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minutes meeting date 2026-09-02 · fetched 2026-10-13 · 30892 characters · official file · plain text
Page 1 of 8 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SODA SPRINGS, CARIBOU COUNTY, IDAHO, HELD SEPTEMBER 2, 2026. ROLL CALL SHOWED THE FOLLOWING PRESENT: Paul Gritton, Mayor Mitchell J. Hart, Council President Ryan Carpenter Paige Byram Daniel Larsen EXCUSED: ALSO PRESENT: Dan Squires, Director of City Services Andrea Haderlie, City Clerk Thomas Smith, City Attorney Cejay Golightly, Police Chief Kip Browning, Parks Director Hope Hansen, Library Director Morgan Rowland, Recreation Director Pyper Smith Trevin Barfuss Sherrie Gritton Brandon Hall Brock Byram Barry Oats Cody Thompson Randy Corder 1. Roll call & Additions to Agenda: Mayor Gritton called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM. All council members are present. Councilman Larsen led the prayer, and Mayor Gritton led the Pledge of Allegiance. Motion and Order to amend the agenda. Councilman Larsen moved that this governing body, pursuant to Idaho Code 74-204, amend the agenda for this meeting as follows: add to appointments at 5:20 PM: Ordinance 723, 1st South Street, Vacation Mullen Investments, because the property description was received after the agenda was posted. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay 0; Abstain 0. Motion and Order to amend the agenda. Councilman Larsen moved that this governing body, pursuant to Idaho Code 74-204, amend the agenda for this meeting as follows: add to New Business Blue Cross Comprehensive Plan Proposal From Vitruvian Chris Danley because the proposal was received after the agenda was posted. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay 0; Abstain 0. 2. Review & Approval: Councilman Hart moved to approve the minutes of the past meeting and dispense with the reading thereof. Councilman Byram seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Councilman Byram moved to approve the accounts payable for August 18-31, 2026. Councilman Larsen seconded the motion. Councilman Carpenter questioned vendor 1795, $ 3,500.00 contribution to the Caribou County Senior Center. Clerk Haderlie stated this year's contribution had not yet been paid. Councilman Carpenter questioned vendor 11314 Keller and Associates about whether it was the Highland Way Condo review. Clerk Haderlie said yes, and Chris Robinson was billed that amount as well. Councilman Larsen questioned whether the Pacificorp vendor 7405 line item for O’Reilly Auto Parts was for the power hookup. Clerk Haderlie said yes, and that O’Reilly Auto Parts is billed for the amount we are charged for the power installation. Councilman Hart asked if they are allowed to pay that over time. Clerk Haderlie said they are, but most pay it upfront. Councilman Carpenter questioned Helena about the aquatic weed killer application. Mayor Gritton stated he believes it was applied about a month and a half ago. Councilwoman Byram questioned 5275 Intermountain Gas for the Teen Center; it is almost double the others. Councilman Carpenter stated it could include the fire department building. All were in favor, Page 2 of 8 and the motion carried. Councilwoman Byram moved to approve August 2026 Payroll. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. 3. Appointments: Mayor Gritton opened the public hearing for the update to the master fee schedule, Resolution 2027-5. Mayor Gritton asked Clerk Haderlie whether the Council had received any comments or written comments. Clerk Haderlie stated that the Council received none. Mayor Gritton opened the floor for public comment. There were no comments. Mayor Gritton closed the public hearing. Mayor Gritton opened the discussion from the City Council. Councilman Hart introduced Resolution 2027-5 to update the Master Fee Schedule and moved to adopt Resolution 2027-5. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. Councilman Hart asked what changed. Clerk Haderlie stated it includes airport fees, subdivision fees, plat review fees, preliminary studies, sign permit fees, manufacturer modular fees, copy fees, and new equipment rentals that Recreation asked to be added. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay: 0; Abstain: 0. Mayor Gritton opened the public hearing for the Ledger Creek Wetlands Conservation Property Boundary Dispute. Mayor Gritton asked Randy Corder if he wanted to provide any information. He declined. Mayor Gritton asked Clerk Haderlie whether the Council had received any comments or written comments. Clerk Haderlie stated that the Council received none. Mayor Gritton opened the floor for public comment. There were no comments. Mayor Gritton closed the public hearing. Mayor Gritton opened the discussion from the City Council and staff. Attorney Smith commented on the agreement that the Corders have signed to transfer the property. That's on their side of the fence, and so that agreement is before you. If you approve that agreement, it would authorize the mayor to sign a quitclaim deed transferring the property to them. The agreement also provides for fees they were going to pay; once they're paid, you can sign the quitclaim to transfer the property. This is the final step to make sure the transfer follows state statute for transferring city property. Again, it doesn't confirm an actual transfer. Just confirming what's already in place. But this would finalize the process and make it official. Councilman Carpenter moved to allow you to sign this land transfer and quitclaim deed with the Corders to resolve a boundary and fence-line dispute on the Ledger Creek property. Councilman Larsen seconded the motion. Councilman Carpenter amended his motion to allow the mayor to sign the agreement and the quitclaim deed with the Corders. Councilman Larsen seconded the amended motion. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay: 0; Abstain: 0. Randy Corder said the fees you discussed will be paid as soon as the title company signs the deeds. Clerk Haderlie stated they will issue the city a check for the fees. Councilman Hart mentioned the title company has been in communication. They've been very attentive and making sure all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed. The dollar signs are in the right places. Barry Oats Parkridge Subdivision phase two final plat approval. Councilman Hart commented that my understanding is that there is a revision to this phase of the Parkridge subdivision, which it had formerly planned to build. The next phase ultimately would have been 12 units on both sides of the new street that's going to go in. The revision is that it will be 10 units rather than 12. Basically, adding a two- car garage. Councilman Hart was concerned about both ends. There's a new street or whatever going to be added in the middle of the next two sections as you come off of Hooper; does it allow for enough? Will it create a bottleneck or confusion? Director Squires mentioned it's set far enough that there won't be an issue. Council briefly discussed having Keller and Associates review the plat. Cody Thompson comment: The problem with doing that is, if they review it and they find something, then we've got to re-record. Like, that's not really in the best interest. If you're going to go that route, you should have it reviewed Page 3 of 8 before we record. Because then we'll have to file a plat, because as soon as it's signed, we're going to record it, and then if it's if there's a there's a problem, then we have to revise it. You'll be back in some stuff like this that can drag way out. Councilwoman Byram asked: This has already been approved previously with Phase One, correct? Director Squires stated it is replated. Councilwoman Byram recommended we approve it with the engineered plans already done, but change it for that. That would be my recommendation. Councilwoman Byram moved to approve the 2nd phase of Parkridge Subdivision as presented. Councilman Larsen seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Councilman Carpenter introduced Ordinance Number 723, an ordinance vacating a portion of public street within the City of Soda Springs. Councilman Hart moved that we dispense with reading the ordinance on three separate occasions and read it by title only. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay 0; Abstain 0. Attorney Smith read the Ordinance by title; Ordinance number 723. An ordinance vacating a portion of a public street within the city of Soda Springs, Idaho, particularly describing the portion of the vacated street and providing for the effective date of the ordinance. Councilman Carpenter moved to approve the adoption of Ordinance 723. Councilman Larsen seconded the motion. Attorney Smith commented that a couple of meetings ago, the council considered approving vacating this portion of the street, and this ordinance effectuates that. Roll call vote: Mitch Hart, aye; Daniel Larsen, aye; Ryan Carpenter, aye; and Paige Byram, aye. Nay 0; Abstain 0. 4. Citizen Input No citizen input was received from those attending. 5. Unfinished Business: Director Squires' update on the Ledger Creek Trails contractor: they completed another 1.2 miles. We gave them the go-ahead on Friday to do another 1.5. We're going to finish another 1.5-mile loop. All the reclamation has been done. I want to keep it out there, but it looks really good. He had them haul off some of the sod that was rolled up. They tried to smooth it out, and it just didn't look very good. So there was another $2,000 cost to that initial estimate that we had for hauling that material off, but they tried to spread it out, and it just didn't look very good. That's why that expense was $2,000 more than the estimate. But it looks really good. They worked on the second phase of the trails this week. They've been able to utilize a lot of that white sand that we had up at the shop to fill in some of the lower spots, so we're not wasting as much silica sand. In fact, looking at the silica sand pile this afternoon, we're probably going to be okay on sand. They did do the road to the diversion dam in limestone, but Nutrien paid for all that. We did not pay for that. That was Nutrien/John Bronson and his guys who facilitated that. Held on in Limestone. The road down to the diversion is not silica sand, but it's walkable. But it's awesome. We can drive a truck down there, get to the diversion, take a mini X down there, and clean it. It's just a lot better road. We have some bridges we have to purchase and install, so that'll have to play into that as well. But speaking with the Army Corps of Engineers, the one bridge- well, both bridges, actually. We can do it fairly inexpensively as long as we don't do abutments in the creek channel. We don't have to do a permit. We can do a verbal permit with the Army Corps of Engineers. We need a long span, and we can get 10 feet on either side of the stream edge, and then we don't have to permit. We can do something fairly inexpensive, as cheap as an old rail car, if we wanted to, or some fabricated bridge. We'll have to. We're not going to get there this year. That'll be in the spring. We can come up with some inexpensive bridge ideas. Council Hart would like to have the trail complete this year. Second South. We may have a little expense from the Main Street East contracted pothole this morning, and the water line is way too shallow, so we'll have to lower it from Main Street East. It wasn't in the contract, so the city may have to cover 200-300 feet of pipe and labor. After speaking with ITD, they Page 4 of 8 said they'll pay for it right now. In the end, when we look at our quantities, if we're over on eight-inch pipe or under on six-inch pipe, there may be a trade-off, but my honest feeling is we'll be fine. But just be aware that there may be a $50,000 to $70,000 expense to go from Main Street that way to where we can tie on to C9 100 High. He doesn’t think it will be much if we do have an expense. We met with Celeste from Bonneville Power (BPA). We met just to review our load allocation and load forecasting for the next few years; we're in really good shape. We're using about half of what they're allocated. The forecast fluctuates a little, but unless a data center or some other big power-consuming entity moves in, we have plenty of wiggle room. They weren't very concerned about the forecast. We met with them. They will send over a document to sign to show that we agree with their forecast. Councilman Hart commented on one nice thing they do: even if we peak really high, they don't set that as a high- water mark. Director Squires stated we were late because we had to meet with DEQ and EPA on Soda Creek. They work on the TMDL on Soda Creek. He thanked Trevin for going along because he definitely knows a lot more about Soda Creek than he does. Councilman Carpenter asked if we discharge into it. Director Squires stated We don't discharge, but it's the city's property in a lot of places. And their biggest question was: what does the water do out of the hydro plants? What does the water do when the hydro plants aren't running? Can you ever divert back to the old Soda Creek original river channel, or is it always in the canal? Those were the kinds of questions they had. They had some questions on CFS. They had questions about farmers' land irrigation diversions. The biggest disagreement is that when you look at the State of Idaho, if it's in an artificial canal or something like that, the water quality parameters don't exist until it goes back into its original river channel, where it affects downstream users, beneficial users, and DEQ thinks that when it's not in the original river channel most of the time, the limits should be much lower or much higher. They should be able to put more in it. EPA doesn't really see it that way. They want to put a hard number to it, and that's what it is. Mayor Gritton commented We want to congratulate Trevin Barfuss and thank you for your efforts and your attention to detail, and probably quite a bit of studying to get that passed. My understanding is that Trevin will get a stipend pay raise for that additional certification. He is pleased that Trevin has gone to the effort to become certified not only in residential building inspection but also in commercial. Trevin will continue working more with the county's building inspector and learn through that. Director Squires mentioned we have even more interest in the airport now. He has one more person; this is three hangars in the last six months that people have wanted to build. But the number one question he gets asked from every one of them is, What is the future lease rate structure. And the reason they're asking you this is the average hangar that's out there is $75,000, not counting concrete. They're making a substantial investment with a hangar on property that they don't own. Are we good with 20- year lease terms as long as things are current? Are we going to double the lease rate next year? Are we going to double it in five? I mean, obviously we don't know the answers to all these things, but they'd like some direction on where the city wants to see the airport in five years. Where do we think the lease rates are going to be in five years? Are we willing to go longer terms on leases? Clerk Haderlie commented that adoption of the new airport lease fee schedule has increased. Council discussed what other airports are doing and charging, possible federal grants, and working toward updating the airport at length. 6. New Business: Chief Golightly reported we're currently working on an MOU or a mutual aid agreement with the Carroll County Sheriff's Office. Hope to see that move forward. It's kind of in his ballpark at this point, and a few things that you wanted to review with the county prosecutor or the county attorney. We have a lot of upcoming local events that will involve officers, which may mean a little overtime. September 5th is the Kelly Park Cardinal Classic cross-country race. On September 10th, officers will help with SIBP for Kids Safety Day. That's going to be with the school district over at the city park, and we have officers teaching Page 5 of 8 gun safety and bicycle safety at that. September 11th is homecoming week. On September 11th, we have the homecoming parade, and the school is meeting with me to set up a parade route, which will leave the school at 3 o'clock on the 11th. They're going to do it on Friday. They'll leave from the high school, using the old route we used about eight years ago: Hooper Avenue to Main Street, then back across on First North, re-entering the high school parking lot at the tailgating section, where they'll have some events and activities. And then September 12, Lolita J will be coming through and speaking with Brent Chambers at the event. They're going to have about 600 to 800 additional cars coming through our community that day as support crews. The vehicles aren't allowed to follow the bike racers, so they will be coming up on I- 15 to McCammon and back across through Soda Springs to Montpelier, where some of the race crews will be switching because there is a relay race. From about 8 o'clock to about 2 o'clock that afternoon, we'll see increased traffic, so the public is aware. September 12th is the Fall Festival in the park, and it looks like we have something about that on there. And then the next week, September 16th through 20th, the city park. This goes with Rotaries. The 9/11 Global War on Terror wall will be displayed at the city park. Viewing of the wall will begin September 17th and will end the morning of the 20th or around noon on the 20th, in conjunction with. I've been in contact with ISP. Trent Clark secured Idaho's replica Liberty Bell, which will arrive Friday and Saturday and be part of those same events as the Global War on Terror wall. Librarian Hansen reported that we finished our adult and teen summer reading program this month. About 35 adults signed up, and a handful of them came in to pick up the prizes they earned. And we had our teen wrap-up party. We had about 35 kids come to that. She just wanted to thank Grumpy Guys. They gave us a discount on our pizzas for the kids that night, so that was nice of them. And then, of course, thank you to ITAFOS for their sponsorship. We were able to do the team summer reading program because of that, so that's really awesome. This month, we had cameras installed at the library. We have two exterior cameras, one that's in front of the library and one out back where our new shed is, and then four interior cameras. They're all linked to the city, so good with that. Our fall programming is finally starting, so story times and everything is starting next week. We have our registration going on. For some programs, we ask people to register. But currently, we have about 17 girls signed up for our mother- daughter book club. We average anywhere from 16 to 20 for that, so we're right on track for that. We have eight boys signed up for our books for boys, which actually is a big increase from the last couple of years. So we're excited about that one. These two programs are for the 8- to 12-year-old kids. This year is the first time we've had people register for Lego Club. We have 15 kids signed up, but usually about 30 or 40 come that day. That number isn't accurate yet, but it will increase as things move along. We also have 17 teens signed up for our teen program that runs throughout the school year, so we're on track for an actual increase in a few of these programs. We're excited about that. Lately, I've been reviewing policies to see what we have and what we need at the library. Beth's already moving with Festival of Trees. She posted today about volunteers, so we'll be getting committees together in the next few weeks. Two people who were title sponsors last year have responded and committed again this year, so we're on our way. And then she's also trying to condense maybe a little bit of the time that we'll need the enders. And so if we can shorten that rental time, we will, if that's possible, to get more out of it during the week that all the trees are up and things like that. So that's about where we're at. We recently had a staff change when one of our full-time employees asked to move to part-time. She will ask the council to approve moving Talisha Hayes to full-time. Council has given her the okay to proceed. Director Young reported we had a power outage at Liddle Paving. He doesn't know if they called the fire department, but it caused a fire months ago. They just put it out. He said it was small and got taken care of. He asked Jason what might have caused it. He said it was an overload. They haven't done anything different, so he thinks maybe the equipment they used was too loose. The stuff that he was showing me-it was all melted pretty well. The crack filler that was fixed recently was fixed. It came back. We used it for a week. Quit working. The company was here Monday. He told them if it were up to me, he'd have you guys take it back and give us our money back. Cause it's just problems with it. They're Page 6 of 8 gonna come up next week, pick it up, and take it back. Pretty sure it's all under warranty. I think we're 400 hours on it, so under 500. He doesn't think we'll see any bills from it. It's doing everything it did before that you said you fixed. On September 29th, the hydro will be here to fix our hydro. He requires two full- time employees till 5:30 PM. They work from 7 AM to 5:30 PM. He'll be here for three days, he said: two days at number five, and then one day at number four. See if we can speed up number four because it's slow. He requested a jackhammer for the mini x. Council asked Director Young to proceed with finding a jackhammer for the mini x. Fencing around the substation's just about done. They need gates. He thought gates were shown today. He was waiting on a cross piece for the substation. Recreation Director Rowland: 2026 soccer (K through first grade, second through third grade, fourth through fifth grade) is completed. Their last game was around August 26. We had a lot of fun with soccer this year. We were thrilled with the turnout of kids we had this year. The referees were great and always willing to help out and learn. Many of them came back to help with football and volleyball, which is pretty cool. 2026 flag football games start on September 14th. They play every Monday and Tuesday at City Park at 5:30 and 6:30, with the last game being on October 6th. We have one team for first through second grade with 12 kids. We have two teams for third and fourth grade with 12 kids on each team. Pyper and I are working on getting fields painted this week. 2026 volleyball game. Starts on September 12th. They play every Saturday at the TMS gym with games starting at eight, and the last game is on October 3rd. We have 2/3 through fourth grade teams with six or seven kids on each team, and 1/5 through sixth grade teams with nine kids on each team. TMS was great to work with and let us use the gym for practices and games. The numbers for flag football and volleyball were lower than I thought this year. I don't know what happened. She doesn't know if parents forgot to sign up. I put it on Facebook. We hung up banners and everything. We did end up having like 10 or 12 people try to come sign up after it was closed. I told them that they could, but they wouldn't get shirts, and that made some people not want to. We've had a few that still did, though. So hoping next year will be better. Hoping numbers for basketball will be good too. We're preparing to open registration for third- and fourth-grade boys and fifth- and sixth-grade girls basketball. This opens on October 5th. I'm hoping we have a good turnout for basketball this year in every age division. The high school, Dan, Shalynn, and I have agreed that Pyper will do an internship through the city while working part-time. Pyper will receive credits through the high school and possibly college credits for doing this. Shay and I have been preparing curriculum because Pyper needs to complete as much classroom work as possible, along with hands-on work. She arrives at 3 p.m. every day and then stays for games or other tasks that need to be completed. Another participant also wants to do an internship through the recreation department for high school credit. Shay and I are working on securing grants and funds for this participant. If it all gets approved through the Idaho Business for Education Youth Apprenticeship Program, he'll be able to do the internship from 10 to 11, four days a week, every week. It might take a little bit to get that approved, though. So he hasn't started yet. Parks Director Browning is still figuring out how much acreage I have to mow. That's the only full- time employee I've figured out. I've got a 10-month contract. He has a gentleman who works four days a week, and he's retiring on the 23rd. Just in the parks alone, we're about 175 acres of mowing and weed whacking. That doesn't include any of the edging or mowing of any of the trails themselves. That has to be done separately. Watering 90 trees out to our new park is a full-day job. We've lost all of our student help. They've gone back to school, so that comes upon me, and I'm ending up spending the day out there because I've got the other guys on mowers, trying to stay up to date. Thank goodness for the rainstorms we've had. It's done a lot of helping, and we've got a lot more water going on as well. We've got sprinklers running; a few leaks need work, and we're working toward finding the time to address them. We're planning on the Cardinal Classic this weekend. We've started on Kelly this week and are doing the trails and everything for the ride. Clerk Haderlie reported that we are starting the year-end process and also getting ready for the Page 7 of 8 new budget year. There's a lot of input on our side that a lot of people don't realize. We are sorry; we've been pushing to get your benefits done. After we close year-end, we start the audit again. The business licenses and building permits for August are in the Drive: one business license and two building permits. Councilman Hart requested information in the city files about Gagon Park. Attorney Smith has some water rights issues to look into. There's also the issue of billing for utility services. The mayor and I talked yesterday about potentially changing the planning and zoning requirements to be a commissioner. State Code requires that they must be a resident for two years. Director Squires reports some water leaks. In fact, my crew is out on one right now. I haven't heard back from it. Don't know if that's a good sign or bad. But we get the meters in for West End water users. I hope to have one in maybe next week and the other the following week, so we can get those in and get some baselines. A lot of water samples I'm going to do tomorrow and run at the Pope Hotel, probably $15,000 to $20,000 worth of new water samples. It's PFAS, VOCs, SOCs, nitrates, nitrites, disinfectant byproducts- all that good stuff. Councilman Carpenter moved to approve the alcohol catering or alcohol beverage catering permit and allow the Mayor and Chief Golightly to sign this for the one-day event, the Fall Festival in City Park, for beer only, no hard alcohol. Councilwoman Byram seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Clerk Haderlie asked whether you guys want any restrictions, like taping it off again, type situation. Councilman Carpenter, the event host, mentioned having a beer garden when they came in to have approval in a previous meeting. 2026-8 resolution, revised records retention schedule final. Resource recall. At the last meeting, this was presented and tabled for two weeks, so council had a chance to review and consider it. Councilman Hart moved to adopt Resolution 2026-8 to revise the records retention schedule and approve it as presented. Councilwoman Byram seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Blue Cross comp plan proposal from Vitruvian, chaired by Chris Stanley. This came onto our radar today. This is one of the items that was added to the agenda. And what we have here, a bit of background, is that Blue Cross has graciously funded an update to the city's comprehensive plan, and that gracious donation is for $25,000, and the same individual slash entity currently doing the Ender's feasibility study has provided the proposal that the members of council should have in your possession, and what we'd like is for the council to review that and consider its approval and authorizing me to execute the agreement, so that that process can be undertaken. And time is of the essence in this matter. Some of this preliminary activity may start as soon as two weeks from now. Councilman Hart moved that we accept Vitruvian's proposal to implement the Blue Cross grant money to review, refine, update, comment on, and recommend whatever they're going to do to our comp plan, at a cost not to exceed $25,000, in approval of the mayor signing the agreement. Councilman Larsen seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. Mayor Gritton stated that Molly deserves recognition for her dedication and work on behalf of Soda Springs, and he truly appreciates the hard work she's put into our community. 7. Citizen Input: Councilman Carpenter commented there's not a schedule, so to speak, but there are some timelines, and they are being met. But know that when you see all the equipment move out, that'll be about 15 minutes after they're done. So that's the closest time any of us can give you. It'll be October Councilman Hart moved to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Carpenter seconded the motion. All were in favor, and the motion carried. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2026. Page 8 of 8 _________________________ Paul Gritton, Mayor ATTEST _________________________ Andrea Haderlie, Clerk
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