City Council - Regular Meeting

item is addressed. Individuals are encouraged to speak at this time. Individuals are encouraged to discuss operational issues in advance with the mayor in consideration of others wishing to speak. Commentary is limited to three minutes. Do we have citizen comments tonight? Doesn't look like it. So, we'll move right on to presentations. Um, item A, month of military child proclamation, proclaiming the month of April 2026 as month of the military child in the city of Lewon. This is an action item and I have a proclamation to read. And we also have Staff Sergeant Palmer and his family here with us today to receive the proclamation. So, Staff Sergeant Palmer, if I could get you and your family to join me up front here. And I think what we'll do is maybe face this way because I think that's where the and then the public can see who we are. So yeah,

what a lovely family. Thank you for being here. Of course.

Yeah. Whereas April is the month of the military child, an opportunity to recognize military children for the resilient spirits, personal sacrifices, strong character, and courage. And whereas military children are part of the strength of our nation as they support and encourage their service members with a fierce patriotic spirit. And whereas these children are a source of pride for the great state of Idaho and to us all. And it is only fitting that we take time to recognize their contributions. And whereas military children continue to make significant contributions to family, community, and their nation as they endure prolonged and repeated absences of honorable parents. And whereas a long a month-long salute will recognize that military children served to and citizens of Idaho will be afforded the opportunity to dawn the color purple every Friday of April in support of these children. Now therefore, I, Dan Johnson, mayor of the city of Lewon, proclaim the month of April 2026 as month of the military child in the city of Lewon and encourage all citizens to show support for the children of military families by recognizing their sacrifices, resilience, and courage, and to thank the parents who serve to protect our freedoms. In witness whereof, I have here unto set my hand and seal of the city of Lewon, Idaho, to be affixed here to the sixth day of April, 2026. Daniel T. Johnson, Mayor L of Idaho. Congratulations and thank you. Thank you very much. Kisha is going to take a picture here and uh Yeah, there you go. Thank you, Mom.

Yeah. Thank you. So, we're especially not very grateful for your service and understand the sacrifice that you're making everyone, even the little kids. So, thank you for being here today. Thank you so much. I do have a big announcement to make, though. Carolyn brought cowboy cookies in the back. So, cookies. If you didn't get one, go grab one. I got mine. So, appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

You guys get a good job. And don't forget to wear purple on Friday. So, I'm going to wear something purple. I don't I only have one thing purple. I might wear it, but Yeah. And if if it gets email a picture, emailed it to me. I'll put it on our military family website, too, if that's acceptable. Thank you, Kesha. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Councilors, next up are the discussion items. Please note that identifying an item as an action item does not require the city council to vote on that item. Item A is hazmat regional response team program overview. Overview of the Lewon Regional Emergency Response Team, including its history, current operations, and an upcoming inter agency agreement with the state of Idaho Military Division. This is an action item. Again, it does not require the city council to vote on it. We have with us our fire chief, Greg Wright Meer with us here today. Uh Chief Wright Meer, welcome. Thank you, mayor, council. Greg Ritmeer, fire chief. Look forward to having a few minutes with you today. My goal was rather than to drop a contract on you that then you have a bunch of questions for give you the information ahead of time so that then you can look at the contract when it comes to you and go, "Okay, that's what that means." And and kind of go through that. So, just a real quick overview. Um the intention today is that we're going to give some the background information for the upcoming renewal agreement. Um we're going to look at the benefits and of the program to the city of Lewison and then discuss how that program reduces local cost burden. The reality of our hazardous materials response in today's day and age. It's a low frequency very high consequence event. You can think about um the Palestine, Ohio where the the train derailment happened and just devastated that entire community. When when these things go wrong and they happen, they're big incidents and they they really do go bad quickly. Um they require very specialized training, equipment, and personnel that that know how to do that and how to how to respond to that. And it's really easy to have that one single incident just wipe out a local. And so we we look at a regional thing. And in 1991, the state of Idaho created the Idaho Hazardous Substance Response Act.

And after that was created in that year. It took a couple years to get rolled out and figure out the funding and the mechanisms for that. But that created this this coordinated statewide response capability and a real focus was on public safety. So always life first and then the environment. Um, so we usually go life, um, property, the, uh, the incident stabilizing, but the environment is what comes in a little earlier on priorities with hazardous materials. And any of us that fish in this area or hike or hunt, you know, if we if we were to destroy one of our rivers with a with a horrible hazardous materials incident, you think about the town of Rigggins. I mean, that water goes all the way up there. And if you destroy the salmon run for a year, what happens to a little town like that? if you you know if you make the if you poison the water and make it to where we can't um recreate and stuff it really hurts everybody. So there's a cost model that the state outlined in this process and we look at the from the time an incident happens. So there's a spill the there's a number that gets called when 911 gets called we call the state comm number and that's Idaho office of emergency management down in Boise. That's a 24-hour staffed call center and then they immediately for that area they get people on the phone. And so within 10 minutes we have chemical experts, we have the military um the response teams, the hazmat response teams from that area. we all get on the the phone and we start talking about what's going on, what it is, what we know about it, and then we make some efforts um and some recommendations about what's going to happen. So, if the if a excuse me, if a regional response is deemed to be necessary, then the the local team that's closest goes and gets there and starts interacting with the local fire department and police agencies and then we build out from there. And and if it's a an intentional release, something where it's a a weaponized thing, we get the 10 CST from Boise. they they get in the depending on the urgency, they can get in the air and fly up here and be in

Lewon pretty quick or they'll drive up from Boise. So once that that team responds and everything's wound down, the state reimburses us for our personnel cost. They reimburse us for any equipment that was used on that like booming material or any of our absorbent pads, things like that, anything that got contaminated and ruined. And then the spiller by law is build. OEM does a a um warrant where they pay us right away and then they pursue the state pursues that spiller so we don't have to absorb that as a city and then we get training from them that's um supported through grant funds. So what this agreement does is it really defines those roles, responsibilities, expectations so that everybody knows what they've agreed to and what they're going to need to do and then it provides a structure for that training. um the equipment that the state's going to provide, who owns it, how long you have to maintain it, all of those things, and then how we deploy and how the reimbursements handled. That's what's in the agreement. So, a little background slide here, just a instant command system 100 here. Um the FEMA response model, a type one team is the biggest team. So, you think of an inverted pyramid there. That's lots of people, lots of capabilities, and then it goes all the way down to a type five team. That's the the smallest resource. And so most of our incidents just dayto-day car wrecks, house fires are type four and five incidents. Wildland fires, they kick up to type three. So that could be um like the Evans Road fire that was a type three. The the Hatway fire stayed right at a four, could have gone a three, but we stopped it pretty quick. person is gonna mute somebody.

There we go. Chief Kusing's always see what happened. Did you just call him? All right, we'll get back on track here with the pyramid, please, Brian.

There we go. Okay. And so, um, when we when that just kind of gives you a background, we're going to talk a little bit about the the types of teams that we've historically had and what's being proposed going forward. So, initially in Idaho in in the early 90s there, um, in 94 is when it happened in Lewon. Um, there were seven type two teams around the state. So, those teams are pretty pretty robust and pretty capable in what they do. We hosted a type two team up until 2021 when Chief Michael Bus looked at the number of responses we were having the cost you had to maintain 20 people on the team and and then few how few incidents and stuff and just made a decision we can't support this and you reached out to and said we're going to downgrade to a type three and they agreed to that where we've been kind of hovering statewide this is happening and through the last three years great work done at the state level with IO OEM and with the state chief's association, we've realigned and said, you know, really what what we need in these small areas are are quick reaction forces to get eyes on, get good intel back to the state and then make a decision

because it usually is um a uh it's usually the spiller that cleans this up and so a lot of times you don't need much of a response. You need somebody to go out there, some technical expertise So the um resources are located here and because they're here we get the level we we have all of the equipment that a type three team would have but we have it for free.

You can hear us

is I'm trying to he owes us all the boys right. Thank you. Not a problem. You want to wait for

you hear the echo? So you try to talk faster so you can be your own. Okay. So Oh, he's

Oh, well I fixed that. Nicely done, Brian. All right. So, um, so the resources are here, they're in town, our people are here and trained. So, if we have a a hazmat incident here in town, we immediately have a type three team there to respond and take care of that. Years ago, when it was a regional team, the the mill was on the same team with us. We had resources from Pullman and Moscow and also Clarkston fire. Um in that 2021 era, Washington State backed out of that agreement and so we no longer respond across the state the state border with the Idaho team. Um and then we the the teams are backed up as necessary from other teams if you need um a good example remember the propane truck that rolled over and caught fire where there it rolled over and they had to flare off all the propane down in um was down in the Rigins area there and so for two days they had the road closed while they burned that off. They rotated team members through that because they they had to sustain those operations for hours. So you um you look at Lewis's role. were be beginning of the system there in 1994 is when we assigned our first agreement and we're the host agency for the region 2 team and that's Nespers Lake talk clearwater Idaho and Lewis counties so the the red area in there what we've gotten so far to date from from being part of this team is about $3 million in specialized equipment vehicles air packs the the trailer that fills the air packs up um the scientific equipment for radiation detection and all of the different specialty um chemicals that we can detect and and figure out. So, that was uh that's one of the things that we've we've benefited from that. Plus, all of our training, our our hazmat training for our department, we we tag on to the hazmat team training and we get that training

and then also we've got that access to the advanced capabilities here in the city. Um which, you know, keeps keeps spills small. We're not we're not waiting for that to come in here. The risk has changed over the years. In the 70s and 80s, hazardous materials response first really came and and if you if you if you were around back then and can remember that that was the the um time when the super fund came in and we we realized that gas station tanks were leeching into the ground and we realized, oh my gosh, we're we're really not taking very good care of of the environment. And so, a lot of changes happened there. Industries were held accountable. The transportation industry got a lot smarter about how they did things. and we we changed rail cars, we went to doublewalled tank cars for for hazardous materials, things like that. So, we saw a lot of good changes in in what that and that changed the call response. In the 90s, the uh the this little thing called crystal meth came along and um so those crystal meth fabrication houses and bathtub labs and things like that were very very toxic and they um required as law enforcement engaged in trying to tackle that problem. We were right there with them in the in the hazmat response and that was a big big burden on a lot of u fire departments and a lot of fire departments got out. My my previous department we got out of the business during that time. We're just like, we're done. We are sick and tired of being a just a an evidence collection team basically for hazardous materials labs or for meth labs. And so then 911 comes along in the early 2000s there and we saw terrorism happening here in the United States and we had a lot of the white powder envelopes if you remember that. That required us to really change gear, get different equipment, different training and um we we kind of went through that thing. Today we see very few incidents, but when they do happen, they're still quite remarkable. So it's that right how do you rightsize your response capabilities in a in a fiscally

responsible way. So in region two and in the area that we protect, our biggest problem is the transportation corridors. We've got all these big highways right alongside of a river. And so when we flip a truck over something, even if it's not on the main river, if it's up a canyon, it's on a tributary that drains into the main river. So that's been a significant amount of what we respond to is overturned vehicles. And those diesel saddle tanks, you put 200 gallons of diesel on the ground, that's a pretty significant amount of fuel. And we want to keep those out of the river. So we specialize in booming. Um just in the last two years, we've we've put on $40,000 worth of extra booming equipment that's all grant funded that we have in a trailer here. And so with the cruise ship fueling here, we we have that resource right here. So if something goes wrong, we can get extra booming right away and get that in the river and and um take care of that problem or contain it. We don't clean it up. Make that clear. We simply respond to we do it's called damn damn dyke and divert is the thing they talk about. But we really we contain it to stop the spill from getting worse. In some situations, we will go and close a valve. We can we have certain things of patches that we can put on rail cars or or drums or something like that. But in in the most part, we stop the spill. That's our that's our job. And then a cleanup company comes in and has to clean it up. Um those transportation course corridors obviously they're environmental sensitive. The water supply, our drinking water supply is there. Our fisheries and the tourism industry are all tied to that those, you know, our healthy rivers and creeks. And then we have industrial manufacturing presence in the valley. and you know throughout this area these little mom and pop shops and stuff but frequently they've got you know at least a few barrels of some kind of precursor chemicals and in some cases a whole lot of those chemicals and that's where the the Clearwater paper obviously has a big presence. They have their own fire department with their own hazmat team and their safety division

and we we do tabletop exercises and train with them so that we're ready to um respond if something happens there. Look at the call volume trend here. So the bridge calls that was that phone call I talked about. So you look over the last 10 years and single digits everywhere. You know last year we had seven whole bridge calls and no responses. So it's really this you know you're maintaining this this profile and this forwardleaning capability but you don't don't often use it. When you do use it it's you know it's got to be ready to go. So what we proposed to the state is we said look we could even go to a type four team. we could get smaller resources, 10 people, and be able to have them specialty train. We can train our other folks at that operations level instead of the technician level. So, they can help us with booming and things like that. Um, and so they they really like that format. Several other um fire departments in the state jumped onto that same concept and and that's where the the state contract went to. So, it's focused on that rapid assessment um rapid response and coordination. Um what we're envisioning at the the type of vehicle that we've been granted to get is a a quad cab um one one heavy heavy half ton or heavy t and a half. So the one and a half ton um quad cab utility type rigs. We carry equipment and stuff on there. The idea is to get out there fast. Um probably get a drone down range with a Starlink connection, start feeding video back to the state where people can start saying, "Okay, this is actually what we need to do." and get the right resources there. So with that, we there's four type four teams that are standing up statewide and they're not new teams. They're just teams that were at a higher level kind of like us that are transitioning down to that four and then three type two teams um in our region they actually um that with both us and Coupney stepping down um they've

contracted with Spokane to provide us with that type two um capability in this region. It's the same model that they use for the bomb team. So they use Spokane, City of Spokane Police Department's bomb team down in this area if we need it. Um, and once again, our specialty is in boommy. That's that's really what we've been identified because of the rivers that are in that fivecount area. This made sense just, you know, decreasing call volume and getting that to the right size, align our capabilities with our risks and to keep the the cost contained to keep our honestly our personnel time. That's that's one of the valuable things you can say. Okay. Well, we we get paid for all the time we train and we get all that, but it's still time and there's only, you know, so many minutes in a day, so many so many days in the week. Looking over the timeline, this from the 1991 through the the creation type two teams. Um, after 911, we kind of geared up a little bit more toward type one. And then in 21, type three. And now we're looking at that that type four team. Today, we didn't have the program. We still have a responsibility to provide as a city fire department, we would still need to provide some hazards materials um capabilities in our city. We wouldn't provide it at the technician level, just at the operations level. But right now, whereas we get that training all part of our grant, we would have to take in that the cost of doing that training for ourselves. And then all of the equipment that we have here that we get to use, we would have to turn around and buy that equipment ourselves. you look at the risk reality, it's that high risk, low frequency. Um those are the those little corners and ideally we want to rightsize that our capabilities to that risk is got to be measured and and um put there. The upcoming agreement that you're going to see on the April 27th council agenda. It updates how the support how the state supports us and uh deals with some of that stuff. It aligns

our commitment to that type four level, not the type two level. And then it it, you know, gives us that capability. We can't go alone. The state, as part of all the work we've been doing the last three years, um last year the the governor's budget contained $8 million in it for the statewide regional responses. And so we have $500,000 sitting waiting for us to to get our new vehicle and some new equipment. Um in addition, we've got I've got $60,000 in the past three-year grant money for equipment that we're ready to spend. Um, but we've been waiting for this new agreement to finally get to us and that's been it's taken a while to get all that going. Um, that'll help us with the equipment and training here locally. Any questions you have or wonders or stuff? I if I can't answer it, I'll get it back to you before the 27th.

Thank you, Chief. Council questions. Councelor Specier. Thank you. So, chief, did you say how far the Lucen fire department personnel would have to respond in the five county region? That's in region two, the five counties, correct? That's the area that we cover. And their commitment is in that you'll see in the agreement is that two people on the road in 30 minutes is is the uh what and that's 90% of the time. That 90% five counties. How many other response teams are there? Zero. We're it. We're it. We're it. from a call to Celane we're in. So we we split that up. They come up court lane and then we're we're in the middle there. Is there an upfront cost to this?

No, we've been doing this since 1994. This is just a new agreement that that deals with the fact we added the type four teams from the type two teams and it addressed the the new purchasing monies that the state has. Councelor Wright. Thank you. I've got a couple here, but they're all kind of along the same same thing. So, one I was curious about the incident that we had a couple weeks ago. Did this team respond to that when there were like bubble bath coming down the road?

No, that was determined by the the um response folks that that was an organic thing that it wasn't a hazardous material spill. That was um a biological um or organic proteins churned up by the water runoff and which is what made that foam but it wasn't essentially a hazardous material. The team that makes that call would be part of the fire department.

The team that makes that that well public works made the call in that instant. If public works wouldn't have been able to locate what it was. They couldn't have figured it out what it was and identified it. they would have called us. Then we would have initiated a state call and then we would have gone out there and looked at that and taken the measures. So if that had been, you know, a somebody had a old fuel tank or something that spilled over and we were seeing a sheen on the water that told us there was an organo phosphate or or a hydrocarbon that was involved, then we would have taken that. Gotcha. And counselor,

what are the because it seems these are so rare, it would seem being proactive might be more beneficial. But what do we do proactively to make sure there's not going to be an issue in our valley or is this team handling that at all?

So that's part of what happens at at the EPA level. Um the um point at council my but um Clearwater papers an example. They they have to file reports consistently. We get information from title two information from anybody that has chemicals going on. they send us a thing. So, we maintain a list of who's got what chemicals and then they have to they have to do all of their industry standard stuff and are beholden to the EPA for that. Um, so we we don't go out and do any preventative work in that inspections from this team that would No, we we do fire inspections for new construction and that's that's that. Okay,

counselor. Um what was the last grant money that we got? How much was the amount when they did they because they given us grant money before? Correct. We get $20,000 every year um in the time in the five years I've been here. Um and that's for the the upkeep of the team and the ongoing expenses. And but this is the first time that they've funneled in a major amount of money um since when the teams I think post 911 there was a bunch of money to to stand teams up to a higher level. Okay. But this amount of grant money is this is the first time that's been available in my time. So when they first supplied the big the equipment, was it they supplied the $20,000 grant and then the equipment or do we because we have the big truck, right? Is that

Yeah, that that came in 1994. That was that that initial um big stand up and that the the big equipment like that is all come over the years. So we have several trailers um big they're 32 foot cargo trailers that have equipment in it. We have decon equipment 77. So some of that came after 911 um where we upgraded that. Okay. So this is the first lump sum we've gotten since 911. This is the f or post 911. This is the first time the states really dumped money on this. Okay. Thank you.

If I want to throw something out there, uh if not who then if not us then who to clean this up and why? And then also are there any additional risks that we assume by taking this on?

So to the first the first question if we don't respond well we our city will still respond but at a operations level not a tech. So we would put out booming but we can't stop the we can't put a seal on a tank and stop it from leaking. That's the the line that that crosses over. So we would be waiting for resources to come from Spokane to to come down. And um if you wait long enough, the spill's over. All the stuff's on the ground or it's all in the in the the rivers and stuff. So that's that's the risk. If we don't have anything to respond here locally, we we just have to wait. So like within the fiveount area, why Lewis then and not inter agency or multi- agency response?

There was a multi- agency initially and then we're the only paid department between McCall and Cordelane. So, um, getting volunteers to attend this level of training, this level of commitment is something that just fell away. Okay. So, if the city chooses not to do it, then what? Then we'll in the county, we will have in in our in the region that same thing. They'll have to wait for Spokane state or somebody. Okay. And then what about additional risks that we that we assume by entering into this contract to personnel mostly?

Yeah. I mean, there's the risk of injury. However, this is very unique in the way that the moment our folks go on a response, they're put on the state's insurance. So, our workman's comp doesn't uh get any additional risk in that system. Um, which is a significant I like to see that on the wildland side. I keep pushing say, "Hey, here's it works over here. Let's use it over here." Um, so there's the the the risk that we're we have their vehicles, their equipment, our personnel if they were to get injured would be on the state's workman's comp. But the um otherwise backfill um that's handled by the the state response. They pay for the back fill. Spec.

Thanks, Mayor. So, did you say um you do or you don't respond to waterway incidents? We do. So, if a tanker that's bringing fertilizer up, this team would have to respond to that. Yeah. tanker flips over down on Highway 12 or Highway three, we would go there and we would boom boom out into the water to contain it against the shoreline. And even out here on the Snake River. Yep.

Right. Thank you. How's the maintenance of the equipment work? Because I know that when we get a piece of equipment, when we purchase it, then a certain portion goes to the fleet to maintain this piece of equipment. and then eventually replace it. So, how does that work when they're um giving us money to purchase?

Yeah. So, we we maintain it. We can use our grant funds throughout the year to assist with that and um an example is we have our air trailer has a broken piece of equipment right now on it and so we're using the grant to replace that piece of equipment. Um and so that's the uh ownership of that equipment. This this grant um I believe is different. I'm looking at the attorney I think that they changed the ownership where after fi after after five years now it's our it will become ours. Is that accurate?

That's what what I recall of the language and the reimbursement agreement and then the um uh agreement itself. Yeah, that's that's one of the new things we change because technically right now if if we go wave then we all that equipment goes back to I guess what my concern would be is if if we've got a I think when I read it it's a three-year and then a repeat of a three-year. So if it became our equipment after five years, then we have to maintain it for the last year of the agreement. We could use funds. But if those funds were already used up, correcting these spills, if there was any or training or things like that, then the city's on the hook for maintaining equipment, if the state decides they don't want to give additional funds.

Correct. And and currently, I mean, we we maintain a lot more equipment than we're going to have. um and we've been doing that so that we have a budget for that that we haven't exceeded. It certainly is a a risk to be aware of. Um not to stop your questions, councelor Wright, but I would note that the agreement and the funding agreement itself are not on for today's agenda. Um but it will be available for further discussion on um next Monday's April 13th's agenda, 27th

or the 27th's agenda. And so both of those documents will be readily available and will be up for discussion on approval or not approval. Um so I don't know that that's specific questions about the terms of those agreements would be within the scope for today's agenda topic. Um but um I know myself and uh Chief Wright are available if you do have additional questions between now and then and we're happy to address any questions you have in that public meeting as well. Okay, thank you Jennifer. Quickly for the record, please Jennifer Tangano, city attorney. Thank you councelor. Any last

appreciate that just to review today uh Chief Right bring it back. He wanted to give us a little more information so we could start to turn that over in our minds and think about any other questions we may have or come prepared. So further questions we'll move on. Thank you. Thank you chief. Thank you

counselors. Next we have item B forfeite fund allocation. discussion on the proposed use of funds received through criminal foreure proceedings to support the purchase of critical public safety equipment needed for the Los Police Department. This is an action item and uh our police chief Jason Cusk is in uh remotely and then also Captain Ree is here today. Um Captain Ree, would you mind just coming in and kicking this off and then you can turn over to Chief Gus if you'd like? Uh yeah, I believe Chief Good had a letter or some information he wanted to provide first. Is that okay? Or would you like

Yeah, if if you would just introduce in case we need to ask you questions directly here, but if you just introduce yourself for the record, then you can turn it over to Chief Cusk if you need. Uh Chris Ree, Captain Police, and Chief Cus is out of town, but he's remoted in to discuss some items and I'd follow up questions or anything. Chief Ker, can you hear us? I can. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Wonderful. Please introduce yourself for the record and the floor is viewers. Thank you.

Jason, police chief. And uh I just also want to compliment Brian Bros for getting the technical difficulties worked out. I apologize uh Mr. Mayor Council for not being there. I had to fly to town for traveling back today, but I want to make sure I had an opportunity to speak with council about this topic. So I appreciate your patience with me. Uh what I want to talk about is I want to bring forward an update on the proposed use of criminal fraud funds that were allocated to the Wilson Police Department. These funds originate from a major criminal investigation that has conducted collaborative police departments county prosecutor's office and also working at the conclusion of that case. Defend all to enforce to the amount of $848,960 which is formally quarter.

Chief Cusk, you might have to slow down just a little bit. Enunciate just a little bit more. You're not coming through real clearly. Okay. Did any of that kind of come through? That's better.

Speak up a little more. Okay. So I'll just kind of go back to the the funds originated from a major investigation uh conducted by Lin PD county prosecutor's office and also some local and federal partners and at the conclusion of the case the defendant voluntarily forfeited $848,960 and then that was formally by the court. Now how the funds are being distributed um is basically currently agreement between the agents and that being prosecutions between myself and Justin Coleman led to a 70 70% being allocated to PD and 40% to be allocated to the county prosecutor's office. Now this split reflects um I'd say a shared investigative effort and it aligns with how the forfeite funds are too which is to rein reinvest in law enforcement capabilities. Some of the kind of key principles I want to touch on is that there is no impact on taxpayers. It's important to emphasize that these are one time funds that are derived from not taxes does not impact on the city's general fund. There is no reduction to other services that we require and basically this is an opportunity to convert proceeds of crime public safety improvements. the some of the immediate proposed fund or use of funds where I would like to invest in initially um have to do with critical equipment needs specifically um one of them and this process is already ongoing right now is to update uh control rifles which will help align the equipment with our current populations and standards. Um the other immediate that I like to guess is a new SWAT vehicle. Now this will replace an

aging military surplus vehicle with declining reliability and the reason why this is so critical because it focuses on officer safety civilian detection response capability for tireless basics. This is also going to provide matter critical incident response and rescue. Now, speaking with the SWAT team, especially the SWAT team leader, he said he's been involved in six incidents where shots been fired at half, but shots were fired. And during one of those incidents, so the FBI was shot in the stomach in the week 47. Um, the SWAT armor enable the the officers to remain protected. Um, I'll have a cover of that armor. So most armor is critical to pretty much every operation that's involved in SWAT. It allows the team to get very close to the incident without placing any jeopardy. This ability is a cornerstone really of all the training received by modern modern SWAT tactics and that is ultimately sole mission to save lives to hide lives hostages, innocents, officers and suspects. But I understand there's a lot of background here. I'm sorry, I had to kind of walk in the rules a lot today. Um, now right now our current armor is not built for police operations. We got it through the 103 exchange program and it was used for fighting wars with people facing buried bombs. And I I also understand people do not know how often our current armor breaks down. Um it's the only vehicle of design that the same mechanics have ever attempted to repair and it creates a challenge for them. It has unique and complicated systems that really are not useful for the SWAT team at all. So in terms of built-in fire pricing system and a 24 volt electric system instead of a

standard 12vt more the vehicle has been altered by several different mechanics over the years attempt to make I think it's purposes. So really it's got a bunch of problem wiring modifications that are failing. Currently it is inoperable because of an unknown electric glass and the windows is delaminating flattening over then it's basically on its end of life. We're basically keeping it limping along this would happen. We're not sure how much how much longer the next visit without a normal vehicle that's clean basically our dynamic except for patients or to watch from distance while we formalize a plan to try to stop whatever bias regressions occur. Now several there's several manufacturers but one of them we're looking at I'd like to highlight is that it's smaller than it currently have. can be deployed in more situations that will be built that allows stores safely from the cash van as well as deploy chemical weapons without putting officers in danger. The current vehicle requires training even to turn it on refreshes which also limits you to drive it. Now the vehicle that we're looking at purchasing roughly 100,000 less than any of the other leaders. It's based on a forward chassis which allows planning officer deployment without yearly training. Would also be much more easier to maintain for mechanics based on a more common vehicle. So that's really the high view of why I'd like to also avail the funds for this armored vehicle. Um now the balance will remain in the EV budget for future needs and considerations. Um my intent is to invest money in long-term generation of acquisitions. Um, there's also a few other items kind of on the table I'd like to discuss that could be used for the funds. One of them that just came to my attention this morning through a series of emails is that we have multiple NBC patrol cars that are out there because they're at end of

life. There's really no fix repair. We were looking to just upgrade all of them. The costs go up practically weekly because of the cost of brand memory. So, you're not going to get any cheaper. Our radios are about seven to eight years old. So they are starting to approach an even life cycle. Uh that has been incredibly expensive upgrade. Talking to Motorola recently phase them out already have moving to next gen. Um all of our most of our radars have been thr promising but until that grant comes through. If not, that is going to be approximately another $2,000 radars. Um, I have all of our US shops from uh because of lawsuits and it's a very inaccurate weapon and we're going to start moving into 40mm foam projectiles that are good for five to 50 yards. were very accurate and we purchased three and that's all we can afford at this time. But I'd like to reference somebody else that has that tool price. Those are just some of the immediate gear needs and equipment we're having going forward. So why does this all matter? Because it's about officer safety in high risk situations. It's about preparedness, credit sales, reliability of our equipment that matters most and responsible stewardship funds. So, we're taking funds generated through criminal activity and reinvesting them directly in protecting our community and modernizing police department. you not clarification. Um these folk funds are restricted to appropriate law enforcement uses for Idaho code and also

through discussions with uh Justin Coleman. Um they are separate from real property or assets that are tied to this case which there is still a bill involved. Now proto code just the DA's office receives all the funds and per our opinion funds were shared. Um but there is no obligation on the prosecutor's side to actually have to share the proceeds. Um again the conversations and explaining what our needs today and in the future are is the agreement we came to. So in summary uh I believe this is a strategic no tax impact investment public safety strengthens our response capabilities. It addresses known uh in deficiencies and any potential deficiencies that uh we don't know about today and it honors the intent post forfe loss by reinvesting back into other that I'm answer any questions counselors questions for chief kissing

councelor forsman uh I did have a hard time hearing some of it so I'm hoping that I got my yeah I apologize Okay. Um, so from what I heard, the current vehicle, armored vehicle is not working. Correct. There's an electric issue that we're not sure what it is yet. So, the vehicle is inoperable right now. Okay. And then, if I remember correctly, when I did the police academy citizens training, they also had difficulty finding replacement parts. Anyway, that's correct.

Correct. This is a militarybuilt vehicle. It is not something you just roll down, you know, pick up from a there's other manufacturers that create SWAT specific vehicles. Um, this one is not it. So, yeah, parts are very difficult and it is a very old vehicle in of itself. So, parts are difficult to come across and again the mechanics have done the absolute best they can to keep it running up to this point. Can I add something to that, Chief?

Sir, so again, uh, Chris Re. I'm also the current SWAT commander. So, we actually acquired our current SWAT armor again from that 1033 government program almost 10 years ago. What that 103 program is, this is refurbished military equipment resources. So, this armor that we had acquired, it had already been overseas, Iraq, Afghanistan. It had already seen combat time. It had already been through the desert. And so, of course, it went through an inspection, but it's 10 years old. It's already been through the ringer overseas when we acquired it. At the time it was a good idea. At the time it certainly fulfilled our needs, but as our team is getting deployed more and more and more because we are seeing an increase on our SWAT deployments, it is just simply becoming unreliable. Um I've been the SWAT commander for this is my third year now. We're going on my third year and it seems my experience is that we're having more and more issues with it. So it's out of service more than it is in service. And I can tell you, I'll be I'll be perfectly trans transparent with with everyone here. I cannot effectively and safely deploy my SWAT team without armor. Plain and simple. Um again, not our deployments are going up uh because we're seeing more and more violent crimes. We're seeing more and more uh criminals that are acting out not only on the public, but also law enforcement. Uh the last two critical incidents that we've had in the city of Louis, I've been personally involved in where shots are being fired. That is a very uneasy and scary feeling. And the only uh one of the great resources that we have is that armor that we have because it is very reassuring that if we have to take cover behind it, if we have to go and rescue a citizen from behind cover or evacuate a house from behind cover, we have that option. But as of right now, it's becoming more and more unreliable just because of the history and and for

the reasons that we've already stated. So, uh this is um this is number one in my mind anyway along with some other things. But, uh that's a really good question.

How often in the last I know you've obviously said it's increasing that we've had to deploy it, but how often in the last let's say two years that we've had to deploy it? So just on average we're deploying between 20 to 25 times the SWAT team a year and that's on barricaded subjects, that's on search warrants, that's on uh whatever it is that we use the SWAT team for. So we just don't use the SWAT team for every single call service that we go on. These are critical incidents where the risk level is extremely high, the risk to the public, the risk to our officers. Um so we have to have that armor. we have to have some sort of uh protection and our current armor because it is a military vehicle, there's only a certain amount of people that know how to drive it. Um the last critical incident that I was in uh where um needs to say I was I was being shot at, I was literally yelling over the radio for the armor. The only person who knew how to drive the armor, who was certified to drive the armor, was shoulderto-shoulder with me. So, I couldn't leave him or he couldn't leave me to drive all the way down to the PD when we were in the orchards to bring the armor up. Um, this new armor, as Chief Kick said, it's built on a on a Ford 550 chassis. Anybody can drive it.

That's the Bearcat, correct? Uh, no, it's it's similar to a Bearcat. Um, Lenco Bearcat is the brand. We we actually looked at Lenco. Um, this this brand is called the International Armored. Their their main staple is called the uh the Sentinel. It's very similar to a Bearcat. All of our capabilities that we need it for comes in about $100,000 less than what Bearcat wants. And additionally, the lead time for a Bearcat is about a year and a half out, whereas the lead time with the Sentinel is only about six three to six months. So, we could get a lot lot quicker. Yeah. So, very good question though,

counselors, councelor Right. Thank you. What was and I would assume I'm allowed to know what was the forefeiter case. What kind of police work had to be done? What was this case about that?

Um this was about a year-long investigation. It involved um a certain chain of massage parlors here in the valley. Uh it was a joint effort by us as well as other uh federal and local uh agencies uh which just wrapped up here within the last couple months. Thank you. So, one of the things I'm curious about, it sounds like there is a there's a need that you're stating for this vehicle. Um, one of the things I wonder though is based on the kind of crime it was that we got the money, should we be investing in preventing those kind of crimes? should be be using any of this money to further prevent prostitution or sex trafficking or things of that nature with the money.

Uh I think that's I think it's a fair question. Um this is just one piece of the money that we want to use it on. Um this isn't going to take up the entire fund. So there are other money other fund fund funds uh funds left over uh from this that I think is a fair question that we could potentially look um at reimbursing and uh criminal investigations of something along those lines. So I I I'm not I don't know Chief Kusk has anything to add on that. I'm not saying that we won't um because there are there is going to be money left over and there are still some funds that are still yet to be uh allocated as far as the property and some uh some assets that are still still going forward in the court system from my understanding.

Correct council that is a very good question. It is a thought that's not we haven't had a discussion on but um where we are let's say very fortunate was I think this is a very unique business arrangement and situation that is not common in Boston why it ended up here how it started here I don't know uh but at least from that capacity we are very fortunate this isn't like a grand problem that's why we were kind of surprised when the intelligence came our way you were a little skeptical on the front end until we started looking into a little bit and then realized no this is legit current but that would be something that might be I I think just we got just to figure out want to send to the community

I guess mine I just more of a comment in that I trust you know I Um, Chief, I know he's uh what he's wanting is right with what is needed, but I'm kind of cautious in that once you have money and what what the city is coming into the next few years in budget issues, a lot of that money might become very useful um to where there's won't be money to buy things that that police department needs, even vehicle replacements, things like that. So that's where I would be skeptical in, you know, figuring out what you're going to do with every dime of the um grant or the money, the forfeite. So that's that's that's a fair comment. Thank you, Mayor.

Councelor Forceman, what is our next Osis? It's not hazmat team is not the word. That we just were on that subject, so my brain's stuck. Um what do you guys what do you call response team? Yeah. What what is our next people we can call? We didn't have that vehicle. you need some kind of armor.

Uh it'd be Cordelane PD. Um they're they had two at one point in time and I don't if you guys heard, but they had a fire in one of their buildings and both their SWAT armors burned up. So they're in the process of replacing those from my understanding. And uh I believe they're going to go with Barcat again because that's what they had before. They're a year and a half out. So I believe Kney County has one SWAT armor as well. Um, I believe Whitman County also has uh a vehicle that is very similar to ours and experiencing the same issues that we're having. So, over two hours that you would be able to get any kind of response,

counselor, uh, just a followup that that is just the drive time. You still got to factor in the activation of the team, getting them rallied, and so I would say realistically, you're really saying maybe three plus hours. Okay, Klein. Um, so with the SWAT vehicle, um, since we're like the closest one to like or to Clarkson and stuff, are we responding to calls with the SWAT?

Yeah, we have mutual aid. So, our SWAT team is a joint SWAT team. So, it comprises of uh officers or deputies from we're the main we're the we're the hosts basically, but we also have team members from Clarkson PD, uh, Mispress County Sheriff's Department, um, other agencies such as S County Sheriff's Department. They've had members on it previously. They don't have any current members right now. Uh but yeah, we have interoperability. We have mutual aid agreements for our joint SWAT team for basically all four quality cities here. Well, Lewon, Clarkston, S County, Desert County.

One last one, Council Forceman. We also do get anytime money or I don't know goods are are collected during a crime that is uh contained and then you guys are able to use that back into the police department. Correct. Um to a certain extent. Yes. I guess where my thought is is to uh counselor um rights uh point with having the funds to be able to do some pre prevention. And I'm just wondering when we do get maybe some of those funds that kind of probably don't come hopefully as often because it's never a good thing to get from um that we can use some of that possibly back into prevention. So

we're not completely out of funds that you guys get based on state code. It has to stay within city. That's correct. Please council. Do you have further questions, comments? Mayor, councelor Specklemire, you said this is an action item. This is So, what's the action?

Well, I I think what they're looking for, counselor, is uh is your support uh to let me get to it. Your support a motion to use the funds received through criminal force for proceedings to support the purchase of critical public safety equipment for the Louiswis Police Department which they've outlined as the SWAT vehicle and of rifles leaving a balance of approximately 180 to $190,000. Mayor Counselor.

Yeah. So, with those mutual aid agreements, what what's the county? What's Clarkston? What's a Soten County? What are they paying for this at all in these mutual aid agreements for the armored, right? Yeah.

Um, not specifically for the armor. No. Um, they kind of bring their own area of expertise. Like I have some of my less lethal munitions people over in different agencies. So they can provide some less lethal munitions that cut down um our cost. So they provide assets, they provide they provide resources to us that kind of um help us with our fundages um as well. But as far as the SWAT armor, this is um this is all us because of the because of the forfeite. Um also you have to understand too that Clarkson, they're not a big agency. they don't have a lot of funds. Uh same with Nespers County. So, we do reach out to them and they do what they can. Uh but as far as a SWAT armor, um the new one, which is going to be about a 15 to 20 year, uh investment, um that's that's all going to be with these seedure funds, at least as far as the plan moving forward. question

fine. So, if we get this vehicle, it it will it become part of the fleet u maintenance, regular maintenance because I I know the last one wasn't on the fleet schedule. Yeah, it will. Yeah. Um I don't know to to be honest with you, chief. Do you have any any idea?

No, I got to work with city guards on that. Um, my intention would be yes because especially being on the Ford chassis, the mechanics would be able to do quite a bit of work on it for us other than maybe for something probably very purpose-built areas like maybe electronics or the um the screens or the computers or stuff that'll be going into it, but that's something I do still have to work out with citys. I said we have not gotten very far down the path with this company. Um but like the mayor said we're we're looking for support and then we can uh we've just had very preliminary conversations with them what they can offer how it works time frames and then from there then with support and backing then we'll start really getting into the the details of everything. If that answers your question,

councilors, also um you will see this again when we amend our budget because we need to recognize these revenues. We didn't know about those last year. So, you'll we'll receive the money and then we'll do something with the money. So, this will be on that list that you'll see at some point when we amend our budget. Councilors, you have corporate fund allocation before you. Thank you, Captain. Thank you.

You have to speak up. So that I don't have the agenda notes. Just make a motion to allow. You could make a motion to motion to use funds received to offset whole paint. Okay. Uh I make a motion to use funds received through criminal for forfeite proceedings to support the purchase of critical public safety equipment needed for the Lewon Police Department.

Second. Been moved by councelor Foresman, second by council president Cleleberg to use uh forfeite funds received through criminal criminal forfeite proceed proceedings to support the purchase.

We finished the reading the purchase of critical public safety equipment needed for the Los Police Department. Jennifer Tano, city attorney. Councelor Forsman, did you want to clarify what kind of uh critical public safety equipment you are referring to uh as a part of your motion? SWAT vehicle. Was there another and new patrol rifles in the amount of

in the amount of 33,000? Sorry, the swap vehicle is in the amount of 30 380,000. don't need the dollar amounts, but um I just wanted to make sure it was clear for the record what critical information public safety equipment you were referring to. You have SWAT armored vehicle and new patrol rifles.

Thank you, Jennifer. Counselor, I'll reread the motion. It was moved by Councelor Forsman, second by Council President Clayberg. um to use forfeite funds received through criminal criminal forfeite proceedings to support the purchase of critical public safety equipment that is SWAT armored vehicle patrol rifles needed for the Lewon Police Department. Is there a discuss further discussion? Council President Clever, just a comment. People are worried about the money going towards this versus putting it somewhere else. I guess we could I've been around here long enough. I can remember when the original SWAT vehicle was an old ambulance and they may as well been sitting inside a tin can because any 306 could have punched bullets through any part of that thing. I mean having armor so that the officers are protected in an active shooting I think is beyond critical for public safety. So,

thank you, counselor. Further council comments. Those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, Captain Ree. Thank you, Chief Cusk. Thank you, Mayor and Council. And again, I I apologize for this weird setup and I couldn't be there in person.

And I'd also like to publicly thank the Nespers County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for their partnership in this. Um, congratulate the Louis Police Department and all those involved uh in this. Thank you, council. Next up, item C, introduction of ordinance 4948. Introduction of 49 ordinance 4948, which proposes to amend Lucen City Code Chapter 19 related to health and sanitation. This is an action item. Community Development Director Shannon Gross with us here today. Shannon, welcome.

Thank you. Shannon Gro, community development director. Uh we're here today to just introduce you to the chapter 19 um revisions that staff is proposing. Um, we are not looking for direction today other than if you have something in there that you need clarification on or you would like to see a different direction, then that would be good for us to know so that when we bring it to you for first reading next week, we can have those changes implemented. Essentially, this is uh one of those codes that has not been touched since mostly the 1960s. There were a couple of changes in 1991, but for the most part, chapter 19 was written in 1960. So, we've made some clarifying uh language to align with other chapters in the code such as 43 with abatements and chapter 21 with business licensing and also expanded the definition uh from rats to I believe rodents and insects to broaden it a bit. Uh we also um define the health safety officer as the community resource officer or designate. So I have our community resource officer Dave Gobi here to answer any questions and certainly our city attorney Jennifer Tangano can as well.

Thank you Director Bau. Counselor's questions. Councelor Wright. So maybe just walk a walk walk me through a a fake scenario. So a the motel has bed bugs and do we wait somebody complained or we are inspecting that on some interval?

Typically we would get a complaint. Sometimes we get them from the health department itself. there are certain things that the health department is not able to enforce and the city of Lewis is and so it's sometimes a referral. So it could be a complaint from a occupant or it could be a referral from somebody else from the like health department. Is that okay? Yeah. A lot of times people will call them instead of us. Okay. And then I I saw language in here of of fines and then also potential termination of the license. Is that

Yeah. So in chapter 21 business licensing if we do not get compliance then oftentimes we might have to go through a revocation of business license and so chapter 21 outlines that revocation process. Thank you, mayor, counselor.

I see obviously it talked about like closing like everybody has to leave. I'm trying to think of the word in here, but you have to leave in order to have the containment and it get cleaned up. What happens to those occupants? I mean, are we able to put anything in here that they need to provide those people that are staying there or is there it's pretty much there's nothing we can do as far as those that are now are out of a place to live? Once I've seen we give them a certain amount of time for compliance and typically businesses do not want to be shut down, so they comply very quickly. Um, as far as displacement of folks, like if it's a motel or hotel, they would have to go somewhere else, but the city doesn't put them up if that's what

that doesn't include apartments then. That's mainly just that's a whole another So, yeah, that's a whole another Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Speckleer. Okay. So, director, um I just curious in here the section about the garbage. Um I know there are a lot of people that don't like to pay city sanitation and they'll stack up their garbage to a certain point or put it in an old truck or something. So, what's the line on that to, you know, if they have two bags out, they get a citation, you know, or they have a whole pickup full of trash.

Which section are you referring to? It's uh like 19-76. Oh, so what this is saying is it's talking about the containers that you would have to make so that it wasn't open for insect and rodent infestation. But that's, you know, truck full of trash, right? Yeah. I'm just wondering how far that would go on a complaint, you know.

Yeah, those are kind of difficult to um enforce. So, this one was one of those that was in here and we simply changed it from rat to insect and rodents to broaden the term. But yes, it would be somewhat difficult, but we're getting the point like and you need to do this. You can't just have all of this stuff around or um kind of that would encourage

infestations and rodents. I'm going to wait a minute. see if you have some additional thoughts to share. Oh, counselor Klein. Does this just pertain to businesses or residential as well? Believe it's both. It's it's both. You can come up. Come up and introduce yourself. Dave.

I'm Dave I'm the community resource officer for the city. I deal with code enforcement type issues. We also do parking enforcement. Um, so the question was, does this pertain to just businesses versus private property? Private property can come into play with this, but it's very restrictive. Um, this is geared more towards businesses. That's why um the inclusion of the business license with being withheld as a penalty um goes into play. But um like the question about the open garbage and stuff that would more more than likely pertain to a private residence or there's piling garbage up and stuff like that. And I who asked who asked that question, but okay. So, and to clarify on that, um the way we handle those situations is if if it's a someone's got a bag of garbage or two that's sitting out, that's not that big of a deal. But if animals are starting to get into it, if it's getting spread around, if the bag is broken up and it's blowing around the community, then that becomes an issue. And we simply tell them, you can't do this. You have to put it in a container so that it doesn't do that. Um there's a lot of people around town that store their garbage in open trailers. And we knock on their door and tell them that they can't do that. That's why the city sanitation uh process is everybody's provided with a can with a lid on it. Um those people whose lids break off, they can get a brand new one or they'll get a a repaired one delivered to them. There's no charge for that. And that's to help keep all of that garbage from being spread around the community.

Question counc. Okay. So, like in in our instance, um we have chickens and wood piles because we have a wood stove, okay? And the rats are they're an issue for us. Um but we're constantly trying to to keep that under wraps. Is that something that could potentially be some sort of code violation?

Um not necessarily. There are situations, I mean, you're going to have if you have vegetation, brush, water sources, you're going to have rodents. there's nothing you're going to be able to do about it. I mean, we live, we're surrounded by fields and farm fields and and that type of stuff. So, you're going to have mice and rats, um, skunks all around the community. So, in to answer that, no, that is not something we focus on. But if somebody's got piles of trash that's attracting that, then yeah, we would we would focus more on that. Councelor, right?

I am curious about this. And so there was I think it was about 6 months ago there there were some citizens complaining that a an area that had livestock was wasn't being cleaned up well enough and that animals were maybe left there for a period longer than they thought was reasonable. And this one of the pieces if I'm recalling correctly was their concern once the weather starts heating up it creating all kinds of insect challenges in their neighborhood. So with this language change of insects and rodent um does that become a a challenge for people who raised livestock in Lewon for years because those do create flies or things of that nature potentially.

Sure. So, um, the incident that you're referring to took place on an area that was zoned for agriculture and specifically cattle raising. So, this code does not necessarily apply to that because of the zoning. Okay. coming out.

City Attorney Jennifer Tangano. Um I just wanted to note too that the um references in the provided code provisions only apply to garbage and waste material or garbage and waste yeah waste material. Um and so depending on the circumstances, livestock operations in and of itself might not apply because that might not necessarily be garbage or waste. material that is causing the insects and the rodents. And so this is specific to that spec that classification. And in the code vision uh the code itself, there isn't um it's not clear from the proposed uh ordinance itself, but we're not making any changes to any possible definitions related to garbage or waste material. So it it's as it currently applies. So um any current enforcement we have related to rodents um the only expansion would be to insects but all other aspects of that section are still in effect. It's adding to it. It's not materially changing you know the enforcement mechanism in and of itself.

Okay. Thank you. Hey, council. I think this is just to kind of get us introduced to it. Director Grow, is that correct? That's correct. And if there was, like I said, if there was anything major in here that you wanted to see changed um for the first reading, what we will do is we will put this before you for the first reading. Um but wanted to give you a chance to ask any questions before that came up. Um, and so that's why we brought it to you today. Righty. Thank you, director. Thank you, Dave.

Okay, council. Next up, we have item B, planning and zoning commission. Over to you. And, uh, I do want to say thank you too, Dave, for your work. You're doing a good job for us. Thank you. Appreciate it very much. Item D, planning and zoning commission overview presentation providing a general background overview on the rules, responsibilities and decision making framework for planning and zoning matters within the city of Lewon. Act this is an action item and our city attorney Jennifer Tangano is here with us to give us a presentation. Jennifer, welcome.

Thank you, mayor. Uh Jennifer Tangano, city attorney. Just going to trying to make this big. Oh, there's not a way to do it. There's two people controlling this mouse right now. Okay. So, um this is just a general overview of planning and zoning in Idaho as it applies to the city. Um and we're going to address the roles, responsibilities, and decision-making frameworks. Um I just want to caveat that this is not legal advice. This is general advice. And even though I am your attorney, I'm not here to provide legal specific advice. I'm just providing general information that is available for the masses. So why planning and zoning matters in general? Um in Idaho specifically, um planning and and zoning guides how communities grow and future development for those areas. It balances private property rights with public interests such as public infrastructure as well as health, safety, and welfare of neighborhoods and the public at large. It also helps um ensure that development proceeds in an orderly and fair manner and that it's consistent with the policies established by both the city and the state. Um, the city has the power to zone private property as a part of its uh, constitutionally granted police powers only otherwise limited by the Idaho constitution and in the effect that we cannot zone in a matter that is in conflict with the other laws of the state. Ultimately, um, planning is why we're doing a particular action whereas zoning is the how in Idaho. Jennifer, can I ask a question? Would you like the council to ask you questions as we go along or wait until the end?

Either I don't have a preference, so you can go ahead and ask questions as we go. Um, I hopefully know enough off the top of my head. I do have some resources available in case you have some specific um questions that I have to just double check. Um, in Idaho, we are what's known as a Dillan's rule state. What that means is that as a public entity, we are only allowed to do what our legislature and our state constitution authorize us to do. Um, if there is something in place that says that we have to do a specific process a particular way, we are prevented by those laws from doing something different. Um, Idaho is a very strict Dillan's rule state and so that leaves little uh wiggle room for the city. Uh for us, the state legislature has enacted the Idaho local land use planning act. We um just refer to it as Lulupa. And that planning act guides and dictates how planning and zoning matters are decided. There is a lot of regulation in statutes related to everything from the establishment of a planning and zoning uh commission whether that's the city has um an independent planning board and an independent zoning board whether it has a a planning and zoning commission whether it undertakes that role itself or it combines with another local entity and has a joint planning and zoning board um that is regulated by Idaho code. The interesting thing though is that in Idaho, most jurisdictions have a joint or not I don't want to say joint have a combined planning and zoning commission and they don't have independent or separate planning and zoning entities. A lot of this is probably based on the way that Lalupa is structured where you have um a couple of provisions specific to planning and then nothing that is that identifies zoning

specific actions other than um just different elements of zoning. So you have some statutes that are um planning duties, planning um responsibilities, but nothing that is similar related to zoning. The rest of it though, uh, after you get through the planning parts of the section of the code does apply specifically to how zoning decisions are made. It's just not as expressly labeled. Um, to that effect, as a part of Lupa, every Idaho city must adopt a comprehensive plan, a zoning ordinance, a subdivision ordinance, and public hearing procedures. as a part of your public hearing procedures, you're also supposed to establish specific criteria and standards um using the framework provided in that statute on how you make those decisions. So the core planning tools that Lewon has is we have our envision Lewon 2024 comprehensive plan or 2044 comprehensive plan. That is the most recent comprehensive plan that we've adopted. It took about two and a half years of um public meetings, steering committee, receiving public input and professional um consultants to help develop what our comprehensive plan and it's a future forward planning divi uh a document that helps us make decisions related to what we want to see of Lewon in 20 years. Um there are different elements and all of those elements are statuto statutoily required and they address everything from um what are our demographics, what is our um uh private land, public land balance, um what kind of affordable housing options are available, what other public entities are in our jurisdiction, and it even includes u most recently the use of uh surface

groundwaters for developments. Um we also have chapter 37 which is our zoning ordinance or our zoning code and that sets forth the different land uses within city code the the regulations related to those uses as well as the application and uh procedural requirements for the different land use applications. And then we also have chapter 32 which is our subdivision ordinance and that specifies how land is subdivided into multiple lots and also um some of the development requirements based on um the type of subdivision that you're planning to do and um lot size requirements and things of that nature. We also have several other areas that are outside of these chapters that will touch on different requirements that altogether make up new developments in Lewon. So, what is our comprehensive plan? Our comprehensive plan is not a regulatory document. It is not quote unquote law. Um, it's not al it's not even city code. Instead, it's a decision guiding document. It helps influence the decisions that ultimately come from the planning and zoning commission and from the city council. Uh it also helps plan code changes. Um you've you've heard prior talk about the uh the steering committee that came from the comprehensive plan and making recommendations for different ways that we can make development easier. Um, also a a discussion about upzoning a couple of different areas to allow for more inclusive developments. So, um, the comprehensive plan is what guides these kind of um, policy decisions. And when it comes down to zoning decisions, they must ultimately be in conformance with the comprehensive plan. And if there's not um, if it's not in conformance with the comprehensive plan, there has to be justification. Um it's a long range

planning document so it's intended to be um foreseeing for the next 20 years. It's also not intended to be changed frequently. Um it gets it makes it guides decisions about land use, growth and public infrastructure and it also provides guidance on um how as time goes by how we would like to see growth develop in in the different areas and then some anticipated problems that we might see as a result of growth in different particular areas. Um it's a pretty comprehensive document. Um go ahead councelor Schmikar.

So question on that. So with that a developer could actually look through the comprehensive plan and tell basically with planning and zoning would how they would judge their request to to put in a subdivision or something.

Not necessarily a subdivision. Um the way that Lewon has a development process, we divorced subdivisions and zoning requirements. So, as a part of the subdivision process, you want to look at how is the property zoned currently and does your future plan for that subdivision match the current zoning or if it doesn't, does it match our future land use map, which is essentially a future zoning. So, if there is a plan to make a subdivision and say currently your land is is zone agriculture, um but in the future, we do see that being an appropriate area for residential or commercial development, there's probably a future land use um map designation that identifies it as a particular type of property. So maybe it'll be neighborhood residential and that in and of itself will give information about the types of um use zones that are appropriate, the types of developments that are appropriate, the size, the density and all that information um would be available to a developer. So, you know, um uh when we when we have these applications that come in for different land use applications, including a future development, um they do all of the zoning process first before they do their subdivision process with the goal being that they get the approval for um a reszone if necessary in advance or they already have the information related to the the the land use and then they can use that to plan the actual subdivision itself. Um but again um you know we what we do is we look at what's the current zone what is it what is a future land use for this um if the current zone you know is maybe low density residential but a

future land use says that it's um like a medium density or a higher density because it might be in a growth center that as time goes on the city's encouraging infill. So that future planning would be a part of that document. And then as the applicant, they would use the information in the comprehensive plan to show the comprehensive plan supports this because and then they just lay out the information that they have about why the comprehensive plan supports their um higher density or change in land use. Go ahead. The council right

thank you. So you you'd said the comprehensive plan the idea behind it is to not change it frequently. Um what's just kind of thinking about that. So what's the what does that mean? So what that means is for the I just say for the most part we don't make policy changes within most of the comprehensive plan amendments you'll see is actually us adding in lands to the city uh jurisdiction. So we will add in areas from our area uh area of uh area of of city impact. Once that land gets annexed it becomes a part of the city's jurisdiction. it falls under the umbrella of our comprehensive plan and we assign both a use zone and a future land use map designation to it at that time. So we you would see a comprehensive plan amendment related to that. Um more recently we did have a comprehensive plan amendment related to a statutory change adding in the information that is now required of land use applications and an additional planning duty um to the comprehensive plan. So we had to make an amendment for that but otherwise we're not amending you know the different policy choices or um other individual elements of it absent a necessary basis for it um if there's like future legislation. So there's no like um there's no mechan mechanism in place that like every two years we read through this as a council and determine if we still agree with it or if it makes sense based on

there is not in statute. Um but we do have a steering committee that is regularly reviewing that to make recommendations to the council about areas where they see as far as um are we conforming with what or are we meeting what we expected from our comprehensive plan. I believe a couple council members here are actually on that steering committee as well. And so that's a part of um those discussions to some degree. uh I don't know everything that happens at those particular meetings but you know that would be within the realm of the steering committee of you know this says that this area is going to be developed this way but you know after a couple of years maybe that's just not feasible for regulatory or other reasons and that might be something that's worth looking into whether or not we re-evaluate this aspect of our comprehensive plan. Um the problem with that potentially is is that there's about 18 different elements and changing aspect in one affects the entirety of the plan. So you know um these are supposed to be reviewed every 10 to 20 years. So, they're intended to be a longer range and that's why I know Lewon, we invested a lot of um time in getting public input to guide the city's decision- making process. And we we went kind of probably more than what we have in the past to get public input to see where what they wanted um Lewon's future growth to look like.

Okay.

So, what is zoning? So that was just the planning side just the you know why we want this area the zoning aspect is the regulatory mechanism for the planning and zoning com uh commission. So um zoning in and of itself primarily dictates land usage. Um it it implements the comprehensive plan as far as different um guidelines and definitions. It also divides lands in the city into different districts and and it's primarily land use districts, residential, commercial and and um industrial. We've got um a lot of different areas within our code that certain developments are only authorized in certain land use areas. Um, it also sets allowed uses by right as far as or and allowed uses with a conditional use permit. And then development standards. And the differences between us is allowed by right and uses allowed by conditional use is um a a use by right means if you buy a piece of property and you want to develop a duplex on it or um you know a two family home if it's an allowed use by right you don't need any additional u regulatory input as far as whether or not you can do that. Now, if you have um if you have a property and it's large enough and you want to put a multifamily home on on the property and it's allowed by conditional use, you do have to go um in the city of Lucon, you have to go to the to the planning and zoning commission after you've submitted an application. They will review it and they will make um a decision on whether or not it complies with the comp plan, it doesn't create any um nuisances that can't be mitigated and a list of other things. And if they determine that um it is otherwise in conformance with the the comp plan and it doesn't um uh violate any of the other standards and there are

pretty discretionary standards um then it would be approved and if approved then you get to use that land for that purpose. um even though it wasn't original originally zoned for that, but those uses had been previously identified as conditionally approved with um uh approval from the planning and zoning commission. Now, those those applications don't go before the city council unless they're appealed um and I'll as mentioned on another slide. Uh but everything else for the most part does go to the city council. Um and so the zoning aspect is those regulatory changes and setting the code. Um the key players as far as zoning and commission uh planning and zoning is the planning and zoning commission, the Lewon City Council, and city staff. And for the most part, I'm not addressing city staff in this presentation because the role of city staff is to collect the application um to provide the the commission and the city council with the the regulatory guidelines relating that application. um to contact outside political subdivisions to get their input on the application and to provide general information about the subject property, the area, and um the city's ability to provide services and and things of that nature. The city staff, they don't make a recommendation to either body. So, there is no staff recommendation associated um with city staff. So, uh they have a limited role in that sense. Um the planning and zoning commission and the Lewon city council are the two that I'm focusing on today um because they do have active uh roles that are very important. Well, the role of the planning and zoning commission is to conduct public hearings on these land use applications. They also develop recommendations to the city council. As I noted before, they

can make decisions that don't require an ordinance to implement, which is traditionally our conditional use permits and sometimes our variances or um subdivide land. Those two uh those other actions do require an ordinance and so those have to come to the city council. So if you um typically you'll see applications to reszone property and then also um subdivision plats. So the role of the planning and zoning commission, they also apply the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance to different decisions. So many of the public hearings that the planning and zoning commission have are fairly long if if it's an application that is contested. So some applications we get, the applicant comes um the staff presents the application, the applicant has an opportunity to speak and no one from the public appears. Um, we have statutory requirements related to noticing the public hearings in the paper and giving mailed notice to the neighbors within 330 ft of the subject property. And in many cases, we don't have anyone provide any public comment or provide um any written comment. And for those, we accept um written comment by email, by letter. Um, you can call in and speak to uh the the community development and leave a essentially leave a message as far as your your comment or you can come in person and provide public comment. If you do one of the first three, we do provide that to the commission, to the staff, to the applicant and anyone else that requests notice. But again, that is a part of a statutory process. Um, in those instances, the public hearings tend to be a lot faster. Um, but when we have a contested matter, we have a public hearing process that could be a couple of hours long. Um, accepting comments from the public, um, allowing the applicant to speak, having questions

from the planning and zoning commission, and that's before they even get to the process of, um, making a decision and, uh, identifying the relevant criteria and standards that they're basing their decision on. So, these tend to be longer hearings depending on, um, the type of matter. As you might recall, when we had an application to uh for a conditional use permit um for the um tiny home village, we had a a pretty lengthy process. It was even longer at the planning and zoning and a lot of the um hearings uh processes was um done at the lower level and then we had the appeal hearing before you all. And so, um, it it can be a a pretty long process, which is why it's a benefit to have it before the planning and zoning because sometimes they only have one or two, uh, matters because they do a little bit of planning and just the the frequency of the applications. Um, the planning and zoning commission, they act primarily in two roles. Um, the first is legislative, where they're making policy recommendations. Uh a part of the planning and zoning commission's role is to initiate and make review and recommendations related to zoning code changes. So any uh administrative change to chapter 37 does get reviewed by in a recommendation from the planning and zoning commission that then gets sent to the city council for your review. Um and then they also do the quasi judicial role which is their discretionary decision-making role. And even though I say that it's pretty broad as far as this discretionary rule, um the last couple of years, the Idaho Supreme Court has had a lot of land use matters before them. So there's a lot of case law helping um planning and zoning commissions and cities interpret how they h are supposed to apply different aspects of Lupa.

So why the commission exists? It does provide focused review and subject matter input on land use applications and all matters affecting planning and zoning for cities. They offer dedicated public forums for issues to be discussed and considered that develop a clear and complete public record for city council review. Again, um there are specific requirements to creating a record, having decisions be based on a public record, and also transcription and u recordkeeping requirements for that record. Um the planning and zoning commission also evaluates all proposals be before being forwarded to the city council for final consideration. The only exception for that is contract zones which according to city code start and end with the city council. The role of the city council. So now something has um an application has been received or um a question is being presented to the city council. Ultimately, you are the final decision ma makers for all planning and zoning related matters. You adopt the ordinances associated with planning and zoning and you develop the policies related to planning and zoning. You also make final decisions related to the reszoning of land use districts, subdivisions of property and appeal uh appeals of final decisions of the planning and zoning commission. Um if it is appeal from the planning and zoning commission, you are the last stop before an applicant goes to the courts. And whether that's a an applicant being someone applying to appeal decision in favor or an individual applying to appeal decision against a particular uh application. Um and this Oh, go ahead.

Yeah. So, I I don't want to get too far off track this, but one of the things that struck me as as odd when I first got on the council was not being able to go look at the actual land that somebody's requesting an appeal on or a subdivision is happening on. It just seems silly. Why can't I go look at what's actually being asked for? So that relates to the statutory requirements that you base a decision on the public hearing and um in many instances a site visit is not included as a part of the public hearing. Um it could be included but if there is a site visit we have to include that in our statutory notices that that way everyone has the same opportunity to view the property at the same time in the same condition and to be available for questions if any. um so that the people making the decision as well as the applicant and anyone else that's affected by the decision has an opportunity to the same information at the same time.

So we'd have to put it in the like on this date at this time city councilors may go look at this property

the city councilors the applicant and all interested or affected individuals. Yes. So that is in statute and that is something that um through the establishment of case law uh decisions have been reversed based on the fact that individuals either um during the part the the application process or outside of the application process um indicated that they performed site visits but it was not noticed as a part of the public hearing process. And so that was found to be an unpermissible um uh decision-making factor. So um exparte communications, communications outside the public process are very heavily disfavored and even using personal knowledge about the site, the applicant, the use, anything of that nature um is improper based on established case and statutory law related to land use matters. Um, you know, there's a lot related to planning and zoning that is out of our hands and that um is statutoily guided or further interpreted by uh case law.

So, just a quick followup. If I if I thought it was important enough that I wanted to go look at this u while the public hearing is open, I would have to make a motion to have a site visit and get approval. That would be that would be one appropriate way to do it. And then we would continue the public hearing process until that site visit was had. Um and then the the public hearing, you know, whether you continue it at the site or you plan for a certain amount of time and then you have a follow-up meeting at a a secondary site and continue the public meeting. Um that procedurally is is one way to do it. Yes. Um, you know, in theory, an applicant could request a site visit as a part of the public hearing um that they want if maybe they felt like they couldn't adequately describe it through pictures or other means. Um, one of the things that I know I work really hard with the planning and zoning commission is to make sure that um, they're not straying too far away from the relevant criteria and standards because that's really what they should be making the decision on, not something else. So, one of the things that we've um or that you know we've kind of worked with community development is if a particular application to reszone a piece of property is included as a part of a subdivision. Um there's there's alternate opinions about subdivisions in and of themselves in particular areas. And so we try to focus on can we reszone this application and you know for permitted use. And if it's a permitted use, what they ultimately do with the land is is, you know, to some degree, you know, of no concern to the city because it's a permitted use. On the other hand, we shouldn't be making uh land use decisions related to public you or permitted uses based on disagreement with the neighbors because you do have

those not in my backyard or not in my area of town. But um you know when we look at some of these re uh reszoning applications if it's permitted in the zone we shouldn't be focused too much on um you know well I don't want these kind of people that live in these kind of places um whether it's apartment buildings multifamily homes or some other higher density use even something as much as um you know duplexes triplexes or apartment buildings people have negative connotations with people that don't own the land and they will come in and they will express those. Um, and that in and of itself should not be the basis on why we should or should not reszone property that, you know, otherwise is in conformance with the comprehensive plan, otherwise isn't creating any, you know, nuisances or anything of that nature. um even things as simple as well that lot's always been undeveloped and if you develop that lot or reszone this property now my view is obstructed and you should deny that. So, you know, we get those those kind of things a lot too. And we have to make sure that we're not focusing on those elements, but you know, does it meet the regul regulatory requirements? Does it meet the the um comprehensive plan? And is there some other reason that we can justify why it should or should not be approved? Um things that are typically are appropriate are, you know, a negative effect on property values, um the effect on public infrastructure, the ability of the school district to provide, you know, um an education to whatever higher density and and some of those other factors. Those would be the more appropriate areas. Um so ultimately all L and that that ties into my next part that you know focusing on this relevant criteria and

standards helps ensure that these decisions reflect both legal standards and community policy. Um you know there are different views on development on both sides of pro and against development. Um but ultimately it's the city council that sets the policy and makes the final decisions and your policy is reflected through the code changes that you make and then the um policies that you ultimately adopt related to other aspects. Planning and zoning commissions um the key distinctions between the two. The planning and zoning commission recommends different actions related to land uses and they provide dedicated forums to review the application in depth in in ways that um you know can be pretty timeconuming for the city council and then they forward that information to the city council. If a matter does come to the city council, you then do have the ability to watch the public meeting that was had related to it. you just can't go personally um to it yet because we don't know what information um may be presented to you outside of that and we don't want to influence you before it comes to you um because there might be some issues that you're told one thing by an applicant or property owners and then a whole other thing is presented um and then the planning and zoning commission they build the public record ultimately they act as the adviser to the planning or to the city council. All of the people on the planning and zoning commission are appointed by you. Um and they are interview, you know, they apply for are interviewed with staff and a a member of the um city council is often on a part of that interview panel and then you get a recommendation from the mayor and approval by the city council. The city council decides um those most of those applications. you adopt the law that we

base all those applications off of as far as city code and you set the policy for development in the city. Just a clarification, I um I didn't know I could watch the meeting. Um, so do I have to wait until like the public hearing happens and we're, you know, it's open to public hearing, then I can go watch it or if I see it coming up on the agenda, I can go back and watch that before the meeting. Once it's once it's been done at the planning and zoning commission and it's coming to you for a decision, then you have the ability once the material is forwarded to you um to review all that information.

Okay. So when I basically before the meeting I can go watch that video because I it's coming to me

and it is a part of the public record at that point. Um there are certain elements that like I said there's things that are not a part of the public hearing. So I would ask that if you do watch the video you just watch the public hearing portion of it. Uh because that's the information that you're supposed to base your decision on is the public hearing portion. Um what comes out in the deliberations afterwards is reflected in their reason statement of relevant criteria and standards in which they are telling you they approve or don't approve or approve with conditions in applicant or application. Um and and we we make those pretty detailed um based on the the record and again it's entirely controlled by state statute and and um case interpretation on what should be or shouldn't be in a a reason statement. That's why you know uh more recently when we had one and you know you said yes I believe that this should be approved for this reason and say well what makes you think that um there's been a lot of case law in the last two three years where cities have been penalized um and decisions reversed entirely and even some cities kind of um called out by the Idaho Supreme Court about their inadequate reasons statements and the the you know one guiding principle is the longer the meeting the longer the reason statement um to address all of the contested facts and the basis for why a particular decision was made and all the facts relied on as a part of that decision. Um so that's it's it's it's pretty intense process. Um, but that's a a creature of the way that this is established in Idaho. Um, and we haven't had too many decisions challenged, but one of the more recent ones, um, was the UGM

decision. Um, that was a matter that was appealed to, um, a local court. So, once you have a decision, um, it if it stays at the planning and zoning commission, you appeal to the city council. If you don't like that decision, then you can appeal to the local court for judicial review. If it's a final decision of the city council, you can request reconsideration by the council. After that, then they can appeal for judicial review. So, um some of the bigger uh issue applications are what we've seen. The other one before that that I'm aware of was the Lindsy Creek Estates um subdivision or PUD that that had a little bit of um some judicial review associated with that as well. And in um city code and state code, the process differs depending on the type of land use application that is being applied for. Um and so we have we have different processes for each um application. So this is typically what the process is when someone submits a land use application. The application is is submitted and it's received by staff. Staff review the application and start the notice um period or start start issuing the notices um to the public to um political subdivisions and to other people who express an interest. The matter then is goes before the planning and zoning commission where they have the public hearing and they make their decision and a recommendation and then the city council makes a final decision based on the recommendation from the planning and zoning commission and then they you know can adopt those the findings depending on um what kind of information is provided at the public hearing or they can adopt separate uh decisions as far as the reason statement and relevant criteria and standards. So Lewon city code provides the process for each type of land use application. So you know an application for a reszone

is different from an application for conditional use permit is different from a application for a variance and is even different for an application to make a code amendment. So public hearings generally um you keep hearing me say it but they are required by statute and we are required to provide notice and an opportunity for people to be heard. And um typically as far as public hearings for land use uh applications, we limit the public hearing to the land use application that's before us. It's not an opportunity to have a public hearing and talk about, you know, some other development or um other uh concerns in the city. It's specifically about this application. Um city code and Idaho code only require one public hearing. Um and it requires the planning and zoning commission to conduct that public hearing. Um we do have a second city council public hearing uh which is entirely optional. It's a practice that the city has done. I don't know why. Um but you know it's a it's a practice that has pros and cons to it. One of the cons I've seen is we'll have no one come for planning and zoning and then we'll have a lot of people and in an entirely different type of public hearing at the city council. Um it also um can be more costly for the applicant because the applicant is also is ultimately responsible for all of the public notice fees that we put out and that includes redoing all of the newspaper notices, redoing all of the mailed notices and so that would be another con. One of the pros though is that it does provide more information to make a decision. But on the same side, that's potentially a con because it's different information than what the planning and zoning commission was presented. So it might essentially make the recommendation um you know, not even relevant anymore because it might

be entirely different information that's being presented. So, um, if if if I had to say, I would say just keep one public hearing with the planning and zoning commission, but allow the city council that if you do want to have a new public hearing, um, provide for that process if you felt it was appropriate, knowing that that cost will fall on the shoulders of the applicant um, who is making the land use application. Question about that. So, if we didn't have a public hearing, could we still have planning and zoning there to to ask them clarifying questions about what their decision?

That is the purpose of the reason statement. Um, and that is why you would have the ability to watch the public hearing that was previously done. But we couldn't ask them questions at our meeting saying, "I I saw this. What did you mean by this?" or

no, you that's not a typical part of the process because now you would be collecting information outside of a public hearing. Um, common misunderstandings about planning and zoning is that the P&Z or the city council make decisions based on preferences. Um we do fairly well on um making sure that decision makers rely on the standards in the public record. Um part of that is with the planning and zoning commission. You know, if they if they say I do think this or I don't think this, it's always followed by because this information was presented or this information was not presented and I, you know, find that that is more persuasive because of this or it raises concerns about that. Um, public opinion alone is enough to make a decision. That is one of the things that as a city council and the planning and zoning commission you're um constantly you know advised is that when you are presented information it's your responsibility to weigh um what information is more relevant or which information is more credible. Um we had um we had a recent issue. It's still technically open so I'm not gonna talk about it but um sometimes what happens is one neighbor will say you know this utility cannot be provided but the applicant will say this you know I have a letter from the utility saying that they can provide services and what will happen then is as a commission or a city council it's your responsibility to weigh which information is more credible to you the applicant with a letter from the utility or a neighbor saying it's just not possible. Um there's also concerns sometimes about whether or not um a particular use creates a nuisance

and that one is one where it's a lot of it is opinion based and um you know you have to to to to weigh what you know about planning and zoning and the information that's presented to you on whether or not something will create a nuisance. Um the planning and zoning commission decides everything. Um the city council retains final authority on all decision making. Um the things where they don't necessarily have a play is based on statute and that's through conditional use permits. Um ultimately if you wanted to um change that you you're it's more within your you know it's well within your purview to make that change. Um as it stands though um current city code says that it's the planning and zoning commission that can make that final decision. The bottom line is planning and zoning commission complements the city council um and they are your advisors. They are picked by you. They are um you know regulated by you. you create the um decision making processes uh in hand handinand with state statutes and controlling case law. Um but the planning and zoning process in and of itself is a structured and detailed process. It's not just random decision-making. It provides a regulatory and a policy framework. It's not just policybased. And it, you know, like I said, it balances that private property rights and public interests interplay. Um, and it helps, you know, protect an individual's ability to do what they want on their property while at the same time taking in consideration the rest of the neighborhood and the rest of the community as a whole. Um, and all good decisions require clear policies, clear rules, clear processes,

and clear roles. Um, and you know, as new case law comes out and more information comes out, that information is constantly being pushed out to the city council and the planning and zoning commission. So, if you have any qu any more questions, uh, I am here to answer. Councelor Klein, um, is there currently a spot open on the planning and zoning commission? There is not currently a spot open on the planning and zoning commission, but you never really know. Sometimes those spots um open because someone can't attend frequently enough or someone's you know life responsibilities change and they have to step away from their role.

Council questions. I have a smile on my face because I just had this thought that, you know, for punishment, we're going to get sent down to the planning and zoning commission and I don't want to go. So, I'm going to behave because they do the omen's work. They really do for the city and I appreciate all that they do and as you know, we have our city planner back there with us, Mr. Joe Blascon. So, he knows this stuff and if we ever have questions or concerns, he can answer these same things for us. This this is something you might want to print and put in your packet and carry with you that you can reference, you know, especially when we have um hearings, public hearings, stuff like that because it is it's very well done and there's a lot of good information. So,

the Association of Idaho Cities also has resources available to the council including a handbook, videos, and other materials to help you learn more about planning and zoning in general and and different aspects of it. And so, um, that's available, uh, when you have access through the AIC portal. And if you don't know that you have access or need help, um, Tanya can help you, um, and I can help you navigate that if you need any assistance. Um, there's also other online resources available. Given Pley is a law firm down in Boise and they publish a um like a a a like a desk book um and they do that about a couple of different topics of relevant Idaho law and it describes the case law and the processes in detail. So and that's available through you can find out on Google. It's for it's a free resource that they publish.

And council um just one more comment for me. So, councelor Spickle had some questions about planning and zoning and that's why we had this topic today was just to learn a little bit more about it and it is kind of um almost legal legislative for us. It's a lot to uh comprehend. Um I did want to ask u you one more thing Jennifer because councelor Spikmire kind of had a question about this and basically the question is why do we have a planning and zoning commission? Do we have to have them? Could we the council become the planning and zoning commissioner? If you could just comment on that.

Um yes, you could. As I mentioned earlier, there's a couple of of different ways it happens, but um it is it is mandated by law that we have some kind of decision-making authority. um whether that is the city council and nobody else or it's a planning and zoning commission, a planning and zoning commission or that joint planning and zoning commission. Um as I mentioned, I'm not aware of any city in Idaho that has separate planning commission and zoning commission. Most that I'm aware of, including at the county level, have a joint, again, I say joint, have a combined city and council or city, a combined planning and zoning commission. And I don't know of a whole lot, but I do know that some jurisdictions between a county and a city, they have joint planning um uh planning and zoning kind of relationships. Um, but I I'm I don't know specifically which ones do that, but some areas informally coordinate together. Um, and you know, something as simple as uh the area of impact, that is still technically the county's jurisdiction. Some counties work with their cities and they adopt the planning and zoning related requirements for that area of impact. That's not something that is um here in Lewon versus Nesper County. So, we'll get questions about why does this property owner get to do this? And then we look at the property and it's in the area of impact. It's not actually within city limits. So, we only control what's inside of city limits. After property gets annexed into the city, then we have some control. Um, and there legislation changed a couple of years ago even about annexations and the role of the area of city impact in and of itself that we've been navigating um between the city and the county. So, you

know, it is an area of law that is still changing on a year-to-year basis. Right. Yeah. So, one, and hopefully I'm not too far off topic here. I'm on I think I'm still on this commission. It's u is it the impact fee advisory board? If I'm naming the right one, it's about how development could impact u driving conditions or roadways or things of that nature.

I've I've never had a meeting for this. It's uh kind of an ad hoc if you need it, there will be a meeting is how it was explained to me. And I'm curious with some of these subdivisions that come before us or um reszoning that comes before us, do those ever trigger a meeting for this so like how does that so you're speaking of the development impact fee advisory committee? Yes, that's probably

and in reference to development impact fees and that is a completely different area of Idaho law, but it's also a very regulated area of law. So, um essentially what it is, it's an additional tax um um on certain developments. And the reason why I say tax is, you know, it is build as a fee um and it is a fee, but you have to um establish a comprehensive study. You have to have a capital improvements plan that details the types of improvements that might happen. And there was a US Supreme Court decision recently that said that whether this is a fee or a tax isn't clear. And so that law is still being developed. So we don't have uh an an established development impact fee ordinance at this time. Um and we started a process to create a development impact fee related to um traffic mitigation. Um and that was not really addressing the other impacts of the developments including the um strain on public infrastructure, the strain on emergency services um and some other aspects that are typically included in a development impact fee. and with the legislature working to change some of the rules and then the US Supreme Court making a decision um based out of Col or out of California related to whether or not a development impact fee was a fee or a tax. They kind of left that question open. Um but there it's an area of law that is constantly in flux. Um one area that you do see development impact fees locally is actually up north in um Coupney County. they do have development impact fees and they have those fees pretty substantially as far as um the applicability. And so my understanding is that the county has a fee and they created a policy and an ordinance around

that fee, but not all the cities were willing to adopt it. And now that um makes the enforcement of the fee difficult because they have to re-evaluate their entire structure and the fee plan. And so um uh they are intended to mitigate um the impacts of higher developments um but they affect even small developments as well. Um I don't remember the case name in California but the details of that one was you had an individual that was placing a mobile manufactured a manufactured home on a piece of property that they owned. Um that county it was Elorado County. They had a development impact fee that um had a fee that was in the thousands of dollars and considering the impact of that development future forward, they said, you know, as this area develops, we need to widen the highway um that goes through us. And the fee to do that was very very high even on a per trip basis for you know a single family manufactured home. And he challenged the constitutionality of that fee. And um over time um you know some elements he won, some elements were addressed but ultimately um my understanding is he was a prevailing party in that case. So um the impact of that is not entirely known at this time.

Gotcha. Okay. So there yeah basically there's not a direct tie or planning and zoning is making this decision. Hey tell this group because you're going to want to make a decision. Yeah, that's a broader policy um question for the city too and the city council of um you know because we don't have a development impact fee ordinance. Uh you will have to establish that first before you start establishing the individual development impact fees. Um and that will just be an additional cost to development in general. Um thank you.

All righty. Well, thank you, Jennifer. That was a lot. Thank you, council. Next, we move to Roman numeral six, unfinished and new business. Item A, city council comments. Comments shall not be related to an item currently before the city council or one that may come before the council in the foreseeable future. Comments, not discussion. Any council comments? Councelor Forgeman.

April is child abuse prevention awareness month. I want to emphasize the importance of supporting families and building communities where children can grow up safe, healthy, and supported. Um, key points that you could go to for the community is prevent childabuse.org. Um, they have a lot of resour resources on there. Um, and they for one key point on there they had prevention ex succeeds when families have access to resources, relationships, and support and community investment and prevention creates stronger foundations for children and families. Um, I do personally know someone who has lost a loved one to a child abuse and uh sends around random acts of kindness cards during this month um to share the uh for to share the website and share the awareness and hopefully uh give people the outlet to be able to see that and know where to go if they need this. Um so I just wanted and I'll bring those cards at our next meeting so and I'll just put them on a table and someone can choose to take them or not. Um so I would encourage the community to give racks random acts of kindness and just remember uh to be there for those that need it. So um another thing is a community events. There is a public assembly on 2026 Seport River Run Date April 25th 2026. Time is 9:40 a.m. to 1 p.m. Uh details 48th annual Seapport River Run short and long courses for all ages. It starts at Swallows Nest Park and ends at Hellgate. Hell'sgate if you would so like to participate. Uh as well as there's many events on the city website. So if you go to events information available on the city website under and then go to community and then click on events you can see all the events that we have going on and also from the library and public works. That is all I have for today.

Thank you counselor. Other council comments. Okay. Uh city boards and commissions lay on updates. Any updates? Councelor Right.

Yeah. So, this was the cemetery in urban forestry. And correct me if I get any of this wrong, if any dates have changed or anything, but on our April 22nd meeting that our upcoming meeting, we're at at least at the moment planning to meet at the cemetery instead of at the community center and we'll be planting the Liberty Tree. And this was a Princeton or is a Princeton elm that will get printed uh planted at the cemetery. We also were awarded the Tree City USA and I was advised that'll will likely be honoring that on Arbor Day. Also, we do have at the community center, and I I careful not to get this wrong, but we do have a bunch of trees there, uh just smaller trees that um that people in the community could come and get potentially a free entry to the state park and also get a tree to plant. And there is anything else. Our upcoming meeting in April will start discussing fee schedules for the columbarium. So, and that'll be coming to council shortly after that. So, we we need to set those those fees for that colarium and the um the sprinkling of the ashes. And there's a wall where you can put a your name on on a wall as well. So, fees for that. And well, I think the mayor is probably going to bring bring this up just in

case that Paul Rivere bike ride is coming up April 18th. So I think that's all I got. Thank you. Other updates, counselors, I'll catch Paul Rifer off my list. Mayor's comments. Um, item C. So, a couple of things. Um, on April 14th at the Louis Clark Hotel over here, I think it's at 6:00 in the evening, Idaho listens is going to be in town. I sent an email out to all the counselors today if you'd like to attend. They're inviting us. Uh, and there's probably an RSVP on that. Um, April 16th, uh, your employee appreciation committee is going to be out picking up trash along Snake River Avenue. April 16th, I think at 4 o'clock is when we're starting. So, we're going to have to fight with the pipes and everything else that's going on down there. Uh, then I also want to let you know um that there's been a lot of concern expressed about um a fiber company um doing some business up in the orchards, especially in the Birch Court area. And so, um tomorrow night at 6:00, City Attorney Jennifer Tungan and myself are going to be meeting kind of a block party. We're going to be meeting with uh neighbors up there, 1828 Birch Court, and answer their questions and talk about um what's going on. Unfortunately, it sounds like there was a breakdown a little bit. So, this company has a rightway permit. But, you know, part of that is to go out and tell people what you're up to. And when we don't tell them, then folks don't like it. I wouldn't like it. And so, um, so we're going to go up there and try to answer some questions and, uh, and meet with some folks. Just so you know, if you hear about it or read about it online, we're going to try to take that head on. So, so with that, we'll move to agenda topics. Item D. Council, anything moving forward? None. Okay. Council President

Clayberg needs to uh be somewhere 550. We'll move to adjournment. Roman numeral seven. Get us out of here. It's tip off. I make to It's been moved by councelor Forceman, second by council cleaver to return. Those in favor, please signify by saying I opposed. We are sure. Thank you. Go Michigan. Yeah. There's that card floating around from Carolyn if you didn't get a chance to read it. And then she does have some cowboy cookies sitting up front. I