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Cottonwood City Council meets The Cottonwood City Council held their August meeting Monday, Aug. 9 and are moving ahead with the City Park Pavilion project. They were hoping to have cost estimates but will need to get some elevations done at the park to see if the sewer line connected to the current restrooms can work at the new location and that they can also meet American Disability Act (ADA) standards. Mayor Pepper Harman and public works manager Roy Uhlenkott thought they could get those done this week. The deadline for the grant application is September 20 so the timeline is getting tight. Brandon Higgins wit Wemhoff Architecture presented some new drawings showing they took the suggestion to turn the facility 90 degrees so that the end with the handicapped accessible restrooms would be on the north end. He also said when they get the elevations done and the proposed facility gets to be too expensive they are looking into using a prefabricated construction. In business to go along with this project CEDA was approved to proceed with grant administrator procurement. Wemhoff Architecture was approved as the design professional. Mayor Harman was approved to sign the Wemhoff Architecture contract. The ADA transition plan was approved. It was felt that the ADA transition plan could help with obtaining the grant as the city has history of completing an ADA transition plan when they upgraded the Community Hall access to the lower level. Public Outreach was also discussed and they will look at getting some boards done showing what the project will look like and post them at the Fair next week. In other business Amy Uptmor of JUB Engineering talked about the DEQ Compliance agreement and the timeline on upgrading the sewer system to meet the permit requirements. They city was to sign the agreement at this meeting but it had not arrived yet from the DEQ. The city is needing to upgrade their sewage treatment facility to deal with ammonia which is a new requirement. The other main issue they are dealing with is needing to remove a percentage of what is in the water coming into the facility. Especially in Spring runoff times the water coming in is so diluted from all the infiltration water that there is no way their system can remove the required percentages. The Council will likely have to schedule a special meeting to approve signing the agreement once it comes in as the permit is to take effect on September 1. John Watson of JUB Engineering updated the council on the NRCS project and the timeline. They are currently still in the environmental assessment stage. Once JUB is done with a draft environmental assessment then NRCS takes over and does the final assessment. It looks like 2023 before they get to designing the project and 2024 before construction starts. Joe Didier was present with a variance request but was informed he needs to get a conditional use permit and business plan to the city before they can even consider a variance. This is in regards to the RV Park he has and the City has been after him to get a conditional use permit for quite some time to make what he is doing legal. Lynn Thompson was appointed as the new City Clerk/Treasurer replacing Carol Altman, who is retiring. A banking resolution was passed by the Council to get Thompson’s name on the city accounts. St. Mary’s Church asked for some relief on their water bill due to a hole punched in the underground pipe leading to thousands of gallons of water leaking away. Thompson said that compared to the previous month’s water use it was estimated that they lost about $1,025 worth of water. Water commissioner Pat Holthaus said he didn’t feel the city’s other water users should wind up paying and made a motion to deny the billing relief. The council voted 2 ayes and 2 nays on the motion with Mayor Harman breaking the tie by voting nay on the motion. In the reports Police Chief Terry Cochran said he had issues with alcohol at both the softball tournament and on Main Street during Summerfest. He said the guidance given by the city was not followed very well. He has a checklist of things he will take to a meeting with the organizers to give them time to work out the problems. He doesn’t want to see the event return to the free for all of the last several years of the old Buggy Whip Festival and this year it was pretty much there. In the water report Holthaus said they pumped 8.7 million gallons and sold 8.4 million for a loss of about 2.7%. Tests were all negative and no new leaks were found. There was nothing new to report for the sewer other than other items on the agenda. In the street report Keith Holcomb reported chip sealing has started with the chips put down Monday, August 9. They still have sweeping to do. No report from the Airport. The Fire Department had 2 calls. One was the truck rollover on Greencreek Road and the other was a lift assist in Ferdinand. The council adjourned to an executive session concerning land purchase at 8:30 p.m. The next regular meeting of the Council will be Monday, September 13 at 7 p.m. although there likely will be a special meeting before the end of August.
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