Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
REGULAR MEETING
April 11, 2022
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON April 11, 2022.
PLACE: Training Room, Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street.
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY MAYOR BATEMAN AT 5:30P.M.
PRESENT were Councilmembers Steve Bateman, James Zenner, Mike Jensen, Tyler Nelson, and Kimberly Ingram (via Zoom); Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Office Assistant Kim Johnson Ingram and Clerk-Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Fire Chief Dave Kuther was absent. Guest present was Dan Johnson. Amy Manning of the III-A attended via Zoom
Pledge of Allegiance: The pledge was led by Mayor Bateman.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No members of the public in attendance wanted to make comment.
MINUTES of the previous meeting of 3/14/22 were approved as emailed upon a motion by
Cm. Nelson was seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated April 11, 2022 was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $689,435.31
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Zenner and seconded by Cm. Jensen in the total of $109,135.91 check numbers 16366 through 16400. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $27,766.42. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well all signed the Claim Approval Report for April.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
1. III-A Annual Report with Executive Director Amy Manning: Amy was excited to be able to give the annual report to the Nezperce council even via Zoom! She gave a run-down of the busy, productive and inspiring year at the III-A. Membership has grown to 4,810 members serving 83 agencies. 2 new programs have been added; the Medication Infusion and St. Al’s Benefit Programs. The Wellness Screening program continues annually and successfully caught 2 early state cancers, the Telehealth program is a great program and was able to diagnose a major heath issue for a woman before it became an emergency. The Telehealth providers can prescribe over the phone if needed and can save members a trip to the doctor. The EAP program provides 10 sessions for members and their families and is a great resource. The 1st Responder Helpline received 98 calls since implementation and 12 of those calls were crisis calls. The Trust is performing well even though the agency is going through a “bad” year. Amy suggested that agencies budget for a 10% increase annually.
2. Land App – Update: Engineer Uptmor provided an email of the progress over the last month. Land Acquisition is awaiting an indication of available funding. Once we have the go ahead the attorney can work up the purchase and sale agreement and the bond attorney can work on an ordinance. The title work has been ordered. We are shooting for a funding date of June 30th. In this timeframe the survey will be completed followed by the annexation of property. Funding continues as nothing new has been found out. Amy feels that the city is in a good position to allow funding to shake out especially once the land acquisition is completed. One question from the council was how is having the gun club in city limits going to work with the ordinance; perhaps a fire arm exception or is there a way to exclude including the gun club? Dan Johnson added that the title commitment should be completed this week of course noting the survey isn’t completed for the legal description yet. Cm. Nelson would like a copy of the feasibility study as LC Soil has a funding source for a shovel ready project.
Let it be noted: Mayor Bateman added that Greg Branson said that he would like to annex his property on the southside of Nezperce that he is planning to develop.
3. Senior Center Update: Maintenance Cardwell reported that the sheet rocking is getting done. The $40k bill the council is seeing tonight is for the demo and drying out of the building.
4. Tennis Park Bathroom Project: Cardwell reported that we did not get the Blue Cross grant so what do we want to do? Should he take down the bathrooms and the council agreed. Clerk Schmidt added that we are looking for grants in fact she talked with Dodd with CEDA and he was going to have Angie call and discuss a block grant. We are researching other ideas but the consensus of the community wants an upgrade done at the park. Cardwell suggested that LHTAC maybe an avenue too as there is a Lewis Clark historical sign right across the street.
5. Arbor Day Plans and $300 Grant Award: Clerk Schmidt informed the council of the Arbor Day plans and asked if they would like to have a barbecue like in years past and they agreed to it. Plans underway include work in the Garden Club Blue Star Commemorative Park formally known as the Clock Park and work in the RV Park including replacing a tree and a few bushes. Cardwell is ordering bark but it won’t be delivered by Arbor Day.
6. Building Inspector Update: Nezperce has a new building inspector named Kile Allen. Mayor Bateman met him last week when Kile was in town completing 20 permit finals. A contract was available for the mayor to sign, following Cm. Nelson’s motion to accept the contract, the motion was seconded by Cm. Ingram and passed. Schmidt added that Allen has several certifications so he can review plans and certified plus do mechanical/HVAC permits.
7. Fair Housing Month Proclamation: April is Fair Housing Month so the city needs to publish a proclamation. Cm. Nelson moved to accept the proclamation, Cm. Zenner seconded the motion, motion carried.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
Water: The well controller is fixed and is working awesome. Signal wire was taken out so will need to call Avista to repair. Maintenance Cardwell ordered pipe to install for the Willow Development but can’t get it. He ordered it but has no delivery date.
Sewer: Cardwell informed that the manhole at 6th and Willow has a pipe that runs south on Willow that he has never seen before, just by chance saw it. He will have the line cleaned and videoed so we get a better idea of what is in the ground. He received a load of pipe for upcoming projects. Discharging is going well but there was an issue with the controls so he called ETS to have them reboot the system.
Equipment: Cardwell reported on the recently purchased asphalt equipment that was deemed surplus from Boise State. Mayor Bateman gave the go ahead to make the purchase as it was a time is of the essence bid process. We purchased a hot box that heats a section of asphalt for repair which included a tar heating box all mounted on trailers and it even has a wench. This equipment was only used one season at the most and looks new and worth approximately $12,000 and we paid $4,500. A new clutch was put on the 4-wheeler. The new mower arrived and as a 60-inch deck. Bell suggested that we run this one season and then trade up to a mower with the deck size we need. The mower we wanted was not available.
Rock: Cardwell will be talking with PHD as we need about $25,000 worth of gravel. PHD will be crushing in the next month.
CEDA Annual Meeting: The annual meeting is scheduled for April 21st at 5PM. If anyone is interested in attending let Clerk Schmidt know.
“Nezperce” Brochure: Assistant Kim has been working on Nezperce brochure. This brochure covers things such as parks, dogs, utility billing and such and was recreated for the Welcome Baskets the Garden Club puts together for new residents. Mayor Bateman gave a few suggestions for additional information. Once the brochure is completed Clerk Schmidt will have it printed in Grangeville.
Trainings: Clerk Schmidt informed the council of the 2 trainings and dates she will be attending in Moscow. One is an AIC Spring Training and the other is a State Tax Commission training.
Yard Sale: The community wide Yard Sale Day in Nezperce will be May 14th.
City Cleanup: Maintenance Cardwell will call Walco and get a couple roll-offs for a city-wide cleanup. Once the roll-offs arrive letters will be sent to a few residents informing them of where they are encouraging clean-ups.
3. Fire Department – no report
COUNCIL COMMENT
Robin Baune recently sold the bar so we are going to get a couple of new businesses.
Councilwoman Kim Ingram is working to re-establish a chamber.
Cm. Zenner commented that he has heard from a few community members that they are upset that there was no Fireman’s Ball again this year; and that nothing was said about it either. Zenner added that the Fire Chief should get a note that the council would like him attend the council meetings.
The council hears from the community that they feel that they should have access to the EMS building for instance Youth Sports wants to use one of the apparatus bays for basketball practice. Cardwell said that this building pertains to being emergency ready and feels that any of the first responders would not want the building used for anything else. Clerk Schmidt added that she allows use of the conference room to three government agencies during regular business hours and if anyone came into use the workout room, she would allow it during business hours noting that it hasn’t happened.
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 6:44PM
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: Back to mornings next meeting May 9th and June 13th at 7:00AM
Arbor Day: April 28th
City-Wide Yard Sale Day – May 14th
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, May 9th at 7AM at City Hall.
__________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer