City Council met in regular session on May 5, 2025, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester presided:
Councilmembers present:
Dylan Canaday
Scott Winkler
Jared Andrews
Wyatt Perry
Amy Farris
Beryl Grant
City employees present were Public Works Director Mager, Chief Newman, City Administrator Kennedy and Attorney Jessup.
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the Council minutes of April 21st were approved as presented by Councilor Canaday, second by Councilor Perry. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: Jordan Zwygart of Zwygart John & Associates, presented the audit to the Council. The audit consisted of the city’s regular audit and a single audit due to federal funds received. Upon completion they had no concerns and the city had a clean audit. On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Grant to accept the audit for 2023-24. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Farris, Canaday, Andrews, Grant, Winkler, Perry. NO: none. The motion passed.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: The following committee reports were presented.
• CITY ADMINISTRATOR: City Administrator Kennedy stated the annual ARPA funds report was completed, they are working on the pool, staffing and coordinating the lifeguard class. She has been training Jamie Voller as the new administrative assistant/utility billing clerk and working through normal day-to-day activities. The Establishment was renamed to the Brickhouse.
• FIRE MINUTES: On motion by Councilor Canady, second by Councilor Farris to accept the Fire Minutes of 3/10/25 and 3/24/25. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
• PUBLIC WORKS REPORT: Public Works Director Mager explained he has been working with Chris Wagner over the last year on an unsafe house on S A Street. Chris sold the property but made sure the new owners were aware it needed to be torn down. The house has been removed. The dirt in front of the pavilion is ready to hydroseed as soon as the concrete is poured to the north. Jim Schmidt built a new house on S Meadow and new curb, gutter, and sidewalk was installed along with the sewer line updated. A manhole on Hill Street by Columbia Grain that has been buried for years was brought up to height. Knife River is repairing the sprinkler system in Lions Park as part of sewer project. T Bailey will be up at the water tank to have divers do inspections on the original tank for the 1-year inspection. They have been installing culverts. The City is in the middle of the facility plan and at the last meeting they are looking at new clarifiers, a new EQ basin and changing headworks. Councilor Grant asked if the concrete is covered by the pavilion project? Mager stated yes, that is part of the project, but the city is doing the landscaping portion.
NAME CHANGE REQUEST FROM SOROPTIMIST PARK TO EAGLES PARK: City Administrator Kennedy talked to Joyce Forsmann and she is unavailable to come to the meeting. Joyce would like to see the park renamed to the Eagles but respects the decision of the council. She felt a generic name would be good too but preferred the Eagles name. The Eagles would only pay for the sign if it had their name on it.
Kennedy explained over time park names changed when clubs donated items or money to the development of the park. The Soroptimist name was added to the park when they did the large projects. Not all donations have resulted in name changes. The local girl scout troop donated a couple of larger projects and they didn’t ask for their name at the park. From a city perspective it’s easier to have a generic name for the park. She is not in favor of having hyphened, long park names. Mager agreed he’d prefer a generic name as sometimes having a club name attached to the park makes clubs feel like they have authority over what occurs in the park. Attorney Jessup just saw the Kibbie Dome was named. The city could set up a program that you donate money to get naming rights for the park. Mayor Lester looked up information about naming city parks and saw sometimes there were contests for citizen engagements. Councilor Grant was worried about losing history with the changing of the names of parks. She liked a general name for the park and clubs could still get a name plaque if they donate.
Councilor Farris felt the city should pick a name that is generic and ask the public to contribute names as part of a naming contest. Kennedy will put something on the city Facebook page and get with the paper to also advertise the naming contest.
DRAFT ORDINANCE ON FIRE SUPPRESION COST RECOVERY: Attorney Jessup explained the updates since the last meeting which included removing references to state code, specifying personal property only, updating the number of false alarms allowed and updating ordinance language to include city standards sections. Councilor Grant asked if a mobile home in a mobile home park would be affected by this ordinance. Attorney Jessup stated the trailer is usually owned by the occupant and they rent a space from the trailer park owner. In this case the mobile home would be personal property. Councilor Andrews stated mobile homes aren’t getting taxed by the county; the landowner is paying for the value of the land only. Councilor Winkler agrees with Andrews, they aren’t paying taxes. When talking about the appeals process, Mayor Lester stated an example would be if an owner has declared a manufactured home real property, they could provide information showing they are taxed. Attorney Jessup was going to update the definition of personal property to exclude real property.
ADDRESS CHANGE REQUEST 206 ½ E SOUTH 7TH STREET: The Council received a letter from Ed and Linda Hinds requesting a permanent address change from 206 ½ E South 7th Street to 206 E South 7th Street. The letter from Hinds included the following information:
• Our house is off of E. S. 7th Street behind 204 E. S. 7th Street. If EMS was called to 206 E. S. 7th Street for an emergency, chronologically the first house behind 204 E. S. 7th is 206 E. S. 7th Street, which is our current location. The next newly constructed residence above 206 E.S. 7th should be 206 ½ or another address assigned,
• We have discussed this situation with the EMS services and the logical progression would also be our residence being the first one in line after 204. By having an address not in logical order could mean a life or death situation.
• We have lived at your residence for over 40 years now. When Josie Steinbauch vacated the residence formally 206 E. S. 7th St about 30 years ago, all services were ended and a vacant house was on the lot with no mail service, electricity or water/sewer/garbage.
• When we moved in, our address for all official government mail and all other correspondence including Social Security, financial institutions, Avista, phone, etc. were accepted as 206 E.S. 7th. This included correspondence for our children and elderly parents.
• When the vacated house was torn down and the lot sold more than 2 years ago, I had requested that our address be officially changed on the county tax records and with the City. The county informed me that it was up to the City to change, but that it made perfect sense to get it changed at that time because of the chronological numbering system of the houses and they did not like the ½ on any addresses and would like to get that fixed. They called the City and were told it cannot be done. At that time, I also called City Hall and was told the same thing.
Ray & Roxanne Hilliards were present. They are the property owners at 206 E South 7th and the legal records show this. They like the Hinds and they are great neighbors. The only issue they’ve had is over the address. Hinds use both 206 and 206 ½ while 206 is on his house and on his driveway. Ray has 206 on his house also. Hilliards have informed delivery with the post office so they see both their mail and Hinds mail. Recently the post office has started to act on the address, which is probably why Hinds came to the council. 911 service is a big concern and delivery drivers aren’t always happy either.
Attorney Jessup stated there is no specific requirement for the address; the Council has the authority to make a decision on the address. Councilor Farris asked if Hinds use 206 ½ with the county tax rolls. The county documents show 206 ½ for Hinds.
Councilor Farris felt the city should use the address on the county records. On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Andrews to deny the request from Ed and Linda Hinds, so Hillards will keep 206 E South 7th and Hinds will keep 206 ½ E South 7th. Councilor Grant asked if they needed to update their address on the home. Councilor Farris explained the fire department has clearly stated addresses should be posted and felt Hinds should update their address on the home and driveway. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Farris, Canaday, Andrews, Grant, Winkler, Perry. NO: none. The motion passed.
WAIVING EQUITY BUY IN FEES: City Administrator Kennedy included a copy of the draft resolution to waive buy in fees. She also provided the number of buy ins waived during the 3 year time period when the city adopted the resolution.
4/23/21 Peter Bruzas – house & apartment
6/23/21 Clearwater ice – would have been calculated
8/2/21 Pete Bruzas – duplex
3/14/22 Gene Dandliker – maybe would have been calculated
10/27/22 Morningstar – convert house to duplex
3/15/23 Elkhorn Lodge – activated to 7 units to avoid equity buy in fees before it expired
3/17/23 Dolores Kaschmitter – house to duplex avoided fee before it expired
Recent Buy in amount paid – for those over 1 ER
7/23/24 Idaho County Jail – Water $40,348, Sewer $66,626.60
Public Works Director Mager stated the facility plan has major updates headed our way that may include bonding. We have upgrades as the existing plant is old and equipment needs to be replaced, let alone the temperature requirements that will need to be implemented. We are currently working on our water and sewer projects. Before the council makes a decision to waive buy in fees, he wanted to provide additional information. If the council chooses to adopt the moratorium, then the city loses money for future projects. The buy in fees are collected from multi-user facilities because a 4-plex has four families in it not one using capacity in the system. These fees are put in separate funds to use toward capital projects in the future to upgrade our facility and capacity when needed. Mayor Lester stated the current buy ins for water and sewer total $4,083/ER. The council is running a business with the water and sewer system and they need to be careful about giving away money. Councilor Farris stated she was really serious about waiving fees and was in favor of reviewing it, but the more she thought about it, she decided not to. Mager has very valid points about future issues. Councilor Perry asked if the City could reduce rates and make a deal so Ted Lindsley could pay a portion of the total instead of the full amount. The council was not in favor of making deals with individuals. Councilor Farris stated the resolution to waive buy in fees over one ER was originally adopted after Ted Lindsley came to the council to voice his concern over the city killing his multi-facility project due to buy in fees. After discussion, the council chose not to move forward with the resolution to waive buy in fees.
ITEMS TO NOTE: Spring Clean Up Week: May 12 – 15, 2025
The meeting adjourned at 7:28 P.M.
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Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
