Minutes

(Minutes subject to council approval)

CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO

PUBLIC HEARING & REGULAR MEETING

October 10, 2023

MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING AND REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON October 10, 2023.

PLACE:  Training Room, 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, Mike Jensen and Kimberly Ingram, Fire Chief Dave Kuther, Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Deputy Clerk Leigh Ross and Clerk/Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Absent was Cm. Tyler Nelson. The guests present were residents Patrick & Norma Pomber and Becky Tiegs.

PUBLIC HEARING

1. Pomber Variance Request: Mayor Bateman opened the public hearing on the Pomber Variance.  Becky Tiegs had a couple questions saying that the street should stay plotted as is. She believes that there should not be variances given at all. Things should remain the same. Patrick addressed Becky’s concerns, stating that overhead wires and waterlines are costly and timely to move. The square footage for the buildings would be in the same footprint the prior two smaller buildings were. Mr. Pomber is not asking to be any closer to the street than already was. A privacy fence is to block the lights of vehicles as they turn the corner. Wants to put in gravel to accommodate the water runoff. Comes back to the community in the way of revenue. There is a marshy wet area on the north side of the street. Becky thinks that things get more complicated with variances and strongly believes that variances should never be given. Maintenance Supervisor Cardwell proposed that instead of granting a variance that the street be moved back to its original intended location. Hearing was closed.

2. Annexation Ordinance 2024-02: Mayor Bateman opened the public hearing on the Annexation Ordinance 2024-04. No one was in attendance for the annexation hearing: therefore, no one was in attendance to comment. So, the hearing was closed.

3. Sewer Fee Increase R2024-03: Mayor Bateman opened the public hearing on the Sewer Fee Increase Resolution R2024-03. No one was in attendance for the sewer fee hearing, no one in attendance to comment. So, the hearing was closed.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No one in attendance wished to offer further comments.

MINUTES of the previous meetings of 9/11/2023 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 October 10, 2023, was examined, and approved, showing the following:

Funds on Hand                   $462,518.32 (Approximate due to no pool information)

All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Zenner and seconded by Cm. Ingram in the total $202,720.08 check numbers 17187 through 17251. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $500,460.65. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as all signed the Claim Approval Report for October.

BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED    

1. Lewis County Commissioner Justin McLeod– Sanitation: Justin was not present therefore Mayor Bateman informed the council that Justin had taken Simmons Sanitation out to the city property of Powerline Road where it is proposed to put dumpsters. Simmons intends to have the dumpsters in a gated area. They hope to not have to man the area but if they do then they will and be open 2 days a week. There is enough area to accommodate the city burn pile as well. Dumpsters are going to change in the county with the county going to Simmons, Simmons has already been doing some cleanup in the area.

2. Variance Approval: A variance decision became null as it was decided that the city will move 6th Avenue from Oak to Pine Streets to the north thus giving the Pomber’s adequate space from the edge of the right-of-way to build so no lot line adjustment is necessary.

3. Ordinance 2024-02 Annexation of 50’ into the city limits: Mayor Bateman asked for a motion to suspend the rules after reading the ordinance heading. Cm. Jensen moved to suspend rules while Cm. Ingram seconded the motion. Motion carried with the following roll call vote.

Roll call vote was as follows:

 Cm. Zenner, aye;        

Cm. Ingram, aye;

Cm. Jensen, aye;

Cm. Nelson, absent.      

4. Sewer Fee Increase R2024-03: Cm. Zenner moved to adopt resolution R2024-03 to increase sewer fees, motion was seconded by Cm. Jensen, motion carried with the following roll call vote.

Roll call vote was as follows:

Cm. Zenner, aye;        

 Cm. Ingram, aye;

Cm. Jensen, aye;  

Cm. Nelson, absent.

5. Aeronautics 2024 Grant R2024-04: Cm. Zenner moved to accept resolution R2024-04 while Cm. Ingram second, motion carried with the following roll call vote.

Roll call vote was as follows:

Cm. Zenner, aye;        

Cm. Ingram, aye;

Cm. Jensen, aye;  

Cm. Nelson, absent.

6. WW Land App Update: Engineer Amy Uptmor provided the council with an email of the month’s project activities. Phase I Design for the Earthwork/Storage Reservoirs remains in DEQ review. Rhonda will finish working on the EAP that Amy and Colt have populated. Phase II is under design, and they are approximately 30% complete. Colt and Amy met with the city to discuss design and they will try to wrap up the design in the coming weeks. Craig informed that a second email was received today regarding pipe costs as they researched and found that irrigation pipe is 50K cheaper than water pipe. Amy is hopeful that Phase 1 will go to bid this fall.

7. Resolution R2024-05: Following review of the resolution to establish fees for Variance, Subdivisions etc. Cm. Jensen moved to accept the resolution as presented, Cm. Ingram seconded the motion, motion carried with the following roll call vote.

Roll call vote was as follows:

Cm. Zenner, aye;        

Cm. Ingram, aye;

Cm. Jensen, aye

Cm. Nelson, absent.

8. ICRMP – Joint Powers Agreement: Motion was made by Cm. Jensen to sign the JPA as presented, motion was seconded by Cm. Ingram, motion carried.

9. Verizon Update – Additional fee vs new numbers: Clerk Schmidt explained that CenturyLink owns the city numbers and will not let them go to Verizon unless the city pays $15.00 a line. So does the council want to go to Verizon and pay the $30 extra dollars a month or investigate other options such as AT&T, the other option is to get new phone numbers. She added that we received the new phones from Verizon and that they must be sent back within 30 days if we aren’t going to Verizon. The  council decided to send phones back and asked Schmidt to look into other options.

10. Lewis County Transportation Planning Council – Apply for Children Pedestrian Safety Program: Clerk Schmidt informed that the LC council is meeting here at City Hall on October 17th to make decisions on what grants they want to promote to LHTAC. Clerk Schmidt informed that she wants to apply for the Children Pedestrian Safety grant; council agreed by a motion by Cm. Zenner, seconded by Cm. Jensen, motion carried.

11. Reader Board Issues and Alternatives: Deputy Clerk Leigh Ross explained that she and Bridget Lux have been trying to get updates to the reader’s board and the sensors are an issue. After calling tech support, they found out that this program is obsolete in May. Bridget called Avista, and they have a grant request program, but the request must go through a 501 (c)3. There may be a conflict with Avista as they just did the one for the school. The council asked that we look at other sponsors like Odom, Pepsi, or Coke and suggested get donations from local businesses.  Replacing the board could cost $10,000.00 or more.

DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

  1. Maintenance

Water: Maintenance Cardwell reported that lead and copper testing was completed and the test results are in.

Sewer:  Discharging began after the first of the month. Maintenance fixed the sewer at Bridget Lux’. Cardwell felt that the Phase II design meeting with Amy and Colt went well, they did a walk through at the lagoons and discovered a culvert. The controls from the current building will transfer easily to the new building once it is constructed. Cardwell attended the PHD meeting and informed them of the plan to put in an access road to the city property by way of Cedar Street.

Gem Grant: The storm drain project is complete. Cardwell informed that the sidewalk at Cornerstone came out due to elevations and making sure things drain correctly. The sidewalk at Savage Health was shortened to 5 feet. Savage Health asked for a small pour, and we will bill them for that.

Ash Street: Cardwell discussed a few of the issues he has found with putting in Ash Street and informed  the council that we really need a GPS. We are always looking for survey markers and property lines and having a GPS will make things so much easier. Markers are out on Ash to keep the farm equipment off the city property.

Equipment: Cardwell informed that we have received the equipment we purchased from United rentals and that Ken Kuther has an extra set of forks for the skid steer he would like to purchase.

            2.  Clerk:

Clerk Schmidt informed that she is closing out the aeronautics grant now that the project is completed and asked for permission to send a special thank you to Aeronautics for the grant money. The council approved spending money on a thank you to Aeronautics.

3. Fire Department-

Chief Kuther informed that he has a couple new guys join the department. The gas meter has arrived, and someone will be coming to train the staff on how to use it.

COUNCIL COMMENT

Mayor Bateman told the council the Senior Center must be short of funds to pay for heating oil and are looking for donations. The council discussed a few options and decided to get quotes on a mini split heating system. If the system was installed in the current senior center then it could be moved to the Legion Hall. Cm. Zenner will contact Boss so we can get a couple quotes. Clerk Schmidt added that the seniors have another $10,000 to spend this year.

Cm. Zenner asked Schmidt to send the Mattson’s a letter stating that they cannot park in the road as they have a pickup hanging out into the street. NOTE: Clerk Schmidt spoke with Delbert in person and informed him of the council’s request. He replied that they would get it off the roadway.

ADJOURNMENT at 7:07 PM

Other/Upcoming Events:

Upcoming Council Meetings: November 13th  and December 11, 2023 at 5:30PM

Holiday Closures: November 23rd and 24th for Thanksgiving

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, November 13th at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

__________________________                                _____________________________

Steve A. Bateman, Mayor                                           Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer