City Council 3.26.24

The March 26th council meeting took place at Council Chambers.

Council members Harjo, Wirkkala, and Brennan were present at the meeting. Council member Garvey was present via zoom. Mayor Sykes was present. The agenda was as follows: Presentations, recognizing persons in the audience, department head reports, consent agenda, old business, new business, ordinances.

The presentation provided by Alexis Pickering and Courtney Kelly from Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative (WICHC) outlined what has been accomplished in Elmore County areas with the Get Healthy Idaho grant that equated to approximately $1 million over the course of four years. They had identified top health concerns for all of Elmore County, being mental health, outdoor amenities and physical activity, and local health care.

The health concerns that had been outlined were from citizens of Elmore County. According to Kelly, Canyon County (population wise significantly larger than Elmore) had fewer responses to the survey than Elmore did, with the highest response area being proportionate to the city.

Pickering and Kelly discussed the projects that had been accomplished and what paths forward could be taken by the council to ensure future progress. There were a total of thirteen priority projects with four specific to Mountain Home.

Several citizens spoke during public comment portion of the meeting

Pastor Patty Stats spoke on Old Business item number one, in favor of Ron Cox obtaining a conditional use permit for an off-premise sign. Stating that there was a need for the electronic sign because even though there were other forms of advertising such as the newspaper, but it isn’t accessible. She also mentioned that the City of Mountain Home had a larger sign that was a much bigger distraction.

Ted Thompson requested that formal research and a study, performed by Dr. Christopher Waller, be conducted on the mismanagement of the airport.

Tess Beagle requested that when the contract for Kurley’s 2 at Desert Sage Golf Course ran its course, the restaurant location went to bid. Her reasoning for this was that the current contract is costing the taxpayers money.

Rod Dudley: Inquiring why workmens comp is higher for some positions rather than others.

Don Guss remarked that the people working on the apartments on Bradford, ‘said they would keep us (Westside Sewer) posted but hadn’t. Guss also informed the council of a trip hazard at the golf course.

Krystal Powell spoke against the electronic sign as it was violating at minimum three ordinances without the permit, and was harming other advertisers while it was functioning without said permit yet obtained.

The mayor then asked council about the Consent Agenda and what they wished to do with it. Wirkkala had item k.) ‘approve the partnership agreement between the City of Mountain Home, Military Affairs Committee, and Mountain Home AFB and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement after City legal counsel approves the agreement’ removed.

Brennan had item i.) ‘approve the Public Works Director’s request to purchase a 2024 Caterpillar Skid steer for the water and wastewater departments’ removed, as well as item n.) ‘authorize the Public Works director to bid to resurface the 6th Street from American Legion Blvd. to 8th North Street and from E. 10th Street to E. 19th North Street’ removed.

Harjo had item j.) ‘approve the Public Works Director’s request to purchase a 2019 Caterpillar Skid steer that is currently a city-leased piece of equipment’ removed.

Garvey didn’t wish to pull any items but did ask for more clarification on the item i.) ‘‘approve the Public Works Director’s request to purchase a 2024 Caterpillar Skid steer for the water and wastewater departments’ before the vote.

The council then unanimously voted to have the remaining Consent Agenda items go though.

Approval of March 5, 2024 Planning and Zoning Commission

Approval March 12, 2024 Regular City Council minutes.

Approval of Bills in the amount of $470,255.72.

Approval of Treasurer’s report for the period ending 2.29.24.

Approve the finding of facts to amend an existing C-4 planned unit development for Airbase Commons, requested by Mike Freer.

Approve the finding of facts to amend an existing preliminary for Airbase Commons, requested by Mike Freer.

Approve the Memorandum of Understanding with BSU to provide a cybersecurity risk assessment of the City of Mountain Home.

Approve the request by Colton Yasinski for the preliminary plat extension for Freedom Estates.

Approve the purchase of fitness equipment for city training facility

Set a public hearing for April 23, 2024, establishing a fee for driving range ball buckets.

Approve the agreement and purchase with Kaseya for Datto RMM advance software management.

The first matter of Old Business was the deliberation/discussion on ‘Planning and Zoning Commission to amend an existing conditional use permit for an off-premises sign,’ a continuing item from the March 12, 2024 meeting. The sign is located at 404 N. Main Street. It is a north facing electronic sign that flashes through different advertisements. The request for the permit was made by Ron Cox of Cox Signs. It is in a window of the building that he owns but does not operate out of. The sign is located beneath two billboard signs and is on the ground floor.

There was much deliberation as to whether the permit was the right decision for the city. It offers local businesses the opportunity to advertise on a highly traveled road. However, there were many questions as to if the sign was in violation of too many ordinances, and whether if it was against the future goals and objectives of the downtown revitalization and the 2018 Downtown Master Plan put together by previous council.

President Brennan motioned to table the decision for six months so that the council could all take time to better understand the ordinances.

Harjo played an active role in researching the ordinances to trying and establish which violations the sign was in and what parts of the City Ordinance were too grey to be able to reference in this particular case. Wirkkala and Garvey were in favor of granting the permit.

City Attorney Paul Fitzer had recommended that the tabling of the decision still take place because there was still so much to be discussed, but didn’t think that it would take six months.

Wirkkala’s response to this was that council member Harjo was reliable and knowledgeable about these ordinances and that she trusted his knowledge and understanding of the ordinances in question, then asked him what he thought they should do.

The following three ordinance where read by City Clerk Belt in an official capacity so that they could be referenced as ordinance numbers rather than they full ordinance in future meetings.

Ordinance #1791- Amending Mountain Home City Code Title 7, Chapter 3, Section 4 titled Containers; other articles limited.

Ordinance #1792- Amending Mountain Home City Code Title 7, Chapter 1A, Section 9 titled Water Rights Fees.

Ordinance #1793 Amending Mountain Home City Code Title 9, Chapter 6,Section 4, Annexation.