City Council - 4.23.24

April 23, 2024, - The City Council meeting began with ICOPA President, Chief Basterrechea from Meridian Police Department, presenting the City of Mountain Home with accreditations. This is a huge honor to have for the Police Department, Chief Basterrechea stated that MHPD, “Passed with flying colors, you guys picked the right guy for the job.” He, of course was talking about Chief Thompson and the countless efforts and hours Chief and his team has put into the department to ensure this goal was achieved.

This also brings great news for the taxpayers of the city, because it means a discount with ICRMP.

After the plaque was awarded, there was a public hearing regarding a new fee for driving range ball buckets, there were no comments.

Once the public hearing was closed, the floor was opened to public comment, two people spoke.

Brennen McCarthy spoke of a fence that has been put up by a private business, that is now a permanent fixture, on city property. McCarthy wanted to clarify that he was not against the business and its success, but rather wanted to ask the council if a workshop could be established, asking them to look into the matter. He pointed out the harm it could do to the community in terms of events such as spooktacular.

Brenda Franks also spoke during public comment, giving the council members an update about the Farmer’s Market. She informed the chamber that last year they had raised about $3000 and donated it back to the community.

The consent agenda this week had three items pulled. Council Member Harjo pulled item ‘a’ so that the Planning and Zoning meeting minutes could be adjusted; Council Member Wirkkala pulled item ‘e’ so that there could be clarification and understanding about a grant’s approval status; Council Member Brennan pulled item ‘m’ so that he may ‘stick to his guns’ about the conditional use permit for a sign on main street requested by Ron Cox. Other than those three items the consent agenda was approved.

Item ‘a’ was a quick process to ensure that the minutes of the previous Planning and Zoning Commissioners meeting correctly reflected the record.

Item ‘e’ however, took further discussion and review. It stated in the consent agenda that the council would be approving a grant application request to allow the Fiber Department to apply for the BEAD Idaho State Broadband Program and authorize the Grant Administrator to complete all grant documents and have the Mayor and City Clerk sign all required documents.

It was stated by Wirkkala that “It’s asking us to approve a grant, but the grant is already approved.” She stated multiple times that she did not approve the grant because “there’s $35,000 we have to find money for,” and that it wasn’t transparent.

Harjo stated that he “didn’t know if it behooves us to return the money, we already got the money.”

Wirkkala wanted to know where the rest of the requested money would come from, since the grant request was $50,000, and stated that the city would have to find the remaining $15,000 that wasn’t included in the allotted amount. Tiffany Belt, City Clerk, informed the council that they didn’t need the full $50,000, that was just the amount they requested, and that they would budget the allotted $35,000, and nothing more. Wirkkala then requested that the grants that were applied for be included in the packets in their entirety. Belt informed her that the grants are typically around a thousand pages, and made a motion to table the issue.

Brennan then asked for clarification as to where the money that was to be reimbursed, was coming from, asking if this money would be coming from another part of the budget? Belt confirmed. To which Wirkkala stated “that’s what I’m not cool with, I’m not cool with it coming from a separate budget line, it’s supposed to pay for itself.” Brennan, though, said he understood the sentiment, but saw no risk with proceeding forward, and accepting the free money. He then stated, “I’m not going to turn down free money, but I want to see the success of LID1, before we dive deep into LID2,” and that he was going to be hesitant with LID2 until he saw real ‘on-the-ground’ progress.

Paula Szafranski, City Treasurer, then informed the council that this was a reimbursement grant, so they would spend the money and then be reimbursed for the money that they spent up to $35,000, stating “we were awarded the grant but we haven’t actually received any cash. We would have to have an attorney, we would have to have documents come to you guys, at which point we are going to say ‘hey we are going to use this grant money we were approved to use for the LID2. So we haven’t received any money, we don’t have any of that money sitting in our bank account.” She also informed the council that the City would have to spend it, submit for that, then get reimbursed for it from the State.

Wirkkala stated “bottom line is just transparency, so I’m gonna stand by ‘I wanna see the numbers.’

The motion was to table the issue, Garvy, Wirkkala, and Brennan all voted aye to tabling the discussion.

The third item that had been pulled from the agenda was item m, allowing for the electrical sign on Main Street, off premise conditional use permit. It was realized quickly that there was no issue and was unanimously approved.

The new business on the agenda was the driving range ball bucket fee. It was motioned and passed unanimously.

Ordinance #1794 and #1795, both regarding the zoning and annexation of Jacob’s Plaza, were read by City Clerk, and approved by council.

Council then went into Executive Session.