Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETING
August 11, 2025
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON August 11, 2025.
PLACE: Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street. Time: 7:00AM
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY Mayor Tyler Nelson at 6:56AM
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PRESENT were Councilmembers Tyler Nelson, Jim Zenner, Kelby Heartburg, Mike Jensen; Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Clerk/Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Cm. Kimberly Ingram was absent, Visitors in attendance were Joe Wrenfrow of Simmons Sanitation and Marietta Holeman and Sydney Walker of Walco, Inc. Resident Brianne Zanin was also present.
PUBLIC HEARING:
- Proposed Budget FYE 2026: Mayor Nelson opened the Public Hearing at 8:15AM and asked if anyone had any questions or comments concerning the proposed budget. No one had any questions. Mayor Nelson closed the hearing.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Brianne Zanin was present to speak to the council regarding their plans for 419 Oak Street. She explained that they wish to put in a drive thru window and approached ITD and were turned down. Customers would enter the alley between Oak and Maple; drive thru would be where Mary’s bar was then exit onto Oak Street. They will now apply to ITD for a variance and ask the city for a letter of support of the idea.
MINUTES of the previous meetings of 07/14/2025 were approved by a motion by Cm. Heartburg, motion was seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried.
TREASURER REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated August 11, 2025, was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $-304,105.52 (includes a grant disbursement for $840,842.62)
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon motion by Cm. Jensen and seconded by Cm. Heartburg, motion carried. Disbursements totaled $898,076.19, which included a grant disbursement of $840,842.62, check numbers 18228 through 18269 checks, check numbers 18249-18252 were voided. Receipts from the last meeting were shown as $685,403.52. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well and all signed the Claim Approval Report for August.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
- Kuther Property Swap: The council received a picture of property owners at the airport in their meeting packet to see what the city owns prior to discussing a swap. The property that Ken Kuther is interested in is in the vacated portion of Elm Street. Cm. Zenner reiterated that the council previously decided not to dabble in real estate anymore; Cm. Heartburg added that the city has infrastructure in that area and would not like to see the city give up its infrastructure. Mayor Nelson will inform Ken that he should sell the property he wanted to exchange as the city is not interested in giving up airport property.
- Fiber Project Update – Dave Taylor: Dave informed the council that Idaho County has hired a contractor for the first phase of installing fiber from Orofino to Nezperce and construction should start by 9-9-25. A pre-construction meeting is scheduled for August 18th and Garrett Frei with JUB knows more. The 12-million-dollar project has 3 phases and the second phase is out to bid this week so the contractor should be awarded in 4 weeks. Hopefully fiber will be here in the fall.
- Teen Center Future – Mark Hand: Tabled as Mark was not present for the meeting. Note: Mark stopped by the office and said that he will send an email to the council thanking them for their support but that he and his wife have decided to only have the facility open for certain events and not on a regular basis, so they do not need any further support.
- Solid Waste RFP: The council scheduled a special meeting on July 21st at 7AM to decide after the council has had the opportunity to review the RFP’s received from Walco and Simmons Sanitation.
- Legion Hall Architect RFP: The council scheduled a special meeting on July 21st at 7AM to decide after the council has had the opportunity to review the RFP’s received from Wemhoff Architecture and My Architect.
- FYE 2026 Proposed Budget Review and Approve: Following review Cm. Heartburg made a motion to approve the proposed budget with revisions as presented and advertised. Cm. Jensen seconded the motion, motion carried.
- Nuisance Property Update: The council was updated on the properties that we have been dealing with. Letters were sent out for lawn mowing and too many dogs. The owner of 703 Oak Street received a red tag and came by the office Friday as he wanted to get a new building permit and was given his outstanding utility bill.
- Land App Project Update: Project was rolling right along until the Thursday hail storm which caused a very big mess and a week of clean up. Contractor continues to wait on product delivery. Meetings are being held to deal with electrical panels, alarms and controls. The cost to temp in electricity to the new control building is a little over $8,000 as the panel is months out. Cm. Jensen asked why the panel wasn’t ordered previously as the contract was awarded months ago; instead, we will have to pay for temporary electricity to the new building.
- Council Rates of Pay: Consensus of the council is no change this year.
- Lions Club Contract Update: Clerk Schmidt informed the council of the action taken since the last meeting. City Attorney Lewis will modify the Senior Contract, Lewis suggested that the city keep the general liability on the building while the Seniors have insurance on their contents and the Lions Club should have liability for their uses and contents. Lewis added that the Lions need to be registered with the State before we can sign a contract with them. Kelby added that that is being taken care of by another Lions Club member. Schmidt informed the council that the Lions are worried about how much the city wants for the lease? Following discussion, the council agreed to $1.00 a year and a 25-year lease. Schmidt spoke with the president of the senior group and made him aware that the Lions Club wants to take over the utilities of the building and that there will be a modification to their lease.
- Candidates for November Election Due August 29th: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that Ingram is considering not running again, Heartburg said that he is running, and Jensen is on the fence.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
- Maintenance
Water: Maintenance Cardwell shut the school watering off so that the wells can catch up after finding that Well 4 had a breaker pop and didn’t run for days. Lead and copper samples will take place this month. Maintenance has a few water repairs to complete this month.
Streets: Seal Coating is completed. Maintenance used 40 yards of grindings and 1 tanker of fuel. Cardwell will figure out a fix for manhole covers since ours are not the standard size used these days. City has enough chips for 2 more years.
Parks: Cardwell hasn’t been able to reach the guy to finish stump grinding in the park so will follow up and get the work completed.
Equipment: Cardwell informed the council that he spoke with Fred Hess about a trailer he has that would be perfect for hauling equipment. Cardwell suggested that we rent it when we need it but Fred would prefer to sell it for $8,000.
- Clerk: No additional report.
- Fire Department: No report.
- Code Enforcement: No report.
COUNCIL COMMENT/OTHER: Special meeting was scheduled for July 21, 2025, at 7AM to handle the 2 RFP’s. Council asked that Clerk Schmidt send a reminder text for the meeting.
ADJOURNMENT: Cm. Heartburg moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:52AM, motion was duly seconded, motion carried.
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: September 8th at 7AM and October 14th at 5:30PM
Special Meeting – August 21 at 7AM
Clerks Conference – September 23-25 in Boise
Lewis County Fair – September 25-28
Closures: September 1 and October 13
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, September 8th at 7:00AM at City Hall.
Tyler R. Nelson, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk- Treasurer