City Council Report Soda Springs
The Soda Springs City Council met for a regular meeting on October 16. Council President Mitch Hart was excused.
Conditional Use Permit Tigert
Tigert Middle school recently applied for a conditional use permit for a storage container on the property, which will primarily be used to store athletic equipment. Anything out of season will be stored during the offseason, in order to make room for current-season materials. In the past, concerns about an overly full storage room had been expressed during inspections. The container will be painted beige, and is a 20’ long by 8’ wide structure, which is brand new. The Conditional Use Permit was approved.
Ordinance Adoption 706 Betha Development Zoning Reclassification
Planning and Zoning recommended permitting a rezoning of the zoning map to change some properties from R3 to C2 in the Bertha Development.
The change was requested in order to provide more flexibility to the properties moving forward, but was determined to be in accord with the comprehensive plan in place in the city.
The change was approved.
Projects Update
Engineer Alan Skinner spoke to the council about ongoing projects.
The LHTAC agreement for sidewalks will provide $250K toward the project. The city needs engineering done and copies by Dec 2. The money will be available next spring, plus an additional $55K for a $305K total. The sidewalks will be done on 1st E to 3rd E on 4th S.
A motion to authorize Mayor Robinson to sign the LHTAC grant passed. “This has been a good thing,” Councilmember Ryan Carpenter noted.
“We have been blessed to get it,” Mayor Robinson added.
The new Maverik store is open. There have been no outstanding issues reported. Maverik is making plans to start removing fuel tanks at the old building, and is working with the Department of Environmental Quality in that process.
Engineer Skinner performed a walkthrough of the new Liberty Dodge building, which is looking at the 24th for final sign offs. Liberty Dodge is planning to host Trunk or Treat there after everything is done. Asphalt should be in by Monday or Tuesday. A number of last minute jobs inside are being completed.
Main Street project is proceeding apace. The first half of asphalt on East side has begun, and milling started. “Next two weeks will be a jumbled up mess on the courthouse side,” Skinner noted. “On the west side they will be working on sidewalks the next week as the weather dictates.”
The lights will be the last stage of the project. The bases are done on the west side. There will be 24 street lights total—at present there are 10.
Business License Revision
CM Paul Gritton led a discussion on the BRV. “After learning the BL could use some updating, Andrea turned it over to Tom, and between the two of them they added a bunch of stuff that needed adding, inc city codes that provide guidance on licenses. The thing I wanted to accomplish was to make sure that the process was clear.”
Department Heads
CJ
Acting Chief of Police CJ Golightly noted that the department was preparing for upcoming Homecoming parade, which was set for the blocks from the Middle School to the Elementary school and back.
Officer Tevyn Phelps was awarded $3K for a fentanyl overdose training program.
Justin Hansen
Hansen reported that the last couple weeks have involved projects including getting equipment serviced and plows ready for winter.
The new shop building has power, trenches, and conduits, and is waiting for rest of material needed to finalize it.
The city has finished sweeping from chip seal, and closed down the park bathrooms. Cross Country districts are on Friday at Kelly Park, so they will be closed afterward. The Geyser restrooms are open all winter long.
The city will be putting up Xmas lights soon, possibly on the new poles on Main street.
There was some discussion of maybe trying something new and different on Main Street.
Councilmember Rod Worthington thanked Hansen and the city crew for painting red lines near the crosswalks by the elementary. Additional signs will be put on north side, like the south side. The school principal will still put out the cones to mark the area for no parking by the signs. “Cross walks are a dangerous thing, especially when you have parking that goes around them,” Worthington noted.
Councilmember Paul Gritton and Hansen discussed plans to move material to the gun range in order to create a berm barrier. The range will be shut down during that process.
CM Worthington extended appreciation to Dan Squires and Justin Hansen, who were at the Dummy burn for the High School Homecoming week.
Hansen reported that “as of last Friday the geyser is working well.” They put in a new valve, but had to fix it. “It’s running when it’s supposed to and shutting off when it’s supposed to,” Hansen said.
Two members of the crew are undergoing Road Scholar training, and are about halfway through. They’ve stayed on top of it with fall classes. They should be able to be certified by summer.
Garrett Hill
The issue of the trail system planned for the property on the south side of town recently acquired from Nutrien was discussed. Alan Skinner reported that the city was waiting for a response from Bayer on changes to a contract for sand to be used for the trail system. Once it is approved, they will start hauling it.
CM Gritton explained that he had spoken with a Geologist from Bayer named Garrett Hill who was willing to provide insight on the trail system.
Garrett introduced himself to the council by explaining, “I have experience building trails. In a previous town I built 15 miles of trails that interconnected the town.” In Hill’s opinion, there are some good trails already in the area, but some things that are lacking. Specifically, Hill would like to see single track mountain bike trails. “I see people going to Pocatello, and there could be trails here that are just as good.”
Hill explained that he had started out “just riding,” but eventually went on to work in Salmon on the Discovery Trail system, as well as trails in Ririe. He also helped the Forest Service in Montana develop a trail system. His largest project was in Bagdad, Arizona where he built a trail network, which has attracted a lot of people to the tiny town.
Recreation director Nikki Hansen will be included in discussions moving forward on the trail system. Hill’s wife teaches Spanish in the school district.
Hope Hansen, Library
The library had a tree taken down recently.
On a related note, the Festival of Trees is coming up. Any businesses or entities can still donate or contact the library about the Festival of Trees, which is a project of the Friends of the Library. Those who are interested can either design and decorate a tree to donate to the fundraiser, or donate to the Friends of the Library to have one decorated.
Dan Squires
Fire Chief Dan Squires reported that the Fire Dept has been busy, and had made 9 runs in the past 5 days.
The Fire Department also recently presented at Story Time at the library.
Clerk Haderlie
The Clerk reported that the carpet was all finished, and everything had been put back. She noted that “I have a great staff and I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
Industrial Park Lease
The lease on two parcels in the Industrial Park north of the Lott building were discussed. Lots 11 and 12 had been leased to Wade and Pam Clark, who have decided not to continue leasing the property. Lott intends to put a 50 by 150 (7500 sq) building on that lot for employee parking, etc., which will be 1.6 acres total.
Aaron Lott spoke to the council, proposing a 7500 sq bldg. for personal use and maybe rental. He mentioned he would like 20 year lease if possible. “I get if it goes up in 5 years. We’d be committed to building a building, we just want to get started.”
The discussion continued on the, the issue of how city leases needed to be handled in a situation like this. Attorney Tom Smith explained that a current lease could be assigned to another party, but that a new lease, which this would constitute, might require a different process.
Since the property is leased at a set rate, there is no real avenue for a bidding process. However, the question of whether some sort of public information was required before a city lease was changed to a new party (or, rather, a new lease on a property was initiated) on a property was not satisfactorily known. Attorney Smith suggested that he would need to further look into the issue.
As a result, a motion to approve the lease was withdrawn by CM Rod Worthington, who had made it during the discussion.
Citizen Input
Brock Byram spoke to the council, noting that “I don’t care who you vote for, get out and vote” in anticipation of the upcoming election.
