| Cottonwood
City Council meets
Some major concerns were discussed at the June meeting of the Cottonwood City Council Monday, June 16. This was actually considered a special meeting since the regular meeting set for June 9 was postponed due to lack of a quorum. The sidewalk and storm drain problem along King Street was discussed. Apparently it is considered to be the city’s sidewalk but the State Department of Transportation’s storm drain. In places the drain walls are falling in below the sidewalk and eventually parts of the sidewalk fall in as well. City Maintenance Supervisor Roy Uhlenkott said they have been fixing it where they could but it really needs a major repair. Mayor Denis Duman said he would pursue this with the DOT. Another concern was collapse of a culvert at Maple Street. Uhlenkott discussed this with DOT engineer Curtis Arnzen to get some ideas. It is a 5 foot culvert that is apparently rusted out at the bottom and is curling in on itself creating blockage. Very rough estimate on replacement was $32,000. Sewer commissioner Ron Grant said he is pursuing outside money options but the city may have to dip into reserves to get the work done. This isn’t something that can be put off. Another concern addressed was the Centennial Garden. Prison crews have been doing a lot of the maintenance in recent years although that dropped off when the one sergeant retired. Now, with the latest escapes being from a work crew, the state has put a halt to all off-campus offender work crews. Mayor Duman said he really can’t see devoting city work crew man-hours to maintaining the garden and suggested maybe a 4-H group, citizen’s group or students taking it on as a senior project. Different citizens took care of it for many years but now, 24 years later, most that have done it have passed on or gotten tired of doing it. If no one steps up it may have to be removed. In the city reports Pat Holthaus reported about 3 million gallons of water pumped with about 2.5 million sold. There was a 17% loss, which while bad, is better than it was last year for May. No new leaks have been found. The pipe replacement on Church Street went well although it came out a little more expensive than expected. Grant reported everything is up and running at the sprinkling site. They are working on the new land application permit from the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality. In the street report Uhlenkott said the Mag Chloride received by the highway district did not meet specs. so there is a delay in getting started. He did Maple Street already with the stuff they had received before it was found to be below spec. That is due to all the ballfield traffic there. Meanwhile he has been prepping the streets in hopes they will be able to do the application next week. Grant reported there was only 1 fire call this past month, a rural call on a dumpster fire. They got new batteries put in Engine #32. 6 of them were replaced. Visitors John and PollyAnna Candalot asked what they would need to do to use the parking lot next to Wolf Track Brewing for outdoor parties. Duman said since it is private property it should be okay although he suggested some kind of fence. Maybe orange construction fence to keep it so the access is from the inside of the building instead of off the street. Additional funding was authorized for JUB Engineers to continue the sewer system’s discharge monthly reports. In final business, Grant asked about Ironwood. Duman said he left it off the agenda because they said they would have the signed agreement to the clerk’s office before the meeting, which apparently hasn’t been done. That touched off an argument between council members Grant and Shelli Schumacher about doing something to get the agreement signed. City attorney Joe Wright pointed out the agreement has a deadline of June 30 to be signed. If that isn’t met and they feel the need to go any further he suggested holding a special meeting with Ironwood representatives invited to attend. With no further action the meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. The next regular meeting would be Monday July 14 at 7 p.m. |
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