City Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress. Have you ever [clears throat]

Sorry. That's what's different. All right, let's see. Pray. I mean, what do you call it? Pray the fourth. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah. You if you want to because uh Eric's sick. So yeah,

I meant to say that but and he's supposed to say the prayer, too. So we'll have to move it down one.

Let's see. So, Bill, Eric is supposed to say the prayer, but he's not here. So, we say the prayer and uh I will lead us in the pledge then and then next time we'll just swap it. Yeah.

Let's see. Is Addison Cook here? Addison Cook, the new water department employee. I don't I don't think I see it. Wait, that's that's a girl. Edison's a girl, right? I'm not sure what she looks like, but you don't see her, do you?

Okay. Yeah, she came in late. She came in. If she comes in late, give me a a point out. Slide her in a little later. Okay, let's see. Who' they say? I forgot. Bill and me. Okay.

Yeah, it'll be pretty short one. All right, welcome everyone. Uh [clears throat] we are just a couple minutes early, but we'll just take a couple minutes to welcome everybody uh to our city council meeting of the Rexburg City Council of February 4th of 2026. Looks like there might be a government assignment due tomorrow. Is that Did I Did I Did I figure that out right? Okay. Well, good. We're glad to have you here. We welcome you here to our city council meeting and we hope that you learn something and and that you get an A in your class. So, that's awesome. All right. Thank you for being here. We'll start out this evening uh with an opening prayer. Council member Rigggins has I've asked him to to ask the opening prayer following which I will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Council member Riggins. Heavenly Father, we're grateful to be together as friends, neighbors, members of this wonderful city. We're grateful for the opportunity to live here in Rburg and be surrounded by so many wonderful people. We're grateful to have the opportunity to participate in the functions of this city and pray that thou would bless us with thy spirit as we fulfill our responsibilities this night. Please bless the parents, the children who live here that they may be protected and that they may do well in all that they're involved in. We pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Amen. Thank you. All right. If you'll please rise and follow me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. All right. Thank you all very much. Appreciate that. All right. Item number two on the agenda is the roll call of city council members. Uh Deborah, please. I'm just looking to see We've got Eric. I'm here. Okay,

Eric is here. Make sure you're done. Okay, so Council President Ericson here. Okay, there we go. Council member Ericson here. Member Johnson here. Council member Tan here. Council member Reer here. Council member here.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We do have a full council to Well, yeah, we do with with it council member Ericson [clears throat] on the on the uh Zoom meeting. So, thank you for being on. All right. At this time, we do have uh let's see. We were going to welcome a new city employee, but I don't see her here. So, I guess if she comes, we'll do that. We'll skip over item number three. and welcome her later on. Uh so we'll move to item number four, which is a time for public comment. Now, this is a time for items that are not on tonight's agenda. Uh if anyone would like to make us aware of anything, we would ask you to come to the podium here in the front and state your name and address and let us know what you're thinking. Is there anyone that would like to make a statement at this time? Okay, hearing none and seeing none, we will move on to item number five, which is our staff reports. We'll start with our finance report with our CFO, Mr. Matt Nielson. [clears throat] Okay. Um, I have two items under finance and I'm actually going to pull up the second item first, which is the review the ordinance. And so, um, a couple weeks ago, right, we went through the survey results. Um, you asked us to come back with an ordinance that would basically be the process to add a bond measure onto the ballot in May. And so, as we looked at that, a couple things, and I'll kind of highlight some of the differences, right, of the November one that we had versus what this would look like in May. Um this one instead of the 16.75 would be 14.995

million and that's uh because of uh part of the survey was um looking at reducing the cost or the scope and so we did that and as you rolled down go ahead and roll down Deborah uh let me just read this green one. So, one of the big things was we reduced the project scope and by removing the unfinished interior space uh what we called gray shell in the prior one and so it brought the project cost down to about 7.7 million. So, we state that in there and then go ahead and roll back down. Um the date would be May 19th. Go to the green the next green one and then I'll just read through this section as well. So, kind of a repeat of what we just said, but to reduce the cost of the project, the city scaled back the design by removing the unfinished interior space. And with that adjustment, what it did is it lowered down the the ask of principal by about 1.9 million. But then when you add that with the interest included, that's about 3.29 29 million in savings over the prior bond ask. And then the other thing that we addressed, one of the big concerns that we found from the survey was just the the property tax um the amount of bonds that people are paying for. And of course, the city has no general obligation bonds. Uh but there's quite a few school ones, there's a library one. And so that was a concern for people. And so one of the things that the committee looked at is is there a way to defer taking out that bond if it was to pass until a time that some of those others can expire or be paid off or nearly be paid off. And so we added that sentence there. [clears throat] Um as you look at it, there's a few a few

school ones that would come off uh before 2028. Um because what we're saying is if it was to pass, it wouldn't show up till your 2028 tax year, which I believe you actually get notification. I think it's kind of mid November time, not due until December, the first payment, and then the next one is in the summer. And so, so we did that. And then the library bond, I believe, comes off in 28. So there might be one year where they're together. So we did that. We updated the debt. Um, the only debt that the city has currently would be the loan for the water system upgrades and that just for your information is at 1.75% interest. So, so pretty pretty good loan in terms in terms of what rate we're paying, right? So, um, keep rolling down for just a second. I don't think there's anything else. So, the rest of them are really just dates. So really what we're looking at tonight is if the city council wants to move forward, uh you would first read the ordinance tonight and then uh you would still have two more city council meetings to second and third read it in case there was modifications you wanted to make.

Okay. Are there any questions or comments from council?

Do you have anything? The only comment I have it, we did listen to the the voters out there and did I want them to understand that we did try to do everything possible on lowering this down. U we flat out we need a new police department. Um the high school citizen project citizen did a big study on it uh also and looking at this it's it's in our community looking at the whole picture of our old police department. we're behind and we need to get this up and going. So hopefully this the voters see that we thought of them. We looked at this very seriously and we need to move forward with this hopefully in the next few years.

Okay. Is there any other comments or questions from Matt? Only one just Okay. I read through this today and I just thought uh well done. This is I I I'm I'm going along with what was just said. Um you've listen we've listened. We've reduced it down. We've shrunk some what we needed to in order to make this. So I I I I thought it was um the work that's gone into it is well done. Thank you. Well, if there are no other questions or comments, I would entertain a motion to move forward with this particular ordinance. Is there such a motion? I can make that motion.

All right. Thank you. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second it. Second by Council Member Colin Ericson. The motion was made by Council Member Johnson. Uh this is ordinance number 14 or excuse me, ordinance number 1343. Um all in favor of this motion signify. I I

Any opposed? All right. Thank you. That motion passes and so we will move forward with uh getting that on the um on the ballot in May. Item number one, actually we going to swap those, but uh we'll go to now to the uh consideration of the Portman Square Group public education proposal for the police bond and budget adjustment. Try that.

Yeah. Oh, and Josh, if you want to come up. Um so we'll we're gonna I'll cover a couple things. Josh is here and can answer questions and and then there's also a few council members. Um so we we went through it with the I don't know what we call it the police oversight committee I guess you'd call it and um one of the options that we have is to use the same group that conducted the survey. Uh so Portman Square to help us with the public education proposal outreach whatever you want to call that. Um, and then just for so you guys know, we had initially anticipated the survey costing between like 12 to 13,000. That came in at about 8,700. So there was a little savings there. But as we talked about it as a committee, we we felt like it was probably important to bring on Portman Square as a consultant uh for a couple reasons. One, um, you know, this is what they do and so they have they have pretty good experience with it. Um the other thing is is they just conducted the survey and part of this proposal would to be specifically to address some of those concerns that came forth in that survey. And so as you read through it, you'll see that um as the group discussed as well, one of the things that we felt like would be important would be a video, producing a video. It did come at a fairly high cost to have them do the video. So, we scaled it back to having them actually just help with the script of a video. And then our other consultant um that we've used through this whole process, Headwaters, actually offered to do the video. They have the equipment and said they'd be willing to do that for free. And so that was great. Um, and then the other thing that we talked about as a committee is we we felt like um although it's actually pretty expensive, we felt

like doing a a mailer again made sense. Um, you know, you're almost $5,000 to mail the produce and mail those out. And but as we did the survey, surprisingly, that was one of the the ways that people want to hear about it. You know, at least that's what they noted. And so as you look at the total cost and then I'll let Josh jump in and add anything. Um [clears throat] their proposal is not to exceed 199 and then we would have to pay in addition to that uh the cost of that mailer. Um maybe a few small things for printing those kind of things. So, what I'm recommending is if you do choose to move forward, uh I'm recommending a $25,000 budget total. And where that's coming from is from that savings fund, uh specifically for a police facility. Um it's just simply moving it from one line into into hired work. Can you Matt, can can you or Deborah, can you scroll back up uh to the deliverables? Yeah, right there. communication mission plan. I guess my as I look this over my only thing would be and I know it's a not to exceed number that they've given us, right?

Yeah. So I uh I what I would like to do I guess is kind of negotiate a little bit with them on that because I kind of feel like the first two deliverables really probably ought to be part of the part of what we already paid them for. You know, the the survey. It seems like it seems like the communication and messaging and the key messages and guidance for us kind of ought to come from the survey. I I don't know. Does that make sense or am I expecting too much? What do you What do you think? You were on the committee. So, um yeah, I I just kind of feel like the survey ought to give us those two things and then we pay for the other three.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean I when I first saw this, I thought it looked a little steep um steeply priced for what they're offering. Um but I mean I feel like as we talked, we thought we should do everything we can to try. So yeah, it's important. We we got to definitely do it do it right. Um but yeah, I agree that I thought it seemed a little steep for what was being offered, but yeah. Well, so anyway, I guess my point is that I think we just need to negotiate a little bit with with that possibly whatever get it for the best deal we can because that's a not to exceed price. So hopefully that'll maybe [clears throat] be a couple thousand dollar less as well. Mr. Mayor, Mr. May.

Yeah, after again I I I went just the detail in this is really incredible. I mean, I think they're they're proposing some um again, they're listening to the to to what they the results of what they got

and what they're proposing to give us, I think, is is uh something that we could not do, right? We we don't have the we don't have the ability to do. We don't have the even even with their report, we wouldn't be able to do what they're they're planning on doing. So, um I I think um it sounds is I mean, you know, $19,000 199 sounds like a lot of money, but you we're talking about a $18 million project here, right?

And when you put that into I mean, what it's it's less than one half of 1%, right? as as you're as you're thinking about this. And there's a really really really good chance that again because of the detail of the mailings, the the everything that they're putting together that this is going to pass that we'll get what we really what we need in our city. So anyway,

something on the on the messaging as we met with them. One thing that they did discuss and one thing from the survey that came up was the communications through social media. A lot of the the questions. Um, and one thing they discussed with us was being able to answer those questions with some of that survey information and having a consultation with them on each each message back to the community. So, we're giving them those faster u communications back to answer those questions in a more timely manner. [clears throat] And that was one big part for us too is we our social media team they're full-time other things and so they when it's busy they don't get to respond. We don't get to respond as quick and so using using them as a resource to be able to communicate back to the community and answer those questions timely was one of the concerns we we got back from the survey and and through our social media that people felt like we weren't answering the questions uh quick enough and and so I

Yeah, but they're not planning on doing that part of it, are they? It says that'll be done by city staff. Yeah. Well, with consultation through Okay. through the See, that that's kind of what worries me is they'll give us all this stuff and say, "Okay, there you go." And then we're back. Yeah. Mayor, that's what that's what it is, right? I mean, they're going to design it and but we're going to push it out and they're going to design a mailer, but we're going to push it out.

Yeah. But we talked to them specifically about social media because that's that's the one that comes up quickest and you want to respond, right? And the process there would be that as those come up, we would have an email chain. We'd send it up to Portman Square. They would draft that response. We would have a process of approval. I mean, we've got to have our legal look at it. We've got to have other people on the committee look at it. But the idea is is that they'll create that messaging and then yes, there's going to be an aspect of us pushing it out on our own platform. Council member Ericson. [clears throat]

Um I agree with you and it sounds like a lot and I do agree that we maybe need to go back and talk to them and ne negotiate but understanding this as company that we came in last time at 14,000 close to 14,000 on the survey. They came back and done it for eight last year. So I think they was very honest with us and very upfront. I feel like they'll do the same thing here. I mean they want to put the cap there but I think they'll probably come in quite a bit lower. I'm hoping. But, you know, to communicate that with them that we're trying to, again, we're looking at the voters. We're looking at the money that's trying to save them. We just don't want to waste money on this, but we definitely need to get communication out there. That was probably the number one thing to communicate back.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. I I just felt like some of that stuff seems like it ought to come with what we've already paid for, but but I'm good. So, um, what do you what do you think? Yes, council member. Um, I just want to point out that we do have the ability to do this in staff. We do have somebody on staff who is capable of of doing this. It's just a matter of being able to figure out the best way to move forward. I just wanted to put that out there that we do have somebody who are like communication specialist who does do these things. So, we do have somebody. It's just a matter of if this is something that we want them to have to take on as well. Yeah. and they correct and they would be involved, right? They would be that person

through the process that pushes it out for that position. I just I just wanted to be clear that we do have somebody on staff that could do that. It's not that we don't have the ability to do it. We just are maybe choosing to go this way so that it might be easier for them to process the information. Yeah. Okay. Well, are we ready to make a motion? If we are, I would I would entertain a motion then to uh consider or or to hire Portman Square to do this public education proposal. Is there such a motion?

Mayor, I'll make that motion to hire this Portman Square group, but understanding that we'll still talk to them, communicate, try to do everything possible to save, but let's move forward on this. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second to that motion? All second. Second by council member Reer. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor? I I.

Any opposed? All right. Thank you. That motion passes. So, we will go ahead and get them on the job. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate you, Chief and Matt. All right. We don't have anything really on the public works side to uh talk about this evenings and um so let's just move on. We'll skip mayor's business. I'll just remind you of the uh March 14th the Founders Square uh I mean sorry founders Alicia founders u day founders day celebration and the um and the um [clears throat] uh lighting the way ceremony that we're going to do that night. So hopefully all of you can be available for that since you'll be the stars of the show. So

and that's March 24th. March 14th. March 14th. Yeah. the evening uh the evening thing, the the daytime will be a uh kind of a fair at the at the school district building with booths and all kinds of things talking about the history and the future of Rexburg. Um and that's kind of our founders day celebration that we're going to try to do every year. Um for next year's What time's the evening thing? Uh probably about 7 o'clock I think we'll start the uh the evening um the evening activity ceremony. Ceremony. Yeah, there you go. That's a good word for it. The evening ceremony. Okay. And mayor, do we want to tell does the council know about the grand opening of the Oh, the ice rink.

Yeah. Good. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, yeah, the ice rink. We have uh the the neutral zone ice rink. We are having a grand opening on February the 16th, which is President's Day, Monday the 16th. Uh that will be from um 2 I think. Is that right?

2 to 2 to 6. Yeah. And we're going to have a lot of activities there. We'll be like a lot of uh different activities going on where you know you can uh it'll be kind of like a little light show and you'll be able to get out on the ice and shoot pucks. Apparently they want me to get out there and let people shoot the puck at me a little bit. So any of you that want to do that and can come out put you in pads,

take out your frustrations. Yes, I do get to wear pads. So that my wife was uh was happy to hear that. So anyway, and uh then that later that evening, we'll have a buy one get one free special. So it'll be like halfp price skating and uh there'll be a lot of really fun activities going on there. So put that on your calendar for the um 16th and uh it'll be a lot of fun. the skating after the the free skating. Yeah, that'll be in the after kind of six after six. Yeah. Yeah. For for free skate or for the buy one get one free halfp price skate opportunity.

It's been really busy over there, too. So, so that's good. Um, all right. Any anything else that anyone can think about that on this on mayor's business we can talk about uh that we need to remind each other of or that we the what? The concert the Oh, the concert. Yes, the John Schmidt concert, which is a uh John Schmidt from the piano guys is coming and uh he's doing a concert for us up at the BYU Idaho Center, the eye center. And uh those tickets are on sale now. You can go on the Rexburg website, Rex City of Rexburg website, and buy tickets or I guess ticket office.

Yeah, the BYU Idaho ticket office. Right. That would be a better place to go since that's where it's going to be. So, the BYU Idaho ticket office, you can buy tickets there and they they they there's a wide range of prices depending on where you want to sit. If you want to be in the VIP section or if you don't mind being a little further up, the tickets are only like I think $20 or something like that. So, it's a pretty wide range and uh really good show, promises to be a really good show and it's a fundraiser for our tabernacle building to try to raise money to help uh remodel that building. So, you know, if you're a piano student, you probably love it. Even if you're not, you should like it anyway. And, uh, maybe let your parents know about it and encourage everybody that you can to come to it. That, that would be great. So, uh, anything else that I've forgotten about that we need to remind people of? Okay, we will move on to item number eight, which is 8A is a second reading of ordinance number 1342. Now, just real quick for for the high school students and anyone else that might not know this is when we pass a bill like these ones that we just passed earlier, the ordinance that we passed uh in government, we have to do what we call three readings. In other words, we have to consider them three times just in case we decide to change our mind. Maybe we some maybe someone on the council says, "You know what? I I think we made a mistake there." And so then they can we can bring it up again and debate it again. And uh the reason for that is just to try to make sure that we don't make mistakes and we try to do things right. It does it does stretch the timeline out a little bit for things, but you know, we want to try to make sure we do things right. And it's an Idaho state law that we have to do that. So So this is what we what we call the second reading. Ordinance number 1342 was discussed and voted on in our last meeting and that is a zone change from rural residential one to low density residential 3. medium density

residential two and regional business center zones at approximately 801 South 12 West. Okay, so that is the this is the second reading. Uh is there any questions or comments about this item before we move forward on the uh second reading vote? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to consider ordinance 1342, second read. Mr. Mr. Mayor, I move that we uh approve ordinance 1342 and consider it second read. All right. Thank you. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second. Second by council member Rigggins. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? I. Any opposed?

All right, that vote is 4 to two. Uh that motion passes. So we will move on to item number two which is ordinance number 1341 zone change from low density residential one to low density residential 2 at approximately 301 south 12th west. So this item also was discussed two weeks ago and this is the second reading. Is there a is there any discussion on this item before we vote? Hearing none. Uh, do I hear a motion to move forward on ordinance number 1341 and consider a second read? I'll make that motion. Okay. Motion by Council Member Colin Ericen. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second. Second by Council Member Johnson. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? All right. Ordinance number 1341 is second read. We have no third readings. Item number nine is our consent calendar. Consent calendar is items that are are uh typically of just uh general um uh routine and not of great controversy. Uh things like paying our bills and approving the minutes from the January 21st meeting. And um so I would entertain a motion at this time to approve the consent calendar unless there are any questions or comments.

I have one thing, mayor. Okay. Um I read through the minutes and it said that um I said that the historical preservation committee did not meet and they did meet. They did meet. Okay. So be changed from did not to did. They did. Okay. Can you make a note of that Deborah? Okay. We will make that change. Thank you for noticing that. Want to make that accurate because that definitely made would make a difference in that statement. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? hearing. None. I would entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar at this time. Motion that we sorry that we uh approve the consent calendar. Okay. Motion by council member Riggins. Is there a second? A second.

Second by Council Member Teen. Any further discussion or questions? Oh, yes. Council member and pay our bills. Oh, and pay the bills. Yes, we want to pay our bills, too. Yeah, we probably better do that. Okay. Thank you. Is there Let's see. Was that a second or did somebody second? We already second down there. I motion. You made the motion that we approve the consent uh calendar and the finances. Okay. Thank you. And second. And you seconded it. That's right. Okay. Sorry. Okay. All All in favor? I. Any opposed?

All right. Thank you. We will go ahead and enter the minutes and pay the bills. All right. At this time, item number 10 is an executive session as per state statute 74-601C to acquire an interest, excuse [clears throat] me, in real property not owned by a public agency. So, uh, at this time, we will, uh, I would entertain a motion to move into executive session as per this Idaho state statute. Is there such a motion? I'll make that motion that we enter executive session. Okay. Thank you. Mot moved by Council Member Johnson. Is there a second? I'll second.

Second by Council Member Colin Ericson. Uh on a roll on a an executive session, we need to do a a roll call vote. So Deborah, would you do that for us, please?

Council President Ericson. Yes. Okay. Council member Ericson. Yes. Council member Johnson, yes. Council member Teen, yes. Council member Reer, yes. Council member Rigggins, yes. All right, that motion passes. We will move into executive session. So, at this point in time, we do need to vacate the room. Uh we will come back into session after the executive session to adjourn, but that's not typically very exciting. So, uh thank you all for being here. We appreciate your attendance here tonight and uh we'll get you home so you can get to bed early. I think the high school student should wait until we come back to a journ.

Yeah, there you go. That's not a lot for that whole assignment. [laughter]