| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council had a couple of bid openings at their regular April meeting held Monday, April 9. Scott and Tina Perrin were the only ones to submit a bid for the Community Hall cleaning contract. Their bid was lower than what Tri-Co was asking. A motion was passed to approve their bid on a 6-month contract. The other bid was for asphalt emulsion product. There were two bidders: Western State Asphalt and Idaho Asphalt Supply. Idaho Asphalt Supply was the apparent low bidder but the bids were referred to the street department for further study against the specs to make sure who the real low bidder is. In other business Brian and Tyler Latimer and Mike Kindrick were present to discuss the establishment of a Fire Explorer program. This had been brought up in the past but liability was a concern. Brian Latimer said that this is an offshoot program of the Boy Scouts who would take care of liability. The program is for 14-21 year olds and lets them work alongside the fire department on calls. They would not be allowed to enter burning buildings or to run extrication equipment but could provide extra hands in support roles to free up the firefighters. Mike Kindrick said they had such a program where he previously lived and it worked very well. Locally this would be offered to 14-17 year olds as once they turn 18 they can become full fire department volunteers. City Attorney Joe Wright had a question about the Boy Scouts insurance covering city liability if one of the Explorers gets hurt. If that is addressed the council felt this would be a great program. Mayor Denis Duman said this could be a great opportunity for the fire department. In the water report Pat Holthaus reported they pumped 2.4 million gallons in March and sold just under 2 million gallons for a loss rate of 17.5%. He felt this was higher than it should be but so far no new leaks have surfaced. They may be easier to find once the ground starts drying out. In a related topic police chief Terry Cochran located a couple of surplus diesel generators that the city can have if they can transport them. The only cost to the city would be transportation. This would give them backup power for the pumps. Mayor Duman said this is about $80,000 worth of equipment the city would be getting for nothing. They are currently in Ogden, Utah and need to be picked up by Friday. Duman said he has been working on getting a truck lined up. Ron Grant had nothing to report on the sewer system but in the stormwater report he said he’s looking to get a schedule set up for a project that would be covered by the grant the area received. He said the way the grant is set up they would receive reimbursement once the project is done. In the street report Jack Duman said they are sealing cracks and getting ready for summer. In the land and buildings report Shelli Schumacher said it appears they’ve got more mudbogging going on at the north end of the park. Roy Uhlenkott said he would get the barricades set up there. The Planning and Zoning Commission had no meeting this month but will have a meeting next month on a conditional use permit request. Uhlenkott talked about the Oak Street water project. They have some preliminary engineering work done and the estimated cost is about $52,000. They are looking at installing the new water line by way of drilling rather than by open trench as this would eliminate tearing up pavement and actually get the project completed faster. Cost to install the lines this way is about $2,000 more but you probably get that back and more on the time saved as well as not having to redo the pavement. A motion was passed to put the project out for bids. In final action the council set a budget hearing date of August 28 at 7 p.m. The next meeting of the council will be Monday, May 14 at 7 p.m. |
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