City Council

September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting The City Council of the City of Idaho Falls met in Council Special Meeting, Monday, September 18, 2023, in the Council Chambers in the City Annex Building located at 680 Park Avenue in Idaho Falls at 4:00 p.m. Call to Order and Roll Call There were present: Mayor Rebecca L. Noah Casper Council President Michelle Ziel-Dingman Councilor John Radford Councilor Tom Hally Councilor Jim Freeman Councilor Jim Francis Councilor Lisa Burtenshaw Also present: Pam Alexander, Municipal Services Director Wade Sanner, Community Development Services, Director Eric Grossarth, Public Information Officer Randy Fife, City Attorney Michael Kirkham, Assistant City Attorney Jasmine Marroquin, Deputy City Clerk Mayor Casper called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. with the following items: Mayor Casper explained that the purpose of this special meeting is to explain the negotiated contract. Municipal Services Director Pam Alexander explained the timeline history of the Civic Center for the Performing Arts. Assistant City Attorney Michael Kirkham explained the terms of the naming agreement in exchange for $3.5 million to be paid over a period of 5 years. The city will rename the Civic Center for the Performing Arts to be the Frontier Center for the Performing Arts. There is an option for Frontier to renew the 40-year term commitment for an additional 20 years if the Frontier wishes to do so. They will provide written notice of their desire to renew. The City will be obligated to renegotiate new terms for the next term. Mr. Kirkham advised the City Council to consider in their review of the agreement that this is a 40-year agreement and that everyone in attendance will be gone before it expires. Councilor Burtenshaw, in the second to last recital in the naming agreement, where it states if the City desires to complete phase II in a timely fashion to improve of the Civic without negatively impacting taxpayers. She would like to change the language in the agreement from negatively impacting taxpayers to minimally impact taxpayers or completely remove this language from the agreement. The Council agreed to where the City desires to complete phase II in a timely fashion in conjunction with the community. Councilor Francis, one of the key pieces of the project is ADA restrooms. He would like to add more accessibility to the center. Mr. Kirkham explained the renewal option of the agreement. The initial term will be 40 years that will begin on September 30, 2023. Subsection A: Renewal Option 90 days prior to expiration, Frontier will have the option to request an additional 20-year renewal term. Subsection B: First Right of Refusal. If someone in the community wants to sponsor the Civic after the initial 3-year term expires, The City would be obligated to present the negotiated offer to the Frontier. The name for the center will be Frontier Center for the Performing Arts. After the agreement has been entered into, The City will announce the name change by: 1  September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting 1. Changing the name and logo to Frontier’s name on the electronic marquee. 2. Changing the name and logo to Frontier’s name on marketing material. This will be limited to the City’s marketing. 3. Changing the name and logo to Frontier’s name on all web based related content and provide a click through link to Frontier’s website. 4. The City agrees not to enter into any agreement with a credit union entity or other financial institution for naming rights within a half-mile radius of the Civic. Councilor Francis voiced concerns that he would like the Idaho Falls logo to still be printed on the marquee. Mr. Kirkham explained that under the agreement the Idaho Falls logo would be removed completely from the marquee. Mr. Kirkham explained the placement and replacements of signs in the agreement. The City agrees to the replacement of street signs to say Frontier within the first 12 months of the agreement. Regarding the digital display on the marquee, Frontier gains the right advertise promotional messages, campaigns and other things that they are trying to do. In addition, the City agrees to display advertising for Frontier at the Airport for a period of 5 years. Councilor Francis asked if clarification could be added regarding campaigns. Eric Grossarth explained the social media page for Civic Center and City page. Pam Alexander informed the Council the Idaho Falls Arts Council does our marketing on behalf of the Civic to promote shows playing at the Civic in more of a link to the Idaho Falls Arts Council. Councilor Francis would like additional language that makes it clear that the digital display is for Frontier’s own marketing, not for third party. The Council members are in support of this being clarified. Eric explained that it isn’t necessarily the name that is the issue when we are going back to social media, it’s the product marketing. If the City’s social media page becomes a platform for that, where it is product solicitation, we will lose people that are turning to our page for the critical information. Councilor Francis reverted back to his concern about Frontier’s name being on the signs exclusively. The civic is still owned and maintained by the city. He is not comfortable with the City of Idaho Falls name not being anywhere on the building. Mr. Kirkham explained that it is a big change than what had been presented. The Council can go back and present an idea that the Idaho Falls name needs to be somewhere on the building. Mayor Casper explained this could be a compromise. We could add a deal to help finance the replacement of the marquee and the marquee could have Idaho Falls logo on the outside digital content. Councilor Francis feels that completely removing the Idaho Falls name would mean that 10 years down the road no one would know that the City even owns the building. Councilor Burtenshaw weighed in that no one knows that City owns the building now. They think it belongs to Idaho Falls High School. She feels that the name change is likely to improve the knowledge the is it a City building. Mayor Casper thinks this will improve but only for the short term and that 5 years from now, the Frontier Center will be its own entity, and no one will ever know the ownership. Councilor Hally said the Civic is not a multi-million-dollar asset and $3.5 million is quite a large sum. Francis said he would be comfortable with the mayor’s concept that the sign itself is a City sign and the Idaho Falls name is on the marquee just not the digital portion. Dingman thinks that would be inconsistent you have Frontier Center on the building and then you have the marquee out front that does not say Frontier Center on it. The digital portion will be rotating digital images that will not always say Frontier messaging on it. She feels it will be confusing. Then you would add additional confusion when you have Idaho Falls High School on the other part of the building. In the same building now, we have three separate-looking things. It will just be super inconsistent. Councilor Radford said if you leave Idaho Falls on the marquee, people will not refer to it as the Frontier Center they will still refer to it as the Idaho Falls Civic Center. Mr. Kirkham used a situation at Melaleuca Field as an example of residents calling in with concerns about the maintenance at the park. They were calling Mayor Casper about their grievances with the City’s park. Anyone that does any due diligence will know this is a City facility. 2  September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting Councilor Radford reminded everyone this is a public service and that the City is not a brand. Councilor Burtenshaw said she is very comfortable with the naming right in this form without Idaho Falls on it. Councilor Hally feels Frontier will turn the Civic into a real jewel for the community. Mayor requested if they could quickly go through the highlights of this agreement and then move on to the other topic to give the parties a chance to have a conversation and come back to this and see if there is the ability to move forward. Councilor Francis would like to express that he is not opposed to the naming rights he is just concerned about losing the Idaho Falls logo on it, but the naming rights is not the issue. There are just some details in the agreement and what issues they can cause later down the road is what he is concerned about. Mr. Kirkham, the rights fee is $3.50 million that will be paid to the City though the creation of a deposit account. Frontier will transfer the money on January 1st in 5 annual installments and under this agreement it is acknowledged by the city that the payments are for the Civic Auditorium. The City will also host a ribbon cutting event to rename the Civic and send out a press release and announce it on the website. And the City will have a permanent floor display space in the interior of the Civic’s lobby not less two feet deep, six feet high and six feet wide. Mayor Casper asked if there have been negotiations on the time frame of the ribbon cutting? Mr. Kirkham explained that there is not a specific timeline for it to occur. The parties will find and agree on when the event will happen. Mr. Kirkham explained the consequences that are listed in the agreement if the City fails to meet their obligations. Mr. Kirkham asked if the Mayor and Council have any concerns about the agreement that have not been discussed? Councilor Hally asked if the account at Frontier is fine. There are all kinds of things involved in an account. Idle money earns something in a money market account/short term duration account, do those profits remain in the account? Mr. Kirkham responded that the money is transferred in the Frontier account and at that point it is the City’s money. They can move it into its own account and the treasury would take over the account like any other City account. Mayor Casper asked Mr. Kirkham: The 1st instalment payment which would come on January 1 is likely to have a significant portion eaten up in compliance and signage matters. With that it leaves very little for phase II which is ultimately the goal. Would the campaign committee for the fund raising be okay with not having the full amount available to them in this first year? The second, with respect to your analogy about the cart on the track, she is particular to that she knows that something simple can be forgotten and overlooked and not remembered until the problem surfaces. What she sees with this agreement is that they have to figure out a five-year management of Airport signage and to be able to insure FAA compliance and the 3 media posts a month issue that could easily slip through the cracks if we don’t put that into a job description for the PIO. Are there management areas that you are aware of that we need to put into consideration? Mr. Kirkham said the biggest ones are the ones that are disconnected from the facility. Airport and Municipal Services will need to communicate to ensure that their obligations have been met. Director Alexander explained that Municipal services and the Airport will meet once a year to discuss the campaign for that year. Director Alexander also mention that the advisory committee for the Civic has been made aware of this agreement. Councilor Francis wanted clarification; when referring to liaison in the agreement, is it referring to design of the building or signs? Mr. Kirkham explained that it is referring to design and placements of signs. Councilor Burtenshaw wanted to express her support of this partnership. The City is not going to get a bond. This is an opportunity to expand the Civic. Councilor Hally also express support of this partnership. 3  September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting Mayor Casper waved any concerns of another financial institution being the whole sponsor at Pine Crest Golf Course. This is a fundraiser that falls with the half mile radius, or mandate that Frontier get first rights of refusal on the holes that fall with the half mile radius. The Mayor and Council took a 5-minute break. The meeting was called back into session at 5:40 pm. Community Development Director Wade Sanner presented. They will be discussing areas of impact. The Local Land Use Planning Act requires that every city establish an area of impact per Idaho code. The area of impact is located outside of the city boundaries but it is adjacent to our boundaries. It is primarily dealing with extension of City services and the potential to annex in the future. It is a planning tool that is used to expand our boundaries. Director Sanner explained that there have been conversations with colleagues at Bonneville County and the responses that been submitted to the Mayor and Council have been agreed-upon. They have been talked though at a staff meeting with Bonneville County. Mr. Sanner explained the existing area of impact was agreed upon February 13, 2001. The area of impact is supposed to be negotiated every 10 years. Community Development Services evaluated our annexation rate, and we found that we were annexing about 300 acres a year. That equates to about 6,000 acres that have been annexed in the last 20 years. In a map that we provided; they are seeing two colored lines that represent the area of impact. The orange boundary is the existing area of impact. Yellow boundary is the new area of impact We are looking at properties not at roads. Councilor Hally mentioned that the closer we get to getting to what we would like of the area of impact, the more we give the county residents the right to use our resources and annex at a later time. That is the tradeoff. Mr. Sanner explained more about the area of impact. What we did is that we held to the eastern boundary of our city limits, kind-of our gentleman’s agreement on 25th East, i.e. Hitt Road that we have with the City of Ammon, and we came up with that agreement that we have had for a long time. When we come up to the north yellow line, we wanted to accommodate some of the properties that we have that are City owned on the northeast corner and the potential interchange that will be coming on the northeast that is already on the outside section of the area of impact. In discussions with the County, the existing is what has been included in the packet. What the staff has tentatively agreed to, without input of their elected officials, is the yellow boundary. Councilor Dingman asked how significant is that? Director Sanner said very significant. We have established a good relationship with the County at a staff level. He has been attending County Commission meetings that help bridge that gap. In our responses, there have been more collaborations in terms of annexations. We meet with their public works department and other staff. Councilor Francis asked how many acres is shown in increase? Director Sanner replies estimating approximately 6,000 acres every 10 years. About 3,000 acres. Councilor Hally asked what would happen if we go beyond the area of impact? Direct Sanner explained that in 2008 an exemption was granted for a category A if a property owner chose to be annexed into the city. Mayor Casper asked how does the yellow line in 2023 differ from the line in 2018 and 2019? Direct Sanner answered that in 2018 it was more pushed back on the northwest side but was expanded on the northeast side. Mayor Casper asked, referring to a piece of property on the map near the Airport, once the City purchases it, it will fall under category A? Director Sanner answered yes. Direct Sanner asked if there were any inputs on the map before he goes into their responses? There were none. Their responses were broken into four categories: 1. The area of impact. 2. The extension of services and roads. 3. Annexation of roads. 4. Communication with staff. 4  September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting First question that was brought up from the County was in regard to comprehensive planning. You usually don’t do a comprehensive plan with the County. We stated that we are happy to work together and look at comprehensive plans and make sure they are compatible with each other but in the end, it would be the City of Idaho Falls comprehensive plan and we would be drafting our own plan-like Image IF. Councilor Radford mentioned there are some things that the County wanted. Mayor Casper explained there were some concerns that some things were being labeled one way by them and one way by us and they felt like that created a lot of confusion in the county. The City said this is our comprehensive plan and we are not changing it. Councilor Dingman clarified it was about the hearings and the Planning and Zoning Commission when the City invited them. Director Sanner said that we do take into account County consideration but in the end, an annexation is really a question of government and solely up to the City Council whether you annex or not. That is what that answer reflects. Will the city be willing to resize the area of impact in regards to expectant annexation? The City has worked with the County to address the area of impact that would be reflected in the annexation. That is where the 300 acres came from. Mayor Caper asked what was the 20-year time frame that you took for the 300 acres per year calculation? Director Sanner stated the long-range planner calculated that he took it over a 10-year period of annexations. Councilor Dingman expressed appreciation for Director Sanner. His responses are on-point and consistent with what the Council has said in the past. He reflected the goals of the Council and protecting the interest of the places around the city. Regarding the extension of services, Director Sanner explained the City is only looking to extend water utilities to the properties annexed into the city. The Mayor and Council had a quick discussion on whether it is cheaper to build in the county or in the city and moved back to the discussion regarding naming rights for the Civic. Mr. Kirkham explained that in the recitals, a fourth bullet point as added into the agreement adding inclusivity and accessibility. Then change from ‘negatively impacting taxpayers’ to ‘conjunction to the community.’ The next change appears on page 3, paragraph 3, subsection B, making it clear that Frontier exclusive rights shall not include any areas within the City’s Pinecrest golf course facility and grounds. The next change is on page 4 under digital displays: Paragraph 4, making it clear that Frontier’s rights to display digital messages is unlimited and they are Frontier’s messages alone. Frontier shall not display any third-party campaign or messages in addition. It was clarified that those messages are marketing campaigns. The last change in exhibit B was removing references to the City’s social media campaigns from the agreement, no longer encompassing the City’s social media channels. The burdens on the City are to host messaging, change the name to the Frontier Center, and to place Frontier Center signage on the building in alignment with the City’s sign ordnances. The city will be obligated to permit Frontier’s messaging on the digital sign in front of the Civic and at the Airport for 5 years. That is not including any third-party messages. Councilor Dingman motioned to approve the revised agreement. The motion was second by councilor Burtenshaw. Roll call vote: Councilor Francis – aye Councilor Dingman – aye Councilor Freeman – aye Councilor Hally – aye Councilor Radford – aye Councilor Burtenshaw - aye. Motion carries. The Council returned to the discussion regarding responses to the county. Director Sanner explained regarding road annexation that the County asked if the City would be open to annexing half of a right-of-way? The City response was no. A full right-of-way is what the City would want, and we would 5  September 18, 2023 City Council-Special Meeting need to coordinate with the County which we have in terms of annexation. It does not make sense to annex half of a right-of-way. The next question was, is the City willing to recognize that exterior subdivisions of impact on ulterior roads and share cost of improving these roads. Our response is maybe. There are some areas of focus on a case-by-case basis. We would collaborate with the County to help minimize that impact. In regard to communication, they have asked if the City is open to pre-development, annexation meetings and working with the County more regarding those areas. The City’s response is that the City is open. We would like to work with them. Councilor Francis asked Director Sanner to add to the response that the City would like to work with the County by inviting them to meetings and getting their input, but ultimately the planning decisions are in the hands of the City’s planning department and City Council. Mayor Casper asked what type of concerns the County would have regarding an annexation. Director Sanner gave an example of a type of concern the County could have. Director Sanner asked if the Council would like for these responses to go back to the County Commission? Councilor Francis asked for the County to provide the city with their policy for protecting agricultural land outside the area of impact while encouraging residential and commercial land inside it. Mayor Casper and all Council members were in support of this request. Mayor Casper said a cover memo would be drafted, and the responses will be sent back. She asked Council members if they would like to see a draft and they declined. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:52 PM s/Jasmine Marroquin s/Rebecca L. Noah Casper Jasmine Marroquin, Deputy City Clerk Rebecca L. Noah Casper, Mayor 6