Pay system, civic funding highlight council agenda

by Tim Bondy

Mountain Home News

A new city-wide pay scale system and funding of local civic groups headlined a list of topics the city council reviewed during a meeting June 13.

The meeting started off with a public comment period where residents receive three minutes to address issues they have with the city.

Local resident Betty Ashcraft expressed a concern she had with the city possibly partnering with the Western Elmore County Recreation District to build a $410,000 outdoor concrete skate park on city owned property.

"The WECRD was created explicitly to build a recreation facility," said Ashcraft, who added that the planned skate park would offer only limited community recreation and "certainly not to all age groups."

She added that two current WECRD directors were part of a recent effort to dissolve the district. Ashcraft said the city might be helping to now destroy it by accepting a large amount of taxpayer money she felt should go toward a family recreation center.

Later in the evening, city councilman Geoff Schroeder, the council's longtime liaison to the WECRD, addressed Ashcraft concerns.

Since 2008, Schroeder has publicly supported the decisions the WECRD board has made, including opposing a recent effort to dissolve the district and now opposing an ongoing effort to recall both district directors.

With up to 65 percent of WECRD taxpayer funding derived from residents living within city limits and 60 percent of the total district voter roll also living within the city, Schroeder said the council should respect that fact. He considers last November's general election vote as a referendum on the district's previous business decisions.

Schroeder added that he had a recent conversation with Art Nelson, president of the WECRD board. The councilman was encouraged that the district is "ready, willing and able" to help build the skate park.

Nelson thought there were many options to build a recreation center while still funding the skate park without raising anyone's taxes, Schroeder said.

The council then moved on to regular business where they approved about a dozen routine items from the consent agenda. One item regarding a bid award for a park and ride lot on East 8th North Street was pulled off the agenda for legal reasons.

Councilman Mark Bryant then asked for clarification on why the city was funding a $10,500 military liaison contract position currently filled by Billy Richey.

Paula Riggs, the city's economic development director, was asked to speak to the military liaison issue. Bryant's question focused on whether the city has seen any recent positive results from Richey's work in that position as the governor's military affairs liaison.

Riggs and Richey have has been involved with local military matters since 1990s, and Riggs said Richey was instrumental in ensuring Mountain Home Air Force Base wasn't affected by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission in 1998.

Out of others in the United States with a similar position, Richey is probably the lowest paid person to fill that liaison role, Schroeder said. He added that Richey continues to be an invaluable asset to the city.

The council went on to unanimously approve that expenditure in the consent agenda vote.

The council moved on to a lengthy discussion regarding a new city-wide pay structure change with a number of city employees offering their feedback and concerns about the proposed plan.

For 10 years, the city has paid its employees based upon a sliding longevity scale. The new proposed plan is based upon market rates derived directly from pay scales found in similar sized cities within Idaho like Sandpoint, Burley and McCall.

Since 2008, the city hasn't given its employees many pay raises. With the new plan being based on market rate and an open range structure pay, it was unclear if near-term pay raises would be offered.

However, Mayor Rich Sykes did indicate the open structure of the new plan is intended to give employees pay increases early in their career as a retention reward.

Stan Franks, the city's parks and recreation director, said the most important part of the new changes should be to stick with the plan and educate employees so they thoroughly understand it.

The council voted unanimously to approve the new city pay structure for the 2017 fiscal year budget, which takes effect Oct. 1.

Next on the agenda was funding request presentations from local civic organizations. All the funding decisions for civic organization will be made later this month during budget hearings.

The Elmore County Domestic Violence Council was first to address the city council. Connie Powers and Julia Robinson explained their organization has helped a number of local victims of violence. This includes aiding their first male victim and resolving their first medical referral along with taking on 139 crisis center calls.

The domestic violence council accomplished all that while being staffed entirely by volunteers who gave over 11,000 hours of their time in the last year, both women said.

Last year, the city council gave the ECDVC $1,500 to help run the organization. This year, Powers and Robinson asked the city to pay the approximate $2,800 in utility costs for their North 2nd East office location.

The budget hearing then moved to a presentation by Nancy Thompson, the manager of the Desert Mountain Visitor Center, who requested $5,000 to run the center in the coming fiscal year. The tourism information center is opened about 360 days a year and served over 8,000 tourists last year, Thompson said.

She added that their all-volunteer workforce clocked in more than 4,000 volunteer hours in the last year.

A 25-minute conversation between the city council and Treasure Valley Transit officials Terri Lindenberg and Judy Watkins included some tense moments. For more than 10 years, the transit company has run the local bus service within the city limits and offers a route from the city to Mountain Home Air Force Base.

Lindenberg and Watkins indicated they have sought sponsorships from local businesses as a way to fund their non-profit transit service but haven't had any response from a list of 66 local contacts. They also indicated that funding from federal sources could be drying up, and it might get difficult to maintain the bus routes they currently offer to local residents.

Schroeder, as he did in past discussion with the transportation service, asked why the company hasn't increased the bus fare as a way to boost revenue. Lindenberg indicated local riders likely wouldn't be able to afford a fare increase and could likely lead to a decrease in ridership.

The councilman then made the observation that bus ridership numbers TVT provided to the council have shown a downward trend over the past few years.

The company officially asked the city for $25,000 in funding for the next fiscal year, which represents an increase from what the city has provided since 2010. Sykes and Schroeder both said they have ridden the bus and saw first-hand how valuable the service is to local residents.

The city council's next meeting begins at 6 p.m. June 27 at the council chambers next to city hall.