Wednesday, December 05, 2012

No internet and council meetings

This morning I am late… that is because I haven’t had

any internet since last night, about 5pm or maybe even before.

 

It seems the tower, which is on top of our mountain.. had iced up,

and they couldn’t get to it until this morning..

 

I was actually surprised that I wasn’t as upset as I usually am.

Seems frustrating to me when it goes out.. But this time I just

found something else to do.

 

Being the first Tuesday of the month, that meant council meeting.

I am not a council person, I am what I call….”the public”.

I use to think it is a small town so not much for them to do.

When the King became a council person, I found out there is a

lot more to the job than just sitting there for 2 hours a month and

decide a few things. And the pay is pittance, hardly enough to pay

for their gas to get there. And they just don’t meet once a month.

 

There are state laws that have to be followed. There are Ordinances to

be kept up to date. Since Spring time, I have been involved in helping

for feed back with their Ordinances and Zoning laws. They are redefining,

slightly changing them to bring them in according to the state law. To

update them, as some of them are 40 years old. Not as easy as it might

sound. They have a consultant, who knows the Idaho laws inside out.

She is great on keeping in the lines of the state but letting the council

have what they want to have in our town.  The council, we have now and

those in the past… as well as the Mayor, main concern is letting the

people still have the freedom of having a town without too many rules and

defining those they have, to be resident friendly.

 

Last night, the council meeting had a few things on the agenda, but the most

Important had to do with a piece of land that is in the county but borders

on the city lines.  And that could have the possibility of it being annexed in

to the city in the future.  Being Kootenai is well known for its high water level,

how this land is used could effect the flooding of Kootenai.

 

So how the Commissioners decide, could effect the town of Kootenai in

many ways… some of it now as they build homes there.  The developer

wants to keep the roads private.. which means they don’t have to make

the roads according to Kootenai ordinances. It also concerns the town

because the children of this area will be going to Kootenai school, the town

wonders what route is the area going to have them take. Walking down

the highway with the heavy traffic and now sidewalks? Which is a fair

distance, yet going thru the town would have them walking across private property as there is no road that connect this property to the town. 

And if they have it private and it doesn’t meet codes of the state as well

as the city, then the likelihood of them ever being connect is slim to none. Starting off with the width of the road being much smaller than the city’s.

 

So that is one concern of the future.. and water table being the immediate

concern. All of which is in the hands of the county, and Kootenai can only

voice their concerns. And what happens if it does flood Kootenai? What

recourse does the city have? Because if the county gives their blessing,

then it becomes a debate between the developer and the city.

 

See nothing as easy as it sounds.

 

So I was busy enough to not miss the internet last night.

And waking to sunshine, wind and internet is not a bad day.  

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