Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETING
December 13, 2021
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON December 13, 2021.
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 via phone, Michelle Lyons, James Zenner, Mike Jensen and Tyler Nelson; Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Clerk-Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt and Office Assistant Kimberly Johnson. Guests present were JUB Engineer Amy Uptmor, residents Mark Hand and Dan Johnson. Fire Chief Dave Kuther was absent.
Pledge of Allegiance: The pledge was led by Mayor Bateman.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Dan Johnson inquired about the install of infrastructure at the Willow Street development; he is willing to coordinate to get the services installed. Cardwell informed that the water has been installed but we need to plan on getting the sewer done because we don’t have the equipment to do the work inhouse.
MINUTES of the previous meeting of 12/13/21 were approved as emailed upon a motion by
Cm. Zenner was seconded by Cm. Lyons, motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated December 13, 2021 was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $604,359.62
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 $37,758.35 check numbers 16186 through 16217. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $50,407.14. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as the Payment Approval Report for December.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
1. Teen Center Update – Mark Hand: Mark Hand began by thanking the council for their donation to the teen center. The donation went toward the stove that they have been saving for as the kitchen is yet to be completed. He shared the center’s financial P & L so that the council understands that the center is running primarily on contributions, fundraisers and grants. Mark will be applying for the $10,000 grant through BlueShield that the mayor has provided. Mayor Bateman will sign off on the application once completed.
2. Land App Update: Engineer Uptmor gave a project update on what has happen since last month. She contacted the city attorney and the RD representative to discuss with them that Ron Payne refused our offers in November for the property purchase. Both the attorney and RD are in agreeance with the next set of offers that have been discussed by the mayor and council. It was decided that a meeting with Ron Payne and city will be scheduled for Monday, December 20th in Lewiston. Cm. Zenner added that he has been approached by constituents wondering if Mayor Bateman should be negotiating for the city as he has a personal relationship with Ron Payne. Mayor Bateman added that he is indeed working on behalf of the city and is not a personal representative of Ron Payne at this time. Mayor Bateman asked if anyone would like to attend Monday’s meeting with him and Cm. Nelson decided to attend. Let it be noted that any negotiation decisions made are by the council as the mayor only votes in the rare situation of a council tie.
3. Building Inspection: Tristan Kimball is the only applicant for the position since advertising for a building inspector; he has been hired by several entities. Cm Nelson made a motion to hire Kimball for one year, Cm. Lyons seconded the motion, motion carried.
4. Trombetta Property Clean-up: Following discussion acknowledging the work performed over the last month, the council thought it would be beneficial to send a follow up letter requesting that the cleanup continue so it doesn’t backslide into spring. Cardwell will work with Walco to have the roll-off removed as it is over full. Let it be noted that snow stopped the progress of removing the roll-off but the Trombetta’s continued to clean up; property was put up for sale and has an accepted offer as of the January council meeting.
5. Annual Road and Street Financial Report: Following review of the report Cm. Zenner moved to accept the report as presented, Cm. Jensen seconded the motion, motion carried.
6. Property Split Requests: Clerk Schmidt explained that there are two splits to review. McMillion made a change to his split and had Schmidt sign off acknowledging the change while Stephanie Meyr and Dan Luke are splitting lots 1-6 from 7-12 in Block 9. These parcels have been listed separately with sales pending. Dan Johnson asked what business is it of the city as these are personal properties. This has recently become an issue brought to the city by realtors and the county wanting to know if the city has an issue with a split. There was no procedure in place to handle such matters so when the city is asked if it is “ok” so we have developed a procedure going forward. The city reviews the request and sends a letter that they have addressed the request and has no issue.
7. Herrington Contract & Fee Schedule: Following review of the contract Cm. Jensen moved to accept the contract as presented, motion was seconded by Cm. Nelson, motion carried.
8. Comprehensive Plan & Survey Review: Christine Frei with CEDA has compiled the results of the survey and will be finalizing the plan for public review and the council acceptance next month. Clerk Schmidt has a copy of the results and will share it with the public via Facebook and the city website. There will be a public hearing at the next meeting to review and approve the plan.
9. Audit Update: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that she has been trying to reach out to the firm regarding the audit for months and finally found a local number. Her contact has been deployed since summer. She has now had several discussions with Ryan Barnett the CPA and he will pick up where it was left off. Hopefully, we have something completed by the end of the year.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
1. Maintenance
Water: Cardwell heard from Phil who is going to do the work on the well. He is waiting for a drive to come in then will get us on his schedule; until then Cardwell turns the control on and off.
Sewer: Discharging began this month.
Streets: Plowing streets as needed. The plow for the dump truck is a little big for the truck but it is working out. A tree fell down at Pine and 3rd Avenue at 4AM and got that was cleaned up.
Parks: Christmas lights in the park need to be fixed due to the strong winds that messed them up.
Willow Development: Cardwell informed that the water line has been installed; we have yet to install the sewer for the lots so they can be developed and explained that we do not have the manpower or equipment to install that line. We will need lots of pipe and it will be expensive. Cardwell will have the old estimate to install the sewer and costs for pipe at the next meeting.
2. Clerk
Website: Clerk Schmidt reported that Office Assistant Johnson has move the website to the “new” look and is making changes and adding new information.
Nezperce Clinic: Clerk Schmidt received a call from the St. Mary’s facility maintenance supervisor who is calling around to get bids on an air conditioning system for the clinic and inquiring about filters for the heating system. This is not the time of year cohesive to installing a new system so will get some estimates so we can be ready to go in the spring.
Property Appraiser: The cost to appraise 30 acres was estimated at $2,750.00.
Airport Project: JUB engineer Kayla Brown has been working up costs for the airport runway expansion and informed that there wasn’t enough estimated for gravel so we are short on the budget. She has been speaking with Jen at Idaho Aeronautics about our project and Jen informed that there are more COVID monies coming to cover additional costs including engineering. We do not know yet if the city will be required to come up with additional match. With changes to the project, it will have to be extended another year. I asked to see what costs she has come up with and she said she would send them.
Budget Public Hearing: A public hearing will be set for January 10, prior to the regular meeting to amend last year’s budget in the water department as it was over spent by $5,000.00. All other funds are fine and we collected more monies than anticipated in revenues due to COVID relief monies.
Service League Annual Holiday Donation Drive: Just received the information, following discussion Cm. Zenner moved to donate $100.00 same as in previous years, Cm. Nelson seconded the motion, motion carried.
3. Fire Department – no report
COUNCIL COMMENT
ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 6:35PM
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: December 13 and January 10 at 5:30PM
Holiday Closures: November 11th, 25th & 26th December 24th & 31st
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, January 10th at 5:30PM at City Hall.
__________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer