| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council held their regular May meeting Monday, May 13. Chris Remacle and Dolores Kindall of the Senior Nutrition program presented an idea to convert the old Kindergarten (old Keuterville school) building into a senior center. There’s things they’d like to be able to do that they cannot at their current site in the church basement. Although council members said they didn’t think the city could afford to take on another building they all felt it was a great idea with lots of possibilities. Mayor Denis Duman said senior centers are something that quite often get grant funding. He said they could get together and brainstorm on what they can do. Dennis Greene sent a letter requesting having an RV space in town. City attorney Joe Wright looked into the ordinances and for more than one space you’re looking at trailer park rules. For one space only, you cannot rent out the space. What you can do is have an RV you own on a space you own and you can rent that out. Wright will respond to the letter for the council and outline for Greene what is allowed. In the reports Mayor Duman expressed a concern with the ongoing requests from Lewis County to have the Cottonwood Police do their police work for them when a person concerned winds up at St. Mary’s Hospital. Councilor Shelli Schumacher asked Police Chief Terry Cochran if he could document the time involved. Apparently a lot of these cases wind up in court which also takes up Cochran’s time. In the water report Pat Holthaus reported they pumped 2.2 million gallons and sold 1.98 million for a 10% loss. No new leaks have appeared in the past month. Ron Grant reported they found a good used chlorinator to replace the one they had. The trees are trimmed up and pipe fixed for when they start watering the agriforest. Jack Duman reported the mag chloride is coming in and they are getting ready for C.R.A.B.S. (Cement Recycled Asphalt Base Stabilization) work which is part of a larger project in the West Camas Transportation Group. Later in the meeting the bids were addressed for this work and they came in higher than expected. A couple of the entities involved looked at cutting back the amount of roads involved and there was concern this may cause the bidder to cancel their bid. The bid came in at $171,000 and with the cutbacks it would be reduced to $148,000 worth of work. Duman said he had enough in his budget’s reserves that they could have done the full amount within the city. In the fire department report Grant said they had 1 rural fire call and then of course the big one over in Craigmont on Sunday. Cottonwood sent over 2 rural vehicles plus one city engine. They did not want to leave the city without coverage. Mayor Duman reported the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality has requested putting in an air quality monitor. He said he doesn’t really want any part of this. He feels it’s just another way the DEQ can ding the city. A motion was made and passed to table the matter indefinitely. A lease agreement was approved for another 5 years for Dawn Crane. On the railroad cleanup Mayor Duman said it looks very good. There’s still a sack of scrap material they’d like to see done away with. The railroad got fined $13,000 by the DEQ for not getting the area cleaned up previously. The railroad has asked if they could fund a project for the city that falls within certain environmental parameters rather than write a check to DEQ. Some ideas were discussed and Duman will takes these up with the railroad spokesman when he talks to her later this week. The agriforest and dust abatement were a couple of the thoughts expressed. Ironwood’s rental housing project was discussed with Mayor Duman saying they have a “gentlemen’s agreement” regarding water that “if the water is turned on to the house, you pay” whether the house is occupied or water us used during construction. He said Ironwood was looking to scope their sewer lines soon to try to find the problems. There is apparently a lot more flow coming from the sewer lines back to the city system than is accounted for by the water going in. This indicates broken or leaky pipes getting infiltration. The council meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m. The next meeting will be Monday, June 10 at 7 p.m. |
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