Chinook mulls water, sewer issues

The majority of Monday night's Chinook City Council meeting was spent rolling around a perennial Chinook debate — how to manage the sewer and water charges.

The Chinook Eagles Club asked to have several of their new downtown building's accounts shut down.

The building, which used to hold numerous offices, apartments and the old Pizza Pro, is now entirely occupied by the Eagles, with renovations adding a bowling alley, upgraded kitchen and walk-in cooler.

These changes also prompted the request to remove the water and sewer lines that had serviced the previously divided building.

Eliminating the lines would save the Eagles hundreds or thousands of dollars a year, but that money would come out of the bond payments the city agreed to when funding the water and sewer systems.

And if the Eagles are allowed to eliminate their accounts, that could eventually raise rates for the rest of the city's users, once minimum payments are set again.

In the past few years, the council allowed the owners of duplexes in town to convert their buildings into one home, eliminating the second line, without penalty.

This time, the council is leaning toward allowing the Eagles to shut down whatever lines they want, by paying off the rest of the amount owed on the bond for each account.

The council did not actually approve the plan, but want to talk further with the Eagles managers about which lines they would like to shut off and how much that will cost them.