City Council met in regular session on October 7, 2024 at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester presided:
Councilmembers present:
Dylan Canaday
Scott Winkler
Jared Andrews
Wyatt Perry
Amy Farris
Beryl Grant
City employees present were City Administrator Kennedy, Public Works Director Mager, Chief Newman and Attorney Jessup.
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the Council minutes of September 16th and 28th were approved as presented by Councilor Canaday, second by Councilor Perry. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: Sarah Klement, Idaho County Free Press is looking at putting up a billboard but it doesn’t meet the requirements in city code. She is requesting the council add a variance process to the billboard code. Attorney Jessup stated the question tonight is not to approve Sarah’s sign, but to consider allowing anyone in the future to apply for a variance to the billboard ordinance. The Council will discuss it next meeting.
Christine Frei, Prime Point Consulting stated Idaho County has applied for a grant for the last mile to get fiber to homes. The planning document was planned to be completed before the BEAD funding application opened. The current timeline for planning is to build a coalition and to send out letters to other anchor industries (schools, hospitals, chamber). The first event is November 1st and the planning efforts will run into mid-January. They are trying to complete the planning documents before the grant applications open. On the applications, they want to see collaboration; it’s a key component for success. Christine is working with J-U-B Engineers and Idaho County on the planning grant. They are asking the council to agree and sign the Memorandum of Understanding with Idaho County and the City and to appoint a coalition member to represent Grangeville. The coalition will be in place as long as it takes to implement the plan. Mayor Lester felt it’s a good plan and important to our community to get fiber. He has asked Administrator Kennedy to be a representative. Councilor Perry is interested so he will attend too.
On motion by Councilor Winkler, second by Councilor Perry to authorize signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Idaho County and the City for a Broadband Coalition. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Grant, Perry, Andrews. NO: none. ABSTAIN: none. The motion passed.
WWTP TEMPERATURE REQUIREMENTS IN IPDES PERMIT: David Watkins and Adam Rushold, J-U-B Engineers presented information on the City’s options to meet the new IPDES Permit issued April 2, 2020. By October 31, 2024 the city needs to choose a preferred option to meet temperature at the WWTP. In order to meet the deadline, the council will need to vote at the October 21, 2024 meeting on the option of our choosing. Next year there will be an implementation schedule deadline.
On September 12th, David and Adam met with city staff, where five options were reviewed and then staff narrowed it down to the two options being presented at this meeting. The city has temperature limits that apply during the months of April 1 – September 15. The two options presented were Land Application and Mechanical Cooling.
• Land Application – Water is diverted during the times when you don’t meet the requirements. This requires storage and agriculture fields for land application.
• Mechanical Cooling – Water is cooled, using chillers, to the target temperature and then discharged. There is high initial capital cost and high operations and maintenance.
Adam explained the decision we submit is not permanent. We’ll continue to collect future data and there may be new equipment coming up. The city can choose a different option but would keep DEQ in the loop. Councilor Grant asked if you can mix and match or do we need to only pick one option? David explained there may be a mix but the city has to choose an option and that would need to be submitted.
For land application, we would need to store effluent from April – September, which would be a 14 acre, 15’ deep, 61 MG lagoon(s). This would also mean irrigating approximately 228 acres, so approximately 300 acres would be necessary, due to crop rotation. Land application could start in April – May and end in September – October. It was asked if reuse would be an option. Adam stated reuse requires a different permit and requires testing. Councilor Grant asked if it has to be irrigation, what about cemetery’s? It was explained DEQ has different treatment requirements. With Class A water, you can irrigate anything, but it would require additional requirements at the plant. Class B is a step down from Class A, but when you apply it, there are signage requirements and irrigation occurs when not in use. You would need a distribution system for reuse.
With mechanical cooling, there are big chillers that cool the water, like an air conditioner. The City would need four 100-ton units, so five would be required to have one redundant chiller. Over time J-U-B will look at more data and what new options might be out. This would be similar to an AC unit at a house but much bigger.
Public Works Director Mager stated the required pond is huge at 14 acres. Implementation needs to occur by 2039. There will be new technology, science, and more requirements. Mager’s personal opinion is chillers. That decision could change. There will be maintenance no matter what. For land application you need pipes in the ground, pumps, ponds and the ability to get rid of water. Is this an irrigation area? Someone has to want the water. Adam stated we have a great case study J-U-B is following; Moscow is about 10 years ahead of us and they have temperature requirements too.
COMMITTEE REPORTS – SNOWHAVEN: Gabe Forsmann was present to ask the council to create a new Snowhaven board. It was dissolved in June 2015. The pool is maintained by public works in offseason and Snowhaven can’t be run by just anyone. When the City first took over Snowhaven, it was ran by the ski board. Now Snowhaven has no managers. Gabe would like to be involved, but not run it by himself. Gabe felt having a board would be the best option to keep the hill running, as Snowhaven is not a one-person job. Without a board, he felt all the knowledge will go away. In 2015 when the board was dissolved, they were attending ski board meetings but not working or advising on the hill. Councilor Grant stated it might be able to run like the Country Club. She asked Gabe if he had recommendations for the board. Gabe stated both Scott and he are interested and others have mentioned they may be interested. Councilor Perry felt a board would be beneficial. Councilor Farris asked who would hold the board responsible. Councilor Winkler felt the manager would have to update the Council if the board wasn’t working.
WRITE-OFF ACCOUNTS: On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Grant to approve the write offs for year ending 9/30/24 in the amount of $127.85. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
CLEARWATER WELL COMPLETION: On motion by Councilor Grant, second by Councilor Farris to authorize signing of the agreement with Knife River Corporation – Mountain West for The Clearwater Well Completion project for $2,515,000 pending engineer review and Rural Development’s approval. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Grant, Perry, Andrews. NO: none. ABSTAIN: none. The motion passed.
PAVILION CHANGE ORDER: Administrator Kennedy explained the change order included three different changes, ASI 1 siding color change $250, ASI 2 pavilion move $2,025 and ASI 3 additional demolition $950. Councilor Grant asked why there were changes since we had a bid. Kennedy responded an additional slab was found underground and to meet the correct slopes for ADA, the building needed to be shifted. On motion by Councilor Perry, second by Councilor Farris to authorize signing of Change Order #1 for $3,225.00 for the pavilion in Pioneer Park. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Grant, Perry, Andrews. NO: none. ABSTAIN: none. The motion passed.
The meeting adjourned at 7:34 P.M.
_________________________________
Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
_________________________________
Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
