Lind Town Council addresses variety of community concerns

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 plans had been approved the project could go to bid in August.

The project involves repairing well seven; inspecting the pump at well six; abandoning wells three, four and five and installing an irrigation system in the park.

He also reported on the progress of the waterline project and that a draft contract for the storm water project had been sent to his boss for review.

Mayor Jamie Schmunk asked Gay if he could estimate the cost to homeowners to repair sewer lines under the city street and the cost of re-paving associated with them.

After the reports from Alan Gay, Mayor Schmunk began her updates.

She reported that Connell Oil had purchased the McGregor lot, accros from the rodeo grounds, and that they would be building a fueling station. The station will serve Pacific Pride members and will accept all major credit cards.

She also reported that she met with Prosecutor Randy Flyckt concerning the enforcement of state codes for housing. She also had met with Sheriff John Hunt to discuss services to the town. She reported that the meetings were frustrating.

According to Mayor Schmunk, Flyckt and Hunt told her the jail is full and they cannot make arrests. Both Flyckt and Hunt asked the mayor have community members express their support for enlarging the jail to the county commissioners as well as installing video cameras to provide proof for any cases.

She also reported that the merry-go-round in the park has been repaired. However, the bathroom in the park had been vandalized again. This time someone unlocked the door, vandalized the bathroom and then re-locked it. The locks have been changed.

Because of the vandalism the bathrooms were closed when Helena held its appreciation picnic at the park. Helena requested that the town help pay for the outhouses that they used for one day.

The outhouses were left in the park for a month, the bill totaled at $175. Councilperson Kathy White moved to cover $125 of the bill since the outhouses were used in the park while the bathroom was being repaired. The motion passed.

The meeting moved to July claims approval. After some discussion over the ledger Councilperson Kindra Haase moved to approve the claims and the motion passed unanimously.

Ordinance 14-03 was put before the council to be signed and published. In the July 8 meeting the council had voted to approve changing dumpster rates.

After discussion Haase moved that the mayor sign the ordinance.

Councilperson Karissa Labes seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-2 with Councilpersons Paula Bell and Kathy White opposed.

Mayor Schmunk broke the tie in favor of signing the bill because the council had approved it with a majority vote at the last meeting.

The ordinance will go into effect Oct. 1.

The council then removed section 2.9 from the Lind Community Garden lease, which prohibited any commercial enterprise on the land.

The Mayor asked the council and those in attendance if there were any other issues to come before the council and the meeting adjourned at 8:47 p.m.