Minutes
(Minutes subject to council approval)
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETINGC
March 10, 2025
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON March 10, 2025.
PLACE: Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street. Time: 5:30 PM
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY Mayor Tyler Nelson at 5:30 PM
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PRESENT were Councilmembers Tyler Nelson, James Zenner, Kelby Heartburg (entered the meeting at 6:00PM), and Mike Jensen, Maintenance Department Craig Cardwell and Ben Mauer, Clerk/Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Visitors were JUB engineer Steven Schramm, Laysn Berry, Clerk for City of Craigmont, resident Dan Johnson and Lions Club President Wyatt Lux. Cm. Kim Ingram was absent.
PUBLIC HEARING
- Block Grant WW Land App Project: CEDA Executive Director Dodd Snodgrass was present to talk about the ICDBG Block Grant and provided a handout that included the project scope, completed work, and budget. He and was willing to answer questions regarding the block grant funding for the project. Dodd will be closing out the project with commerce as the funding has been used. Dan Johnson asked what the city committed to the project; the city passed a $5 million dollar bond; he asked if the project will smell and it was explained that the wastewater will be treated as it currently is and reserved in the reservoirs until time to irrigate the field, so there should not be any smell. Public hearing completed at 5:50PM.
- PUBLIC COMMENT: Mayor Nelson asked Dan Johnson if he was visiting for a specific reason and Dan said that he was following up on nuisance properties for the Senior Citizens. Dan stated that it (Nezperce) is getting junkie and bringing down property values. Mayor Nelson replied that the council is concerned as well and have been addressing the issue. Dan suggested that the council get a Declaratory Judgement against property owners which is a legal action that would force a cleanup as directed by the court. Clerk Schmidt will follow up with the city attorney and get her recommendations.
MINUTES of the previous meetings of 02/10/2025 were approved with a correction that Arnzen would charge $7,500 for his loader to load the gravel and the city would have to pay for trucking the gravel to town. Cm. Jensen, moved to approve the minutes with the correction, motion was seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried. The council asked if there was a storage fee and asked how many tons are we talking? Cardwell answered that there are 15,000 tons to move and there has not been any discussion regarding a storage fee.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated March 10, 2025, was examined, and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $506,887.87
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon motion by Cm. Jensen and seconded by Cm. Heartburg in the total $69,133.97 which included a grant disbursement of $15,859.82 check numbers 17989 through 18033. Receipts from the last meeting were shown as $43,225.85. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as all signed the Claim Approval Report for March.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
- JUB General Services Contract: Mayor Nelson and Cm. Ingram met to discuss the proposed contract after the February council meeting. One issue to address was cyber security insurance as the city is insured to 1 million. The contract was updated to reflect the city’s insurance cap but the remaining clause states that the city is liable for everything over the 1 million. The city would like the rest of the clause to be removed. The council would like the contract to expire on the last day of 2025, which was updated by Steven since February. Lastly, the council wants to address “Part D” for an hourly breakdown of wages. Mayor Nelson asked the council for a motion to approve the contract after the requested changes are completed so we can sign the contract prior to the next regular meeting. Cm. Jensen made a motion to accept the JUB contract with completed changes, motion was seconded by Cm. Heartburg, motion carried. Regarding Phase 2 of the wastewater project Steven asked if we received information on permit compliance and a discharge permit; which we have. Craig asked for assistance understanding the reuse permit. It was agreed that Steven would give a training for Craig, Ben, Rhonda and Leigh. Craig added that he will be pulling the information for the February DMR and get it to Steven. Steven then turned to a meeting held with the contractor and engineer regarding Phase 2. Steven wanted the council to chime in on the discussions from that meeting. It was suggested that the “shade structure” be changed to a wooden building and enclosed. This way everything would be protected from weather. Cardwell added that Crea anticipated that the cost for an enclosed building would be another $100,000.00 over the shade structure cost. The council would like a cost comparison. Steven wanted the council to be aware of additional engineering fees with a redesign of a building as well. Craig added that he asked about a possible change of having the road follow the lay of the land. Another change discussed was changing the pipe from PVC to HDPE pipe. With this change comes some thought regarding attaching the sprinkler heads. Another positive that came out of that meeting happened when the group made a site visit the engineers were able to see that drainage needs to be addressed as they found standing water following the snow melt off. They also saw that water had gotten under the liner.
- Senior Center Bldg- Lions President Wyatt Lux: Discussion regarding the Lions purchasing 501 Cedar Street to rehab the upstairs into a half court for kids to play basketball continued. The Lions hoped to get a deal on the building. Clerk Schmidt added that there are several legal steps to complete before things go any further. Wyatt will speak with the Lions as they are working on how to come up the funds for a purchase.
- Subdivision Ordinance 2025-07: Mayor Nelson asked for a motion to suspend the rules. Cm. Jensen moved to suspend the rules while Cm. Heartburg seconded the motion.
Roll call vote follows.
Cm. Heartburg aye,
Cm. Zenner aye,
Cm. Jensen aye,
Cm. Ingram absent.
Cm. Zenner moved to adopt Subdivision Ordinance 2025, Cm. Jensen seconded the motion.
Roll call vote follows.
Cm. Heartburg aye,
Cm. Zenner aye,
Cm. Jensen aye,
Cm. Ingram absent.
- Ordinance Codification Question: City Attorney Lewis has asked the council for a decision on traffic violations of a DUI or Driving on a suspended license. The council reviewed the question and would like them to remain an infraction with a $300 fine and potential jail time on both. The council asked if say a flower pot was damaged by a DUI driver would the city get reimbursed for the loss of the pot? Clerk Schmidt will ask Lewis for more information.
- Records Retention Resolution R2025-8: Tabled until the next meeting to allow council to review the resolution completely. Cm. Jensen moved to table Records resolution and Title VI Resolution until next meeting, Cm. Heartburg seconded the motion, motion carried.
- Title VI Revision Resolution R2025-9: Tabled as pertinent information was yet to be received by city attorney. *Update: City Attorney Lewis spoke with a ITD representative regarding the Title VI request for a revision and found that ITD had confused the City of Nezperce with Nez Perce County so we will stay with the policy drafted and adopted by the council last July 2024.
- BMS Pay Agreements: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that she had the City Attorney review the agreements and that Lewis had asked for a couple changes that were addressed and that the agreements now meet counsel approval. Cm. Zenner made a motion to sign the agreements and move forward with BMS Pay, Cm. Heartburg seconded the motion, motion carried.
- Employee Evaluations: The council reviewed the employee evaluations. Cm. Jensen moved to approve the evaluations as discussed; motion was seconded by Cm. Zenner. Motion carried.
- Arbor Day – Project Idea and Date: The council agreed to the annual community barbecue following a stump grinding day for an Arbor Day project on April 25, 2025. Cardwell will get a quote on a stump grinder for the day.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
- Maintenance
Storm drain issue: Cardwell reported that he and Ben are working to fix an issue at Columbia Grain; they plan to install a 12 inch culvert to replace the cobbled together mess they found.
Sewer: A power surge last Friday the seventh blew a transformer to the lagoons and maintenance has had to work to get the pumps up running again.
Streets: Maintenance has removed the plows hoping that the snow is over with for the year. Plans are underway for crack sealing on streets before seal coating. The flatbed Chevy needs tires.
Grant: Cardwell would like to put together another catch basin project for the alley between Oak Street and Pine Street to fix the drainage issue there.
- Clerk:
Clerk Schmidt informed the council that she received a letter from Oscar and Becky Tiegs as they want to split their property and give half to their son. As far as we know there are no service lines that would affect a split.
- Fire Department: No report
- Code Enforcement: Steve had a call.
COUNCIL COMMENT/OTHER
ADJOURNMENT: Cm. Jensen made a motion to adjourn at 7:15 PM, motion was seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried.
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: April 14th and May 12th at 7AM
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, April 14th at 7:00AM at City Hall.
Tyler R. Nelson, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer