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minutes meeting date 2026-02-09 · fetched 2026-09-17 · 6222 characters · official file · plain text
COUNCIL WORKING MEETING February 9, 2026 203 Broadway Ave N PRESENT: Douglas Howarth Mayor Marla Sisson Council President Ryan Loos Council Member Fred Bartlett Council Member Cortlin Runyan Council Member Chelsea Popplewell Clerk/Treasurer Shayne Nope City Attorney Jason Scott Public Works Director Jeremy Engbaum Police Chief Concerned Citizens PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CONFIRMATION OF QUORUM: Chelsea Popplewell confirmed a quorum. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Minutes of January 26, 2026– Regular Session 2. Claims for Payment 3. Department Head Report – Public Works, Police, Fire 4. Commission Minutes – Airport, Housing Authority, Library 5. Clerk/Treasurer Report Marla moved to approve the consent agenda. Ryan seconded the motion. Cortlin recused himself from the vote because of a claim for payment to his company. There was no further discussion. Fred voted yes, Marla voted yes, and Ryan voted yes. Cortlin did not vote. The motion passed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Review and Consideration of Special Events Application for West End Music Fest on June 27, 2026: C.R. Larsen clarified the name of the event would actually be Buhl Music Feast. It would be a free event with bands from 12 to 9 and food trucks. Marla asked about alcohol at the event. Fred asked about attendance numbers. Marla moved to approve the West End Music Feast on June 27, 2026. Ryan seconded the motion. Cortlin recused himself from the vote because the applicant is his ex-brother-in-law and parks his food truck on Cortlin’s property. There was no further discussion. Fred voted yes, Ryan voted yes, and Marla voted yes. Cortlin did not vote. The motion passed. NEW BUSINESS: Review and Consideration of Airport Commission Recommendations: Josh Kenyon spoke about the Airport board terms and commissioner recommendations. Marla moved to accept the airport recommendation of Dan Claus and Phil Gandiaga for another three-year term as airport commissioners. Cortlin seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Cortlin voted yes, Fred voted yes, Ryan voted yes and Marla voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration of TRIBE Color Run Proposal: Alisa Atkinson with TRIBE PTO requested to host the 5th annual TRIBE Color Run. Marla disclosed she is part of TRIBE but does not benefit financially from the organization. Marla moved to approve the Color Run on May 23rd. Fred seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Marla voted yes, Ryan voted yes, Fred voted yes, Cortlin voted yes. The motion passed. Comprehensive Plan Update by Clearwater Financial: Abbey Erquiaga and Cameron Arial from Clearwater Financial updated the Council on the comprehensive plan and the survey results. They also spoke about the stakeholders’ interviews and some common themes that were identified throughout the interviews. Marla asked if Council could have access to specific comments from the surveys. Abbey will send the comments to the City Clerk to distribute. Cameron ended their presentation with an update on the IBBA refinancing. He informed Council that the water bond was officially approved for refinancing and that he would work with City staff on next steps. Marla noted the positive comments regarding City staff in the survey and thanked the staff. Review and Consideration of Buhl Chamber of Economic Development & Commerce’s Sagebrush Days Special Event Permit including Co-Sponsorship and Beer Garden: Pam Pherson, Chair of Sagebrush Days committee with the Buhl Chamber of Commerce requested use of the park July 2nd through July 5th for the annual Sagebrush Days. The event would be July 3rd and 4th in McCluskey and Eastman Park. Marla moved to approve the special event permit and including co-sponsorship and beer garden. Cortlin seconded the motion. Marla thanked Pam for the work it takes to put on this event. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Marla voted yes, Ryan voted yes, Fred voted yes, and Cortlin voted yes. The motion passed. Pool and Lifeguard Progress: Jason Scott gave an update on the pool and lifeguard progress. We have the manager, assistant manager and 3 lifeguards, with 6 more lifeguards going to training in March. Fred asked if 12 lifeguards were ideal and Jason explained yes so, we could fully staff and work around schedules. MAYOR & COUNCIL COMMENTS: Mayor Howarth read the below statement. We need to make sure that we comply with the law regarding employee privacy issues. If a member of City Council would like to discuss any issues pertaining to complaints, discipline, etc., of a city employee, those will first need to be discussed with the mayor, who is the chief city administrator per Idaho Code 50-602. After review of the complaint, discipline, etc., if it needs to go before City Council, it will be listed under an executive session on the upcoming meeting agenda. Mayor mentioned he was looking into having Cade Andrews set up some historical photos in the old P&Z area for America250 and Buhl’s 120th birthday starting around April and running through the 4th of July. He also commented on his youth advisory team. He has met with 6 total school aged kids on how Buhl works and gets their thoughts on what Buhl needs and how to get them to come back to Buhl. Marla commented that AIC also does a youth council and noted it could be neat to get some of the youth of the Buhl youth council involved in the AIC council. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Clayton Strolberg, Buhl, owns West End Sanitation and said he received a letter or citation saying to vacate one of his mobile parks. He said Jason and him had met after he received the letter and Jason would look at re-writing the language in the code. He discussed the size of the can as well as the issue of commercial opt-out. He suggested that Council look at the code of neighboring cities. MEETING ADJOURNED –Marla moved that the meeting be adjourned; Cortlin seconded the motion. There was no discussion. All voted yes. The meeting was adjourned at 7:41 PM. Minutes prepared by Chelsea Popplewell, City Clerk
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