Warden Community Center gets new landscaping
WARDEN — The sod is all in at the Warden Community Center, was the report that Warden Public Works Director Don Edson gave during a regular Warden City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 9.
“The guys did a super job,” said Edson. “It looks really good.”
Kriss Shuler, Warden’s administration and finance director, said that when the fire department saw how the city was laying sod on the community center side of the building, they wanted sod on their side of the building also. The fire department paid for the sod.
Edson said that the public works crew has been doing maintenance on the water meters and repairing a couple of water lines in the cemetery.
Shuler reported that the Assembly of God church in Warden will be holding Vacation Bible School in the park on July 18-19. They will have three inflatables, two of which will be water-related.
“It is a big draw for kids,” said Shuler. “It is community outreach for them.”
New Department of Labor and Industry rules for contractors that went into effect on July 1 have Shuler concerned the city may have more trouble getting contractors. Contractors are now required to go through a certain amount of training or have completed a certain number of projects before they can bid on projects. Shuler said that the city sometimes has a hard time getting contractors to bid on projects.
Police Chief Rick Martin said that officer Jonathan Balas will start at the police academy in Spokane in August. He also thanked the council and Shuler for the remodeled bathroom and new security window and door in the police station
Councilman Byron Starkey reported that they had been a fire in the field at Ash Avenue and Ninth Street due to someone setting off bottle rockets on the Fourth of July. Bottle rockets are illegal in Warden.
In business, a public hearing was held to allow citizens to ask questions about the use of monies from the Community Development Block Grant through the Department of Commerce. The City of Warden was awarded $750,000. They used the money on Well No. 9.
“The money was to benefit low- to moderate-income households,” said Shuler. “The water benefits the entire community. It is an additional water source for our community.”
Shuler told the council that funding was approved for the Lift Station No. 2 replacement. The city is receiving a little over $422,000 in loan monies and $382,000 in grant monies. The lift station pushes wastewater coming from the industrial area to the reclamation facility.
The council agreed to have the city lawyer take a look at an agreement that would allow processors to have an extension of the 2022 deadline to get the waste ponds cleaned up. The process has had some setbacks. Currently, clean up efforts are working well. While they hope to have the clean up done by the current deadline, the processors have asked for a year’s extension. The city lawyer will be looking at the agreement and reporting back to council.
A conversation on Warden’s cryptocurrency moratorium was tabled to another meeting. The council had a work study session prior to the council meeting and had further questions.