City council hears quail proposal

The Thompson Falls City Council announced at its Monday meeting that Officer Michael Derry had finished his probationary year. The council voted him in unanimously as a full-time officer with the Thompson Falls Police Department.

Another issue brought up at the meeting was a proposition to raise coturnix quail inside the city limits. The idea was brought up by resident Ashley Conley, who wants to raise the birds as food for her family. The city has ordinances regulating the ownership of ducks, chickens and rabbits in the town, but none on quails. In her proposition, Conley suggested a limit of 50 birds, however, has since dropped that requested number to 15. According to Conley, the birds can safely and humanely be kept in a space of under two-square-feet per adult bird and can be kept in small cages in a very small space. She commented that one chicken egg is equivalent to three quail eggs in food quantity. Conley said the birds are very small, and so the number of 50 is actually quite conservative. The issue was deferred to the community relations committee.

Conley also suggested looking at other ordinances regarding the keeping of animals. She proposed that the ordinance for rabbits, in particular, be looked at in regard to the humane keeping of the animals. This matter was also deferred to the community relations committee.

The issue of neighborhood watch signs was brought forward by Rusti Leivestad. She and her neighbors are considering putting in a sign informing that the neighborhood has unified to watch for crime. Leivestad suggested a universal sign that the whole community uses. She suggested one that is easily recognizable and identifiable. The council suggested that she bring the topic up at the next crime watch meeting, which will be at the community center on Monday, February 15, at 7 p.m. The council also mentioned that they may be required to install the signs and deferred the issue to the community relations committee.

The council then looked into a request by the library to put a time capsule at Ainsworth Park. According to Mayor Mark Sheets, the library said that they will be turning 100 years old this year and would like to put in a capsule to be reopened 100 years from its placement. According to the council, the women’s club may be assisting as they too will be turning 100 years old this year. The council asked that a more formal request be submitted, however, are supportive of the idea but a few details must be ironed out.

The city announced that they will be proceeding with water and sewer rate increases and mentioned that no one showed up for the public hearing on the matter.

The council elected to award the West Side Water Project to Muster Construction, with a bid of $707,000. The council also awarded the position of the Water Project Inspector to Sherry Johnson Associates.

Council member Ruth Cheney brought up the idea of investing into a camera security system to protect the Ainsworth Park veteran’s monument. “There were many years of effort and a lot of man hours put into this monument, it needs to be protected,” said Cheney. She referred to several other such monuments that have recently been vandalized across the state. The council was supportive of the idea, and council member Raoul Ribeiro mentioned that it may be a good idea to inspect putting such a system to work for other city resources and monuments as well as the one in Ainsworth.