St. Ignatius council swears in new member
Beau Biggs photo
Mary Leishman swears in Janis Heffern and Rikki Menz-Merchant.
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ST. IGNATIUS — A new council member was sworn in during the St. Ignatius City Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5. Rikki Menz-Merchant’s term will start Jan. 1. She and incumbent Janis Heffern were sworn in by Mary Leishman.
In other news, Public Works Director Scott Morton said the town sewer lines are in rough shape. “We have only put a Band-aid on the piping, and we are going to need to fix the problem. We have roots growing through plenty of sewer lines.”
He said there are roots the same size as the diameter of the pipe. The town is working towards getting emergency funds to fix the problem along with an engineer to plan out the solution.
Morton said: “This is a huge job, and it will take a lot of effort to fix it.” He added that most of the town’s sewer lines will need to be replaced. After plenty of discussion, the council decided to contact engineering services with WGM Group.
Morton added a proposed amendment to the snow removal ordinance. “I would like to extend our ordinance of ‘no parking’ from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. to be added to Arrow Lane and the end of First Ave.”
Police Chief Jason Acheson addressed the council with concerns about police vehicles. He said the department’s Dodge Charger is out of commission.
“We can’t drive (it) anymore due to carbon monoxide leaks,” he said. “So, unless we want to pay the four grand to get it fixed, which isn’t worth it, that vehicle is no longer functioning.”
He said the solution to ensure that all officers have a functioning service vehicle is to utilize the department’s spare pickup truck. Acheson is working with officers in Hot Springs to write a grant request for a new service vehicle.
