Joseph well work could start soon

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Drilling on a new well for Joseph could begin as early as next week.

At its Tuesday night meeting, the Joseph City Council unanimously approved a thick contract prepared and brought by project manager Brad Baird of Anderson Perry and Associates engineering firm of La Grande.

The contract is with Riverside Inc., a well drilling outfit from Parma, Idaho, which was awarded the well bid by the council in December. Riverside, which submitted a $118,000 bid based on a 250-foot well, was selected from among three bidders, none local.

Baird said that Riverside is now finishing up a well in La Grande. The contract specifies a 60-day period in which to dig the well, which will be located on the tepee encampment property next to the rodeo grounds. Baird said that the well itself will be unobtrusive.

“I sure hope we hit it (in 250 feet),” Baird said. “You know how well drilling is.” He noted, however, that the old mill well not too far away is about that depth and produces 900 gallons of water a minute.

The well is phase two of a three-phase project, the first of which was rerouting the water supply system from the old water trestle across the Marr Ranch property and laying new pipe to ease water quality problems on East St. and up the hill next to the high school.

Phase three will be the building of a pump station for the well and the replacement of more water pipe.

Baird said that the new well will kick on automatically when the reservoir is below a certain level to supplement the present water supply, which is Wallowa Lake, or it will be able to bypass the reservoir and supply the city directly in the case of an emergency.

Counsel search committee formedIn other action at the meeting, the council – minus two absent members, Jim Zacharias and Sam Russell – voted unanimously for Mayor Peggy Kite-Martin to appoint a committee to draft a recruitment notice for a new city attorney.

The motion also stated that the council will accept attorney Mark Tipperman’s agreement to remain as city counsel until a suitable replacement is on the job; the council will actively discuss the possibility of retaining Tipperman on a contract basis for land use and real estate issues, which are his specialties.

Despite the fact that a planned public hearing was cancelled after a conditional use permit application was withdrawn by applicant Jeff Harman (see story on Page 2), the council meeting still lasted over three hours. Other items on the agenda ranged from a presentation concerning the Community Fire Plan to enlisting the help of Joseph High School FFA members for a lesson on parliamentary procedures.