City Council met in regular session on November 17, 2025, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester:
Councilmembers present:
Wyatt Perry
Jared Andrew
Dylan Canaday
Scott Winkler
Amy Farris
Councilmember via phone: Beryl Grant
City employees present were City Administrator Kennedy, Chief Newman, Attorney Jessup and Public Works Director Mager.
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the Council minutes of November 17th were approved as presented by Councilor Canaday, second by Councilor Perry. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: Amy Manning, III-A provided the 2024-25 Annual Report outlining the activities of the trust.
MaeLena Dalling of the Pioneer Park playground group explained they are looking at doing donor recognition and sponsorship signs. They are looking at ways to raise money and are looking at grants, large donations/corporate sponsors, private donors and community donations. The playground currently has two benches. The committee initially proposed installing donor recognition benches similar to those used in Cottonwood, featuring engraved business or family names. The benches would be fabricated by Advanced Welding with involvement from high school students, promoting local investment in the project. The old benches could be used at one of the other parks.
Mayor Lester stated the city had an old stance to not have advertising for commercial businesses or others on city property. It’s hard to know where to start and stop with advertising and who replaces signs when they go bad. Attorney Jessup stated an option may be to have a single donor sign for a limited time frame like 10 years which acknowledge sponsorship and then it could be eliminated in the future. MaeLena stated they would like to have local facts on signs throughout the playground since there would be room within the playground area for them. Councilor Canaday questioned where the donor sign would be located. MaeLena said sometimes the name of the park is on the front and donor names on the back. Councilor Andrews stated he was ok with businesses listed on a sign. Councilor Perry liked the arched sign design. The council as a whole felt a single sign with all the donors on it would be best. Councilor Winkler stated he wasn’t in favor of names on benches and the council agreed. Public Works Director stated the new benches the city currently use are powder coated and have a 20-year guarantee. Councilor Winkler felt the committee should get more information about the sign and return to the next meeting, showing sign material and how long it should last before making a decision.
Dave Wimer, Lions Club, stated they have three bids on the softball field fence and are working to get a 4th bid. Bob and Jeramie met to get a retaining wall on the back of home plate to help with drainage. The dugouts will take the place of fence from home base to 1st base. They will move the backstop which gives room for the sidewalk.
Public Works Director Mager stated the softball field was built for softball. Now it is also being used for soccer. He asked the council if the field is a softball or soccer field, so he knows how to proceed. Councilor Canaday felt it needed to accommodate both. Councilor Farris stated it’s a public park. She understands it’s a softball field, but soccer is a sport in the community too and it needs to be multipurpose. Cody Vrieling with soccer stated they have two fields right now. Their biggest concern is that the outfield fence doesn’t move. The third baseline fence could move about 15’ and that would be ok. Mager stated the outfield fence stays as is. Councilor Andrews asked Cody if they’ve explored options to use the GEMS facility. Cody stated they were told they couldn’t use the school. Andrews stated it is possible with a facility use agreement. On motion by Councilor Andrews, second by Councilor Winkler to move forward with the softball project keeping the soccer fields in mind as they set their fences and boundaries. Councilor Grant stated it is a city park, so it needs to be for softball and soccer both. If soccer and softball are both happy, then move forward. Councilor Farris stated she would be happy as long as both sports are accommodated. Councilor Andrews withdrew his motion and Councilor Winkler agreed. The city will get a map on file with approval of the plan.
COMMITTEE REPORTS: The following committee reports were presented.
• CITY ADMINISTRATOR: All the new rates are updated and the first bills went out with those rates. Office staff worked to get the square system updated and ready for the ski swap, including the addition of the service fee for credit card use. Ski swap went well this year. The office has been working with the online processor for utility bills and the conversion to consumer paid will take place December 15th. Credit/debit cards will be 2.95% with $2.95 minimum and Ach transfers are $1.00. Zumwalt bench is in at Lions Park and finalizes the Playground project. All the records listed on the adopted destruction resolution have been shredded.
• PUBLIC WORKS: Public Works Director Mager stated they’ve been sweeping leaves, cleaning drains and installing culverts. They are getting ready to do sewer line maintenance. They completed gravel street maintenance. Snowhaven sewer is installed and functional. They should have the official report water samples this week.
• CLEARWATER WELL UPDATE: Public Works Director Mager stated we have opened the contract back up from a pause. Challenger is working and Pumptech should install the pump tomorrow. The generator test was conducted and it’s missing a module so will have to come back.
BILLS: The bills in total amount of $357,065.53 (Financials $257,800.04 October Payroll $99,265.49) were approved and ordered paid out of their respective funds, on motion by Councilor Canaday, second by Councilor Perry. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
FIRE CHANGES: Chief Perry stated the city already adopted an ordinance to bill for personal property fires but it’s too restrictive. He would like to be able to bill if the department gets called out on any non-real property, such as traffic control or hazmat response or something similar. The
City attorney will look at revising the current ordinance.
OFFICIAL ELECTION RESULTS: City Administrator read the official election results for three 4-year term council positions. 44% of registered voters voted.
Michael Smith 252
Beryl Grant 341
Dylan Canaday 482
Lance G McColloch 173
Gabriel Forsmann 589
Cody Edwards 364
On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Perry to accept the official election results as submitted by Idaho County. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Farris, Winkler, Canaday, Andrews, Grant, Perry. NO: none. The motion passed.
STANDARD CONTRACT AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Perry to approve signing the J-U-B agreement for $32,200 to develop standard contact and technical specifications. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Farris, Winkler, Canaday, Andrews, Grant, Perry. NO: none. The motion passed.
ITEMS TO NOTE: Attorney Jessup said the county should have an answer to us on the Area of Impact map tomorrow.
The meeting adjourned at 7:29 P.M.
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Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
