City Council met in regular session on November 1, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester presided:
Councilmembers present:
Mike Peterson
Pete Lane
Beryl Grant
Amy Farris
Dylan Canaday
Scott Winkler
City employees present were Public Works Director Mager, Chief Newman, City Administrator Kennedy and Attorney Green.
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the Council minutes of October 18th were approved as presented by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Canaday. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: Patrick Hagen, Avista was present to explain streetlights in Grangeville. There are 100-watt equivalent and 200-watt equivalent bulbs and all are now LED. The old bulbs were more yellow in color where the LED are a white light. All new bulbs being installed are LED and shields are no longer an option. LED fixtures don’t have any way to block light as the light is directed by the fixture. 2-way lights shine up and down the street where 4-way fixtures light up a whole intersection each direction. Main Street has 200-watt fixtures and everywhere else in the City is 100-watt. The light posts on Main Street are decorative lights and similar to area lights. Most of the issues or complaints come when moving from sodium vaper to LED fixtures. As far as alternatives, most complaints seem to be at 4-way. One option is to put in two 2-way lights which don’t throw quite as much light. The City would have 2 poles and fixtures and additional monthly bills for lights. Councilor Peterson asked how many LED lights were in town? Patrick was not sure. Councilor Grant stated the Council addressed this a year or two ago, and people are starting to get used to it. She is not willing to take lights out of an intersection when they are for safety not ambience. She doesn’t want someone killed. Mayor Lester stated he asked Patrick to come back in to explain to the Council as a reminder of how streetlights work.
Edwin Anglesey, 314 N Florence, would like the Council to consider a stop sign on Florence. The vehicles travel too fast coming off truck route. There are a lot of loaded trucks on Florence, including logging, dump trucks and cement trucks. Many unloaded trucks use Les Schwab. He has talked to Les Schwab and asked them to have employees slow down. He spoke with all households on Florence except two owners and all of them are interested in a stop sign. There are people that walk in this area and he felt the unimpeded traffic was a danger to the neighborhood. Chief Newman stated the department has been doing a lot of extra patrol in the area. There is a lot of thru traffic on the street, and it’s narrow. The department has not caught anyone speeding on the street yet and they’ve been up there many hours over the last two weeks. As far as stop signs, it might be helpful in slowing down traffic. Mayor Lester stated this is a farming/logging community and you will have loaded trucks and truck traffic on the streets. A request was previously made on another street in town when Chief Sedam was here and the Council didn’t approve it because it would just move the problem to a different street. Councilor Farris stated she is in that area a lot and she does feel there is an issue with speeding. Mayor Lester stated he had the same issue on South Florence. Chief Drew set up the speed trailer and they discovered people weren’t speeding. Chief Newman will do additional research with the speed trailer and/or patrols and report back to the Council.
BUILDING INSPECTOR: Administrator Kennedy explained Jim Yeoman passed away October 22nd. We are currently working with John Smith with the City of Lewiston as an agency assist. Kennedy has met with an individual interested in taking over Jim’s clients.
EXECUTIVE SESION: On motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Grant to go into Executive Session according to Section 74-206 (f) Litigation. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed.
The Council returned to regular session. No action was taken.
The meeting adjourned at 6:50 P.M.
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Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
