Council discusses park maintenance, EPA cleanup
SUPERIOR – On September 16, the Superior Town Council held their monthly meeting. Issues from the status of the town parks to the sale of land were discussed.
According to Councilor Doug Cummings, Superior’s two parks have continually been mowed and maintained; sprinkler work has begun in Horning Park and two trees were removed in Timberman Park due to storm damage.
The Metcalf property, at 406 Pine St., burned in June. According to the Council, the remains have been declared a health and safety hazard and have received complaints. The council will research Community Decay Ordinances and clerks will try and find the property’s owners.
The Environmental Protection Agency has been cleaning up the remaining properties in town. Contaminated soil will also be moved from the temporary repository to a permanent repository.
As of August 20, substantial completion was done on the Town Offices Project, which cost nearly $65,000. The State Building Inspector approved the offices and their occupancy. The Town Council moved into the new offices on September 10.
The Diamond Road Land, bought by Superior in 2004 for $35,000, attracted the interest of The Town Pump. The Town Pump offered $68,000 for the land – it was noted that a counter offer could be made to raise the price, but would not need to be accepted. Resolution No. 387, which accepted the offer, passed unanimously.
The Council congratulated Rick Lewis, who was appointed to the Ward II Councilor position. Councilor Angelo Ververis raised the motion and Cummings seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
The Town Council gave their thanks to Perri Jasper for her fundraising efforts. Jasper raised $240 for swim noodles, kick boards, diving sticks, goggles and miscellaneous other items, by selling soda and water.
Resolution No. 386, an amendment to the town’s personnel policies, passed unanimously. The resolution makes a minor change to the personnel policies.
Brenda Schneider, the meeting’s Clerk, said that she contacted Northwestern Energy and spoke to Dave Bausch about more efficient energy solutions for the leased street lights. According to Bausch, replacing the current lights with LED lights would be more expensive than the current ones in use. He also said the technology changes too fast to make the replacement a viable one and that waiting two to three years, for the market to stabilize, would lead to a cheaper change later.
Mayor Michael Wood read the August Fire Report to the council. There were nine instances in the county. On August 5, five firefighters responded to a report west of Dry Creek along the railroad tracks. According to the meeting’s minutes, the fire “turned out to be ties supporting spare rails stored at [the] location.” Cutting operations on the spare rails started the fire and was easily extinguished.
On August 11, 13 firefighters responded to three separate fires. The first was caused by a lightning strike near Dry Creek, which heavy rain quickly put out. Still en-route, the firefighters switched to a call of multiple fires near the Keystone area – after a long search, these turned out to be inaccessible and were delegated to the Forest Service. The firefighters also responded to a call about two fires in the Johnson Creek, Saddle Club Road area, which were also inaccessible.
On the evening of August 12, firefighters responded to a call of an oxygen tank, which blew up in someone’s face. Upon arrival, no fire was found.
On August 19, 12 firefighters responded to a barn fire in Tarkio along with firefighters from Frenchtown – both Fire Departments sent one engine and one tender. According to Wood, “initial efforts were focused on keeping the fire from spreading to the surrounding trees.”
With 60 tons of hay and several pieces of equipment in the barn, the firefighters worked all night “to put out enough of the hay to prevent a serious rekindle.”
The next Town Council meeting will be October 15, 2013.