City Council - Regular Meeting

City Council will come to order for its regular meeting March 9th, 2026 6 p.m. Houston City Library here. Our first order of business is the pledge of allegiance. If you'd please stand and join us in reciting our pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the stand, indivisible.

Thank you, council, and [clears throat] welcome members of the public and staff. Thank you for sharing your evening with us. Our next item of business is citizen comments. This is an opportunity for individuals wishing to comment on agenda items or other matters they wish to bring to the council's attention, excluding those scheduled for public hearing. There may not be another opportunity to comment. Individuals are encouraged to speak at this time. Individuals are encouraged to discuss operational issues in advance with the mayor and consideration of others wishing to speak. Commentary is limited to three minutes. We have a new shot clock we're going to try out today. And uh behind the curtain back there, we have uh Jenny Barassa from our ISS department helping us out. So, thank you, Jenny. I'm sure you can hear us. Uh we have a microphone in the middle of the floor. We just need you to introduce yourself and your city of residence. We do not need a physical address. So, with that, I would welcome any citizen comments tonight.

Hello, my name is Lana Norin. I am a resident of Lewon and I'm here actually not to make comments so much as to introduce myself to those of you who I might not know as I'm up for appointment for the urban renewal agency and that is on the agenda for confirmation tonight. So, thank you to Mayor Johnson for recommending me and I just thought I would see if anybody had any questions or um just to say hello and thank you for hopefully confirming me. Thank you, Lana. Thank you for being here. Appointment soon and I know you may have to leave early but thank you for being here tonight. Are there further citizen comments?

Welcome. Uh [laughter] John Michael uh Lewis in Idaho. Uh this um I'm a kinder person now, but I still have some concerns about this uh thing I read in the paper in in various news organizations about the city's uh dealings with the profit family and the developers. Um I used to be a reporter. I ran the Daily Fly. Uh I did some reporting in the Florida Keys. And well, let [snorts] me just start with this, okay? I've asked the council several times, past councils, to set up some meetings with local developers, especially the small guys, business people, so they can air out their grievances. There's been a long long time of the city not seeing eye to eye and back and forth with with that community. Okay. Uh the other thing is small towns tend to be have a good old boy system, right? So we've got to if we want to have light on the whole situation, we've got to ask ourselves. I mean, if you read the story, it doesn't really make sense how the city works. So, a couple of things to my mind might make sense that maybe somebody from the city had a vendetta against the prophets and therefore uh we're not going to deal with them. The other thing is St. and Lewon's small town, they have their good old boy network. So, I'm going to ask you guys straight up. Did any other influential builders, developers, business people meet with you, the mayor, or the council or the staff um trying to influence uh the outcome of this profit thing? In other words, trying to get you not to work with them. And that's entirely

possible and you guys know the answers but we need light on these situations. Okay. So I'm asking anybody want to volunteer? Nobody. Okay. I also know. No. I also know that um you guys still have meeting logs like you all have to write down everybody you met with and so forth, right? [snorts] If they come into your office, there's a log that they came in your office and what you talked about. Is that not true? Uh not not true. No, I I wouldn't have a record of that necessarily.

Okay. Also, not the not the u the discussions necessarily. I may have it on my calendar that somebody showed up. Yeah. Okay. All right. Because I think that's part of maybe even something you have to do. I'm not sure. Um like I said, I'm not against anybody. I've been around long enough. I'm nobody's judge, but uh I think these questions have to be asked and we have to look at them seriously. Okay. And as a council, that's your job to keep an eye on the mayor, keep an eye on the staff for that kind of stuff. Thank you, John Michael. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there further citizen comments tonight? Anybody else like to comment? Okay, seeing none, we'll move to presentations. Roman numeral 4, item A, Arbor Day proclamation proclaiming April 22nd, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Lewon. Uh counselors, I'm just going to read the proclamation from here. I do have a signed proclamation that I will share with Director Glenn Parks and Reccks Department tomorrow. The proclamation reads, "Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees, and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas arborday is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing lifegiving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are renewable resource, giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, I, Dan Johnson, mayor of the city of Lewon, proclaim April 22nd, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Lewon and urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. Further, I encourage all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future

generations. In wetness whereof, I have here on to set my hand and seal of the city of Lewon, Idaho, to be affixed here to this ninth day of March 2026. Daniel G. Johnson, Mayor Lewon of Idaho. So, thank you, Director Glenn, and for your work uh and maintaining um I think we're still a tree city. So, thank you for your efforts in that. So I will get that proclamation to you tomorrow. Council, next up and we have uh item B, homeless stats 2025 presentation by Michelle King, president of the LC Valley Youth Resource Center regarding US Department of Housing and Urban Developments 2025 homeless statistics as requested by councelor forman at the February 9th, 2026 city council meeting. So, I will turn it over to councelor Porscheman.

Um, thanks for coming, U Michelle, and presenting. Um, I just wanted this to the public to be able to hear what's going on in our valley and how it's if it's affecting them and so they can see those those numbers and stats and also the council to be aware and decisions come our way, then we are informed and and aware of what's going on in our city. So, I think these numbers are important for us to uh keep an eye on. And so I just wanted this is just forformational purposes for the council um so they can add it into their toolbox in uh future situations come about then we are hopefully uh as prepared as we can be. Council, thank you for welcoming me here. Uh my name is Michelle King. I am the co-founder and volunteer president of the LC Valley Youth Resource Center. Um I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to share this information. Um, so as you can see on this slide, I wear many hats. I actually sell software full-time, 50 hours a week. I serve as the president uh and volunteer CEO of the youth center. I serve on the CHAZ board. Um, today the hat I'm wearing is as our Idaho region 2 liaison for the point in time count. So what is the point in time count? [clears throat] The tr the the quick version is it is the most conservative number of homeless people we have in our community. There are many ways that you can measure displaced community members, but this is you can only count them if you speak to them in person or on the telephone and if they were sleeping in a place that was uninhabitable. That doesn't count motel or doubled up. This is this is not a true accurate measurement of how much housing we need to build. It is the cascade effect of not having enough housing. And so these

are people who actually slept in a place that was not meant for human habitation. Before I go any further, I want to thank the city of Lewon for your approach to displaced community members. Um Lewon does an amazing job of understanding you can't arrest your way out of a housing crisis. And so um these community members are respected in Lewon and I think that's a very big deal especially when you see a little bit more data breakdown of how many there are and who they are. So in 2024 uh we went digital in Idaho for capturing this information. Uh Clarkston across the street for example still uses paper forms. Um when it was paper we could only have the data of um all of region two. So when we would talk about homeless solutions, we would talk about um they would say, "Okay, well region two has this many then we'll divide it by five for the five counties and then we'll figure that half of those are in Lewon." Like you get Nesper's County and then you get half as Lewon. Now we have real numbers for the very first time of how many people we counted in Lewon. And when I say we counted, it's my team and I and some volunteers from the community. So, these are people who were out here at the library, at the um community center, the bus transits, community action. We went to the Salvation Army, we went to meal sites, and then through our partnership with the Lewon Police Department, we knew where people were camping or staying, and we were able to go visit them. Um again, people who are counted in this slept in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, air around the airport, campgrounds, and other places not meant for human habitation. No electricity, no running water, no place to go potty in Lewon on January 29th, 2025. It does take a bit to get this data through HUD, dduplicated all of that. So this is a year ago's data. There were 101 that we

counted in Lewon. Now, why that number as a taxpayer needs to be very important because research shows that for every unsheltered homeless person you have in your community, the investment from the taxpayers in whether it's law enforcement, unpaid emergency room visits, all of the things is at least $30,000 a year. So, that number means we spent $3 million in 2025 on homeless people. And that's not providing solutions. That's not providing any change. That's just having a hundred homeless people. So, somebody check my math, please. Um, of that 100 people, [clears throat] 42 were in their vehicle, 33 were sleeping outside, and eight were in a tent or farm building or somewhere else. 12 were under the age of 18. Six. Again, I'm going down the Lewis column. Uh, six were between 18 and 24, and we had three senior citizens sleeping in places unant for humans. 69 single adults, five parents with children, two unaccompanied youth, that means under the age of 18, but no parent with them, and one parenting youth. Again, these are unsheltered. This is not how many kids were at the youth center that night. These are kids that weren't mostly men. As we do the racial background, it does accurately reflect our census data, which I think is really important to measure that um you know, most of the folks were Caucasian folks. We had 17 veterans that night sleeping in a place that's not meant for humans. 13 fleeing domestic violence. 61 identified that they had a disability and then when we break down a little further into it, 40 of them that

disability was a serious mental illness and 16 said substance abuse disorder. One of the important questions to ask is where did they come from? Because I know there's a lot of superstition that our displaced community members come from somewhere else. I do this every single day. The displaced community members here, most of them are from the valley. Um, and so we ask, "What's the last address?" Now, if you total this up, it doesn't total to the 101. So, let me explain. When we ask these surveys, we ask them maybe we're at a meal site in the line, and when they get up to their turn to take the meal, the survey ends, or maybe they start to get uncomfortable with the questions. Of course, we respect them as individuals, and we end the survey whenever they're ready. So, we don't get all of these questions answered from everybody, but 46 of them said they were from Lewon. 18 said Washington, that means Clarkston. Uh, four were from Minnesota. If you total the whole thing, there were seven from other states besides Idaho and Washington. The rest of them were from around here. We asked what caused their situation. 73 of them said it was either their financial situation or unable to af find affordable housing. When they were asked what message they wanted to you to surface back up to you, they said, "We need a shelter. It's cold." I'm excited to say that. I uh text my friend Jeremy at UGM. He said uh as of since [clears throat] February 9th and as of last week, they had served 51 individual youth or individual adults. Sorry, I serve youth. He serves adults. Uh 18 men, 21 women, three moms, and nine kids. And again, back to the question, the next thing I asked him was, "Where did they come from?" Friends, they're from here

in Lewon School District. As of February 26, there were 146 kids registered in the Lewon school district as McKenna Vento um homeless. Now, that's a little more graceful definition. Whereas the first count I gave you was truly in a place that was uninhabitable, McKenna Vento allows for doubled up or couch surfing. Um so that's why this number is higher higher. And on December 15th, the shortest day of the year, the CHAZ holds a memorial in their parking lot for people in our valley who have died while being homeless. And we read more than 20 names. I've been doing that for four years now, and we've read more than 20 names every year. So, thank you for all you're doing to address the housing crisis that we have. If you didn't know this or this is new information, I'd be happy to spend some time with you and kind of talk through it. But the real answer is not more homeless solutions. We're thankful for those. We do absolutely need to shore us up, but the answer is more housing. We need more places for people to live. Do you have I did bring the data. So, if you want me to crunch any more numbers or run any more pivot tables, I can to answer your questions on the fly.

Councelor Forceman has the floor. Oh. Oh.

Uh I I'll just ask one question then I'll let Council Wright get in there. Uh as far as housing, are we referring to a certain type of housing or just housing in general or because obviously affordability I would imagine has, you know, comes into play with that. So yes and no. Because rising tides raise all ships and that really does apply to housing. So for those who don't know, when the 2008 housing crisis hit, obviously construction came to a halt. In 2021, they did a study. CEDA did a study and determined that we needed 114 units built at least every year since 2021. So, we have from 2028 to 2021 where we really don't know the numbers of what was needed, but we know we weren't building enough. And then you go to 2021 and they said 114 every year. And there were many years in there where we had 50 building permits, 60 building permits. Not enough. We did last year have kind of a catch-up, but we need a thousand that's plural to catch up and get enough housing units. So what happens when you don't have enough in any category? Then everything scales down. You can go to any of our motel in North Lewon. People are paying thousands of dollars a month to live in a motel room and then they don't have a kitchen so they have to eat out for everything. It's like it just kind of cascades. So the the real answer is more housing of every category. Affordable housing is a big deal, but everything becomes more affordable if there's enough inventory.

Okay, thank you. That makes sense. The situation. Oh, thank you. I didn't really go ahead. Thank you. How how are we trending with the homeless population? Are you seeing increase over year, year by year or decreases?

Yes. Um, so the the data does show that we have had an increase. Um, I um I believe I emailed you all a graph that shows the um year-over-year for all of region 2. This is just the first time we have Lewon only data. So, um, we just did the count the end of January. Um, and so we'll have the data again this fall for 2026, and we'll be able to really, um, compare apples to apples on the lowest and cell itself level. I see. Is that that's the that five-year trend? Yes. That I see there. Okay.

And that that so that all of region 2 worksheet was provided by Idaho housing. Thank you. Absolutely. What resources? Well, I guess I know the resources, so I'm going to word that differently. Um, how do those that are struggling or maybe domestic violence or maybe they just lost their house, how do they find resources? Where where do they go?

Great question. So, in Idaho region 2, the resource is So, Jarners Alliance. you can call and they are the access point for all of region 2 and they keep track of all of the available inventory for those resources. So there's one phone number that you call, they ask you a few questions and they point you to the right resource for your circumstance, whether it's fleeing domestic violence or you have kids or you're a single male, whatever. That way, as a person who's working through difficult circumstances, you don't have to call the 42 people to try to find out who's got what. the access point already knows that inventory and can direct you straight to it. And if you are a federal grant recipient, you have to keep your inventory current with those folks.

Where would they find that information? Like how would they know who to I know um you can look for Idaho region or Idaho's access point or Idaho homeless. There's we need a better resource to be able to say this is the phone number you call for sure. I would say if I lost my house today, I'd probably I would probably have no idea. It's not, you know, blaringly obvious of the resources and where they're at. So, yeah, the good news is that all of the resources, like if you called any of them, they should point you back to the access point. That way, you can go find the right solution for your circumstance. I see. So, you're on the internet trying to get assistance. It should all point to the same direction. That's that is the goal. I don't know how well it's being achieved today, but I know that that is something that we're all working towards.

Okay, that makes sense. We want to make it as easy for people as possible. So, maybe it's a resource that we can even add to the city's um website to say if you're experiencing homelessness, this is where you call to find who's got what certainly asked that question. Absolutely. Thank you. Have a question. Yeah, counselor, go ahead. Cle,

so I guess I just have a question. Um, somebody's got a bunch of money and they want to build a housing development. It's a 15 unit apartment, they're going to want to maximize their return on investment. So obviously the price if you compare prices with a new development versus what the market's bearing right now, what's the incentive for them to offer what I would consider you whoever affordable housing, knock the price down, but uh deprive them of added profit.

Absolutely. Um, so next week Idaho housing is hosting their economic um and housing and economic development summit in Boisee and I will be in attendance to go and learn some of the great qu answers to those questions. I do note that um there are programs with fairable lending terms uh that help add balance to make it so that you can charge affordable rent even with current construction prices. And then there are also um tax credits available um that would be state tax credits um that are offset by um some of these incentives that are avail but to learn like nuts and bolts of what can we do in this community that's specifically why I'm going to boyisey next week is to find out. So more news soon but yes I look forward to coming back with some of that information. Okay, thanks.

Because yes, we just we need more hammer swinging. That's the bottom line. But we got to make the math work for sure. Councelor Right.

Thank you. in in your interactions when you and your team were doing these surveys. Um if the question wasn't asked, I'm curious how often Well, I guess to an extent it did come up, but um the financial situation and the unable to find affordable housing, did you find they were also unemployed or the 25 unemployed was there? That's its own special. I so appreciate that you're asking that question because um it is through a weird set of circumstances in the United States. It's basically illegal to hire a homeless person. You have to have an address. You have to be able to complete an I9. If you don't have all of your your social security card and and stateisssued ID, you are unhirable. But you can't get those unless you have an address to have them mailed to. And so, um, if you don't already have those documents, you cannot legally work in the United States. And so, one of the things we do for the youth at the youth center is we say, "Okay, now you have an address. Let's get your social security card. Let's get, you know, their basic things that so that when you turn 18, we can get your stateisssued ID so that you are employable." Yeah. It's it's a very weird thing. So, but with regard to a lot of them actually are working um they're either working under the table or maybe they're working as a CNA. Um and you they you just can't make it on $7.87 is what CNAs make in Lewon, Idaho. If you accept if you if you get health insurance from your employer, even though it's a high co-pay, um you make $7.87 87 cents an hour and you cannot afford a you know studio appointment apartment on that.

That's just math. So um yeah we have lots of opportunity I guess is what I would say. What it sounds like. Thank you.

Not seeing any more questions so I think we are good. Thank you so much for coming and presenting and um I'll be sure to reach out if I have any more questions. Thank you all for welcoming me here. And for those who haven't come for a tour of the youth center, please come see it and then please follow along with what we're doing to build the village because we have exciting things happening. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks, Michelle. [clears throat]

Thank you, Councelor Barman. Thank you. Uh, council. Next up, we have uh item C under Roman numeral board, financial report. Financial report for the period ending January 31, 2026 in accordance with Idaho code 50-208. This there is no oral report. Um, counselors, unless you have any questions, we'll move on. We'll move to the consent agenda. Roman number five. All items on the consent agenda are considered routine by the council and will be enacted by one motion. And there will be no separate discussion on these issues unless the council so request in which case the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered on the active agenda under items moved from the consent agenda. Councelor Specter motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second move by councelor. Second by councelor Klein to approve the consent agenda. Clerk Rocky. Council President Clever. Hi. Councelor Wright. Hi. Councelor Forsman. Hi. Councelor Klein. Hi. Councelor my hi. Councelor Swiggle. Hi.

Thank you councel. Next we move to Roman numeral six active agenda item AD advisory board and commission appointments. This is an action item number one urban renewal agency considering appointing Lana Norra to a 4-year term. uh council. I have interviewed with uh Miss Norin and she's very excited to serve on this committee and I think her talents are going to serve that committee well. So with that, I would move to approve the appointment of Len Narin to a four-year term on the urban renewal agency. Second. Been moved by Mayor Johnson, second by councelor Forsman to approve the appointment of Len Narrain to a four-year term in the urban renewal agency. Those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I.

Opposed carries. Thank you. council and thank you uh Lana for serving council. Next up we have item B resolution 2026-04 considering approving the service agreement for trust health plan and benefits administr administration services provided by the city of Lewon to the city of Lewon employee benefit trust. This is an action item and we have our human resources director Nikki Province with us here tonight. Uh Nikki, welcome. Please introduce yourself for the record. The floor is yours.

Uh Nikki Province, HR director for the city. Um, in front of you is a resolution to approve uh the mayor signing a service agreement with the health trust. Um, the city of Lewon employee benefit health trust. After five years being under the department of insurance, the DOI did their five-year audit and they recommended that because city employees perform administrative work for the trust that there be a service agreement. And so that's what kind of led us here before you to to approve. Director counselor's questions. Do you have a motion?

Councelor Splemire down here. Motion to approve resolution 2026-04. Second. It's been moved by councelor Specmire, second by councelor enforcement to approve resolution 2026-04. Clerk Rocky. Council President Cleberg. Hi. Councelor Wright. Hi. Councelor Foresman. Hi. Councelor Klene. Hi. Councelor Mory. Hi. Councelor Spickle. Hi.

Motion carries. Thank you, council. Thank you, director of province. Uh, next up we have item C, resolution 2026-10 considering approving the administrative services agreement for the governmental 401A plan of the city of Lewon, Idaho from Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. and authorizing the mayor and human resources director to sign the agreement and plan documents. Again, this is an action item. We have our director, Nikki Province, with us here. Welcome, Nikki. Nikki Province, HR director with the city of Lewon. Um, we have always had a 401A plan for I don't know decade now, maybe over. Um, and that is for our fire reser because they're not eligible for the 401k plan. Um, nationwide, it was with Nationwide. they reached out to me and by creating a new plan under Nationwide similar to our 457, we were able to get better rates and and different investment op opportunities for that plan. And so, uh, that then generated a new service agreement. And so, I'd be asking for you to approve, uh, the mayor to sign that service agreement and for me to sign any additional documentation to to make that happen.

Thank you, director. Council questions. None motions. Councelor Foresman. Motion to approve resolution 2026-10. Second. Move. Been moved by councelor Forsman. Second by councelor Klein to approve resolution 2026-10. Clerk Rocky. Council President Cleber. Hi. Councelor Wright. I. Councelor Foresman. I. Councelor Klein. Hi. Councelor Mory. Hi. Councelor Smeigglemire. I

motion carries. Thank you, council. Thank you, director province council. Next up, we have item D, assigned building fund request considering approving a request to use $104,430 from the assigned building fund to complete projects at Bird Lips Pool. This is an action item. We have our parks and recreation director with us here. Justin Glenn, director, welcome. Please introduce yourself for the record. The floor is yours.

Yeah. Hi, Justin Glenn. I'm your parks and recreation director for the city of Lewon. Um, good evening. So, I'm here to follow up on where we are with community pools and request support for 10430,000 from the assigned building fund to complete the projects at Berllet's Pool. What I wanted to start off with was basically providing a status update on where the work we've done so far and where we're going. Um, we had the opportunity to meet with the pool liner installing contractor last week. Um, that was a great opportunity for us to walk the footprints and do some preconstruction type uh, diagnosis and get a plan together and start determining some timelines. Uh, I'll be happy to follow up with that more going forward. Um, but what we've done so far, if you've been out to Bertlands recently, you'll see some changes. So, we really addressed a lot of the prep work already. We removed a lot of the overgrown vegetation from 3 years of nobody being up there. We went through the pool house and cleaned it out. Identified items that we thought might be worthwhile holding on to and then also identified items that might need to be surplused. Um we the roof work there's a new uh membrane roof on on that facility on the pool house itself which was intentional to try to preserve some of the interior. I'll have some photos to show you here in a couple slides of what that currently looks like. Um, and then we identified that there needs to be some uh drain repairs and we believe we can do that work internal uh within our facilities branch. And then we took a walk up to Orchard's pool and I think this is a big bigger change here than my initial presentation. Uh we've already got some new lifeguard chairs. I identified the existing ones as being a hazard. We actually had a slip and fall from a lifeguard into uh the pool last year. So we're we're addressing some of those safety concerns there. Uh we've began the prep work on the main drain flange

area. We identified some leakage outside of the main vessel there and we're doing that work inhouse to our facilities team currently. Um but we I was going through the budget and I was looking like okay so what's the bang for the buck? So, uh, we can eat the $26,000 $26,550 inhouse in our assigned, uh, facility maintenance budget and out of the pool budget already as it exists. So, I want to take the I'm requesting to take the assigned building fund dollars and putting that lump sum all into B lips. And I'll give you an example of why. Um this this slide was just presenting uh some history of the project work we've done but I wanted to highlight uh and I most of you guys were here on three November um but I had presented and we had I gained approval to move forward under the estimated total of 398900 um and that's important that's a number that's important to me because I want to hold true to that ask I ask you for consideration that would be what it would take to get B lips open and I want to hold fast to that. And then I I circle back and and we got approval for uh the pool liner itself, which was $294,469. Here's what Burl lifts currently looks like. And I think this is important if you haven't been out there. Uh the first main interest is the beautiful welcoming entrance of the pool house saying, "Hey, come play here. This is a fun place to go." I I really want to update uh these graphics and make it an asset. Uh the main customer service area will be addressed uh through the remainder of this work. You see a lot of of stains on the on the floors. Uh we tried to clean that up in house. We just don't have the right uh machinery to be able to do that. So that's why part of this ask will be uh relooking and addressing the flooring throughout the pool deck and inside the pool house. Uh you can see

the outdated kind of paint throughout. Um you're looking at the different hallways. They spear off. If you haven't been in there recently, if you go to the right, that's the women's shower space. I got a picture there of what that currently looks like. Um the center picture is where our lifeguards are. Uh we got some safety concerns there we'd like to address. And then the pool deck itself, which will be the heaviest lift of the remaining ask. U the condition of that pool deck is it's potted, it's cracked, um it's just wear and tear from not being taken care of, cleaned or maintained. And so that's really why I want to try to focus our efforts, the majority of our efforts with this ask for the remaining balance. Here's our estimated cost breakdown. Again, I'm here to ask for 104,430 from the assigned building fund. This is what this will look like. And then again uh denoting that the general fund facility maintenance expenses in our current existing budget for Orchard's Pool can accommodate the remaining uh 26,515 projects. So finally I'm here to ask uh for approval um to move forward with that amount for BERT lips repair. I I wanted to highlight a couple things here um walking through. We have an aggressive timeline to get BT Libs open, but we feel very comfortable we'll be able to get that pool open uh with these funds in the middle of the summer of 2026. We have a lot of other opportunities, I think, with the pool that we need to get it fixed first before we can do some of the other stuff. And so, um this is really the step in in that direction. So, pending uh questions or concerns at this time.

Thank you, director council. Council Specier. Thank you, Mayor. So, director, looking at your list here, um you talk about um clearing out all the abandoned furniture fixtures in Berliff's pool, but I don't see anything in your cost about replacing. Correct. Yep. So, we have some budget money that we've set aside and we still have operationally in our pools budget and also in our recreation budget that I'd like to apply to that. Follow up, counselor. Um, I was also curious in the FY26 budget, did do we have the line items in there to support the new the staff requirements for Bert Lips?

We're going to use the exacting existing staff requirements. Um, I think what what I challenge the team is to look at strategic staffing. We don't need to do 12-hour days all at one pool. That can be separated to accommodate both once we're open. And then going into the next season, we'll have a better picture of what our actual requirements would be. Council President Clayberg. So, I don't know if you have the answer to this or not. It might be for Amy, but what's the balance in the the assigned building fund currently? Sir, it's 400 or 4.9 million estimated.

So, we've whittleled that down substantially. Yes, sir. And I'd like to make a comment on that. I was at the

That's fine. I would like I was at the work session meeting when you made the comment about that fund specifically and um the understanding of what it's used for. And so my intention and I see uh Chief Lucas is in the room here. Uh we're working collaboratively with the fire department handinand to address some risk mitigation concerns and I'd be happy to circle back and come present that information. But that would be the next ask that I would have assigned building fund resources wise. And I think that uh is maybe a change in a previous list that's been presented to council of priorities. Um but I believe we're taking a very prudent and strategic approach to what we asked for in that fund.

Yeah. Thank you, Councman. I can't I'm trying to recall, but we make interest currently off of those funds in that account. Uh how much on average are we bringing in from interest? Um by having that in that account.

I don't hear you for I actually need to correct that head nod. We don't make interest on that account. It sits isolated. There's no longer a funding mechanism for that account. So that's something council could always re consider during budget season is to reestablish funding for that account. So it's an ongoing fund and not a fund that's depleting. So we could put it just sorry follow up. Mayor Director Tu, introduce yourself for the record when you respond. Councelor Foresman. Uh Amy Gordon, the city treasurer. So, we could put that in a um maybe like a high yield savings account, something that's at least building some kind of money back. Is that correct?

It's part of our shared revenue account, but the interest earnings on it go into the general fund. Oh, I see. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Council President Clever.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, when uh I guess it was a couple years ago when I was down in Boise trying to get back to life. Um we had over $7 million in that assigned building fund. Isn't that correct? Okay. Okay. So, we've been burning it up. I don't have a problem with this. I'm all about water safety, teaching kids how to swim. Don't get me wrong. You know, I hear the stories from the old guys. Well, you just we went down to the river and learned how to swim, you know. Well, a bunch of your buddies died when you were little kids, too. So, I'm all about the pools, but I'm concerned about the fact that that fund is starting to slip away and we still have needs. I mean, I chief's not here tonight, right, Mayor? But, uh, sooner or later, we're going to get smacked in the head with the fact that we're going to need a new fire station. So, money's going to have to come from somewhere, but I'm I'm in favor of this. Councilors, if you have no more questions, I would entertain a motion. Councelor Forceman,

I get a quick comment. Uh, I want to say I appreciate that with him mentioning the um fire our assigned building fund and the concerns of the fire department, they're already talking to the person that it, you know, that it affects the department that it affects. I think that was uh went above and beyond on that. I really appreciate that. That was really strategic. Thank you,

Council Splare. Yeah. Motion to authorize the use of $104,430 to the assigned building fund to complete the maintenance projects of B lip school. Second. The second on that. You can go ahead council right. Right. Okay. Okay. It's been moved by councelor Speckle Meyer, second by councelor Wright to authorize the use of $104,430 from the assigned building fund to complete maintenance projects at Bert Lips pool. Clerk Rocky, Council President Cleber. Hi, Councelor Wright. Hi, Councelor Foresman. Hi, Councelor Klein. Hi, Councelor my councelor Speler. Hi,

Aries. Thank you, director, for being here tonight. Thank you, Clerk Rocky. And thank you, councel. Next we move to item Roman numeral 6E bid award for IP-26-009 considering awarding the IP-26-009 transfer station access and wild devac pars004-005 closed brand project to ML Albright sons inc the amount of $231,52640 and authorizing the mayor to sign the contract. This is an action item. We have our public works director with us here tonight. Justin Johnson, welcome, director.

Good evening, mayor, city council. Dustin Johnson, public works director. Uh, this is a pretty straightforward uh project, the construction of two, they're actually two separate projects, but they're within spitting distance of each other. The only interesting thing about this one is, well, two I want to call out. One that it was 100,000 below engineers estimate, so a good price. But what was interesting is that um Wild Dove Way culde-sac. So Wild Dove Way was constructed partnership with the port when we put the transfer station out there. That culde-sac comes down. It's actually right on the other side of the river from where we're sitting now. Uh it wasn't constructed and it was purposely not constructed because we were trying to get the utilities figured out. There was a bunch of open lots where Northwest Force has since come up there and constructed. Uh and so that culde-sac needs to be constructed. It would ideally should have been done before Northwest Force came in, but it was not. And so that's where city's trying to come in there and correct that, mitigate that issue. Um, so that was a project without a budget or without a funding source. And so the hope was that we could partner, find a grant, uh, and it didn't. And it, so with that, it wasn't included to this year's budget. So I budgeted roughly $150,000 for the access road, uh, hoping that we could partner uh, with with the other component. We we were not able to. And so that culde-sac needs to be constructed with a good bid that came in for the access road and the culde-sac. We were below engineers estimate, but we were still above what was budgeted in there with 150,000. So by approving tonight the this award, we'll have to come back and amend the budget, the 2026 budget uh by $81,528.40 to make up that difference. It's all coming out of sanitation because sanitation was the original enterprise fund that uh uh you know built all that culde-sac and all that access road out there. So um a little bit of confusion, a little bit of history on that. Uh but there's plenty of room within the reserves within the uh sanitation fund because you're going to see we'll talk

about the sanitation fund here a little bit later. So I'm here for questions if you have if you have any. Thank you director of council. Councelor Specm. Thank you mayor. So, director, just um clarification. So, you said this is from the guard house or whatever you want to call it all the way up to

Yeah. So, as you pull in from uh Wild Dove Way down to Yeah. basically the scale house there. And if you've if you've been out there recently, you can see that road looks pretty bad. We We were hoping we could save it, but it's a reconstruct. It just gets so much heavy traffic coming in now with the packer trucks coming in. Council specer motion towards award AFB-26-00009 transfer station access and wild culde-sac project to Albright and Suns incount 231,52640 and authorize the mayor to execute the contract. Second

been moved by councelor Spickle Meer second by council president Kleberg to award IP-26-009 transfer station access and wild culdeac project to ML bright suns incount $231,52640 and authorizing the mayor to execute the contract. Clerk Rocky, council president. Hi. Councelor Wright I. Councelor Forsman. Hi. Councelor Klein. Hi. Councelor my hi. Councelor Swiggle. Hi.

Thank you, council. Thank you, director. Council, next up we have item F, resolution 2026-09, [clears throat] considering accepting and approving an amended easement for pipeline rightway located on the lower granite lock and dam Nespers County, Idaho from the US Corp of Engineers as granter to the city of Lewon as grantee associated with the Snake River Avenue shoreline replacement project. This is an action item and again we welcome our public works director, Dustin Johnson. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Uh so you may recognize this. This was an easement that uh you previously approved. Uh what we're doing tonight is just amending the condition. So we're actually doing the work in the easement right now, but uh our attorney Jennifer Tangano has been working with the COR's attorneys uh and in your packet outlined just the provisions that were amended with this. So I if you have questions, I would kind of defer to the attorney on the specifics of what was amended in that. councilors councelor right

yeah thank you it if I recall the correctly here this was wasn't there a challenge around how we could pay fees like yearbyear uh with the way that that funding works our funding works

Jennifer Tangano city attorney That's a good question, councelor. Wright. So, when we initially uh negotiated this contract, we negotiated the full administrative expense for the 50-year period because of a const an Idaho constitutional provision that um doesn't allow us to incur expenses beyond our fiscal year. And when we approved the resolution that authorized that full payment, the core didn't realize they don't have the systems capable of tracking that payment for the full 50-year term because it's intended to pay for their administrative expenses every five years. And so we amended the agreement to shorten the term but allow for additional extensions. So, it's still a 50-year overall agreement, but then they've reduced the um administrative costs to just the 20-year period.

Okay. So, I assume that takes care of the challenge that we had. It's not necessarily a challenge. It's just um there's a a disagreement about that particular fee and and what we can pay versus like what the state of Idaho is is capable of paying and um we worked out a different solution. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council Speer. Thank you, Mayor. Um and I guess for the public and I and a question too is that uh one of the things the fees for this will go towards new equipment and stuff at the southway boat ramp.

Yeah. The the the way the negotiating with the court I got well let me just give the expert on the the matter here.

Jennifer Tangano um city attorney councilmire that's also another good question. We don't know exactly where this equipment is going. It is intended to go to the local core office. Um, and where they ultimately put it, we don't know, but they wanted an inind payment, which is authorized under United States code in lie of a financial payment. And that's essentially the the purchase of the easement itself. Um, that is a a common um practice. It's it's typically expected when you when someone gets an easement, you have to pay the property owner for that easement. In this particular instance, instead of requiring a cash payment, they wanted an inkind um payment of actual items so that it benefits the local office instead of going into the core's general fund at the federal level. So, it'll have a direct impact um here in the Louiswis Clark Valley instead of going to the federal government and then funneling its way down through um various accounts and everything.

Also, you have resolution 20269 before you council. Right. Motion to approve resolution 2026-09. Second. Been moved by councelor Wright. Second by councelor forceman to approve resolution 2026-09. Clerk Rocky. Council President Cleber. Hi. Councelor Wright. I. Councelor Forsman. Hi. Councelor Klene. Hi. Councelor Mory. Hi. Councelor Swicklemire. Hi.

Veries. Thank you councel. Next up item G. Task order number 2026-1 Stantech Consulting Services, Inc. considering approving task order number 2026-1 with Stantech Consulting Services, Inc. for the WR086 WTP alkalinity addition in the amount to $221,446 $476 and authorizing mayor to sign the task order. This is an action item. Director Johnson.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Dustin Johnson, public works director. Uh so in front of you, previously we've received uh the emerging contaminants grant for $1.8 million to take well four offroof line and then allow us to modify our new water treatment plant to address the alkalinity because that's surface water coming out of the water out of the clear water river. So alkalinity alkalinity is uh trying to balance that out with the rest of the system. So it's a $1.8 million um grant for the construction of those improvements. This is the design of it. So we'll design it first. And so that's with uh Stantech who was the uh original designer of the water treatment plant for $221,000. I stand for questions. Council

Council President Clayberg make a motion to approve task order number 2026-1 in the amount of $221,476 with Sand Stant [snorts] Consulting Services Inc. for the W86 WTP alkalinity edition and authorizing the mayor to sign task order. Second.

Been moved by council president Kleberg, second by councelor right to approve task order number 2026-1 in the amount of $221,476. We stand to consulting services incorporated for the WR086 WTP alkalinity addition and authorizing a mayor to sign the task order. Clerk Rocky. Council President Cleber. I. Councelor Wright. I. Councelor Forsman. I. Councelor Klein. Hi. Councelor Mory. Hi, Councelor Spigglemire. Hi,

Various. Thank you, council. Thank you, director. Next up, we have item H, resolution 2026-05, considering adopting the city of Lucen 2026 transportation capital improvement plan. This is an action item. And once again, the public works director, Justin Johnson. Welcome. Good evening, Mayor, city council. So, we saw this previously at a a public hearing. This is our annual transportation capital improvement plan. So those who may be watching are familiar with the process. Every year we throw out all of our um basically our transportation network. We ask for feedback from the public and council. We have hold a public hearing and we rank these accordingly. And each year well we have roughly 150 plus projects that are identified in the capital improvement plan. And so we're trying to prioritize uh number one to 150 plus. Uh the reason we do this this puts uh weight into when we apply for grants case uh this case main and D is the current number one. Uh and we have turned in a federal uh build grant for that. And so they, you know, when they review these, they look at how you prioritize your projects and where it weights into the community and and seeing where Main Street lies as number one gives a little bit more latitude or a little bit more um you know oomph that we we we prioritize that as a a prime project. So I did get feedback from the council at the public hearing. Uh and I guess what I I try to do is to take the feedback at the public hearing and organize this the the the the project that are in front of you. And so in your packet and what I have pulled up here is the original spreadsheet. So, you have the 2026 ranking getting older. Uh 2026 rank uh based off of the uh criteria that was originally weighted by the the the capital improvement plan when we put together

the transportation plan or transportation uh master plan and five years ago. Then the other column is the 2025 plan that carried forward. Uh basically I got the gist from the uh uh council. The preference is to carry forward the 2025 plan and then rerank those projects. And so I carry what you have now is the 2026 update on that last blue tab. Uh with the projects that I got feedback on being grill from 61 to 21, the thing Warner 10th intersection from 48 to 14 and then there were some projects that were uh brought in and introduced um with the thing corridor study. I did I tried not to overweight them but they were not ranked because we didn't rank them in 2025. So I took the criteria and kind of slotted them in where they are and you can kind of see uh if you go through the spreadsheet where they fall. Some of them are are specifically called new projects or weighted very low. And I highlighted in that spreadsheet where those ones particularly the thing Warner 10th intersection fall and Gell fall. And so, uh, I thought that would be easier to as a starting point than to try and rank the 2025 or the 2026 and move them around. So, that is the starting point. Um, if you're comfortable with it, we can take it and go with it. If you want to move a couple things around, I can do that or we can go as deep as you want. The one thing I've had a couple uh conversations with the council generally moving forward, there's two things I want to do. one, I'm going to try and take out uh there's a lot of side there's 150 projects and so how can you definitively tell me 137 is more important than 147? And so those are a lot of sidewalk projects, trails, uh bike lanes, things that are I'm not saying they're not important, but I'm saying we should probably tackle Main

Street before we talk about a shared use trail out on Warner. Um, and so I'm going to try and consolidate these larger basically take the arterials and collectors off. And so that gives you a much more manageable and an understandable uh list that you can work from. And then the second thing I want to do, I will commit. We will carry forward. Whatever we adopt tonight will be what you see next year. And so instead of seeing how the criteria ranks them, you'll see how you rank them this time next year. And so that that gives you a better starting point. and then I can call out are you sure 10th and Warner should be 47. Are you you want to hire you know because the criteria says it's it's an important project. So with that that's the plan moving forward. Um but I can we can go wherever you want tonight.

Thank you director. Um and just to clarify just because a project is ranked number one two or three doesn't guarantee that it has funding.

Exactly. I'm glad you brought that up. You know, case in point, when we're going for grants like the grant that we just approved for the water treatment plan, I can tell you that is not the highest and most important project that's in our in our need of water projects, but that's it's emerging contaminants. It's related to POS in that area. So, that's that was funded. So, we got basically $2 million, but I'd love to spend $2 million on a reservoir or some pipeline replacement. Same thing with transportation. when the grants are calling out sidewalks to schools, I can't spend that on Main Street. And so, uh, we go through when we rank these, we go through and we say, "Okay, this is sidewalk to school." And we start picking out where a project could be, um, you know, eligible for that grant. Council questions. Councelor Portman.

I'd more just make a comment when you're saying I mean obviously is a sometimes unfortunate when we get money for projects that kind of just knock them off the list when we you know really have other bigger projects or fish to fry but at least it does take it off the list and then that's one less thing we have to do and then more money to the big objectives. So more of those little things we get off the list. Hopefully that gives us more money to allocate to those bigger projects.

Yep. That's a as as that hole fills in, the money slides in. And same thing with I think the next thing on this agenda is transportation on Snake River Road. There was a grant that came in and so our allocation for STP funds got filled with that grant. So now that STP fund can be spent on another project. So yeah, you see that a lot where, you know, it's not the money that we wanted to spend on this project, but that frees up project money for other places. council client. I'm I'm uh good with moving forward with your updated 2026 version. Um motion to approve resolution 2026-05.

Second. Been moved by councelor Klein, second by councelor forceman to approve resolution 2026-05. Rocky. Council president Clever. Hi. Councelor Wright. I councelor Forsman. I councelor Klene. I councelor Moy I. Councelor Spigglemire. Nay.

Motion carries. Thank you council. Thank you Director Johnson. One more number I letter I. Local professional services agreement for project number A013 PN 443 closed PN concerning approving the local professional services agreement with JUB engineers for project number A13 PN 443 close print. Lake River Avenue, South Bay Bridge, 11th Avenue, Lewon, Esper County, key number 13443 for the not to exceed amount of $580,775 and authorizing the mayor to sign the agreement. This is an action item. Director Johnson.

Evening, mayor, city council, Dustin Johnson. Uh yeah, so this is uh the the local services agreement for the manage or the construction administration for the Snake River Road project. So, currently we're out there doing the uh sewer replacement. That should hopefully wrap up next week. And then when that is done, we'll start replacing the road from South Way uh roundabout into 11th Street, including turn lanes and then the road up 11th there. Um it it I think it's important to state this is as I kind of hinted earlier this is a a combination of our allocation which is uh STBG money uh surface transportation um grant um that we get annually but then we got a strategic initiatives grant to offset the demand for that. So it's a bunch of federal money that is going to pay for this project. uh it will be, you know, the STP money will roll forward into uh 9inth Street grade later. None of that matters other than this is all paid for uh by federal dollars. None of this is local dollars except for maybe a small portion of that SDP match. Um and so that $580,000, it's a lot of money, but it is a also a lot of work to manage a federal project, inspections, uh and all the the construction administration that goes with it. So uh with that I am here for questions.

Thank you director. Council questions. Council pick meer. So director kind of interesting in here. It has a line item that the contract for not to exceed amount. I don't think you've ever had a contract that didn't exceed it needed amendments. Which one are you speak uh are you talking about? Uh, look here. Part of the contract says the contracts for a not to exceed amount. I mean, almost everyone we've had has had an amendment.

Um, not necessarily. We've had I mean, I know what you're saying yet because you we've broken them down for the engineering product contracts. We typically have the design and then construction administration on the back end. And so yeah, you'll see where and we're trying to do a better job recently where we'll we'll show you this is only design you can expect a construction administration um you know but when they write you know that's the scope of services and to not exceed I don't they're usually pretty conservative but yeah they we could be back for an amendment but that would again Councelor Right. Motion to approve the local professional services agreement project for number A013 perin 443 close perin Snake River Avenue Southwave Bridge to 11th Avenue between the city of Lewon and Jub Engineers Inc. in the amount not to exceed $580,775 and authorizing the mayor to execute the agreement.

Second. Been moved by councelor for uh councelor writ second by councelor forceman to approve the local professional services agreement for project number 013 brand 443 close snake river avenue southway bridge 11th avenue between the city of Lewon and Jup Engineers Inc. in the amount of in in an amount not to exceed $580,775 and authorizing the mayor to execute the agreement. Clerk Rocky, Council President Clever. Hi, Councelor Wright. Hi, Councelor Forsman. Hi, Councelor Klein. Hi, Councelor my hi. Councelor Speckle, hi.

Motion carries. Thank you, council. Thank you, Director Johnson. Council, next up we have uh item J, ordinances number one, second reading. Item A, ordinance number 4956, considering amending the franchise agreement for collection, hauling, and tipping of residential and commercial solid waste, yard waste, and recyclable materials with sanitary disposal in doing business as sunshine disposal and recycling. Approve the Lewon city ordinance number 4823 on November 1, 2021 and authorizing the city clerk to sign set amendment to the

franchise agreement action item. Director Johnson. Uh thank you, Mayor, City Council, Dustin Johnson. Um this is the second reading. We've closed the public hearing. Uh and so we have no additional presentation. Uh, I know there's been a lot of questions regarding, you know, indexes and equipment costs. Uh, I am here questions and we have representatives from Sunshine Disposal to answer any questions and and legal. Um, so I guess I'm I'm kind of opening it up to the mayor or the attorney's pleasure here. Jennifer, are you um prepared to offer any comments now? None at this time.

Mayor, no, I don't have any comments. I did just provide uh Matthew or councelor Wright some motion language and that was it. Thank you. So councilors uh this is not a public hearing tonight but we do have representatives from um Sunshine Disposing and Recycling here tonight if you have questions uh about um the um the amendment um or our public works director Dustin Johnson. So, with that, I'm just going to throw it right open to you for any questions. Councelor Specmier.

Um, I don't really have any questions. I just have a comment, I guess, to the council. Um, in looking through this to me, um, the original request on here was the request for the 18.5% for one-time addition. Um, CPI calculation. as an event of force majour I guess that's how you pronounce it specifically related to the increased operating cost result from the pandemic but if you look at the um consumer's price index or the producers index both of those were adjusted due to the pandemic so they were already in their calculations so to me I don't see the uh justification for the 18.5% the difference the 185% is the difference between the CPI and the PPI. And the CPI is what was agreed to within their contract when they first signed it. Maybe we should have had PPI in there, but that's not what was in the contract.

Thank you, counselor. Further comments? Councelor Wright.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I I have a question first. So, I see in on and my pages could be a little different here, but page 228 in the in the packet, and I believe this is part of the email that we received. It's got the the charts in it, this figure three chart with the regional rate increases for Lewon, Nespers County, Lighto County. So, just kind of let folks know where I'm looking at. There's there's a sentence the opening sentence in here is our initial request to staff when we be began discussing it nearly a year ago and memorial memorialized in a letter to staff dated April 3rd 2025 was an adjustment this year of the regular CPI calculation of 4.6% 6% plus a one-time addition of 18.5% to accommodate the force majour impact. Um and reading through you know every everything that's been presented to us my understanding is this is the 18.5% is being asked for the increase that we gave in 2026 was.7%. Is is there anything happening with this 4.6 or can I completely disregard that number?

Yes, that 4.6 when we talked about negotiation that was the one that we worked through the numbers much like you're working through the numbers and staff just felt that we we wouldn't support that or or but yeah that that one was not as part of the final request. So, it's just the 18.5 and then the contractual changes that they were that we all we both agree to that that was in the in the contract. Got councelor Wright.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, when I was going through the numbers and um I I'm I'd be more than happy to hear a comment from from your team at um Sunshine Disposal. So when I was looking through the numbers at uh trying to use the similar calculation that that you had asked for in the if this contract is amended which is the that 12 month average u and I might not be exactly on the same spot you guys are with your numbers but I I use that PCU ending in the 112 and when I compare that to what the actual increases were looking back to 2022 forward, I see that the difference if we would have used that calculation given I could have some wiggle room here, but I see that's 11.53% uh lost by by you guys if we were using the other this other um index. So, and and I have some understanding that we're the the 18.5% that number come up that you came up with didn't have to do with trying to recover losses from these previous years. But I I'd like to better understand that if I could of where the 185 is coming from, what the thoughts are there. Good evening, members of council. I'm John Lloyd with Sunshine Disposal and Recycling. Um, couple of things. The um you're talking about the difference between the what the PPI would have provided at that. So, uh I haven't seen the

calculation that result in the 25%. We've we've we've looked at it a couple different ways. So I think it's if you go back another year than that, which is when the last franchise agreement was being renegotiated, we were somewhere in the 13 to 14% range. The original 18.5% request was started off based on what we saw as our operational costs that were incurred by our company on top of what was recovered from the the the CPI. And we provided some examples in the packet that showed um truck cost increase, medical cost increase, labor cost increase, things that showed percentage increases upwards of 40% whereas the index provided us with you know more like 13%. So um that's kind of where the 18.5% originally came from. And we know and and we view the force Missouri language as as justifying that because the impacts of the pandemic increased our operating cost as a solid waste collector far above and beyond what the what the chain CPI index was was providing us.

Okay, I think I'm good for the moment if anybody else has questions. Thank you. Any other questions? counselors. Okay. Mayor Councelor Farsman. So I think for me it still just lies within the concern of seeing kind of the the proof behind the pudding for the numbers and so um which we have had some conversations about what ways you guys can do that. Uh I don't know if if we're getting close to that, but I can't make I can't make an agreement on that until I see that. So or have a way to see that. I don't know if you have anything to add, but we're

Matt. Brian, welcome. Introduce yourself for the record. This thing's running, so I need you to speak up just a little bit. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. Brian C from Sunshine Disposal Recycling. We have made some attempts to to figure out how to provide the information that you're requesting, which is review of the actual cost increases. Um we have not yet been able to come to a reasonable um option. Both the city and Sunshine have offered ideas and so far we haven't been able to figure out the the right idea to be able to make that happen. Our our um we do have the invoices with us. We are prepared to share those. We just have concerns about sharing those in open in open session. Uh, mayor

councman. So, I know I I think we mentioned that there's a possibility of sharing either to the mayor or the staff. Has that already been done?

Uh, that has not been able to be accomplished just yet. We we'd be open to doing that if if that's the direction that the um uh the council seeks. we just would not be able to leave those or provide those for the the record, but they're certainly able to be viewed u and to be able to check our our math and and know where our where our numbers are coming from. Under the mayor's direction, he reached out to our our uh fleet team and so we we got some prices for our Vector trucks. We don't buy the exact same trucks, but they're pretty pretty similar. uh the Vector truck. So, case in point, uh FY15 uh was 362,000. In 2023, it was 547,000 and FY25 had gone up to 622,000. So, that's the same truck new uh across from 1523 to 25.

Excuse me. Thank you, director and counselors. We did receive um from Sunshine Disposal dated February 13, 2026. It was provided in a previous council packet. And even though we don't have invoices on here, I'll just direct you to figure two on page two uh to support what Director Johnson just shared with you. Operating cost percentage increase. They did break it down uh for whatever it's worth uh by vehicles and tires and dumpsters and then benefits and driver cost and things like that. And the uh residential truck costs are up 40%. I presume that's for a new vehicle

or at least in the new near future of what you would expect to pay for those going forward to replace your fleet and keep it uh running.

That's correct. New vehicle sorry Brian Cington Sunshine and recycling new vehicles so chassis and body think what director Johnson shared with and I did ask for the information because I wanted to find some way to understand it and so I looked at what we're paying for our vehicles and uh we can't deny that we're paying a lot more for our vehicles and uh we're either going to run old equipment or we're going to have to replace those fleets and u continue to provide services. So, I can understand uh the requests that Sunshine's making when it comes to looking forward and trying to continue to provide these services. If the costs are going to go up and u whether it's Sunshine or another vendor, we're going to pay now or we're going to pay later. It's just it's the way the business runs. I don't think there's anything hidden here. Councelor Klein,

I was wondering with your operational cost increases. Um, are you because you you also have part of your business is in Spokane, correct? Correct. So, there's a difference between, you know, buying and purchasing things in Idaho compared to Washington and and the higher operating cost to have a business in in Washington state. Is that are those prices um reflected? Um, I feel I'm worried about us having to eat the cost of you doing business in Washington.

Yeah, good question. These are costs specifically related to to the cost of servicing Lewon. The items that we've outlined here, the truck carts, the the curbside carts, the uh dumpsters, tires, those are those are purchased based upon uh for the most part a national vendor system. And so those are those costs are relatively similar no matter where you're at in in in our region. sales tax being the obvious obvious difference my thank you Mr. Sir, question for you, sir. You have three different trucks that you run. Yard waste, recycling, and residential garbage. Correct. Correct. On on routes,

correct? Okay. The yard waste goes out here to East Lewon, correct? Correct. Yeah. Household waste goes to the transfer station, correct? Where does the recycling go? Uh, it goes to Pacific Steel Recycling. All of it does. And then they they segregate it and separate it and send it on its way from there. It does. Yeah. Just follow up. Oh, sure.

How many route miles a week do your trucks run? Because whenever I see trucks in the alleyways downtown and Normal Hill, you've got garbage cans on both sides of the same alley. truck goes down, does a U-turn, does damage to the streets as they're doing their maneuvering, and comes back down the same alley. Would it be feasible to ask residents as a cost-saving measure to everyone put their garbage containers and everything on the same side of the street so that you get one pass down the alley?

Uh, answer your first question, I don't know the number of [clears throat] get that for you if that's of interest. But, uh, your second question, it's something we'd have to study. I know we we do what's called route optimization to make sure that we are collecting the most efficient manner possible. Some of these are operational decisions. I think that others could be policy decisions of the council as well. So that's something we'd have to sort through with staff to make sure that we're we're addressing that appropriately. Thank you. Um Director Johnson, do you have an estimate of the miles driven? I know that at one time we had a franchise fee based on the miles driven and we estimated it. I don't have that off the top of my head. It's over 100,000, but I don't know what the exact number is. It's quite a bit. Yeah,

right. Yeah. Just a maybe just a more a comment to the council. I I was going to read a motion waving the third reading, but I don't know the council is wanting um if anybody's wanting more information, so they don't want me to do that. I mean, guess I could lose a vote for it, but uh wanted to bring that up, maybe get a sense of another reading or not.

Speckle. Well, I guess to answer your question, yours, I had the was intending to make an amendment to it. So, probably take a couple readings to go through.

Oh, sorry. Cousin. Um, can we just just to one more time make sure that we're all understanding the 8 18.5% increase and what the exact purpose because I know there's been confusion of whether that was to recover previous cost to get up to to now standards or to have the cit city put up from cost so that we could slowly increment uh the citizens rate pay.

Yes. So thank you for that question. Kind of two parts to the answer there. First is the 18 and a half% is looking forward. We're not asking for any compensation in a rears. We are looking for an adjustment to the base rate to be able to invest in capital and operating expenses moving forward to continue the level of service that is offered to the the citizens of of Lewon. the um I think there's the confusion comes in when we're talking about the budget item that uh director Johnson has talked about in terms of how to uh pay that that cost and how to socialize that rate into future uh the rate adjustments. I think he he's proposed and correct me if I'm mistating here. He's proposed using $500,000 to what we would refer to as buy down the rate. So essentially instead of an 18.5% rate increase hitting all at one time, it would lower that 18.5% uh rate increase for this year and and then it would be stepped in to subsequent uh rate increases and it would be uh discussion between staff and council to as to how to to time those u the future rate increases and whether or not to utilize the same strategy moving forward.

Did I cash that? Couple points of clarification. Yes. So, we have, you know, that's the the intent of building these reserves uh is to build capital and then absorb these types of hits. And so, uh 18.5% or whatever percent you land on tonight isn't necessarily required to be moved forward. It it doesn't mean that the the rate payers are going to see that 18 and a half percent. We've we've purposely built the the the reserves up to a certain extent to cover, you know, we just did a a transfer station floor and now we're doing the road and then we have this contract we're discussing and we're also doing um or we'll be negotiating our tipping fee contract at the Sen County landfill. Uh the draft draft number I think is is $12 a ton more than what we're paying now roughly. And so we we knew, you know, you look back, you you knew these costs were coming. And so projecting forward, I don't have because well, I we haven't landed on a percentage tonight, but by the time we get to rate adoptions currently, I I I I feel comfortable that we can we're not looking at double date double digit rate increases. Um and so that's that's where we're at. Uh one other point of clarification we talked about uh the CPI the PPI and there's a multiplier in front of it that you know that they they were the current contract is 80% I think for for CPI and so as CPI gets great every year you're missing I keep calling it the delta. So there's the true cost and then their their rate which was a percentage of that CPI. So every year and especially as your CPI are in the sixes which is very not very common and so you're getting that bigger delta and so that's what this this is recorrecting that delta that was missed and then getting rid of that percentage on that CPI. So all future rate in or all future

indexes are all based off that that level playing field. So when we see future increases in fuel or or tires or equipment, it's built into that index and it's not a percentage of that. So that that's that's where that conversation is about. Jennifer Tangano, city attorney. I also want to make an ask of the council. I know councelor Foresman indicated an interest in receiving additional information. the public hearing's been had on this and that public hearing was also continued to another meeting. So I asked the council to make a decision based on the information that's been presented before you and the ordinance that is available as is um and not necessarily continue to focus on you know whether or not sunshine can provide more information. the information has been provided. Um there's been multiple opportunities to provide information and to have those discussions. Um regardless of whether or not you um are satisfied with that information, I think that should go into whether or not you approve the ordinance as written or you approve it as amended. But um I do ask the council to um focus on what has been provided and what is currently before you instead of seeking to continue to um delay the process and to uh seek additional information and taking into consideration that if you're not satisfied with that information that should be reflected in the decision that you cast. Council, any questions for Jennifer? I think that's very important. Yeah, thank you Jennifer for the clarification.

Motion would be in order. Councelor motion to approve the second reading of ordinance number 4956 by the title only. Second. been moved by councelor Klein, second by councelor right to approve the second reading of ordinance number 4956 by title only. Is there further discussion right?

Yeah. Uh and and I brought it up earlier. Um I did take quite a bit of time looking through the numbers specifically the the index that was given to us which in is the one ending in 112 and comparing that with the current formula of how we do these increases and um and my number is right around 11.53% that that I've come too there, councman.

Um, well, sticking around with the information that I have, uh, asked several times to get some kind of data behind that, some kind of numbers, some kind of paperwork. Um, and then this got approved and now I'm finding that we can't have that. So, I cannot approve this because I I did not get the information that I needed even though it was asked. Thank you, council. Amendments. Councelor Speckleer. Yeah,

I'd like to make a motion to revise the amendment to the franchise agreement and remove sections 9 and 10 and remove the proposed exhibits A and B and renumber the rest of the amendment accordingly. Basically, that removes the 18.5% onetime payments. Council, you're going to have to either write that down for me or say it slower because I did not capture it all. Ready? Okay. Motion to revise the amendment to the franchise agreement and remove sections 9 and 10 and the removal of the proposed pivots A and B. and to remember the rest of the amendment accordingly. Hey Second

been moved by councelor Spickle, second by councelor Foresman to remove sections uh 9 and 10.

Yep. Yes. And uh remove exhibit A and B. Exhibits A and B. And re number the rest of the amendment accordingly. Okay. Would you like to speak to your motion, Councelor Spickle? Um, I just feel as I mentioned earlier that I think that the whole thing around this is just the original contract. Um, should have really been using a PPI instead of the costs price index. Um both of them already have that uh the pandemic economic impact adjustments. So I I don't think that's valid. The event of force majour councelor

are we allowed to ask questions at this point? Uh, no. We have to speak to the amendment, the motion. Um, I guess I just now that we go through with this, I don't know what it sounds like there might still be a an increase to the overall rateayers, but maybe I'm not capturing that correctly. Councelor Spiger wants to or if you what your impression of that is. I'm going to call for the vote on this one. Those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. I.

I. Opposed. Nay. Motion carries. Any other amendments? Hearing? None. We'll go back to the main motion to approve the second reading of ordinance number 4956 by title only as amended. Those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Nay. Motion carries. Clerk Rocky

approving the second reading of ordinance 4956, an ordinance of the city of Lewon amending the franchise agreement for collection, hauling, and tipping of residential and commercial solid waste, yard waste, and recyclable materials between the city of Lewon and Sanitary Disposal, Inc. Doing business as Sunshine Disposal and Recycling, an Idaho Corporation granted, pursuant to the Lewon City Code ordinance number 4823 on November 1, 2021, authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute and attest set amendment to franchise agreement respectively, providing that the provisions of this ordinance are deemed severable and providing an effective date.

Thank you, Clerk. Rocky council. Next, we move to Roman number eight, unfinished and new business. Item eight, city councelor comments. Comment shall not be related to an item currently before the city council or an item that may come before the city council in the foreseeable future and shall be limited to comments, not discussion. here. Councelor Forceman, I

just want to highlight the next episode of Living Lewon podcast will feature a conversation with attorney Jennifer and Tangano about chapter 2 of Lewon City Code. Um, which kind of which goes over the mayor's powers and duties, responsibilities of the city council, appointed officials such as the city attorney, the treasurer, and the city clerk, compensation for elected officials, how council meetings are conducted, advisory boards and commissions, and more. Um, and they also asked if you have any, um, questions about the topic, they'd like to include them in the episode. So, uh, engage if you so will. Um, and they will also take a closer look at the office of the city attorney and what, uh, the role means for the community.

Thank you, counselor. Further city councelor comments. Okay, council. We'll move to item B. City boards and commissions. lay us on updates. Councelor Forsman,

uh I have a URA meeting tomorrow um from 12 to um 1:30 and uh I don't know. I've not been there yet, so I'm trying to think where the room is. It'll be my first one. So excited to get to know that um board and also the disability advisory meeting. Um oh, excuse me. That's my first one. I have been to the URA uh 12 to two. So, um I will get back to it at the next regular meeting. Thank you, councelor. Further council comments. Council speecher. Thank you,

Mayor. Um I had an update for the Valley Vision board meeting. Um went through a couple of the new contacts they have. They look really promising. Jerry has a couple of uh interviews scheduled, some people coming to town to look over Lewon. So, look promising in the future.

Thank you, counselor. I'm going to surprise Bruno here and ask Bruno if you could um just introduce yourself and tell the council what we have hanging on the wall here. You have some new pictures here, please. Hello. Uh, Bruno, administrative assistant, building coordinator for the Lewon Library. So, over here to your to you guys's left or right. We have photographs from artist or not, photograph photographer Bill Boxman. So, we have them around the library. I believe they'll be here for a few months. Uh, so please take a look and enjoy. He should have a program. I don't have the date right now, but he does have a program and a kind of kind of like an artist meeting type deal coming up too. So,

thank you. And I do you have some student work coming soon, too, or did that pass already? Do we have uh we just hung up new uh hangers in the teen zone for our for local teens? I don't believe it's Well, actually, there might be some in there. Yeah, I'd have to double check, but yeah, we do have some of that coming up too for local uh kids get a chance to have their artwork hanging at the library, too. Thank you. Well, you do a good job. Thank you.

Uh counselors, mayor comments, I'm going to pass on that next. Uh agenda topics, counselors. Okay. Uh Roman number nine. I move to adjourn. Second been moved by councelor Wright, second by councelor forceman to adjurnn. Those in favor please signify by saying I. I opposed. We stand a journ. Thank you councel.