Weather cameras installed at airport

Cameras that were recently installed at Holyoke Municipal Airport are now part of a Federal Aviation Administration website.

City Superintendent Mark Brown updated the city council on the project at its Aug. 2 meeting.

He said the cameras show what the weather looks like to the north, south, east and west.

The images are available on weathercams.faa.gov and are generally updated every 10 minutes. A loop feature allows people to look at the continuous images from the last several hours.

In his report, Brown also said his department has been working on the electricity for Holyoke Volunteer Fire Department’s new fire hall as well as working on preliminary flood plain mapping.

Roberts presents on communications center funding

Phillips County Commissioner Garold Roberts was at the Aug. 2 city council meeting to talk about funding for the county communications center.

A group made up of representatives from the county, municipalities, hospitals and fire protection districts has been researching the history of the local communications center. Roberts said that the documents never really spelled out how the costs should be shared between the different entities that utilize the communications center.

The county is currently taking on the majority of the cost for the communications center budget even though it isn’t the only entity to use the services.

“We’re still open to anything. Your feedback is part of the process,” said Roberts. “Can we do this together?”

Visitors address opioid funds

Phillips County Commissioner Terry Hofmeister and Yuma County Administrator Andrea Calhoon came to the Aug. 2 council meeting to discuss opioid settlement funds.

Holyoke City Council decided to opt in to an opioid settlement fund allocation at its July 5 meeting, while the board of Phillips County commissioners voted to opt out at its June 30 meeting.

Entities in the 10-county region that opted out are essentially pooling the funds that will be dispersed over 18 years.

“Our goal is to help you understand how much reporting will go into the opioid funds,” said Hofmeister to the council.

He said that the region is thinking about using its pooled funds for a treatment facility in Fort Morgan; however, Hofmeister said that they don’t want to exclude anyone from getting help, regardless of whether or not their county or municipality contributed to the regional funds.

Calhoon pointed out that it’s going to be a long-term project. Right now organizers are working on transportation solutions to help people get to facilities that are already in place on the Front Range.

Hofmeister reminded the council that even though they have opted in to receive Holyoke’s share of the funds, they can always change to opt-out status at a later date.

Other business

In other business at the Aug. 2 meeting, the council:

— Approved a liquor license hearing for Sept. 6.

— Approved the purchase of a pump and hose kit.

— Approved hiring E-Z Irrigation to dig for a sewer pipe.

— Postponed discussion on the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program.

— Instructed clerk/treasurer Kathy Olofson to sign the intergovernmental agreement with the Phillips County clerk and recorder for the Nov. 8 general election.

— Approved a purchase request for a multifunction printer for the code enforcement/building permit office. The original plan was to purchase it from Amazon for $749, but it was later changed to purchase it from Printers Paper and More in Holyoke for the same price as Amazon.