Airway Heights’ sewer comprehensive plan will receive some review and revision for $20,000, four years after the last upgrade took place.
At its Monday, June 17 meeting, the City Council authorized TD&H Engineering to handle the review, which will also include looking at future areas of the city that aren’t using the sewer system right now. City Manager Albert Tripp pointed out that the Southwest corner of the city, near Craig and McFarlane roads, was one of the areas that doesn’t have sewer connections. The last time an update was performed was in 2009.
A software and hardware upgrade to the city’s telemetry system, which monitors water and sewer systems was also approved for $12,240.81. Tripp said the software is the main communication system between the public works facility and the water treatment buildings in Airway Heights, telling pumps and reservoirs when to come on.
The upgrade is broken down into basic categories including software, alarms and programming labor, and will also be installed at the new city well coming online in the very near future. The system also monitors the amount of water percolating into the ground from the wastewater treatment plant.
“This will let us know how many gallons per minute we need to adjust to the city’s needs,” plant operator Jerry Richards said at the meeting, filling in for public works director Kelly Williquette.
The City Council also passed a resolution declaring the month of July as Parks and Recreation Month in Airway Heights. Events and activities are running all throughout next month in conjunction with the celebration. A full list can be found on the department’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ahparksandrec.
The Parks and Recreation Department also submitted a proposal to form a non-profit organization. The non-profit group would be able to pursue more opportunities for funding. City attorney Stanley Schwartz said Cheney recently created a similar entity.
The non-profit status would also allow people to donate money to the department for a project or to help provide materials for a program.
By forming a non-profit, the fear is taken away that someone’s donations would be usurped into a city’s general fund, “with the understanding that the non-profit has a specific purpose,” Schwartz said.
The first reading for Airway Heights’ general commercial and mixed-use overlay also took place at the meeting. Development Services director Derrick Braaten said the city still needs to hold a complete public hearing on the documents, which was interrupted when June’s Planning Commission meeting was canceled due to a lack of quorum.
Once the public hearing takes place at the next commission meeting, Monday, July 8, the ordinances will come back to the City Council at the July 15 meeting for a second reading. At that point, any changes made to the documents will be entered into the record.
Another item coming from the Planning Department was acceptance of amendments made to chapter three of the city’s comprehensive plan. Braaten said the chapter was updated throughout nine workshops by the planning, and is the first part of an in-depth update for the 2013-2016 document.
Other chapters will be reviewed by the commission and submitted to the City Council for preliminary acceptance. The City Council will receive a final document encompassing all of the revised chapters when the process is finished.
The next City Council meeting will be held Monday, July 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers. Next Monday, June 24 at 5:30 p.m., the City Council will hold its monthly study session to discuss items likely to appear at upcoming legislative sessions.
James Eik can be reached at james@cheneyfreepress.com.
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