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minutes meeting date 2025-09-22 · fetched 2026-09-17 · 8339 characters · official file · plain text
COUNCIL WORKING MEETING SEPTEMBER 22, 2025 203 Broadway Ave N PRESENT: Marla Sisson Council President Michael Higbee Council Member Sue Gabardi Council Member Amanda Hawkins Council Member Chelsea Popplewell Clerk Autumn Jones Treasurer Andrew Wright City Attorney Jason Scott Public Works Director Jazmine Mills Planning and Zoning Nestor Madrigal HMH Engineering Rich Tyler CORE Construction Jeff Jerome CORE Construction Jace Perry Clearwater Financial Concerned Citizens PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CONFIRMATION OF QUORUM: Chelsea Popplewell confirmed a quorum. Mayor McClain was not in attendance. CONSENT AGENDA: 1. Minutes of September 8, 2025– Regular Session 2. Claims for Payment 3. Clerk Report 4. Treasurer Report Michael moved to approve the consent agenda. Sue seconded the motion. There was a roll call vote on the motion. Marla voted yes, Michael voted yes, Sue voted yes, and Amanda voted yes. The motion passed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: There is no unfinished business. NEW BUSINESS: Review and Consideration of Buhl Fire District and City of Buhl Intergovernmental Agreement: Michael moved to approve the Buhl Fire District and City of Buhl Intergovernmental Agreement as presented. Amanda seconded the motion. Andrew Wright explained the indemnity portion of the agreement. There was no more discussion. There was a roll call vote. Michael voted yes, Amanda voted yes, Sue voted yes, and Marla voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration of CORE Construction Contract for Police Building Remodel: Michael moved to approve the CORE Construction Contract for Police Building Remodel. Sue seconded the motion. Amanda asked if there could be an update given on the specifics of the contract and where we’re at now. Rich Tyler from CORE Construction gave a breakdown of where we’re at in the process and a recap. He spoke about the guaranteed maximum price and alternates chosen by Council. Amanda asked about timeline of the project and Jeff Jerome spoke to the timeline and final completion date of early May 2026. There was no more discussion. There was a roll call vote. Amanda voted yes, Sue voted yes, Marla voted yes, and Michael voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration of Bond Bank Applications: Michael asked about the recent rate reduction and Jace Perry spoke to that question and how it will depend on when the Bond Bank actually goes to market. Autumn explained why the applications were back in front of council. The City submitted a joint application and the Bank would like two separate applications as that is how they were initially submitted. Amanda asked if it would not exceed the $290,000 cost of issuance. Jace explained that that was an estimate. Michael clarified that the savings would be after the cost. There was some discussion between Amanda and Autumn regarding the total savings. Michael moved to approve the bond bank applications for both water and wastewater. Sue seconded the motion. Amanda asked where the savings will go and it was discussed that Council will make those decisions after the bonds are refinanced. Michael did note that it wasn’t exactly a savings as much as it was a reduction of debt but it would still possibly mean lowering the bond rate on the utility bill. There was no more discussion. There was a roll call vote. Sue voted yes, Marla voted yes, Michael voted yes, and Amanda voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration of RFQ Recommendation for the City Engineer: Michael moved to approve the RFQ recommendation provided by HMH. Sue seconded the motion. Amanda clarified that HMH is already our engineer. Nestor Madrigal explained the process and how it is required for DEQ grants. There was no more discussion. There was a roll call vote. Marla voted yes, Michael voted yes, Amanda voted no, and Sue voted yes. The motion passed. Amanda stated for the record that she voted no because she felt it removed some of the checks and balances with grants with DEQ and LTAC. Review and Consideration of AT&T Cell Tower Proposal: Andrew Wright recommended not taking action on this yet. He spoke to the proposal options. Autumn explained that this does serve as an ongoing revenue source for the admin budget. Michael made a motion to table this for a month to have the chance to look into the details closer. Amanda seconded the motion. Marla noted her preference of the monthly payment. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Michael voted yes, Amanda voted yes, Sue voted yes, and Marla voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration to move to Public Hearing for Planning and Zoning Commission Recommendations of Amendment to Title 9, Chapter 8, Section 1 – Schedule of Land Uses. Add a column for the Airport Zoning District and list the allowable uses for that zone: Michael made a motion to move to public hearing with adding a column for the Airport Zoning District and list the allowable uses for that zone. Sue seconded that motion. Jazmine explained that this came about during a permit process in the area of impact and County noted that the City didn’t have an airport zone column. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Amanda voted yes, Sue voted yes, Michael voted yes, and Marla voted yes. The motion passed. Review and Consideration to move to Public Hearing for Planning and Zoning Commission Recommendations of Amendment to Title 6, Chapter 4 (“Municipal Airport”) for clearer language and Airport Board recommendations: Amanda made a motion to move to Public Hearing for Planning and Zoning Commission Recommendations of Amendment to Title 6, Chapter 4 (“Municipal Airport”) for clearer language and Airport Board recommendations. Sue seconded the motion. There was no further discussion. There was a roll call vote. Sue voted yes, Marla voted yes, Michael voted yes, and Amanda voted yes. The motion passed. MAYOR & COUNCIL COMMENTS: Marla 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. Marla said that Mayor explained that there is an Eagle Scout wanted to replace the flag at the Chamber to make it more theft proof. The city will do the cement for it. Marla also referenced an email she received about the flag not being at half staff a couple weeks ago. The email mentioned it being disrespectful. Marla stated that she had an issue with the email. She stated that she didn’t think it was someone being disrespectful. She noted the school district’s flags were not at half mast either. Amanda commented about the statement from the city regarding the vandalism to the flag being the reason it wasn’t at half-staff. Jason stated the flag had been in a fixed position for over 10 years. Amanda asked about the drainage at 7th street and Sawtooth, with winter coming up. Jason said they did do some maintenance to help with the low spot. Amanda asked Autumn to provide a list of any and all pool maintenance that was done in 2025. Michael asked about the number of public record requests City Staff has handled this year. Autumn said about 50 this year and that number has steadily increased in the last 5 years. There was some discussion about the amount of time the requests are taking and the process of handling those requests. That led to a bigger discussion about Council meetings going public. Amanda brought up the school district meetings being on Facebook live. Marla asked for this topic to be on the agenda next time to discuss and brainstorm. There was no further discussion. MEETING ADJOURNED –Michael moved that the meeting be adjourned; Amanda seconded the motion. There was no discussion. All voted yes. The meeting was adjourned at 7:09 PM. Minutes prepared by Chelsea Popplewell, City Clerk
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