Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETING
November 13, 2023
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON November 13, 2023.
PLACE: Council Chambers, Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street. Time: 5:30PM
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY MAYOR BATEMAN AT 5:30PM
PRESENT were Councilmembers Steve Bateman, James Zenner, Tyler Nelson, Mike Jensen and Kimberly Ingram (who entered the meeting at 5:40pm), Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell and Clerk/Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Guests present were JUB Engineer Amy Uptmor, residents Dale Barker, Mike Ingram and Dan Johnson. Fire Chief Dave Kuther was absent.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No one in attendance wished to offer further comments. Dale Barker is in attendance as he is interested in the open council position coming up in January. Cm. Nelson added that Kelby Heartburg is also interested in the council position.
MINUTES of the previous meetings of 10/10/2023 were approved as emailed upon a motion by Cm. Zenner was seconded by Cm. Jensen, motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated November 13, 2023, was examined, and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $331,965.00
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Nelson and seconded by Cm. Jensen in the total $241,644.47 check numbers 17252 through 17296. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $112,336.11. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as all signed the Claim Approval Report for November.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
- WW Land App Update/Approval of JUB Contract: Amy presented a construction contract to the council which is an amendment to last year’s contract. This contract will cover project phase scope, bidding, project management, construction management services, project representative, project closeout, and regulatory compliance. Amy added that change orders are typical on a project this size the numbers aren’t out of the realm. Phase 1 goes to bid next week, and we will review bids on November 30th and open bids on December 14th. Typically, it only takes 2 weeks to pull a bid together. She projected starting with the roads in May and the reservoirs by July. There will be a bluegrass harvest next year except for the 10 acres where the reservoirs will be constructed. JUB will help the city with the change orders at no additional costs. Compaction testing will be part of the project funding. Cm. Nelson made a motion, Jensen seconded to accept the contract as presented. Aye by all council, motion carried.
- Boss Quotes: Cm. Jensen suggested that if we aren’t purchasing a heating system as part of the senior center now then we should hold off until we get ready to reconstruct the Legion, council agreed to put Boss on hold for now.
- Valuations Northwest – Appraisal on city owned buildings: The council discussed getting a full valuation on all city buildings if a quote comes back at a descent quote. Clerk Schmidt will follow up on the council request. Valuations will be appraising 2 buildings on their scheduled visit which are the EMS and Senior Center buildings.
- Reader Board Update: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that the reader board has been updated, not always a simple process but the office will continue to update until we can apply for a new board.
- Christmas Celebration and Date: Due to scheduling conflicts in early December it was hard to find a date that accommodates everyone. The council finally decided on December 22. Let it be noted that the party was moved to December 11th following the council meeting.
- Retirement Party for Mayor Bateman and Date: The city will “celebrate” Mayor Bateman’s 40 years of service to the community on January 4th prior to his last council meeting on January 8, 2024.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
- Maintenance
Hydrant replacement: Maintenance had to replace a hydrant after it was the victim of an accident. A new hydrant and parts totaled more than $4000. Following discussion, the city will bill the driver of the vehicle for the hydrant and 8 hours per maintenance employee. Because of the incident Cardwell has added a small amount of chlorine to the water system.
Sewer: Maintenance is discharging and believes we will have a pretty clean month for the DMR. Plans are underway to complete a couple sewer installations.
Gas Meter: The new meters arrived, and everyone was trained to the system. The meter is online and monitored by the company via the cloud.
Parks: Christmas lights are going up in Memorial Park.
Streets: Cardwell reported that not much was done on Ash Street because of the weather. Dan Johnson asked what the plans are for Ash Street as he is concerned about water run-off. Cardwell informed that the city is putting the street in from 2nd to 7th and installing culverts to handle the water. In the spring Cardwell would like to rent a couple of big excavators to get the digging done. They moved a lot of dirt to create the roadway. Paving at the legion was completed as well as a lift at the EMS building. There will not be any more crushing done this fall.
Planters: Planters have been cleaned out.
GPS: Cardwell ordered and received a GPS and have been working with it. He plans to map out all the water shut offs, waterlines, and sewer lines onto an SD card.
Cameras: 3 cameras were installed at city hall and there are 2 more coming for the public works office and the equipment bays.
Work Assistance: Cardwell informed that the school has asked for some help to demo old playground equipment to make room for new playground equipment.
Retaining Wall: Planning is underway to begin building a retaining wall at the lagoons after the installation of the Scott’s sewer hook-up.
Building down: The building at 506 Beech has been taken down; Clerk Schmidt will bill the owner once she received the bill for the dumpster.
- Clerk
Clerk Schmidt informed that city hall will be busy creating a celebration honoring Mayor Bateman as well as finishing up end of the year reports. Bridget will continue to update the reader board and do groundwork on a grant for a new board.
- Fire Department-No report
COUNCIL COMMENT
The council discussed a couple of nuisance properties.
ADJOURNMENT
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: December 11th and January 8th at 5:30PM
Holiday Closures: November 23rd and 24th for Thanksgiving
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, December 11th at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.
________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer