Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETING
December 12, 2022
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON December 12, 2022.
PLACE: Training Room, Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street.
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY COUNCIL PRESIDENT TYLER NELSON AT 5:34P.M.
PRESENT were Councilmembers Steve Bateman (via cell phone), Tyler Nelson, Mike Jensen, Kimberly Ingram (via Zoom), James Zenner, Fire Chief Dave Kuther, Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Office Assistant Kim Johnson Ingram, and Clerk/Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt.
MINUTES of the previous meeting of 11/14/2022 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 December 12, 2022 was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $441,802.50
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Zenner and seconded by Cm. Nelson in the total of $81,262.34 check numbers 16722 through 16758. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $57,381.17. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well all signed the Claim Approval Report for December.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
1. Crop Share Farm Lease with Ron Payne: Cm. Jensen commented that he felt it read as a standard lease. Cm. Zenner reviewed the lease and felt that we needed additional liability insurance language. Clerk Schmidt asked the council if they felt that the lease should end on September 30th and run with the city fiscal year. Council agreed. Clerk Schmidt will ask Attorney Wright to update the lease with the requested changes and return for the council review. Cm. Jensen made a motion to approve the lease with the recommended changes, Cm. Nelson seconded the motion, motion carried. NOTE: Clerk Schmidt spoke with Wright and he added a clause for liability in the amount of 1,000,000 as the lease had already included the requirement of crop insurance.
2. Customer Utility Services Rules & Policies: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that the policy was developed as a recommendation of the SRF/ARPA application. This policy puts in place the city’s unwritten rules regarding utility customer services. The council definitely felt that the policy is needed and Cm. Jensen moved to accept and adopt the Customer Utility Services Rules and Policies as presented, Cm. Nelson agreed and seconded the motion. The motion was passed by all ayes.
3. Financial Controls Policies: This document puts in writing the financial controls already practiced by the city clerk’s office and adds a few controls that need to be in place. Following discussion Cm. Nelson moved to accept the policy as written. Cm. Ingram seconded the motion, motion carried.
4. Huggins Property Acquisition Update: The signed Purchase and Sale Agreement is at the Title Company and the agreement calls for a closing on the 15th. Hopefully, this purchase is completed this week.
5. WW Land Ap Project Update: Engineer Amy Uptmor met with Maintenance Cardwell today and brought the most recent engineer cost estimate of the project which totals over 12 million. The consensus of the council was that we need to actively participate in the design planning and trim the costs to keep from spending 12 million dollars. The council does not want to dig into the bond or raise fees more than what has been discussed. Clerk Schmidt will email the council a copy of the estimate to review and Cardwell will be pulling together the amount of rock we need for this project, the airport project and seal coating as we can prepurchase rock. Amy’s monthly email report included the finalizing the SRF/ARPA application which is due December 30. Clerk Schmidt will have the application and supporting documentation submitted to DEQ by Thursday the 15th.
6. Road & Street Annual Report: The annual report was reviewed and accepted by the council following a motion by Cm. Nelson and seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried.
7. Code Enforcement Officer: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that cities have been contracting rather than hiring for code enforcement. Discussion followed and the council asked the clerk to find out if any neighboring cities have contracted for services and find out if there is any interest in contracting with another town.
8. Equipment Purchase – JD 450 Dozer: The council had several questions for Maintenance Cardwell before deciding to purchase the dozer for sale at Hillco. Cardwell will follow up and gather the requested information before the council makes a decision; including having it inspected by a mechanic.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
1.Maintenance
Water: Cardwell reported that he found a big leak that was causing the pumps in Well 4 to run steady. From the leak we ended up with a coliform hit so he had to chlorinate the drinking water for 4 days until he received a clean test. Cardwell also informed the council that the new chlorination pumps work awesome.
Sewer: Cardwell informed that he is discharging and the ponds are low in anticipation of a big snow melt. Cardwell had talked about building a building at the lagoons before the land app project to keeps costs down so we will be looking at the project estimate closely.
Parks: The Christmas lights are up in the park; Cardwell added that some of the trees are getting tall so they did their best. Lights downtown need to get done this week. He also added that it appears that kids have been throwing rocks at the granite rock sign in the park.
Streets: Maintenance has been plowing snow throughout the month and Mauer had an accident while plowing at the Eller Building. He was clearing the sidewalk on Friday before the Craft Fair Saturday and somehow a tire dropped of the sidewalk. This claim will be turned into the insurance. Cm. Jensen asked if maintenance could remove half of the snow pile at the post office. Backing out is difficult with such a big pile. Cardwell agreed to remove some of the snow.
Misc: Cardwell verified that there is someone living in a camper at Robin Baune’s lots which is not in compliance with the city zoning ordinance. A letter will be sent to Robin after the mayor is back from vacations to assist with the issue.
2. Clerk
Clerk Schmidt informed the council that she will be on vacation from January 7th to the 14th and asked if the meeting could be moved from the 9th to Thursday the 5th and the council agreed to move their January meeting.
Schmidt reminded the council of the city Christmas party on the 16th at 5:30PM; everyone should bring a snack to share and their own drink of choice. The murder mystery picked was Trailer Trash so Kim Johnson-Ingram has assigned the parts and each of you need to take home the information for the game to share with spouses.
Clerk Schmidt informed that the city will not receive any funds from the Service League so we are looking for other grants and there may be a Parks & Rec. grant that will fit our needs. We will be looking into things further.
3. Fire Department: Chief Kuther had nothing new to report.
COUNCIL COMMENT
Council asked how the Senior Center work is going. The work is getting completed, Cardwell described what is left to be done and added that the chimney is about to go.
ADJOURNMENT at 6:58PM
Other/Upcoming Events:
City Christmas Party: Friday, December 16th at 5:30PM
Upcoming Council Meetings: January 5th and February 13th at 5:30PM
Holiday Closures: December 26th and January 2nd and 16th
City Officials Day at the Capital: January 25th & 26th
Clerk’s Vacation: January 7th -14th
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Thursday, January 5th at 5:30PM at City Hall.
__________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer