City Council also selects five members to serve on the Senior Advisory Committee
The Airway Heights City Council approved the appointment of Aspen Monteleone and Kalpesh Patel to the city’s Planning Commission at the council’s Sept. 1 meeting.
Montelone moved to Airway Heights in February and was interested being in involved with the city. She spoke at a June City Council meeting, asking the city to consider allowing residents to own chickens within city limits.
“I didn’t just want to be someone complaining and not doing something active in the community,” Monteleone said. “I want to participate.”
As for Patel, he has lived in Airway Heights for the last six months and is hoping to open a recreational marijuana business in the city. Patel has been an entrepreneur for 20 years and previously lived in the country of Georgia. Like Monteleone, Patel said his goal on the Planning Commission is to serve the community.
“I feel a town like this can utilize some of the experience that I have from traveling around the world,” Patel said. “I would like to give 100 percent to help the community grow.”
After Patel spoke, Mayor Patrick Rushing said he came onto the City Council for similar reasons as the entrepreneur.
“I had seen all of this growth take place throughout the world and I joined the City Council because I wanted to see that growth here,” Rushing said. “I’m happy to see that you’re bringing your experience and the knowledge of your international journeys to the city.”
The council also approved the appointment of the first five members to the city’s Senior Advisory Commission: Merlene Olmsted, Francine Osborne, Carl Matlock, Sally Mount and Peggy Fitzpatrick.
During public comment, Olmsted and Matlock thanked the City Council and the Parks and Recreation department for initiating the commission. They explained that the commission is going to need help with costs and part-time volunteers for planning activities.
“We are here because we want to serve this community and its seniors,” Matlock said.
Rushing said the city would be working on helping the commission. He also suggested the seniors could work with the city’s Youth Advisory Commission.
Airway Heights Parks, Recreation and Community Services, director J.C. Kennedy, said the first order of business for the commission is to plan activities for the next few months. He said the commission would meet on a quarterly basis.
There are currently two open positions on the commission and Kennedy said he like to find two people to fill those spots.
In other business:
The council awarded the Hayford Road Overlay project from 21st Avenue to McFarlane Road to Shamrock Paving, Inc., whose bid came in at $173,954, which is over $80,000 less than the engineer’s estimated cost of $254,900.
The council passed a resolution accepting all of Volumes 1 and 2 of the Airway Heights portion of Spokane County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
The council awarded WM Winkler the bid for the Sunset Restroom Project for $15,986.52. The project is to prepare the site for the CTX restroom and for new sidewalks. WM Winkler is also volunteering their services for the splash pad project.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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