Mayor of Connell addresses Lind Town Council

On April 12 the Lind Town Council met at their regular time for the first meeting of the month.

The meeting began with the approval of the check warrants. Because of the glitch in the Bias Software used there were three additional checks from previous weeks to be approved.

A project pay request was also approved by the Council in the amount of $6,866.44 for the recent sprinkler work completed at the Lind Town Park by Skone Irrigation.

The funds for this project came from grant funds the Town has from the Department of Commerce for water system improvements. To date the Town has $1,347.64 remaining of the $503,081.40 they were allotted.

Having this sprinkler system installed allows the Town to now water the park at night so town employees will not have to water during the day while residents are using the facility.

Mayor Jamie Schmunk then gave an update of several livestock permits the town has received; the Council approved all.

Schmunk also explained a voter ballot box will be installed by the County so residents can securely drop ballots off as opposed to mailing them in.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) owns one of the lots the Town is planning to use for their Storm Water Project and in order to do the testing needed to determine the depth they can dig, DNR requires a permit with a $100 fee.

The Council decided to table the approval of these funds until they have heard from the Department of Ecology as to whether the new project proposal has been approved.

Clerk/Treasurer Denise Snead has been working overtime hours to try and locate any past due funds, which have passed the collection time of six years.

She has looked back through the accounts since 1999 and has found approximately $17,000 in past due amounts, which the Town can write off as there is no legal way to collect. These funds were not sent to collections at the time and it is now no longer feasible to do so.

The Council approved the writing off of these debts, which are non-payments for water, sewer and gas utilities.

Snead has also been tracing accounts back to 1993 for the Utility Deposit Fund to apply past due amounts to citizens who have moved in and out of residences in the Town.

Mayor Bruce Blackwell of Connell attended the council meeting to speak with the Council in regards to implementing a Quiet Train Zone and also about the renaming of Highway 395 to the Thomas “Tom” Foley Memorial Highway.

Blackwell explained the way Connell turned their two intersections the train crosses into quiet zones by placing eight inch wide and six-inch tall curbing down the middle of the road for 100 feet extending in both directions from the crossing.

Blackwell advised this cost Connell just $11,980, which is much lower than the Town of Lind has been quoted in the past by the railroad.

The Council expressed interest and Schmunk advised they would put information about this to the community, as they would want their support.

Blackwell also spoke to the Council about the renaming of Highway 395. The Council had rejected passing a resolution in support of this at their meeting on March 8.

Blackwell advised a sign would be erected every 50 or so miles to indicate the Highway has been dedicated to Foley but no signage would be changed.

The Council inquired as to why they had to pass a resolution and could not just draft a letter of support, Blackwell explained this was required to give to an official state program for consideration.

After discussion the Council passed Resolution 16-02 in support of the renaming.

The Council then discussed various items such as the amended Ordinance 11-02 and the results from the Spring Clean Up Day.