WARDEN — The Warden City Council met for its regular meeting and continued a port annexation process, discussed an update to weed policies and police chief hiring, accepted an application for a Transportation Improvement Board grant and selected a person to serve on the Grant County Homeless Housing Task Force.  

Annexation 

At the last regular meeting, the city got a notice of intent for the port to annex property near the airport.  

“We were going to accept that with the zoning and the indebtedness, and they are the 100% property owner,” City Administrator Kriss Shuler said. “What we have before us this evening is the petition for annexation, which says, what you have wanted to accept was the indebtedness and the manufacturing is the zone for that area. If we accept this petition as of tonight, then it goes to the Grant County Assessor, and then they assure that property ownership and provide that certificate of that ownership.” 

The council unanimously accepted the proposal. There will be a public hearing Aug. 26 at the next regular city council meeting to allow for the public to comment.  

Police 

Grant County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Nick Overland has stepped in as the interim chief for the Warden Police Department.  

“He is doing oversight,” Shuler said. “He's not here eight hours a day, but he is here. He's been coming about every day, drives around town, checks on the department, checks in with us. So we're happy with that.” 

Shuler said the city has an applicant going through the conditional checklist right now. They have completed the background check and polygraph test. The candidate still has to go through a medical and psychological evaluation.  

“He came to visit yesterday,” Shuler said. “He was looking at houses in Warden for sale.” 

TIB grant 

The council unanimously accepted the resolution to move forward with a grant application to the Transportation Improvement Project Small City Maintenance Program. 

“This is a maintenance for the existing paved roads in our community prior to 2025, and ... it's called a fog seal,” Shuler said. “Basically it's the oil they throw on the road. It kind of seals it over, seals the cracks, extends the life of that road. You're not putting any asphalt on it or anything – but it is a life extender for those roads.” 

The application is to have a crack and fog seal on 25 roads in the city and to apply a subgrade repair and then crack and fog seal to County Road.  

The total cost of the project would be around $553,000 and the city would match 5% or about $28,000. 

Successful applicants will be announced in November and if the city is awarded the grant, the project will begin next summer.  

Weeds 

The council began a discussion about adding a code resolution to allow the city to remove weeds and horticultural growth on private property. If the owner does not comply with a request to remove weeds, the city would be able to clear the weeds and process the charge against the owner for costs associated with removal.  

Shuler said there is a property owner who has received two notices, with no action resulting in her looking into changing the code. 

“This is just really informational, so you see there might be some updates that we can use with this chapter of our code,” Shuler said.  

The council did not vote on the matter, but it will likely be in a future council meeting for further consideration, according to Shuler.  

Homelessness

The Grant County Association of Cities and Towns appoints a member to the Grant County Homeless Housing Task Force and the previous representative from Warden has resigned from council.  

Councilmember Emily Campos nominated Council Member Brittney Pittman to serve on the board. Pittman was not present at the meeting.  

The council unanimously approved Pittman to join the board, subject to her approval.