At the monthly meeting of the Big Sandy Council, every council member was present. Mayor Shaud Schwarzbach was sworn in first, and then he swore in the rest of the councilmen, including Rich Jesperson, who is a first-term councilman. Rich believes, "We have lived in Big Sandy for 33 years, so I guess it's about time I serve on the City Council and give back to what has become my home town."
Although there were several guests at the meeting, there was no public comment.
The engineers present said the North Central System, the new water coming, will require at the Big Sandy pump house, a new treatment system. The current system was put in 2001, "It's ancient," and doesn't ultimately work. The new system will cost $50,000. They are looking at funding sources.
The council is also looking at and discussing how to fix the storm drain issues downtown. The engineers explained three alternatives; do nothing; crown the street, which includes redoing the entire street; or pitch the center medium with a gutter system down the middle. There will be a public meeting in February to discuss all three solutions and funding sources.
The walking trail, a project of Rotary, needs the city council to be the go through. The engineers also reviewed it. For any real decision to be made, a survey, topographical, and a complete landowner right away review will need to be done. At the next meeting, the linear foot costs will be presented along with a comprehensive report.
It was also reported that the brownfield at the old gas station on the west side of town has been taken over by Chouteau County and will be cleaned up.
If anyone wants to look at the new water ordinance, go online and look at the Chester water ordinance. This is what Big Sandy is patterning our own ordinance after. The City council has a working meeting set for Jan 30th at 7:00 PM.
Mayor Shaud discussed the North Central regional water. The design phase is completed. They have monies to have water flowing to the town in 3-5 years. The water will go to the Rocky Boy Reservation, South Chester, Havre, Big Sandy, and Loma.
