Mehen Memorial Skatepark, New Street Names, Ignite Idaho, Budgets
A special meeting of the New Meadows City Council occurred Monday, July 29. Four items were on the agenda - water and sewer budget, approval of Ignite Idaho MOU, Peterson Memorial Subdivision street names, and skatepark contract with Grindline. Three out of four city council members were in attendance along with a group from the Mehen Memorial Skatepark, who joined via Zoom, including Preston Woods, Garrett St. Pierre, Molly Johnson, Brad Backus, and Kyle Little of Grindline Skateparks, Inc.
The Grindline contract was approved by majority vote with stipulations that the City of New Meadows would be added as an owner and that the name of the project in the contract would be Mehen Memorial Skatepark. Mayor Good told the skatepark group the new childcare and youth center will have two restrooms that will be accessible on the skatepark side.
Preston Woods exclaimed, “It’s going to be a great thing for New Meadows. We literally just hired the best skatepark builders in the world to come build a phenomenal skatepark in New Meadows! All this money has come from the community and outside forces. This is a win-win for everybody and super exciting!” The skatepark board also plans to apply for a $35,000 Tony Hawk grant once a conceptual drawing is done. The total contract amount is $530,000, which has all been raised through donations to the New Meadows Skate Park Project.
Woods went on to say that a professional bike park builder will be in town in August to look at the potential of a New Meadows bike park and offer recommendations. The current estimated cost for completion of a bike park is $10-15,000.
The council then moved to a discussion of the water and sewer budget. Mayor Good stated that because of the recent water project cost, the city is moving from a per gallon charge to a flat rate tiered system which will be based on 1,000 gallon used measurements. This change will not occur immediately. A public hearing for the overall budget will take place first, followed by a scheduled water rate study presentation. There will then be a separate public hearing about new water rates where the council will share details and reasons for the projected changes and receive feedback from the community. Mayor Good stated Tim Farrell, of Mountain Utility Services, LLC, has been working on a water rate study with city staff. City Clerk, Kyla Gardner, added that Farrell is very well versed in requirements for policies on how cities should bill so that costs are covered and bills make sense for the community. Good stated that the hope is this will make water bills easier to understand and give a better idea month over month of expected billed amounts.
Mayor Good then asked Councilmember Shiloh Ryker to present the next agenda item. Ryker explained that a current goal of Ignite Idaho is to expand services for crisis counseling and mental health support in New Meadows and Adams County. They have been looking for a flexible, private space to use a few hours per week. Ryker stated that Ignite has received many crisis calls and requests to have access to these services in person locally and the organization recognizes that traveling for services can be a hardship.
Ignite has recently hired a licensed counselor who lives in New Meadows. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was created by the city attorney to offer the Treasurer’s office in City Hall at pre-arranged times to Ignite staff for in person crisis counseling. The space has a private outside door and is an enclosed office so it will be private and secure for Ignite and the City. The MOU details that the City of New Meadows is not a mental health provider and will not supervise any services offered by Ignite Idaho. Because Ryker is part of Ignite Idaho, she recused herself from the vote. Since all council members were not in attendance, the vote for approval will take place at the next council meeting.
The final topic for the night was to select names for two new streets in the proposed subdivision on Peterson Memorial. The organization cannot finish their drawings and final plans to submit for a building permit until they have names for the streets. Since one street will be on the old railroad right of way, a suggestion was made to name it Railroad Street. After discussion and input, Ole was selected as the other street name to recognize another historically important citizen whose work with J. I. Morgan has greatly impacted the community. Both names were approved by unanimous vote.
The next regular meeting of the city council is scheduled for Monday, August 12.
