Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Sorted by date Results 101 - 119 of 119
At the regular meeting of the Lind Town Council on Aug. 26 council members listened to a proposed security plan for the Waste Water Treatment Plant from Moon Security representative Gene Mackey. Mackey presented a two-part solution for securing the facility. The first part would be a camera monitoring system covering the exterior of the building. The system would include seven cameras and have the ability to store two terabytes of high quality video. The second part of his proposal was the security system in the building, whi...
After opening bids for an overlay project in the Othello area and referring them to Public Works for review, the Adams County Commissioners met with the Public Works Department to discuss maintenance and ongoing projects in the county. Public Works Director Todd O’Brien told commissioners two crews would be crack sealing in the Lind area and crack sealing in the Ritzville area had been completed. He also reported crews were beginning to broom some of the roads that had been seal coated earlier this year. He also reported W...
Dispatch costs, a delay of the new fire engine and savings for the city, all of these were a part of Jim Bostic’s Fire Department update at the Aug. 20 Ritzville City Council meeting. To begin his report, Bostic told the council the fire department had responded to six calls in the city. One of the calls resulted in monetary loss. The fire started because of the electrical system in the house, which was not installed properly. The rest of the calls were related to the storm th...
Despite a very dry growing season wheat yields for the year are not far from average. According to Ritzville Warehouse CEO John Anderson, this year’s harvest was only about five percent lower than the 10-year average for the area. The reduced yields however seem magnified when compared to the three previous years crop yields, which were up to 30 percent higher than average. That average, however, includes the 2005-2007 harvest years, which, according to Anderson, were t...
At the regular meeting of the Ritzville City Council on Aug. 5 the conditions of the City dog pound were brought before the council. Kris Lennon described the conditions that she found at the City Dog Pound during her examination of the facility. She reported that temperatures inside the shelter were sweltering, reaching to 100 degrees inside the building. She also reported that during the winter the facility has very limited climate control to keep dogs from getting cold. Ritzville City Police Chief Dave McCormick reported...
Despite the storm that raged through the area on the evening of Aug. 12 the Lind Town Council met to discuss business. First Alan Gay delivered an update on the Waste Water Treatment Plant. He reported that he was working to get the contractor to honor a warranty on an item. He also reported that he had given a walk through of the well project to one contractor and was in communication with two others. Gay also reported work was progressing on the waterline project and that it should be wrapping up very shortly. Alan also...
At the Public Works Session of the Adams County Commissioner’s meeting Engineer Scott Yaeger gave a report of projects in the county. He reported crews were continuing to work on pre-leveling in the Othello area but should be finishing that day. Yaeger said crews were also continuing gravel road maintenance and that when temperatures cool down crews would move to finishing seal coat projects provided that there was no rain accompanied with the lower temperatures. Yaeger also said some patching would be applied to the D...
Council members had a busy meeting at the regular meeting of the Ritzville City Council on Aug. 5. After approving the East Adams Rural Hospital’s request to use the downtown plaza area and portions of Railroad Avenue and Washington Street for the annual Health Fair on Sept. 13 the council listened to several concerns from the public. Kris Lennon brought her concerns about the dog shelter referred to the Public Safety Committee. Bruce Benzel brought forth his concerns regarding the golf course and Mark Fowler voiced c...
Portions of the new Patient Portal are becoming active as the East Adams Rural Hospital implements its new software. The software, from NextGen, allows patrons of the hospital to take an active role in their health care and allows for a more streamlined flow of information throughout the clinic and hospital. The program even handles automated appointment reminders and patrons can choose to receive reminders via phone, email and text messaging. Another feature that makes NextGen convenient for patients is the crossover of...
Bruce Benzel brought several concerns before the council regarding the Golf Course and the construction that has been going on there in recent months. First on his list was the area around the entrance to Ritzville sign. Benzel said that now the sign doesn’t light up and there is no grass around it anymore. “It looks pretty terrible right now,” Benzel said. He also brought up issues with the cart path that was ripped out, the construction on the pump house and told the council that there is now issues with vandalism and p...
The Adams County Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, Aug. 4, at the Adams County Courthouse in Ritzville. Each session brought reports from various agencies within the county. During the Public Works session Director Todd O’Brien reported crews would be pre-leveling starting in the Othello area and ending in the Lind area, as well as continuing gravel road maintenance. Because of the heat, seal coating would not resume until at least next week in the Othello area. He reported approximately three days of seal c...
In an afternoon session with the Adams County Commissioners Sheriff John Hunt met to discuss several items. Hunt began the session by presenting the commissioners with the possibility of the National Institute of Corrections sending a consultant out to help with assessment of the jail and to provide training to prepare for a new jail. The commissioners decided to conduct additional research into the program before contacting NIC. Hunt also requested the commissioners look into a convex mirror for the third floor elevator...
This year there will be four Maintenance and Operations Levies on the ballot Aug. 5 and all of them are comparable to last year. The levy from Cemetery District No. 1 increased this year to $8,500, an estimated $0.19 per thousand dollars of assessed value. The increase in the levy is due to increased operation costs for the cemetery. The cemetery also increased the price of its plots, from $200 to $300 to help cover the costs of maintaining the cemetery. The increased cost, however, does not include the installation of a...
At the Monday meeting of the Adams County Commissioners Public Works Director Todd O’Brien gave a report of work in the county. O’Brien reported that despite having an ad in multiple papers he has not received any applications for the two solid waste positions that are available in Adams County. He said that if he doesn’t get someone soon he might have to contract truck drivers to haul solid waste so that drivers from maintenance crews are not pulled away to haul solid waste. Engineer Scott Yaeger then presented the commi...
The July 22 Lind Town Council meeting began with a public hearing regarding the close out of the Waste Water Treatment Plant project. Alan Gay of USKH now Stantech answered questions and addressed concerns from the community. After the public hearing concluded the regular meeting began with the approval of the July 8 minutes followed by project updates from Gay. Councilperson Tom Strohmaier was absent from the meeting. Gay reported plans for the well project had been sent to the Department of Ecology for review and after the...
The Ritzville Downtown Development Association is approaching its goal to purchase a digital projector for the Ritz Theatre. The association has raised approximately $40,000 after the latest garage sale fundraiser, $10,000 short of the goal of $50,000 to purchase the projector and the software required to play new release movies. According to RDDA President John Rankin, the association is currently looking at multiple options for the projector that may save some money. The purchase of a digital projector will allow the...
The council approved of a $2,660 request for payment from the Department of Transportation for design services for the airfield as well as other requests for reimbursement from the USDA, the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Washington State Department of Commerce. Mayor Jamie Schmunk reported the town had been awarded a $22,000 grant with a $7,000 loan to fund the storm water project and USKH Engineer Alan Gay would explain more about the project at the next meeting. The council also continued discussion of the...
On the morning of June 29 two brothers prepared to take on the Ironman, an all day event that covers 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running. Brien Marcus competed in this race in 2013 but this would be Kevin Marcus’ first ever triathlon. Twelve minutes after the start of the race was signaled Kevin passed through the start area and began the first leg of the race, the 2.4-mile swim of the Ironman Race in Coeur d’Alene. He was nervous. The conditions with the wind had made the water choppier than last year when Brien com...
With the return of the Washtucna Fourth of July Parade this year one couple is being honored for all that they have done in the community since they moved into Washtucna. Patrick and Theresa St. Hilaire are this year’s grand marshals for Washtucna’s Fourth of July Parade. After serving in their community in various ways the St. Hilaires are surprised and honored that they have been chosen to lead the parade, particularly because the parade didn’t run last year. The St. Hilai...