City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes May 2, 2017 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on May 2, 2017 at Star City Hall, 10769 W. State Street, Star, Idaho. Mayor Chad Bell called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Councilmen Kevin Nielsen, Trevor Chadwick, Richard Lockett, and David Hershey were present. Approval of the Agenda: Lockett moved to approve the agenda, Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: Lockett moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of: Regular Meeting Minutes of April 18, 2017, Emergency Declaration Minutes of April 21, 2017, Claims against the City for April 2017, and Liquor License for Bobbie Jean’s, Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Public Input: Gary Smith, 258 S. Langer Lake Way, Star, stated that on social media there have been questions regarding land use decisions. He questioned if in making land use decisions you must vote legally, if two voted yes and two voted no then did a couple of councilmen vote illegally. He asked if anyone is legally obligated to vote. Mayor Bell noted they vote their conscience and according to ordinances. Nielsen noted no one on social media has said they are legally obligated to vote. The Mayor noted if they vote against the ordinances and the Comp Plan then the applicant has grounds to sue the City. The Council has the ability to vote how they want and understand there can be legal ramifications. Smith pressed the issue whether two voted illegally and Mayor Bell reiterated they all have the right to vote and must be aware of consequences. Smith thanked the Mayor and Council for having committee’s report tonight. He would like to see all City meetings posted on the City website. The Mayor stated he will check on having it done. Dana Partridge, 11330 W. 2nd Street, Star, expressed dismay at the negativity and false information being spread throughout the City by a committee hiding behind a page claiming to represent Star. She is concerned that this group is not above breaking the law to achieve their goal and have commented to do a clean sweep of City Hall, including employees with over 20 years of experience. Partridge noted there is a group coming together that want to present Star in a positive light and do not support the negativity being presented on social media and do not support the recall. They would like to offer their services to help the Council in any way they can and she in turn hopes the Council will support each other. Partridge stated she did not support the recall and the Star Community Updates did not speak for her. 1 Tom Erlebach, 11330 W. 2nd Street, Star, stated he was here to show support for the Council against the group for the recall. On a positive note he wished to thank them for their support of the community skate park. Chris Stokes, 10166 Arrowleaf Court, Star, shared there is a publication out on building a good community. A friend had printed a summary and Stokes shared several of them – buy local, say hi to neighbors, do something fun, volunteer, get involved in politics, create something, etc. The City’s new skate park and rec program were good examples of creating something positive. Stokes shared the summary copy with the Mayor and Council and asked if it would be possible to have copies available to the community. Nowhere in the publication does it say to threaten a recall, which invites negativity. If you don’t like elected officials, voting them out would be a better solution. Stokes’s second issue is she thinks it is time to consider a City Manager position in the budget. The City needs a stable continuity position for when the Council is a revolving door. The City Manager would be a constant source of knowledge through changes. Committee Reports: Economic Development Committee - Jennifer Salmonsen, 9956 W. Golden Rain Street, Star, stated she is the chairman of EDC and they meet the 2nd Tuesday each month. The first project EDC and the Pathway and Beautification Committee have been working on is looking at ways to increase walkability in the City. The second project they are looking at is considering some high level marketing tools, such as developing a short commercial to put on the City webpage, and doing a complete economic development strategy for the City. They have just finished a project comparing business licensing fees and a copy of their findings was sent to the Council today to review. Chadwick stated he noticed the City’s Home Occupation Permit was higher than any other City. The Mayor stated they had reviewed and looked at the back history, found the fee had not changed in fifteen years, and found that staff time was more than anyone was aware of, including dealing with complaints regarding issues with Home Occupations. Nielsen questioned when it had been changed. The Mayor explained the Council had changed the fee last year and they could review it and would get back to the committee. Beautification & Pathways Committee – Mike Olson, 12405 W. Hidden Point Drive, Star, stated he is chairing this committee. The committee has identified three items. The first is flags; they would like to honor citizens and will be working with the Lions Club on hanging additional flags. The second item is signage; they are looking at “Welcome to Star” signs and will present renditions in the next several months. The third item is sidewalks; they had done a walk audit last month and had found many were out of ADA compliance. They will be looking at some grants to possibly have sidewalk issues corrected. The Mayor stated they could look at putting fixing the sidewalks on ACHD’s future plans. Activities Committee – Larry Osborn, 784 Nebula Court, Star, stated he was the selected leader of the group. At this time their main focus is the Hometown Celebration to be held on July 4th. They will start the day at 7:00 am with a fun run, with a parade at 10:00 am followed by a BBQ 2 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Then activities will start again at 4:00 pm with games and food trucks, talent show at 6:00 pm, a raffle and bake sale, and ending with fireworks at dark. They have various team leaders taking on various areas of responsibility. They meet the second Thursday each month at City Hall. Nielsen asked if the other committees had yet volunteered to help; to which Osborn stated no, but they would welcome their help. Mayor Bell pointed out that last year the Mayor’s Youth Committee had sold hot dogs as a fundraiser for scholarships. He asked where Osborn saw them fitting in this year as he would like to see them participate. Osborn stated he could see them doing the raffle. Transportation – No one from the Transportation Committee was unable to attend. Law Enforcement Report: Mayor Bell explained Chief Vogt was unavailable this evening. Old/New Business: Decision on Soccer Field Donation – Mayor Bell explained that at the last Council Meeting they had been presented with a request for the donation of some soccer fields. He asked if any of the Council had had a chance to go look at the proposed location. Chadwick stated he had and he had a hard time visualizing them and asked how much ground the City already has for parks. The Mayor reviewed what the City owns and stated there will be 70 acres deeded from Parkstone Subdivision. When it comes to inventory of soccer fields he did not believe they are in a big need for more at this time. Chadwick stated he understood the 72 acres at Parkstone must be left natural. Mayor Bell stated they can develop, but can’t put any hard scape in, such as a parking lot. Nielsen noted he didn’t see any parking in the proposal. Mayor Bell stated they would have to build the parking lot. He stated he felt as small as it is that the cost may be higher than the investment. He is not sure giving up impact fees would cover the cost of developing. The ground will be open space whether they take the park area or not. Chadwick stated he was not in favor of taking the soccer fields. Mayor Bell state he didn’t see it being justified to give up the impact fees and then taking on the cost of maintaining the park. The benefit doesn’t seem to justify the cost. Hershey agreed with Chadwick that they should decline the offer. Nielsen stated he also had concerns with traffic. It was unanimously agreed to not pursue the offer. Incident Management Team – Delegation of Authority – Mayor Bell explained that last week he attended a meeting regarding emergency management and flood implications. The group felt there needs to be an incident management team in place in case of any emergency. They determined that all entities need to have a Declaration of Authority for this team. It would give them the authority to act in an emergency without getting ahold of the Mayor and Council first. 3 His one concern was them wanting a dollar figure from the City that would allow them to act on an emergency. The Mayor couldn’t get in writing that Star funds would be spent in Star. Doug Hardman with Ada County Emergency Management said he was redrafting a different declaration that would allow them to act, but would not have a dollar amount included. The Mayor noted that if there is a cost in dealing with an emergency in the City, we may be required to pay for it. Hershey noted this didn’t provide anything their emergency declaration didn’t provide. Mayor Bell stated he was not looking for a decision tonight, they will wait for Hardman’s new draft. He noted they have had one river rescue in the City several weeks ago. Chadwick asked if the City had an ordinance in place requiring them to pay for rescue services. The Mayor stated emergency services would make that call. The Mayor noted emergency people have reported this water situation is the worst they have ever seen. Mayor Bell announced the City has hired Mike Whinery to be at the front desk and Hutton will move next to Ward and help more with clerk duties. He will be attending the Mayor’s Youth Award Banquet tomorrow night at BSU. Mayor’s Project List: The Mayor stated they would discuss the Mayor’s project list during the workshop following the Council meeting. Adjournment: Mayor Bell adjourned the meeting at 8:00 pm. Approved: _________________________________ Respectfully submitted: Charlten Bell, Mayor ______________________________ Kathleen Hutton, Deputy City Clerk 4