City Council Regular Meeting- RETREAT

Star City Council Retreat Minutes February 25 & 26, 2011 The Council Retreat was held in Cascade Idaho, at the Ashley Inn on February 25th and 26th. Present were: Mayor Nathan Mitchell, Council President Tammy McDaniel, and Councilmen Tom Erlebach, Chad Bell and Gary Smith. February 25th Lunch was served upon arrival. Group Discussion – The Mayor and council held a group discussion on “Who they are and where they’ve come from”. Each person giving others the history and background on themselves. Unified Code Discussion – The Unified Code is in the final stages of development and should be close to being adopted. It was suggested that an outside party review the document to check for compliance in all chapters. Options were discussed for adopting the code without the Sign Chapter. Council recognized that the new regulations were vastly different from current and thought it would be prudent to do a physical inventory of current signs and quantify what impact the new regulations would have on current business. The meeting was adjourned for the day. February 26th Breakfast was served at 7:00 am. Downtown Revitalization Plan Discussion – The Draft Downtown Revitalization Plan had been presented at a previous Council Meting by Delta James of Sage Resources. Council discussed the plan as presented and noted several typographical changes for the Final Draft. Council consensus was that both the plan and the process to develop the plan were successful and thought that adoption and implementation of the plan should go well. It was also noted that the City intended to apply for a Community Development Block Grant through Idaho Department of Commerce to help fund the implementation of the plan. Budget Priorities for 2011-12 & 2012-13 – Council Discussed opening this fiscal year budget to include money from savings to complete three major capital projects. The Council asked the Mayor to prepare a new proposed budget that included an additional $850,000 to purchase and develop Hunter’s Creek, build a bathroom at Blake Park, and finish improvements at the River Walk. Staffing levels for the remainder of this year and budgeting for next year were discussed. Council agreed that the Building Permit Clerk could be cut to half time to save money, that the Zoning Administrator position could remain unfilled, and that the Parks and Recreation Coordinator needed to be a full time position. Councilman Smith expressed concern about making a part time position full time without posting the job as a new position and offering it to new candidates. Council also discussed the Sherriff’s contract for Police Service. It was noted that the contract amount of roughly $500,000 was half our operating budget. Council all agreed that they felt the current level of service was very appropriate and did not want to change anything. Council then discussed salaries for the City Council and Mayor. Councilman Bell requested that the Mayor’s salary be adjusted for the increased time demands on the position as the City has grown over time. It was explained that no salary changes could take effect without adopting an ordinance in advance of an election and could only take effect after the election. Councilman Smith was adamant that no salary increases for elected officials should be discussed during the current economic climate. Councilman Bell argued that it has been at least 4 years since the salaries had been reviewed and that it is appropriate to at least discuss the appropriateness of the current salaries. Council quickly agreed that changes in City Council salary were not necessary as the time requirements of the job had not increased. A lengthy discussion about time requirement for the Mayor’s position and salary ensued. The conversation varied between paying more for a part time mayor versus making the mayor position a full time job. No consensus was reached in favor of or against either option. It was agreed if anyone felt the need to discuss the issue further it could be brought up in a City Council meeting at a later date. Lunch was served and the meeting was Adjourned.