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Mayor reports July 29 road hearing, sewer grant requests and rising utility pressures
Summary
Mayor Mark Gibbons announced a July 29 public hearing on the 1600 West road project and said the city is seeking state and federal grants to address sewer infrastructure while reporting higher water use and rising emergency call volumes.
Mayor Mark Gibbons used his report to alert the council and public to several operational and infrastructure matters facing Lewiston.
Gibbons said the city will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. on July 29 regarding the 1600 West road project. "Every landowner that is between 800 West, 800 South, and 2000 South should get a postcard," he said, describing that hearing as covering phases 2 and 3 of the project; he said phase 1 is complete from Conference Road (Road 142) back to approximately 2000 South.
On utilities, Gibbons said the city is "using a little over 2,000,000 gallons a day" amid an unusually hot, dry spell and that maintaining parks, the cemetery and road margins has become difficult. He also described rising demand for emergency services: "Our emergency services call volume just continues to climb," and said recruitment of volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel remains a concern.
Gibbons said the city is pursuing funding to address sewer infrastructure. He said he has a call with the Department of Water Quality (DWQ) to request $500,000 to design a new lagoon and its inflows and outflows, and that he will meet with USDA later in the month to explore multi-million-dollar grant options to make sewer improvements. "We're asking for a grant to do that," he said of the DWQ request.
On recent events, the mayor provided a preliminary accounting for the July 4 celebration: "Ballpark this year, we brought in a total of 50,000 and somewhat dollars," he said, noting sponsorships and firework donations were up while rodeo gate receipts were lower than past years.
Other operational items mentioned by council members and staff in reports included a chip-sealing schedule starting the next morning on the Business Park Loop and 2400 West; a library audit due in October; a concert in the park set for Aug. 11 featuring Jerica Jamieson; and mosquito abatement after West Nile virus positives in Trenton and Amalga.
The mayor’s remarks did not include new, council-directed budget actions at the meeting; council members discussed logistics and thanked volunteers for recent events. Several items—particularly the sewer design grant application and the July 29 road hearing—will require staff follow-up and appear to be the subject of upcoming public meetings.
