| Cottonwood
City Council meets
The Cottonwood City Council had Amy Uptmor of JUB Engineering at their regular November meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 12, to talk about a grant program. She told them of a new grant program that could help fund the city’s proposed stormwater project. She said it is a program funded through the recently passed Farm Bill. First the application must go through the state Natural Resources and Conservation Service and then to the federal program for possible funding. It has 3 components, flood prevention which pays up to 100%, water quality which pays up to 75% and recreation which pays 50/50. The object is to try to address all three to get the best scoring. The flood prevention part has been addressed already and has the city looking to reroute the culverting for Cottonwood Creek to get it out from under businesses and route it under streets in the downtown area. Also included is addressing the issues from the northern part of the city to downtown, getting the storm drains out from under residences as well as the fairgrounds and opening up a couple of bottlenecking issues. The quality portion can address the increased ammonia requirements for water discharged to the Creek. For the recreation part the city can look into additional RV spots in the area of the Fairgrounds once the stormwater is rerouted there. The nice thing about this program is there is no out-of-pocket funding required until the construction stage and the city can back out at any time up to that point and not be out any cash. Jerry Forsmann and Doug Johnson were also in attendance as interested parties as commissioners of the Cottonwood Highway District which deals with flooding issues downstream along Cottonwood Creek. Rick Johnson was present representing both the Lions Club and the VFW with a couple of project proposals. The Lions Club is looking at an LED reader board which would be mounted at the Community Hall. They are looking at a doublesided sign which could be controlled from the city clerk’s office for what would be on the sign. The VFW is looking into a pavilion at the City Park which would be about 40’x50’. They are looking at either near the Veterans monument or as a replacement for the current cabana at that location. Surplus property bids were opened. There was only one bid and that was from Denis Duman for the small roller. He bid $128. His bid was accepted and the other property will likely be advertised for sale. Once having gone through the bidding process it doesn’t need to go through that again. A resolution was read by airport commissioner Jack Duman for an Idaho Airport Program Grant Agreement. This would provide $62.500 to repair run-up areas and provide slurry seal and patching. A catering permit requested by Rodonna’s for the Hall on November 15 was approved. Additional city property was declared as surplus and will be put out for bids. Included are a Generac 4000XL Generator and a 1994 Vibro Max 2000 double drum roller, which has a minimum bid set at $3,500. A waiver of the hall rental was approved for the Senior Class Graduation Party May 28-30. The extra days for to get it set up. Don Munkers brought up asking authorization to submit a letter of Interest to DEQ FY 2021 for a 50% planning grant of construction loan. Uptmor said she would look into this program for the city but she felt the odds were not good of getting awarded. A motion was passed to authorize going ahead with this if it looks like it would be worth pursuing. In the reports Pat Holthaus reported they pumped 2.7 million gallons of water and sold 2.1 million. After subtracting accounted for losses, they had a 13.7% loss. The water line work at Jack Wimer’s property where his apartments are located has been finished. They are also looking at upgrading the water meter reader. There was no report from the sewer, streets, land and buildings and airport. Linda Nida reported the fire department responded to one grass fire. The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m. The next regular meeting would be Monday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. |
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