Soda City Council Report
The Soda Springs City Council met for the last regular meeting of December. After addressing some of the items on the accounts payable, the regular meeting began. The first regular meeting of 2025 is scheduled for January 8. One of the changes that took place over the year in Council was moving the meeting time to 6:00 p.m. as an attempt to allow those with conflicting work schedules to attend the meetings more easily. The move was championed by Councilmember Paul Gritton, and had the added effect of allowing Councilmember Rod Worthington to more easily negotiate his time between school board and council, along with his football coaching duties. While a similar seasonal time change may be used in the future, it was ultimately decided to move the meeting times back to their customary 5:00 p.m. hour in order to create less of a time burden on city staff and department heads who attend the meeting. As a consequence, the January 8 meeting and those following will be at 5:00 p.m. unless the time is once again changed.
Enders
The topic of the Enders Hotel dominated the discussion once again, as it likely will until the matter sees some sort of resolution, or at least clear direction moving forward. The mayor continued the ongoing discussion, with Council President Hart noting that they were going to have a work session at the beginning of the year, and then start talking about a path forward.
Councilmember Gritton said he recently received blueprints for the community building in Grace. He said there would be bays for 4 firetrucks, and a gym, offices, etc. It will be 15k sqft, acc to Councilmember Ryan Carpenter. The pricetag is around 4 million, for comparison. CM Gritton said he’d received a lot of feedback about how the financials mean moving City Hall to Enders was not a good idea. He also noted that there may be problems with people on Main street to avoid hard water from the geyser.
President Hart noted that Bannock County is building a structure in Downey for similar purposes (an event/civic center). “We need to fish or cut bait on what we’re going to do with Enders,” Hart said. “There are pros and cons to doing whatever we do with Enders.”
During the public input sessions of the meeting, a number of citizens voiced their thoughts on the building. The prospect of trying to keep the building and upgrade it for a city hall was mentioned by several speakers. Some of the comments included: “I know it would take quite a bit of money, and requirements that need to be met…There are greater needs for for our community than spending on the gift that keeps on taking…Who wants to keep pounding away at the same problem? It’s already been six years…I like the historical feature like the rest of you, but I feel it would be better served by selling it…I think there would be other individuals and entities who would see the historical value in it and make it the asset that you think it could be…The council are elected. In my mind, the best solution is the sale of the building. Next, leasing. We’ve been down that road the last six years. When it comes down to the bottom of it, the 12% who want to move city hall there are not the majority. Where do we get the most bang for our buck? Are we willing to raise taxes that much?...I think if it’s our building, Soda Springs taxpayers, then whoever uses it should use local catering, etc. I think in the future, we should make sure that they go local first.”
“I keep hearing pros and cons. I’m confused about what a pro would be. Taxes, we have a building,etc. What’s a pro?...I’m a concerned tax payer. If you keep it up, you’re going to tax a certain class of people right out of your city.”
The work session scheduled for the beginning of the year will potentially outline what the council sees as the path forward for the building.
Trent Clark
Trent Clark spoke to the city council. He began by thanking the city and expressing his belief that the city was a great partner with many service organizations. “As many of you know, Bayer has been through a difficult time permitting its Cobble Canyon mine…We are close to a second permit. It is going out to public comment this Friday.” It will close on Feb 3. “I mention this to the City Council because it would be appropriate to have a comment from the city on the record. The permit has been in the works for almost ten years.” Clark noted that Bayer is committed to its presence in the area, and has been from the beginning. “We’re fortunate that if there’s anywhere in the U.S. where it’s worth going through this process for 10 years, its Soda Springs.” The mining is expected to last at least 40 years.
Council President Hart will be presenting a brief on environmental compliance in a future session. He agreed that a separate venue for discussing the draft EIS would be appropriate. Clark will discuss the matter further with President Hart.
Ordinance 708—Public Hearing Amendment
Ch. 17.64. This is an amendment related to the required number of hearings for applicants to amend the zoning ordinance. Read by title only. “Amending to require number of public hearing for ZA to be consistent with Idaho Code.” The amendment passed.
Ordinance 709—Filing Fee Amendment
17.76.010 An ordinance “clarifying filing fee for applicants for zoning amendment change.” Instead of charging 10$, the fee can be set by resolution. This resolution also related to zoning amendment changes, and allows the city greater flexibility with the fee assignment for such applications, which are already minimal. It was approved.
220 S
An issue with the a cutout for access at Point S tire was discussed again. As a result of the city’s curb paving at the location, access to the rear of the facility has been made difficult, and the Byram’s are asking the city to address the issue.
President Mitch Hart suggested, following up on a suggestion at the previous city council meeting, that a direct discussion with the Brock and Paige Byram would be the best way to deal with it. The Byrams are suggesting that there needs to be a concrete cut, or a new paving job.
Councilmember Carpenter explained that the issue was related to the fact that the location is a private driveway. The Byram’s noted that the problem is that the property has now become an island that can’t be accessed, and that the island was created by the city.
A discussion was decided to be had in private, in which the original agreement would be more closely examined and hopefully and agreeable solution reached.
Betha Development
A rezone from R3 to C2 was basically already approved during a prior meeting, but due to having to redo the noticing, it had to be re-voted on. The change was approved following PZ recommendation.
City Park Shade Covers
Due to ongoing donations, the Friends of the City Park are moving forward with plans to place a shade structure in the park to create shady areas during the height of the summer. The issue of whether the proposed structure needed the signature of an engineer was discussed.
CM Gritton voiced the opinion that because children were involved, a professional engineer should be employed before anything goes forward.
Cm Carpenter noted that it “was a structure, but not structural”. In his opinion, as long as procedures are followed, it should be fine. The biggest concern will be the wind load.”
President Hart raised the point that once the shade structure is built, and they give it to the city, it’s the city’s responsibility to maintain it, which is what we’ve done in the past with the other parts of the park.
One of the issues is that in order to secure the grant, the money needs to be allocated by the end of the year, which can come in the form of a downpayment or security.
CM Gritton wanted to know what the repair costs would be. CM Carpenter said that he thought painting every 5-10 years would probably be the extent of it.
CM Worthington wanted to know whether the structure will block cameras. It was determined that it would not.
Engineer Alan Skinner is working with the Friends of the Park, and in his role as building inspector will be in a position to determine whether the proposed structure is suitable for use on city property. The council were generally in favor of the project, with the reservations noted above.
Hope Hansen
Library Director Hansen reported that “The Festival of Trees was a great success. I just wanted to extend our appreciation to the community!” In past years, the average funds raised during the event was around $2000. This time they made over $9000, with some donations still coming in.
“We’re already planning for next year, and it’s going to be bigger and better,” Hansen said.
CM Carpenter asked “Where will you be if you get bigger?”
Hansen somewhat mysteriously suggested that they had plans to expand the footprint of the Festival next year, and perhaps move it tow multiple or moving locations.
CJ
As a result of CeJay Golightly being hired as the Chief of Police, his former position is open and the city is beginning the hiring process to fill it.
A DUI grant that goes until January will provide resources to combat DUI within the county.
Vehicle was damaged chasing two wanted suspects into Cedar View, a chase which ended quickly and safely for everyone.
Tom Smith
City Attorney Tom Smith informed the Council that it may want to revisit the way the business license procedure was set up. Under the current setup, the City Council reads and approves (or not) the business licenses that are received by the Clerk’s office. However, Smith noted that “There is nothing in state code about approving those at the council level.”
Water Resolution—2024-6
Resolution 2024-6 set a rate for the new waterfill station to $5 per 1000 gallons. Motion to approve passed.
Res. 2024-8 involved authorization for signing a form on application package for DEQ. The resolution gives the mayor authority to sign documents related to Wastewater projects/study only.
