Cashmere City Council Meeting May 22

Cashmere- In a brief yet efficient meeting on May 22, the Cashmere City Council discussed the rate sheet for maintenance/laborers of the water filtration system behind the Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village. “Behind the museum we have two water pods, and these are sand filters where the river water gets filtered before it gets taken into our water system,” said Cashmere Mayor Jim Fletcher. “Every couple of years we have to stop and clean the fine debris off the top of that sand filter which is a hand labor job with shovels.”

Currently, the sand filter basins at the water treatment are scheduled for a complete cleaning, which is a labor-intensive endeavor that requires at least ten workers. In 2022, the City of Cashmere underwent maintenance on the facility to remove air bubbles from the water.

The main goal of the cleaning is to carefully scrape off debris to refresh the filters to ensure clean drinking water for area residents. The Council mentioned that now is a good time to clean the filters as the river is currently experiencing low usage. The estimated completion time for the project is one week for each basin.

Express Employment agreed to find workers to complete the project and a billed hourly rate of $27 per hour. Fletcher has previously signed the rate sheet green-lighting Express Employment to start recruiting. The Council ratified the mayor’s signing of the rate sheet.

The next item on the agenda was the Cashmere Food Bank’s request to amend its rental agreement with the City regarding River Street storage facility which houses the food bank. The current termination notice for the Food Bank, should the City decide to use the facility for another purpose, is six months. “The board was concerned that if the City ever changed its mind and we wanted to use the building back for something that the six-month lead time would not be enough for them to relocate because they had trouble in the past trying find a location,” Fletcher said. While the food bank had requested 18 months’ notice, Fletcher countered with 12 months. A motion was made and seconded and passed unanimously. Steve Croci, Director of Operations for the City of Cashmere, updated the Council on the Sunset Highway Construction project which began this week. During construction, Evergreen Drive will be closed for about 30 days. There will be bypasses on Sunset Highway and Mill Road. Croci informed the Council that people will still have access to all the businesses near the construction area.