The Cottonwood City Council approved the proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year at their July meeting Monday, July 10.
Prior to the start of the regular meeting there were a pair of public hearings. The first was on a request by Roger and January Trombetta to vacate a portion of Foster Ave. The second was a variance request for more than one dwelling on a lot.
There was no negative input from the public on the proposals during the hearings. During the new business portion of the regular meeting these items were discussed further by the council. On the question of vacating part of the street right-of-way there was concern about a future water line that would possibly be there. The city is looking at adding a third water reservoir near Jack Duman’s shop on Foster Street which would necessitate expanding the current 4 inch water line which goes under the current right-of-way. The council voted to have city attorney Joe Wright draw up papers denying the request. The council also voted to deny the variance request which came up due to the prebuilt storage shed the Trombettas were wanting to place on their property being set up inside so that someone could live in it. The Trombettas said they would use it only for storage and as a workshop with a possibility of children and/or grandchildren using it if several visit at one time.
The agreement with St. John Bosco regarding water and sewer service was discussed but tabled due to some of the exhibits not being available as of yet. St. John Bosco also sent in a letter asking if they could get in-city rates for the water service rather than the out-of-town rates. That request didn’t come in time to make it on the agenda and will be addressed at the next meeting.
In the reports water commissioner Debby O’Neill reported when they pulled the pump on water well #2 they found the shaft was broken and is not repairable.  This will put well #2 out of commission for awhile. Meanwhile that leaves just well #5 supplying water for the city and the pump on that well was installed at the same time as the one on well #2. Currently well #5 is keeping up with demand but the city may look at limiting outside water use to hopefully avoid having well #5 go down as well. One positive note is they found the static water level at well #2 has risen 100 feet since the pump was installed in 2000.
The city pumped 4.2 million gallons of water in June and sold 3.9 million gallons for a loss of 7.43%.
Brett Miller reported representatives of the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality will be here Thursday to check out the sewage treatment site as part of the process in renewing the discharge permit.
He also reported the I & I study has given them a map of what lines would need to be replaced the soonest.
Kristie Holthaus reported the city crew has been grading gravel streets and doing other repairs resulting from the flooding of June 27. She also reported the dust abatement work has been completed.
Linda Nida reported they have had a change order on the park pavilion adding 95 days to the completion of the project. Unfortunately it won’t be completed prior to the Fair as hoped. Meanwhile Wimer Corp. has poured footings for the pavilion and Mayor Keith Holcomb has been moved dirt for the new playground equipment and splash pad.
Holthaus reported the slurry seal grant for the airport runway wound up providing more funding than expected so the city’s portion of the cost was cut down.
Nida reported the fire department had one call on a wreck that turned out to be a false alarm. The firemen assisted with putting out sandbags during the flooding.
Police Chief Terry Cochran reported the response to the flooding went as well as could be expected. Despite there not being much rain at NICI, they had an inmate crew ready to go when the request was made for help. The school provided use of their mini-bus to transport the inmates around town.
Cochran said that fortunately the expected second storm didn’t materialize.
Future agenda items include looking at limiting water use and coming up with a list of surplus items to be sold.
The meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday, August 14 at 7 p.m. The annual budget hearing will also take place at that time.