to charge them. The Idaho County Dispatch agreement was approved. Cost is $5,000 per year plus an automatic 3% increase per year. Cost will be split among the police department, fire department and EMS. A kitchen rental rate of $85 per month was approved on a trial basis for a person that would be using it on a regular basis for about 4 months. Jack Duman put forth a motion to have an ordinance drafted to ban truck/trailer through traffic on Idaho St. from 2nd Street South to Main Street. The motion was seconded and approved. Mayor Duman informed the council of some things going on with IdaLew Economic Development and CEDA. CEDA apparently purchased the Channel Lumber site at Craigmont and has a foundry ready to set up there plus some other businesses looking into leading space at the site. The Idaho Dept. of Commerce is looking at passing more of the costs of IdaLew to the members. Helping to offset this is that there are some businesses joining as members which would help spread out the added expense. To conclude the meeting Mayor Duman reported they have had a couple of requests by property owners to put retaining walls or fences in city right of ways. You are not allowed to put real property improvements on city right of ways. The council meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, August 9, at 7 p.m. |
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