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minutes meeting date 2026-01-07 · fetched 2026-09-17 · 17044 characters · official file · plain text
Page 1 of 5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SODA SPRINGS, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO, HELD JANUARY 7, 2026. ROLL CALL SHOWED THE FOLLOWING PRESENT: Austin W. Robinson, Mayor Paul Gritton, Mayor Mitchell J. Hart, Council President Paul Gritton Rod Worthington Paige Byram Daniel Larsen EXCUSED: Ryan Carpenter ALSO PRESENT: Alan Skinner, City Engineer Andrea Haderlie, City Clerk Thomas Smith, City Attorney CeJay Golightly, Chief of Police Hope Hansen, Librarian Jessica Thurman, Recreation Jeff Young, Director Brandon Hall Dillon Liechty Amanda Larsen and Family Charles Fryar Kristen and Aspen Skinner Daniel Larsen Curtis Keller Brock Byram and Family Kent and Sue Adams Larry and Tina Smith Alana Burns 1. Roll call & Additions to Agenda: Mayor Robinson calls the meeting to order noting that Councilman Carpenter is absent and requests a volunteer to say the prayer. Alana Burns offers a prayer, expressing gratitude for the community, leadership, and freedoms in America. Mayor Robinson leads the Pledge of Allegiance 2. Review & Approval: Mayor Robinson asked the council to review the minutes from the previous meeting. Councilman Worthington motioned to approve the minutes. Councilman Gritton seconded the motion. Councilman Hart confirmed the minutes were short due to the power outage. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Mayor Gritton motioned to accept the payables for December 16-31, 2025, and payroll for December 2025. Mayor Robinson asks if there are any questions regarding payables and payroll, and Councilman Hart humorously comments, “It's our gift to you,” with no further comment. All were in favor, and the motion carried. 3. Appointments: Mayor Robinson stated, “We live in a constitutional republic. The next part of that is our responsibility to vote for our leadership. I firmly believe that change begins on a local level, first, and then it works up to the federal level. First, there were cities, then came the counties, then came the states. It's very important that we have what we have. We need to keep it as long as we can. With that being said, it's time to do it, where they say a peaceful transition.” Mayor Robinson introduces the next agenda item, the oath of office for Mayor Gritton, and Mayor Gritton affirms his commitment to the Constitution and his duties. Mayor Gritton introduces the next agenda item, the oath of office for Councilwoman Page Byram. Mayor Gritton administers the oath to Councilwoman Byram, who affirms her commitment to the Constitution and her duties as a councilwoman. Mayor Gritton recognizes Mayor Robinson for his 18 years of service to the city and presents him with a plaque of recognition for 8 years as the Mayor. Mayor Gritton also recognizes Councilman Worthington for his eight years of service and presents Page 2 of 5 him with a plaque of recognition. Mayor Gritton delivers an inaugural address, expressing his humility and commitment to the city. He emphasizes the importance of local leadership and the peaceful transition of power. Mayor Gritton outlines his goals for the city, including being active, involved, and available. He acknowledges the contributions of city staff, volunteers, and the community in making Soda Springs a special place. Mayor Gritton introduces the appointment of City Council Member Daniel Larsen. Councilman Hart stated Daniel Larsen, this will be a little bit tricky and a little bit awkward, and because we do not have a quorum. What we can do symbolically, Councilwoman Byram and Councilman Hart can do that, but we'll have to ratify that at the next meeting. Attorney Smith mentioned yes, they need a quorum to vote on any action item. Councilman Hart made a motion, even though it really doesn't count that we accept your recommendation and nominee as Daniel Larsen to fill the vacancy on the city council. Councilwoman Byram seconded the motion. Mayor Gritton questioned Attorney Smith if they should we postpone administering an oath? Attorney Smith stated yeah, until you have a quorum. Mayor Gritton stated Welcome Daniel. Councilman Larsen stated Thank you. Mayor Gritton commented he appreciate your willingness to force hammer, but it doesn't have any oomph to it at all. Mayor Gritton commented the next thing on the agenda is nominating a council president, and we have a couple ways of doing that. We can do that with Audible nomination, or, if you would prefer, we can do that via a written nomination. Councilman Hart commented we may want to defer that till the next meeting when we have a quorum. Mayor Gritton administers the oath of office to the city attorney and city clerk-treasurer, who affirm their commitment to the Constitution and their duties. Chief Golightly takes the oath of office, affirming his commitment to uphold the law and protect the community. Mayor Gritton and Councilman Hart discuss the council liaison assignments, noting the need to wait for a quorum to officially approve them. Mayor Gritton nominates Daniel Squires for the new Director of City Services, and the council approves. Mayor Gritton asked Clerk Haderlie to place the formal confirmation/appointment of Dan Squires as Director of City Services on the January 14 council meeting agenda and prepare necessary paperwork for the official vote and oath. The council agrees to defer the appointment of the council president until the next meeting. Mayor Gritton asked Clerk Haderlie to publish a public notice for the special work meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 14, at 5:00 PM, and to ensure it is posted and published as required. 4. Citizen Input Mayor Gritton and Councilman Hart discuss the need for a work meeting to address various city projects and issues. 5. Unfinished Business: Mayor Gritton and Councilman Hart discuss the need for a work meeting to address various city projects and issues. Engineer Skinner commented that the public meeting with ITD was on Monday, and Council was present, but Councilman Hart was not. He asked the council if they had any comments or questions. Councilman Hart stated that there were roughly 30 people on the list. Engineer Skinner stated that none of the staff who put the plan together were in attendance. It was their PR staff. ITD committed to getting it out for bid by the end of this week. ITD thinks they will have a contractor picked by early February, and at that point, we will be able to review the schedule. Who is the contractor? ITD will have another meeting where people come in, but for the council and the mayor, we can sit down with a schedule, which is required with a bid. A few citizens talk to him with concerns, and they will be back when they have the next one. Councilman Hart commented even though I was not able to attend the open house. Mayor Gritton did link me in after the meeting with the ITD on a brief conference call. We did get some Page 3 of 5 clarification. Their engineers' estimate for the project is $12 to $13 million. Based on my estimates, the project length is about 12,600 feet. 5400 feet of that is the reconstruction on the main drag here. And then there's another 7200 feet, which they're just going to mill or grind up the asphalt and then relay it or inlay it; it's a very sizable project. They committed to starting as early as mid-April and as late as mid-May, depending on the weather, and they want the project done in 90 working days, ideally by mid-August. They'll work five days per week, not working weekends, and it'll be about 16 to 18 weeks of work. The contractor will ultimately establish their work schedule. Based on the length and the price, it is about $1,000 per foot. He estimates that the reconstruction portion, which will include the city's portion of upgrading all of the utilities, subsurface utilities, primarily water and sewer, will also do some change out of certain connections in that'll be about $7.3 million of the 12 to 13 million, or about 1350 a linear foot, and the city's portion will be about 1/3 of that, estimated at about $2.2 million we will be able to pay cash for that. We won't have to borrow or issue bonds for that portion of the 2.2 million; we have a small, half- a-million-dollar grant that will help us with it. It won't be as proportionate or as favorable as the grant we got on Main Street. The county is not going to chip in any money on the main drag, as they did on the main street, which we appreciated. The property owners' responsibilities along Second Street here will be proportionately larger than those of the property owners on Main Street, and we will need to memorialize our strategy and the property owners' requests regarding their contribution, which is established in the city code. The mill and inlay of the remaining portion is about $750 a linear foot, or about $5.4 million. An engineer's estimate can be either high or low based on these unit costs and the cost per foot. ITD will get lots of bids, lots of competition, and a much lower price than the 12 to 13 million estimated. Mayor Gritton mentions the need for public informational meetings to keep the community informed about the project. Councilman Hart noted that the project does not include replacement of sidewalks or curb and gutters, so if that were to occur, either the city or the state wouldn't do it. If the city were to do that, we would have to double the cost of what we're contributing, so the utilities would be at 2.2 million again. If we were to place a curb cutter and a sidewalk could be another more than $2 million Engineer Skinner mentioned he met with DEQ and Foresgren yesterday regarding the wastewater planning study. DEQ requested to proceed with the environmental determination; they are ready to sign off on it. The City will have to run a 14-day public comment period and hold one public meeting right after that, with minutes, sign-in sheets, and all the requirements to complete our side. Foresgren will work on the environmental scoping letter, provide it to us, and then, once that project is done and we're ready to find funding for infiltration INI. Mayor Gritton mentioned the America 250 grant award letter. He was notified a week or 10 days ago that Molly Besaris had submitted a grant. The City was awarded the $ 2,500 grant. He was notified that we would receive the necessary documents and that they would need to be signed. We put it on the agenda in case they arrived in time for this meeting; to the best of my knowledge, they did not, so we'll need to bypass that item. Councilman Hart discusses the status of the Enders building and the need for remediation due to asbestos and other issues with the Brownfield Grant. The Enders building needs $30,000 for asbestos remediation with the Brownfield Grant. Mayor Gritton opened the discussion to the Council and Department Head work meeting on 2026 projects and wondered if this might be best deferred until the next meeting, when we have Director Squires present. Councilman Hart mentioned that he has developed a fairly lengthy list of issues and plans we have targeted for this year, and it might be appropriate for the new council to schedule a half-day work meeting. Councilwoman Byram can participate it would need to be late January or early February. Invite Director Young and Police Chief Golightly. Include some of the projects we talked about, some of the contracts that we have recently negotiated, and then there are some that we probably want to embrace certain portions of the city and put them under contract. There are the industrial park leases Page 4 of 5 that we need to bring current. Engineer Skinner mentioned he has the current lots and surveys. He has not done anything about the cost of the industrial park leases. Councilman Hart stated the council needs to decide on how we're going to structure the lease. Councilman Hart commented briefly, the way leases are structured right now is a percentage of the assessed value of each lot the businesses sit on. Those lots have not been assessed recently, and if you look at your own property, your assessed values have basically doubled in the last five to eight years. If we continue under that program, once the county assessor reassesses those lots, evaluations could double, which means their lease rates could double. We have a couple of different options. We've been bouncing around to minimize the potential impact on our lessees. They're getting a sweet deal anyway. Engineer Skinner mentioned Contact Aeronautics regarding the airport hangar usage survey and asked that any letter or required documentation from Aeronautics be brought to the next meeting for council review. The Mayor and Council scheduled a special meeting for January 14, 2026, at 5 PM to finish the deferred agenda items and finish oaths and appointments. 6. New Business: Chief Golightly reports on recent activities, including dealing with a moose in town and working on a tow policy. Director Young provides updates on the Christmas lights, the nativity scene, and the cost of tree trimming. Councilman Hart asked Director Young for an inventory of the contents of the old hydro building, to take photos, identify salvageable items, and report on anything suitable for auction or preservation, and to report findings to the council. Director Thurman reported on the ice rink's success, the ribbon-cutting on January 14, 2026, at 6 PM, and the open mic night. The council also discussed the need for additional gym space for the basketball league. Librarian Hansen thanks the city crew for their help during a storm and provides updates on the summer reading program, sponsored by Itafos, and on library improvements to the bathroom, including tile repair. The Council asked Librarian Hansen to obtain multiple quotes for replacing/repairing the library's downstairs bathroom tile and wall repairs, evaluate the quotes, and report options (including potential donated materials) to the library board and council. Clerk Haderlie commented we are working on the audit of 2025 and preparing everything in assets. We're working on year end for payroll and accounts payable, and that will be done in the next couple of weeks. Clerk Haderlie discusses the need to address a cracked drive-up window at the city office, and the council agrees to research repair or replacement options. Research drive-up window options: (1) remove the drive-up window, (2) replace the window assembly, and (3) replace the glass pane only; provide three cost estimates and recommendations to the council. Mayor Gritton asked Larry Smith for an update with Water and WWTP. He stated plants still up and running. We're still pumping, no leaks. We just finished painting the boiler room, doing a little bit of touch up on it. Tomorrow, we got to go and unclog a city toilet. Attorney Smith mentioned there's a couple things the last at the end of last year, Planning and Zoning did a revision of the zoning ordinance, and so they have some proposed revisions. It had come up to council and then went back to them. He recommends it is before it comes to Council. Councilman Hart mentioned that Clerk Haderlie had sent out an email the employee handbook and the Mayor, Council and Directors are tasked to review and comment on that before next meeting, we got two weeks. Clerk Haderlie explained that it was worth the $675.00 for the program and the company has their own lawyers and they look at all of these policies per state, and they do it in all 50 states. And if you need multiple like states, because you have multiple businesses in multiple states, it will do the work for you. Councilman Hart commented be warned, it's like 100 plus pages. Mayor Gritton stated he commends Clerk Haderlie for her work on that. She put a lot of time and effort into that. Councilman Hart Page 5 of 5 commented it was needed, absolutely needed and this would be good to get it memorialized. Clerk Haderlie asked council and staff to review and if you see something she missed or something that doesn't make sense, let her know, so we can address it and fix it. 7. Citizen Input: Mayor Gritton opened the floor for citizen input. Kent Adams, has there been any talk about fixing the viaduct and the road. It's terrible and beat it up. The overpass, once you get down and turn the corner. Mayor Gritton stated we will have more opportunities to discuss this with ITD. Councilman Hart motioned to adjourn. Councilwoman Byram seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ON JANUARY 14, 2026. _________________________ Paul Gritton, Mayor ATTEST _________________________ Andrea Haderlie, Clerk
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