| Cottonwood
City Council meets
After a public hearing on the matter, a variance request by Clint Riener was approved by the Cottonwood City Council at their regular March meeting Monday, March 14. Riener is planning a new, larger shop building to replace the one at his home and requesting having it built a couple feet into the 5 foot setback so that it would make it much easier to get his boat inside. Currently he has to go into his neighbor’s property to get his boat stored and this would help avoid that. The variance is still pending city attorney’s Joe Wright’s writing up a paper detailing the findings that without such variance there is a hardship and that having it does not impact the public good. During the process Mayor Shelli Schumacher and councilor Pat Holthaus recused themselves from the discussion as each owns property within 300 feet. In other business Chris Rehder was present representing Seubert Excavators with a question about the sewer rate being charged for their shop area. A huge leak was found and fixed greatly reducing the amount of water they were getting charged for. Sewer rates are figured using the water used from March to June and then fixed for the following fiscal year. March to June was when they were getting charge for excessive water due to the leak and since the leak was fixed the water usage dropped substantially but their sewer rate nearly doubled starting in October due to how the rate is determined. The council was sympathetic and looked to make a motion to return the rate to its previous level. Wright pointed out that rather than changing the rate it would be better to give a discount. A motion was then made to offer Seubert Excavators a discount from this point until Oct. 1 when the rate would be refigured. The motion passed. Another visitor was Callie Perrin along with her parents. She made a request to see if the council could reduce the dog license fee for female dogs once they reach the age they can no longer have puppies. Spayed or neutered dog licenses are $5 per year while unaltered are $15. Police Chief Terry Cochran stated a vet told him there is no dog menopause and dogs as old as 14 have had puppies. While it was said that is an idea that would make sense, to change the law you have to have something that would cover all situations and since all dogs are different that would be difficult to do. Mayor Schumacher made some appointments. Denis Duman has offered to continue as the IdaLew and CEDA representative for the city and also offered to continue as airport manager. Terry Cochran was appointed to be the Emergency Manager. A motion was made and approved by the council in favor of those appointments. In the commissioner reports Holthaus reported they pumped just short of 2 million gallons of water this past month and sold about 1.7 million for a 14% loss. Testing all came back good. Ron Grant said he had nothing to report from the sewer department. City Clerk Carol Altman said she can now do the discharge reports electronically rather than by paper. Jack Duman reported the city acquired a dozer from federal surplus. It was a great price and it is also in great condition. He spent time getting the paperwork done for the sidewalk project and later in the meeting the agreement was approved by the council. Work will begin this summer on sidewalks to run from the BLM down East Street to Myrtle, then on Myrtle over to King and down to Audrey Uhlenkott’s home. Duman said the city’s cash portion of this project would be about $17,000 and the rest of the grant match could be in-kind work. He also reported the East Street project will also be done this summer. In other good news, Duman reported the city had been awarded a grant to redo Broadway Street and part of Second South. This project would take place the summer of 2017. Schumacher reported the hall work is continuing with the canopy over the ramp built in the back. The ramp has been poured and is curing. Work is also continuing on the inside with the new door hung. No bids were received for the surplus range and copier. The city can now advertise them in other ways such as on Ebay or Craigslist. The lease agreement was approved for another year with Cottonwood Youth Sports. A lease for Rick and Laurie Workman on city property above the softball fields was also approved for another 5 years. Schumacher read the Fair Housing Proclamation declaring April as Fair Housing Month. This is one of the requirements for the Community Hall grant and would also apply to some of the street department grants. The annual city-wide cleanup will start this month. The council decided to have the rolloff available until at least June 1. There was also discussion of moving it over near the recycling center to avoid the trash that gets dumped in there from those returning from recreating along the Salmon River. |
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