The Cottonwood City Council passed the annual appropriation ordinance at their August meeting Monday, August 8.
Amy Uptmor of JUB Engineering talked about the Water Plan Contract and the I & I Evaluation Contract. Both items are coming in over the expected budget. According to city clerk Lynn Thompson, the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) approved increasing the grant to cover the budget overages at a 50% match for at least the I & I grant.
Uptmor also talked about St. John Bosco Academy’s request for water and sewer service. The issue she sees is still having water available there if fire flows are needed elsewhere in town. Their preliminary modeling suggested the pressure could drop to nothing if water is diverted to fight a fire. The DEQ recommends 40 psi and dropping no lower than 20 psi to customers during fire fighting. She said there are fewer issues with providing sewer service.
The council voted to approve the I & I Evaluation contract but tabled the Water Plan contract until the September meeting pending confirmation of DEQ raising the funding available to match the budget overage.
The I & I evaluation is something that is required to obtain a new discharge permit.
Walco’s proposed rate increase of 10.6% was discussed but action was tabled to the September meeting. The requested increase would add a little over $2 to citizens’ utility bills per month.
The West Camas Transportation forms were discussed but deemed unnecessary as the city has already adopted the LTAC provisions which provides for those same forms. These forms are for anyone adding a new access to a city street, such as a driveway, and providing information that such work be done according to code.
A catering permit was approved for Coach’s Family Sports Bar for a beergarden at the Lewis County Fair, which will be held in Cottonwood this year due to a fair building collapse in Nezperce during the winter. Scott Kaschmitter of Coach’s told the council and police chief Terry Cochran that he will have a canopied area in the Cottonwood City Park surrounded by orange snow fence with limited access points.
A joint service agreement with the Idaho County Sheriff’s Dept. concerning dispatch fees was approved at $8,670 per year. This would be for police and fire department only. EMS used to be included but St. Mary’s will now do their own fee agreement.
The council approved a vendor agreement with the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare. This would include the city in a program that helps low income households with their water and sewer fees. Thompson said she contacted other cities involved in the program and said she was told it had worked well.
An employee pay raise was approved for a Wastewater Collection Operator tied to passing testing to become more proficient and knowledgable in the job.
In reports Police Chief Terry Cochran said that Summer Fest was a lot calmer than last year. The crowds was down due to the excessive heat. He said there were very few issues at the softball tournament and that he liked the way the fencing worked out downtown. He said he would recommend the committee work on getting their permits earlier, possibly as early as January when they are doing their fundraisers to make sure they will be able to hold their celebration.
Debby O’Neill reported the city pumped just about 4.35 million gallons of water and sold 3.94 million gallons for a loss of 9.2%. The city crew did find and fix a couple of leaks during the month.
Lynn Guyer reported they now have a functioning flow meter at the city’s sewage treatment site. Pat Enneking reported they also now have a backup as well.
Kristine Holthaus reported there isn’t much going on with streets at the moment although a culvert project on a cross street near the fairgrounds has been started and is about half done. It will be put on hold until after the Fair and then should be finished before the Lewis County Fair takes place.
Linda Nida reported the park fundraiser made over $40,000. She is working on a couple more grants. Other fundraising is an ongoing raffle and they would like to get some kind of event for Halloween.
Nothing new to report at the airport. Holthaus said they still may look at the ordinance regarding leases if they want to look at raising the rates.
The fire department had several calls during the month including a hay bale fire, a false alarm at the Monastery, a fire along Highway 95 and a carbon monoxide alarm.
Shawn Kaschmitter, representing Cottonwood Youth Sports, talked about putting in a drain line in the south field to deal with a drainage issue. They are looking for city approval to go ahead with the project but didn’t get on the agenda in time to make it an action item. The council will take it up at the September meeting. Kaschmitter said there are also drainage issues with the North field but they are more extensive and will take more study on exactly what to do to deal with them.
The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.