Bicknell to update culinary water ordinance, awaits state sign-off to use new well

The council revisited the long-running culinary water ordinance and related water-infrastructure items. Mayor Noreen said the town needs to update its culinary water ordinance and compile a culinary irrigation water plan as part of an exemption request that would spare the town from installing secondary meters. She said, “It's about $4,000 for these guys to hurry and put 1 together,” and councilors agreed to fund and file the plan by June to pursue the exemption.

Members also discussed a pending new well. The mayor told the council that the state needs to sign the final paperwork before the well is fully turned over, but the state has approved the project and the town can begin using the well once the state signs the agreement. “We just are now waiting for the people at the state to sign it off,” the mayor said. Councilors discussed that the signature will leave a note on source protection to be revisited in five years if needed.

Technical concerns about meter reads and new vendor software were raised. Council members reported discrepancies after switching to a new meter reader and software; staff will follow up with the vendor and contractor (Jonas) to reconcile readouts. The town also discussed the WUI (wildland-urban interface) ordinance and its reporting and monetary-commitment implications; a presenter briefed the group that while counties may get reimbursement dollars for WUI work, towns face strict reporting and commitment obligations set by state authorities.

Next steps: staff will place the culinary water ordinance and WUI on the next regular agenda, commission the irrigation plan update (funding ~ $4,000) to seek an exemption by the June deadline, and pursue state sign-off on the well to enable water service activation.