April 2018 Newsletter
Calendar of Events...
April 2 - City Council Meeting, MEETING CANCELLED
April 3 - Ambulance Meeting, 6:00 p.m. - Ambulance Building
April 3 - Senior Pinochle, 1:30 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 3 - Hospital District Meeting, 7:30 a.m. - City Hall
April 4 - Tekoa Bike Club, 8:30 a.m. - Eclair's
April 4 - Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 4 - Empire Theatre Meeting, 11:30 a.m. - Feeding Station
April 6 - Chamber Meeting, Noon - Feeding Station
April 10 - HTC, 9:00 a.m. - Kathy Kramer's Home
April 10 - FD #1 Commissioners Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - 101 N Crosby
April 11 - Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 16 - City Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - City Hall
April 17 - Senior Pinochle, 1:30 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 17 - Park and Rec Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - City Hall
April 18 - Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 24 - School Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - District Board Room
April 25 - Slippery Gulch Meeting, 6:30 p.m. - Eclair's
April 25 - Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
April 26 - Tekoa Food Bank, 8:30 a.m. - City Hall
April 30 - Ambulance Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - Ambulance Building
NOTICES:
City council meetings will only be held on the 3rd Monday of each month.
Sewer rates will be increased by $3.00 per month effective
on the April 2018, utility billing.
Healthy Tekoa News! Neighbors Watch and Healthy Tekoa invite you to a community Ice Cream and Cake Social and Paint Party on April 21, at 3 p.m. at Tekoa High School multi-purpose room. This as a free event to celebrate the strength of community in Tekoa. Meet the two groups, their members, and hear about what they do to make our community great. Bring the kids so they can paint original artwork with local artist Robert Heagy. Prescription Drug Take Back Week is April 23-27, at the Tekoa Pharmacy. The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications. Healthy Tekoa will have a sidewalk information table on Friday, April 27; with a free medication/marijuana lock box from noon to 3 p.m. Thirty-nine percent of our community members say they keep their medication locked up. We would like to increase that. Keeping your medications locked up decreases the risk of your kids and their friends from accessing your medications, sharing with others, or abusing them. Toddlers are tempted by colorful pills that look like candy. Every year thousands of youth are hospitalized—and some die—after taking medicine not meant for them.
Chamber News: Tekoa Community Chamber of Commerce would like to invite you to become a member. We have many accomplishments this year including our tourism brochure, Slippery Gulch Breakfast, and Scholarships. We are sponsors of the Halloween Parade, Fall Carnival, Easter Egg Hunt, PACE Tree of Sharing, and Firemen’s Auction. The chamber is also members of the Booster Club, Empire Theatre, and Healthy Tekoa Coalition. Chamber is an organizer of the Small Business Saturday, street banners and lights; and creator of our website www.tekoachamber.com. Contact Diane Harp or Patti Primmer for membership information. Chamber members would like to remind our downtown businesses to ask employees not to park on the main street (Crosby) so that our customers can utilize those parking spaces.
Tekoa Library Information: It’s time for the annual Penny Drive. The funds collected benefit programming or special projects in the Tekoa library. The little red piggy on the check-out counter is ready for your pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Need help with home energy bills? Lindsey Brocious from Community Action Center is coming to Tekoa Tuesday, April 10, between 1:30 and 3 p.m. The Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) offers a one-time payment to help qualified Whitman County residents make their energy bills more affordable. The funding pays a portion of energy costs, but the payment is not intended to cover the yearly cost of a residence. Seniors 60+ and disabled individuals may qualify for assistance as well. Must be an Avista customer and able to provide income documents. Call 1-800-482-3991 for more information or to schedule an appointment. Kids Club science day is on early release Wednesday, April 11, from noon to 1. Kids will learn about water science, watersheds, and beaver dams. Snacks are provided. Feeling stressed out, sleepless at night, and just need a little help with dealing with it all? Attend Tekoa Library’s Introduction to Mastering Stress weekly workshop. Dan Rosey, longtime stress and emotion coach, will lead attendees through causes of stress, let go breathing, communication skills, and mindfulness activities. This is a free weekly practice from 6-7 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Tekoa Empire Theatre Presents:
The Hankers
Dynamic 5-piece band with nationally renowned fiddler
Country, Southern Rock and Blues
Saturday, April 7, at 7:00 p.m.
Ticket prices: $12/person, $10/Students, Sr. and Military
Messages from the Mayor~
Spring has sprung!! Now we can look forward to rain rather than snow. At least you don’t have to shovel rain!
Let’s start this month with our sewer project. We are still working with our engineering firm determining locations for the new lines due to be installed this summer. Down the road, maybe 10 years from now, we will be using lagoons and land application rather than discharging our treated wastewater into Hangman Creek. It will be costly; consequently, the council reluctantly decided to raise sewer rates by $3/month beginning with the end of April billing. We will now pay $53.00 each month for sewer service!
People ask about the status of the crumbling Andersson building on Crosby and Main. By May 16, the city will have a better idea of the plans to deal with the upper floor of this building. We are also involved in the future of the old bowling alley building. While I’m on the subject of buildings that people have a concern with, we are also involved with the future status of the two recreational vehicles located on Spring St.
I submitted a proposal for the County Commissioners for .09 monies, so we can complete our community center. We received a $35,000 grant two years ago which was used to build the handicapped-accessible restrooms, needed wiring with new lights, a new heating system, and a doorway between the theatre and community center. Our plans now are to put in windows (Crosby St), new flooring, another doorway in the back between the theatre and community center, and mudding/taping/painting the drywall which has been installed on the walls and ceiling of the building.
We are expecting a grant to remove a tree and fix the sidewalk on Leslie Street. Repairing sidewalks in town needs to be a yearly commitment and this particular grant may be available each year for this purpose.
There will be no chip-sealing this summer. However, the portion of the street levy that passed last fall devoted to chip-sealing will be earmarked only for that project. Therefore, it doesn’t appear that a street levy will be necessary this year, unless we get a grant to finish Park Street.
Our next council meeting is scheduled for April 16. The council voted to have only one meeting on the third Monday of the month, unless there was a need at the time for an additional meeting.
Enough for this month. Think sun and blue skies!
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