| Ironwood
agreement is approved
The Ironwood sewer and water service agreement was approved at a special meeting of the Cottonwood City Council Monday, June 30. Prior to that action Jack Duman was welcomed back to the council and sworn in to fill the vacancy created when he resigned a few months ago. He will reassume his duties as streets commissioner. The Ironwood agreement approval wound up being approved on a majority vote of the council. The agreement that was signed by Ironwood was identical to the one approved by the City Council at their May meeting except for the section requiring them to video the sewer work done. Sewer Commissioner Ron Grant said he could accept that if their engineer would sign off that the system has been satisfactorily fixed. Grant also read a prepared statement addressing why he has pushed for the fixing and proof of that fixing of their sewer system. The city has made a great effort over that past several years to locate and fix areas where the city’s sewer system has been getting infiltrated by storm and runoff water a the extra volume creates more expense to treat and could put the city in violation of their permits with the state and federal governments. He did not feel the city ratepayers should have to subsidize a private entity. After Grant read his statement Shelli Schumacher made a motion to approve the Ironwood agreement as presented. Jack Duman seconded the motion. On a roll call vote those two voted yes while Grant and Pat Holthaus voted no. Mayor Denis Duman cast the tie-breaking vote in favor. Schumacher then made a motion, seconded by Holthaus, to rescind the earlier agreement signed by the city. That vote passed 3-1 with Grant voting no. That completed the agenda items for the special meeting. As informational items, Mayor Duman told the Council he was invited to sit in with the BLM engineer on their discussions for their new building. He said it looks like they will build their new offices on the side of their property adjoining the Ironwood property. Some trailers could be used as some temporary offices and lead to very little downtime. Once the new building is ready to move into the rest of the current buildings could be torn down and converted into parking areas. They would also like to run a new 8” water line up East Street. Grant also informed the Council he was told by CEDA that there may be money available to help with the culvert replacement discussed at the June 16 meeting. To pursue this they would need to declare a state of emergency at the July meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m. The next regular meeting is set for Monday, July 14 at 7 p.m. 
Jack Duman, left, is sworn in by Mayor Denis Duman to the Cottonwood City Council refilling the position he vacated a few months ago. |
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