Loggers Jubilee to Move Annual Event to Council City Park
The City of Council held their regular city council meeting for the month of December on Tuesday the 9th. Prior to the meeting, there was a small celebration to honor Mayor Bruce Gardner. City Clerk Ashley Scott presented the Mayor with a plaque and thanked him for his 27 1/2 years of service to the city. Gardner thanked everyone before calling the meeting to order. Gardner will continue as mayor until the newly elected Mayor, Gabe Wilson, is sworn in at the next city council meeting in January.
There was a lot on the agenda for the night and they started with the engineering report. The city sent the application in to LHTAC for a sign replacement grant, it will take a couple months to see if they are selected. The comprehensive plan has progressed well. There may be new regulations with DEQ coming in the future.
Kathy Hughes gave a report on the airport. She said Caleb Shumway provided an updated projection of a taxiway that should be going in the next master plan so the new hangar building can plan for the level. The runway heading change has been sent to the FAA. There is a new airport layout plan which is pending, and there is a master plan for the airports in the state they are working to get updated on as well. They are at 13 planes for NPIAS which should be good for classification for next two years and makes them more eligible for federal and state funds. The airport tank was refueled and 1,100 gallons have been sold already, and 51,000 gallons for the year to date. Revenue is down a little for the year because of the runway being closed for two months due to repaving. At the beginning of the year they will put out a bid for getting the LED lights updated and the windsock will be pilot controlled. The next Airport Commissioner meeting was moved up a week to Dec 15th in Hanger #5 at 6:30.
Ashley Scott, City Clerk, gave an update next. The city audit was last Friday and they had to also have a single audit because of grant money. Purchase agreements were expected to be completed that week. The deputy clerk was back part time. Airport hangar leases were sent last Friday. A representative with ICRIMP came up and went over liability insurance updates. The city’s new website was up and running, she was hoping to add new things to it as time goes on.
Caleb Shumway with Public Works said they were back on winter hours of eight hour days and they hired a part time employee to help with snowplowing who will come in when called. The snow removal equipment was ready for winter. He would like to start looking for a new grader with approval.
Next, there was a report from a IIIA Trust representative, Amy Manning. She went over highlights and financial information and mentioned they are really pushing health screenings, especially for skin cancers, as the expenditures on melanoma and skin cancers were very high and Idaho is first in the nation for melanoma.
Next, Trina Jokela with the Loggers Jubilee had returned to talk about the saw contest. She introduced herself and the Loggers Jubilee and told about how they had formed a 501c3. She said they would like to grow the event and move it to a new location at the Boise Cascade Park. Last time she came before the council there had been some safety concerns so she said they made a packet of information for the city including a safety plan and that it was approved by the Sheriff’s Department, a site proposal with Parks & Rec, and a copy of the liability insurance.
The city council had a few questions. Council member Dan Huter asked if there would be adequate parking. Jokela said it had been suggested they could use the soon-to-be vacated County Shop area for additional parking. Council member Mendy Stanford mentioned they might need to put up signs saying the RV Dump was closed. She also asked if log rolling would be in the pond. Jokela said no, if there were enough people interested they would build their own. Council member Dave Tubridy asked if they would be working with the Council Chamber of Commerce and Jokela responded “absolutely.” Tubridy was also concerned about sheriff staffing and law enforcement presence. “It’s a little unsettling not to have any law enforcement there, in my opinion,” he said.
The city council motioned to approve the Council Loggers Jubilee to hold a Catered Special Event Permit. Tubridy asked if they could come back the month before the event to give them an update and make sure they are all on the same page.
Next, Council residents Chloe and Marcus Lucas had a request. Chloe told how they purchased their property eight years ago knowing it was landlocked, and had obtained an easement along a city ditch for a sewer line that went through the Main Street Extension subdivision to the east. However, due to miscommunication between property owners and the city, the sewer line was not placed in the easement. Several years later the subdivision property was purchased by developer, Rosetta White, who developed the property and did not like the position of the sewer line. They have been going back and forth with her and the city for several months now trying to find an appropriate solution and the city offered a specific position for a new sewer line to go in. The Lucas’s agreed to that with the understanding that, because they would need to do work to the city owned ditch, the city would split some of the costs with them. Lucas had brought a copy of the bill and said they were already about $1,000 into the project and still owed about $3,000. She said they would appreciate splitting half with the city but would take whatever they were comfortable with. They were a little concerned about the lack of fall for the new line and discussed some options if that became an issue in the future. The city council agreed to reimburse the Lucas’s for half of the total for their sewer line replacement.
Next, the council approved to waive the Emergency RV Permit Application Fee for an 180 day emergency extension for Nathaniel Maggard, whose home burned down in a fire on Thanksgiving. Maggard said that he appreciated it.
The city next contemplated how to disperse the funds for the Mayor’s Walking Challenge. Mendy Stanford proposed YAC or the Youth Advocacy Coalition, which helps provide a safe place for kids to go after school with snacks and games and is currently being run out of the school. Everyone else was in favor. The council also moved to accept the grant funds for $25,000 from the Idaho Blue Cross Foundation with he understanding the funds must be used for incorporating a health aspect into the city’s comprehensive plan. Then the council moved to renew the lease on the city copier, which will now be $100 cheaper each month. They also moved to purchase two new computers from Executech.
After that, the council passed Resolution 2025-13 for the Idaho Gem Grant Application. Scott said they would like to apply for the grant, it is for up to $50,000 and is geared towards revitalizing the downtown area, but can only be used for certain things. She said it could be used for re-roofing and repainting the public restroom or the museum, but they can’t use it for city hall and would have to use business park funds for that remodel.
Next, the council amended the contract of services with Great West Engineering to incorporate the $25,000 from the Idaho Blue Cross Foundation grant into the comprehensive plan. Andrew Kimmel, with Great West Engineering, said that it should allow additional planning for parks and pathways, and beefing up the GIS services. Kimmel talked about the water project, he said the bid came in under budget with contingency funds in case something came up. He said permits are getting stricter and there have been talks about making chlorination mandatory. They are trying to get people to do non mandatory testing for PFAS. He said putting money aside for future improvements is going to be more important going forward. Council and New Meadows are some of the few non-chlorinated water systems left in the area. The Council approved the Mayor to sign contracts with M2 construction for the water project so they can keep things moving along outside of city council meetings.
