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The Cheney Water Department began its annual water main flushing on Monday, March 15, beginning with fire hydrants in Zone 1. Flushing these water mains may cause brief periods of discolored water. If experiencing discolored water, please flush the cold water tap and/or irrigation system for 10 – 15 minutes to see if it clears up. If it doesn’t clear up please contact the Public Works Department at (509) 498-9293. The flushing program is estimated to take 3 – 4 weeks to compl...
Why would any company spend $5.5 million for a 30-second Super Bowl ad which leaves viewers perplexed as some glitzy and abstract commercials did? After production costs are tacked on, you’d think advertisers would want their messages clearly understood especially in difficult times. Some prominent advertisers, such as Coca Cola, Budweiser and Pepsi, traditional large buyers, skipped Super Bowl LV; however, Weather Tech did not. After game, the list of best and worst ads was r...
CHENEY — The Planning Commission is advancing two ordinances, one dealing with residential occupancy and one with water conservation measures including landscaping limitations, to the City Council for consideration at upcoming meetings. Both ordinances were subjects of several meetings and public hearings held in 2019 and 2020, but tabled after COVID-19 pandemic health and safety protocols limited public governmental meetings. Occupancy has generated the most repeat complaints from Cheney residents. These stem mostly from the...
CHENEY — Deferment was the order of busines last Tuesday as the City Council elected to postpone decisions on three of seven agenda items — including a new contract with the Police Guild for 2021 – 2022. The two-year contract includes 2% cost of living adjustments in monthly salaries for 2021 and 2022 over the previous year’s amount. Other than that, City Administrator Mark Schuller said the contract included cleaning up language requiring employees to join guilds, unions or pay dues based on a recent court decision along w...
Addressing infrastructure needs CHENEY — While it’s been a difficult year, the overall state of the city is good, Mayor Chris Grover told participants at last Wednesday’s virtual “State of the Cities” event sponsored by the West Plains Chamber of Commerce and Multicare. The city has felt its share of the economic impacts from COVID-19 protocols imposed by the state, particularly small businesses, Grover said, but has managed to escape some of the more devastating fallout. Most local small businesses have stayed open to d...
MEDICAL LAKE – The state Department of Ecology is proposing “three major” changes to its permit that allows lake managers to use pesticides and chemicals to treat noxious weeds and algae such as Eurasian milfoil. “Very often… the most effective way to treat it is to use a pesticide to initially melt it down and then go with hand pulling or harvesting to keep the population down after the pesticide treatment,” Water quality general permits supervisor Nate Lubliner said. “It’s really the fact that we’ve got that tool while s...
CHENEY – The city’s proposed water reuse project (Purple Pipe Project) took another step towards realization last Tuesday when the City Council authorized officials to apply for a $22.8 million loan from the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Public Works Director Todd Ableman told the council design work on the project had been completed and submitted to the state Department of Ecology for their review. At full buildout, including engineering, and with a “healthy” 20 – 30 % contingency factored in, the project taps ou...
Salnave work almost done CHENEY — The state Department of Transportation says only minor punchlist items remain to be finished on the Salnave Road repaving project. The work began June 1 after Shamrock Paving was awarded a $3.58 million project. The project included repaving about 4.3 miles of roadway with a hot-mix asphalt to make the road surface smoother, officials said. Nearly 2 inches of the old asphalt has been replaced, officials said. Expect nightly closures MEDICAL LAKE — Nightly closures of state Highway 902 wil...
CHENEY – The city’s proposed upgrade of its reclamation plant enabling it to produce irrigation-suitable water is on holding pending the outcome of a bid protest by a manufacturer of one of the main components. Nexom, Inc. is protesting the city’s award of the bid to Aqua Aerobic Systems, Inc. for manufacture and installation of a pile-cloth disk filtration system. Nexom, based in Post Falls, Idaho, was the lowest of the two bidders at $349,569, with Aqua Aerobics well above this at $686,031. Nexom’s bid was disallowed after...
Dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers provide an appropriate balance between the economic needs of Eastern Washington and fish protections. While we already knew that here in Eastern Washington, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came to that conclusion, too, after completing yet another environmental study this spring. The results of that new study were released last Friday, and they support keeping things essentially the way they are on our rivers. The dams will stay, for...
CHENEY – The City Council gave its approval to several projects last Tuesday, July 28, allowing a residential development to proceed along with a long-anticipated move towards utilizing reclaimed wastewater for irrigation purposes at public places. The latter involved accepting a pair of bids to install filtration systems at the city’s wastewater treatment plant allowing future construction of a “purple pipe” system from the plant to Cheney parks and other publicly owned spaces requiring irrigation. That system could be expan...
Greg and Roxanne Dempsey, 1120 Moyer St., have been named Cheney’s Yard of the Month winners for June by the Cheney Kiwanis and Gardners of Cheney clubs. Pictured above from left to right are Pat Isbell, Cheney Kiwanis; Lisa Bennett, Gardeners of Cheney and Greg and Roxanne Dempsey. The Dempseys have lived at the home for 33 years, slowly adding to their yard with plants, flowers and trees that have thrived in Cheney zone. Their yard is low maintenance at this point, with drip irrigation and minimal weed control, which l...
CHENEY – City officials are taking several steps to address the strain on Cheney’s water system due to growth and a reduction in water supply — one of which is how the city looks when it comes to landscaping. To that extent, planning department staff has proposed several changes and additions to Cheney’s municipal code on landscaping — proposals reviewed by Planning Commission members at their Feb. 10 meeting. Those changes center on conservation measures derived from encouraging the use of low-water-demand foliage, irrigatio...
CHENEY – A public hearing has been set for March 9 on changes to a pair of ordinances, one addressing residential occupancy issues and the other designed to encourage water conservation. Both ordinances changes acome after repeated concerns from citizens. The most vocal has been the issue of residential occupancy, specifically the concept of “functional family” and how that definition impacts such things as parking and noise complaints in neighborhoods. According to the Notice of Application from the city publishing the p...
CHENEY – The state Legislature began its 60-day short session on Monday, Jan. 13, and legislators will be hearing from a lot of people on a lot of issues over the next two months. You can count representatives from the city of Cheney among those vocalizing concerns. Specifically, a list of seven priorities for the city passed by the City Council in December — at the top of which is continuing advocacy for funding for a water re-use system and conservation programs. The city has at times imposed irrigation restriction mea...
A year ago, much of America’s heartland was inundated by Missouri River flood waters. At least 1 million acres of U.S. farmland in nine major grain producing states were under water. More than 14 million people were impacted. Damage exceeded $1 billion. With 11 dams on the Missouri, why was the flooding so severe? Why didn’t the dams absorb the excess waters? Its dams are above the flooded areas. The last impoundment is at Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota and heavy rai...
CHENEY – Mayor Chris Grover on Wednesday, Jan. 8, blamed voter approval of the $30 car tab tax cap for an expected transit funding shortfall and possible increased traffic congestion between the city and Four Lakes. “Unfortunately, I-976 (Initiative 976) takes a lot of money away from transit overall,” said Grover, who is also a Spokane Transit Authority board member. Grover's comments came during a report he gave during a meeting of the Cheney Merchants Association at Holid...
CHENEY — Whether it was e coli in Medical Lake, dealing with the consequences of contamination from firefighting chemicals in Airway Heights or supply in Cheney, water issues generated a number of stories in 2019. Cheney led the way, and comes in No. 2 on the year’s top-10 story list, beginning with dealing with leaks that resulted in the city’s two main pumps producing over 350 gallons per minute more than average through the winter before the leaks — in eight different locations within the system — were found and repaired...
CHENEY – The City Council voted unanimously to enter into a contract to lease some of their dark fiber optic lines, hold a hearing on the vacation of property along 1st Street and approved the first reading of the 2020 budget as action items at their Nov. 26 meeting. The council reviewed the fiber optic contract with Ptera at their Nov. 12 meeting, but held off on voting on the document until staff could clarify some conditions and agree to changes with the Liberty L...
CHENEY – Outside influences may play larger roles in the future on the city’s Light and Public Works departments, City Council members found out during budget presentations at their Nov. 26 meeting. Light Department Director Steve Marx told the council it’s unclear what impacts the prospect of dam removal on the Snake River and implementation of the state’s 2025 Washington Clean Energy Transformation Act will have on the city’s ability to purchase power. On the Public Works side, Director Todd Ableman said passage of a vote...
CHENEY – Hoping the agreement leads to better internet service in the city, the City Council appears ready to approve an agreement with telecommunications provider Ptera to lease the company strands of dark fiber optic cable owned by the Cheney Light Department. The potential contract was brought to the council for approval at its Nov. 12 meeting, but after discussion, the council asked City Administrator Mark Schuller and staff to go back to Ptera to “tweak” some of the language and return it for consideration at the Nov....
Hillman vs. Hilton CHENEY – The race for City Council Position 7 pits incumbent Dan Hilton, serving his second term, against Planning Commissioner Dan Hillman. 1. Cheney is facing issues with its water supply system. What measures would you take to address the problem if the decision was solely up to you? Dan Hilton – We’re pretty good right now, but I don’t want to be in the situation again where we’re not planning ahead where we have to cut people’s lawn watering in the middle of summer, so we really need to start think...
Among other weather records that were set last week, we just might have seen our shortest fall ever. Just five days into the autumnal equinox - the fancy Latin term for the swing from summer to fall - much of the Inland Northwest got belted by winter, or at least a distant relative. The area's summer, which in itself was significantly cooler than normal, drifted into history on Monday, Sept. 23. And then, bang, here comes the first measured snowfall in September since 1926 on...
Cheney's latest water increase didn't sit well with resident Mike Mulholland – and the Harvest Bluff resident let the City Council know how he felt at their Sept. 10 meeting. Mulholland told the council during citizen comments that he wanted a "clarification and adjustment" on his latest water bill, date Aug. 30. The issue, he said, was the bill charged him for his water usage between July 15 and Aug. 15 at the new rate imposed by the council on July 23 and effective Aug. 15....
Cheney’s City Council authorized the purchase of $119,737 of equipment for the city’s Light and Public Works departments at its Sept. 10 meeting. First, the council approved a request from Light Department Director Steve Marks to purchase a T590 T4 Bobcat Compact Track Loader. The track loader will be purchased from Bobcat of Spokane, which according to city documents has the state contract for this type of equipment. Marks said the purchase was a discretionary request budgete...
