Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region.
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PALOUSE — At the conclusion of the Palouse City Council meeting Dec. 10, Mayor Michael Echanove read thank-you notes, swore in new mayor Chris Cook, effective Jan. 1, and said he would entertain a motion to adjourn — after 26 years as mayor and city councilor.
A motion was made and seconded.
“All opposed?” called Echanove.
Then he paused a moment.
“Motion carried,” he said.
That night, the council had passed the budget for next year and took in a report on the planning commission’s community survey.
Cook, a councilor, will now take the reins.
“I have truly enjoyed being mayor of the city of Palouse,” Echanove said later. “I’ve gotten to travel and meet the great people I’ve met around the state. That’s why I’m sitting in some damn truck stop in Ritzville now talking on the phone.”
A Dec. 6 reception in Palouse honored Echanove and 19-year councilor Rick Wekenman, also retiring.
The mayor was presented with a framed commemoration from City Administrator Kyle Dixon, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee, whom Echanove does not know.
“How did you do that?” the mayor asked.
“You taught me well,” Dixon said.
Echanove began as mayor in 2001, appointed after eight years on the city council. He first won election to the office in 2002.
“It doesn’t seem like 26 years,” he said. “We’ve been able to accomplish a few things. Time just melts. If you’re doing what you like, and making good progress, it makes it easy to stay for a few years.”
— Garth Meyer, Whitman County Gazette, (Colfax), Thursday
McCall settles lawsuit over Thompson Place
McCALL — Neighbors of a proposed housing development on Thompson Avenue in McCall have settled their lawsuit claiming the city of McCall violated its own code by approving the project last winter.
The lawsuit argued that the development, called Thompson Place, would “compromise the character of the neighborhood” and harm their safety, health, general welfare and quality of life.
The settlement allows the 16-unit shipping container project to move forward as planned, except for a picnic area that will be moved across the 1-acre site and away from neighboring homes.
The settlement also gives neighbors three years to build and pay for a secondary access to the site via Park Street if they choose to do so.
The developer, Kurt Marostica, of Boise, will be required to pay about $10,000 to pave an existing driveway off of Thompson Avenue that his complex shares with neighbors, according to the settlement.
The settlement also requires Marostica to pay about $4,400 to install new sewer connections for neighboring homes that had sewer lines running across his property.
Marostica told the Star-News that the lawsuit, which was filed in May, cost him a total of about $22,000, including attorney fees.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
White Bird halfway through water system improvement project
WHITE BIRD — The city of White Bird is halfway through with water system improvements to replace and upgrade aged equipment, with a portion of the work to be completed by start of the new year.
On phase one work, estimated around $149,800, which started this summer, pumps in both city wells have been replaced with more efficient, lower horsepower models, according to city clerk Sandy Murphy, and all wellhouse piping has been replaced.
“The pumps that were in there previously,” Murphy said, “they were pumping more water than what the wells were producing.”
The two current city wells, 1 and 2, produce, respectively, around 45 and 52 gallons per minute, and the new pumps will better accommodate those production rates, she explained.
Nearing completion is telemetry installation in the wellhouse and City Hall that will provide not only system status but also call-out alarms for issues such as failure of pumps to shut off and low water levels. Murphy explained this real-time monitoring will replace what literally takes manpower to oversee and manage.
“Currently, one of our councilmen (Rick Alley) checks on this, turns on pumps when they’re needed and monitors the storage levels,” she said, a process that has been going on for years.
— David Rauzi, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday