City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. It's July 21st, 2026. This is a meeting of the Coeur d'Alene City Council, which I will call to order. The clerk will take the role.

Gabriel.

Here.

Miller. Here. Evans. Here. English. Here. Sheckler. Wood. Here.

Very well. Next item is our invocation. We have Matt Dean from the Berean Missionary Baptist Church. Will everyone please rise?

Good evening. Thank you for having me. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, we love you and we thank you for this opportunity that we're gathered here tonight. God, my prayer tonight is that you will be honored in everything that is done here. God, we know that since the founding of our nation, our leaders have called on prayer to help guide and direct them. So tonight, as these council members and the mayor represent those that have elected them, God, we just ask that you are honored in everything that they do, God, and we'll give you all the honor and glory in our lives. God, we thank you so much for Jesus and what he means to us. and who he is to each one of us. It's in his name we ask and pray.

Amen.

Thank you, Matt.

Council Member Gabriel, will you lead us in the pledge, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

You may be seated.

Item D, amendments to the agenda. Does council have any amendments? Seeing none, we're off to item E, which is a presentation of the North Idaho Salsa. We'll find out what that means. If Benjamin Allen, our Shoshone County prosecutor, could come up, as well as Julia Zimney. Yes, this is an introduction. You have to be here for your introduction. Benjamin, welcome.

Thank you, Mayor and Council. And we appreciate you guys setting a few minutes into your agenda tonight for this. I'm standing before you because I have with me our first ever North Idaho Salsa. It was a long journey. This project has been years in the making. And you as city council members heard the pitch of community collaboration in order to bring this position here. And the city of Coeur d'Alene was one of those pioneer cities that jumped on board identified this as a priority and saw the benefit that it could provide to our communities. And as such, you are one of the original local partners, as we have identified it in our founding documents. Once we rolled out the Salsa initiative, obviously administrative and procedural issues needed to be ironed out before we could even effectuate a hire. And once we got to that point, we went out and we searched for somebody that was young, motivated, and had a heart for serving our communities. And I feel fully confident that we found that in Ms. Zimney. I want to give Ms. Zimney an opportunity to just spend a few seconds sharing with you a little bit about who she is, where she came from, and what she's been up to in this position. I will caution the council, though, that based upon the nature of her work, she won't be able to discuss logistics or specifics about any particular cases she's working on at the moment. but she'll give you guys just a general overview of what it's looked like from her position thus far. So Ms. Zimney.

Hello, everybody. I am so excited to be here. I've been looking forward to tonight for Since I started, I know we've been trying to get this on the calendar. I started back at the end of April and it has been such an honor to be able to contribute to the Coeur d'Alene community. I've been able to work with some very important individuals in the area who share the same mission. that I do and that my office with the United States Attorney Office does as well. Whether it's through working with prosecutors with Shoshone County or working with the prosecutors at the Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office, I've been able to take an interest in state cases and adopt them federally, thereby saving a lot of state tax dollars in the process, which I know is One of the big goals for introducing this position, and I hope that the work that I do as the first Salsa in North Idaho contributes to future Salsas being introduced to this area as well. As you know, we have the I-90 corridor that cuts straight from Washington through to Montana. The reason that that is so important to have a Salsa dedicated to this position and to prosecution of drugs on the federal level up here is because then we're able to really hold those individuals accountable whether they are introducing substances straight into the Coeur d'Alene community or just passing through the Idaho community as well. We have no interest for them being here. I have always wanted to be a prosecutor. I went to Gonzaga university for undergrad and then went to law school at Gonzaga as well, following my three older siblings for all Gonzaga grads as well. So I've been, even though I grew up in Western Washington, I've been able to have connections and call the inland Northwest home for a large portion of my life and for most of my adult life. I started with the United States Attorney's Office here. Back when I was in law school, I was an extern for my last semester at law school, which is when I developed my mentors, who are the same mentors that I get to learn under today. I then became a prosecutor in Spokane for about two years, prosecuting domestic violence, gross misdemeanor cases. and then jumped back over to the west side of Washington to be a felony prosecutor for King County, which as you can imagine, I saw some very intense cases over there, but learned a lot about how drugs really should be being prosecuted and why we need to hold these individuals accountable. I quickly realized that Coeur d'Alene was now my home and I came back just as soon as I left. And so to be given the opportunity by Mr. Allen here who again shares the same mission that I have has been such an honor and every single day having been here since the end of April that I have been able to serve in this position, I continue to become more and more grateful. with every passing day. They've invested in a lot of trainings for me as well from the District of Idaho. I'll be going to South Carolina next week for a specialized narcotics training. And on top of that, I've been juggling different cases. I've been able to work on about 20 different narcotics-based cases, whether that be through investigations, working closely with our passionate law enforcement members who protect us every day. It, again, has truly been an honor and I hope that I can come back to one of these meetings in the future and continue to share potentially more statistics about just how this position is contributing to the community, whether that's in a statistic showing a decrease in the trafficking of drugs into our community and through our community or whether it's for showing how much money this position has saved in state tax dollars. And I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody might have about my position as well. Yes, of course.

Yes, council member English. An acronym for something, but what does the SARSA stand for?

SELSA stands for Special Assistant United States Attorney. And it is differentiated from Assistant United States Attorney. So the person in the back there, Bryce Ellsworth, is an Assistant United States Attorney with our office who is joining us tonight. He is my mentor, because he was doing all of the drug cases for this area for, what, the past eight to 10 years? So he's very knowledgeable as to the federal law and how to investigate these cases.

Picking up from the context, so it's the drug-related not trafficking, or does it sometimes kind of tie together?

So the AUSAs in our office can prosecute any type of drug, but as a Sousa Special Assistant United States Attorney, I am specifically dedicated to prosecuting drug crimes.

Okay, thanks. Any other questions for Julia? Very good. Thank you for what you do, and congratulations on your position.

Thank you.

And all of you for working with law enforcement and keeping those drugs out of our area.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Benjamin. Okay, we're moving on to the next item E, which is public comments. I have a sign-up sheet here. We'll start off with Matt Macniac. Please come to the lectern.

Hello, good evening, Mayor, members of the Council. My name is Matt Makniak. I live on Roosevelt Avenue next to Capone's. I'm speaking tonight first to extend a sincere thank you to the Mayor. He took some time to meet with me and my neighbor on our street last week. Excuse me. We looked at the parking situation on our street. We kind of discussed how traffic funnels directly off the I-90 exits to our street and into Midtown. And we discussed some of the hardship created for us as well as the negative impact on our neighborhood since the resident parking signs were removed. We appreciate the mayor recognizing that the current setup is creating an unintended burden on our street, which runs counter to the city's longstanding goal of supporting commercial growth while protecting the surrounding residential neighborhoods. We were very encouraged to hear his support for a permanent resident parking solution similar to the one that exists under chapter 10.22 already in the city code for foregrounds. We understand that formal policy changes take time, but I just wanted to put our experience on the record tonight and just let you know that we're fully committed to working constructively with the city staff and the council to help restore safety, access, and balance to our block. So that's it. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Matt.

Next, I have Scott Ferguson.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, city council members. My name is Scott Ferguson. I serve as the CEO at St. Vincent de Paul, North Idaho. And tonight I come bringing and bearing a giant thank you. Thank you on behalf of our organization and the women and children that we serve. I would like to thank you for Your consideration and potential approval of use of the Community Block Development Grant to revive a much needed home space of a kitchen within our Women and Children Transition Home Center. This space serves roughly around 310 women and children per year as we find them going from emergency shelter to transitional shelter to permanent supportive housing. This revamp and use of this funding allows not only the kitchen space, which is used to prepare so many meals, but to have life giving conversations of self-sufficiency. to remember that it's not what life hands you, but it's an opportunity to begin restructuring the pathway that you know you can believe yourself to be in. And tonight, I want to say thank you because this grant will allow us to improve the safety, accessibility, and functionality of a facility that serves some of the community's most vulnerable residents. Every dollar invested helps create welcoming environments where families can focus on healing, securing employment, and transitioning into that permanent supportive housing that allows them to find that self-sufficiency. So once again, on behalf of our organization, thank you for supporting so many in our community and with this investment, supporting women and children who need it most. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Scott. That's all I have. Who signed up? Does anyone else want to make public comment? Okay, we'll move on to the next item, which is council announcements.

G1, Kenny. Mr. Mayor, thank you. I'd just like to send a thank you to Michael Dominguez and a welcome. Glad to have our new city administrator here for the first time, and we're glad to see you here. Thank you.

Anyone else? More? Okay. I would also like to extend a welcome to Michael. Thank you for being here, your first meeting. Regarding Mr. McNiac's discussion, I had brought that up yesterday with our council president Amy and this is going to be a tough one because it was a pilot program. We definitely understand the need. Council is going to have to decide if we want to reactivate that permanently and then Are there going to be other instances throughout the city where people are going to want to have restricted parking? So it's going to be a big discussion, but I think you do have a valid point. And I especially appreciate that you brought up the city code regarding the kind of the approaching of a commercial area with a residential area. There needs to be something there. So I think you're spot on. So we'll see how that progresses, and I will keep you informed on what goes on. And... I do have an appointment this evening of Daniel Roop to the Urban Forestry Committee.

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

I'd like to make a motion to confirm the appointment of Daniel Roop to the Urban Forestry Committee.

Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. We're off to the consent calendar, item H, and our time is up. Thank you very much.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented.

Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion on our consent calendar? Roll call, please.

English. Yes. Wood. Yes. Evans. Yes. Miller. Aye. Gabriel.

Yes. Motion carries. We're off to item number I-1, other business. This is alluded to by Mr. Ferguson earlier. This is resolution number 26058, approval of CDGB plan year 2025 grant funding for and authorizing staff to enter into a community development block grant award agreement with St. Vincent de Paul, North Idaho in the amount of $3,799.89 for public facilities improvements to its women's and children's emergency transition shelter. We have Sherry Bettisher. from our CDGB division.

Thank you, Mayor, Council. We're here tonight to seek your approval of the award of Community Development Block Grant funds to St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho, and the funds will be used to improve the kitchen at their women and children's transitional emergency shelter. Just a little refresher on some of the eligible activities that we can use CDBG funds for. rehab of residential and non-residential structures, construction and improvements at public facilities, public service projects, acquisition of real property, and relocation and demolition. This is not an all-inclusive list. This is just some of the main ones that we tend to use. When we select the activities each year, they must meet one of HUD's national objectives. That is to benefit low and moderate income persons, aid in the prevention of slum and blight, or meet an urgent need that isn't being met with other state or federal funding. The activities must meet one of our annual action plan goals and consolidated plan goals and be a HUD approved activity. We also look at the capacity of city staff, capacity of our subrecipient staff, the amount of the allocation, priorities, capacity, and experience. So a lot goes into selecting the activities and the groups, the nonprofits that are going to carry them out. Our consolidated planning goals for five years are maintain and increase housing stock, public facility and infrastructure projects, public services, homelessness assistance, and economic development. This grant award would fit under the category of a public facility project. This is our plan year 2025 budget. We have allocated $123,819 for community opportunity grants. and this project will be the last of those grant funds to be allocated. We have previously, with council's approval, entered into an agreement with Heritage Place Apartments LLC For $100,000, they replaced the electrical panels in their senior living apartments. Coeur d'Alene School District received $20,020, and they are in process of spending those funds on their McKinney-Vento supports expansion. And then Lake City Center Mills on Wheels was awarded $20,000 of the budget funds, and that project's been completed. So tonight we're looking to spend an additional $3,799.89 and award a grant funding agreement to St. Vincent DePaul North Idaho to make some improvements at the kitchen in their women and children's emergency transitional shelter. And we're seeking council to approve the award and authorize staff to execute the grant funding agreement. And just to note, these funds are actually reallocated from our plan year 22 and 24, some funds that weren't fully utilized by other groups. Do you have any questions?

Does council have any questions for Sherry?

Just a comment, Mr. Mayor. Christy. Thanks to our new press reporter, Ray. I did see the photos in the paper today. Desperately needed. So I think you've made the right choice. Yeah, they're a great article. Thank you very much.

Any other questions or comments? Look for council action.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve resolution number 26-058, approving CDBG plan year 2025 grant funding for an authorization for staff to enter into a community development block grant award agreement with St. Vincent de Paul, North Idaho in the amount of $3,799.89 for public facility improvements as its women and children's emergency transitional shelter. Second.

A motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? We'll take a roll call, please.

Wood? Yes. Evans? Yes. Miller? Aye. Gabriel? Yes. English? Yes.

Motion carried. Congratulations and thank you for what you do with our community. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Mayor.

We're up to our second item, I-2, resolution number... 26.059, approval of the police department to purchase 15 taser devices for an amount not to exceed $19,037.94 and six ballistic helmets in the amount not to exceed $9,497.70, utilizing remaining personnel budget authority in the department's existing general fund appropriation. Police Chief Yeager.

Well, good evening, Mayor and council members. Thank you for taking this time to hear this proposal. As you know, our police department utilizes a lot of different technology and equipment to provide both safety to our community and to our police officers. The items that we're talking about tonight have been used by our police department for many years. The Taser device has gone through several different generations. Our police department currently uses both the X26 and what's called the Taser 7. And so I'll just talk about the TASERs for just a moment. And what we realize is that the X26 has gone out of service support. They're a very dated device and their efficacy is not as good as it should be. And so over the years, just like any other technology, as the manufacturer came out with new devices, we had purchased some of the TASER 7s, but now they are to the TASER 10. The Taser 10 is an amazing piece of equipment. I've had the opportunity to actually utilize this device in training and to see what it's capable of. And the whole purpose of this device is to render very hostile situations safe quickly so that we can avoid deadly force or large amounts of force when we're taking someone into custody. So this is a natural move for us to upgrade the Tasers. This would be happening over the years anyway. The opportunity that's before us is when Taser provides a package for any device, they break that cost out over the years to make it manageable for the organization that's purchasing it. And in this case, over a five-year period, the cost will be broken out over a five-year period. What we're requesting in this specific proposal is that we be allowed to pay that first year a year ahead, utilizing funding that is still remaining in our budget from this year. And that helps us with the ongoing costs in the subsequent years when we know that the city may be looking for opportunities to reduce the budget items. The same thing, or not the same thing, but a very similar thing is happening with our helmets. Our police officers and especially our SWAT team members are issued ballistic helmets. Those helmets are designed to protect them from hostile fire, gunfire. And so the interesting thing about those is the ballistic protection, whether it's our body armor that we wear here or our helmets, they all have about a five-year life. The manufacturers will only guarantee them for five years to provide the level of protection that they're rated for. What we have been trying to do is these very expensive items need to be on a rotation schedule. If we have 15 to 17 people on our SWAT team, rotating those helmets or purchasing them at different intervals of five or six at a time helps us so that the large expense doesn't come at one time. So that is what we're doing with this. We're asking to start this TASER transition early with some of these 15. start the helmet rotation early with these six helmets, and then get us to a place where we're on a good rhythm for the future so that we're managing our costs well and being responsible to the residents. So we are asking to utilize current year money to purchase items that would have been purchased just next year, and that will help keep our budget request down for next year. And with that, I'll stand for any questions.

Thank you, Chief. Would you like a volunteer to demonstrate the table? Well, I had heard, Mayor, that you were interested in that. All right, let's do this. Are there any questions for the Chief?

Chief, can you tell me if these tasers specifically, are you adding to the number of tasers you have now or just upgrading the supply that you have?

Yeah, thank you for that. In this case, we are just replacing old models, ones that need to come off the line. So this is not an expansion of the program. It's a replacement of devices that have reached end of life.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Yes, Christy.

Mr. Mayor, I'd just make a motion. It's imperative that officers have less lethal options and obviously ballistic helmets. So I'd make a motion to approve the purchase of 15 laser devices in the amount not to exceed $19,037.94 and six ballistic helmets in the amount not to exceed $9,497.70 for the police department, utilizing remaining personnel, budget authority, and the department's existing general fund appropriation.

Second. And this is, to clarify, this is an approval of Resolution 26059.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Very good. Thank you. Any discussion?

Just a quick question. You know, with some of the old police cars, we can do something, but I'm guessing there's no aftermarket for some of those?

No, unfortunately for these, there's not. These usually just go back to the manufacturer to be decommissioned. There's actually no parts that are even serviceable for them. So just a safe way to take them offline. You're right, sometimes there's equipment that could be repurposed, sold even to other organizations, but we don't have any cost recovery on these.

Okay, thanks.

Any other discussion?

Roll call, please.

Evans? Yes. Miller? Aye. Gabriel? Yes. English? Yes. Wood? Yes.

Motion is carried. Last item is a recess to our budget workshop.

Mr. Mayor, I would make a motion to recess to July 27th, 2026 for a budget workshop in the library community room at noon. Second.

Motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We are recessed. Thank you all.

Thank you.