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Kooskia City Council: Speaker Encourages Involvement by Norma Staaf Idaho County Free Press, May 19, 2021

Maki shared a PowerPoint presentation, describing the many problems
facing wild salmon and steelhead, focusing on the four Lower Snake River dams.

KOOSKIA -- Ashley Walker, president of the Greater Kooskia Chamber of Commerce, addressed the council about the town Christmas tree and Kooskia Days. The chamber is working on the removal and replacement of the town Christmas tree, the large spruce adjacent to Kooskia Cafe. She received several suggestions from council and staff for companies that she could contact for bids on tree removal.

Walker reported on progress for planning Kooskia Days for July 29-31. She is 90 percent sure they will be able to do a logging show. Other Kooskia Days plans include a Thursday night family night, with a movie in the park. Outside the meeting, Walker said, there are currently only five chamber members and they desperately need more board members to help plan and stage Kooskia Days. She encourages anyone interested in helping to call her at 208-935-5837.

Mayor Don Coffman introduced Kyle Maki, the North Idaho field representative for the Idaho Wildlife Federation.

Maki shared a PowerPoint presentation, describing the many problems facing wild salmon and steelhead, focusing on the four Lower Snake River dams. Although we have some incredible habitat, according to Maki, the smolt to adult ratio (SAR) is much lower than for other downstream river systems like the John Day and the Deschutes in Oregon.

Maki has presented similar information in other river communities, recently at the Kamiah city council meeting and Kamiah Chamber of Commerce meetings.

He described three crises facing Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) continued operation of the dams: BPA has expensive assets, shipping is down 80 percent and already subsidized by the taxpayers, and the fish are nearing extinction. According to Maki, although BPA uses a "nameplate" figure of 3,300 MW of annual power production annually, their actual data shows an average energy production of 963 MW from 2004-2019. In closing, he encouraged the mayor and council members to keep an open mind about Congressman Simpson's plan to breach dams and to get involved in discussions about it.

City resident Shannon Newman asked council if he and his wife could build a tiny house (10'x30'), Park Model home on their property (in addition to their current residence) for a family member, with the intention of hooking it up to city water and sewer. City prosecutor Kirk MacGregor reminded council of the RV parking ordinance they previously enacted. Discussion ensued concerning the difference between an RV and a tiny home. Council approved a clarification that the Park Model homes are not subject to the RV ordinance.

Council reviewed the current nuisance code with public works superintendent Carlos Martinez describing it as junk, garbage and dilapidated conditions on a property.

"We have some definite messes." He clarified that "a lot of our citizens complain. This is not about me wanting this."

MacGregor and Martinez agreed the current process has many lengthy and time-consuming steps, including an opportunity for the offending landowner to request a public hearing. MacGregor said, "I don't think we need a public hearing to talk about one person's yard."

The discussion concluded with council requesting that MacGregor draft a simplified nuisance ordinance for discussion at the June council meeting.

In his report to the council, fire chief Mark Anderson described last week's fire at the CFI sawmill.

"It was a challenge," he said, "probably the biggest incident I have ever incident commanded." Anderson continued, "I would like to thank everyone who helped." He listed the mutual aid departments who assisted Kooskia fire: Stites, Kamiah, BPC, Ridge Runner, Harpster, Grangeville and Orofino. Anderson concluded, it is important "to recognize that we can all pull together and put on a response like that."