City Council - Regular Meeting

The water happened. I don't think anybody needs to be a rule that you're going to cycle land. Unless the wind fires. Unless it was signing. They've changed.

They've changed.

All right. It looks like it is just a little bit past time to start. So we'd like to go ahead and welcome all of you here this evening to our city council meeting of August 5th, 2026. And glad to have you all here. We council member Bill Sorry, I have these brain cramps every now and then. I was looking at it and all I could think of was Reeser. Council Member Riggins informs me that you folks are here partially for... that your family of Galen Jensen, who just passed away recently, and we'd like to extend our condolences to you for that. Is that the Galen that's married to Lisa? Okay, yeah. We were in the same neighborhood with him years ago, and good family, good man. Sorry to hear about that. Okay, we'd like to go ahead and start our meeting this evening with a prayer, opening prayer, and the Pledge of Allegiance. And we've asked Councilmember Reeser to offer the opening prayer, followed by the pledge being led by Councilmember, Council President Eric Erickson. So, Councilmember Reeser.

Our dear Father in Heaven, we are so grateful at this time for the opportunity to have a meeting together. of Rexburg and to discuss and work on the challenges that our community faces, Father. We're grateful for all that thou hast blessed us with. We ask that thou might give us wisdom this evening that we might be able to make wise choices and be able to do things that would be best for the vast majority of the people that live here. Father, we're concerned about the wildfires that are happening locally and ask that we be mindful of the responders that the MI people has to watch over and those people that live and work in that area. that they might be blessed, and that we might be able to get a handle on this, and that required water that we need as a community might be available. Father, we're grateful for all that Thou has given unto us, and we ask for these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, Stan, follow me in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the Spirit of the Father, and to the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands,

All right. Thank you all very much. Appreciate that. At this time, we would then like to go ahead with the roll call of our council members, and we'll ask Mariana to do that for us, please.

Council Member Johnson. Here. Council Member Teejan.

Here.

Council Member Reeser. Here. Council Member Riggins.

Here.

Council President Erickson.

Here.

Okay, and Council Member Colin Erickson is asked to be excused for this meeting, so we'll go ahead and excuse him, and we will move to item number three, which is we need a motion to amend the agenda as per Idaho State Statute 74-2044B. Item 8B, an amendment to add resolution number 202611 to the ITD grant agreement. So that will come a little bit later on in the agenda here, but we need to make that amendment to start out here. So is there a motion to amend the agenda as such?

I'll make that motion that we amend the agenda. to add the resolution number 2026 to the agenda.

Thank you. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second that.

Seconded by Council Member Riggins. Any discussion or questions about that? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, that motion passes. We will go ahead and amend the agenda that way. We'll move on to item number four, which is a public hearing to amend the amendment of our fiscal year 2026 budget. We will ask Matt to go over these amendment items with us and This will be designated as ordinance number 1356 if the motion passes and will be considered first read. So we'll turn the time over to our CFO, Mr. Matt Nielsen, who We're glad we made it back to town this afternoon.

I'm not going to go through all of them. We hit a lot of them last time of the adjustments, the final adjustments. But overall, just to kind of give you an idea, when we initially adopted the budget, it was $111,279,400. million. And what we've done over the year is we've actually reduced it with these amendments by about 6.7 million. So it brings the total final budget to 104,571,300. And a lot of that honestly has to do with just the deferment of very large projects. And so as we went through the budget, a lot of the projects we just didn't get to, and they are pushed to the next fiscal year. And so we just felt like it would be prudent to reduce the budget. And then there were some other things like the ice rink was a big one, big part of that that you're familiar with. And then another very large one was just the transition of the fire department to the fire district as well. So those are kind of the big ones. Unless you have questions, that's probably all report on it.

Just a clarification. So this is for the budget for October, correct?

Through September.

September 30th. That's correct.

Okay. All right. Thank you, Matt. So this is a public hearing. So the way a public hearing goes is we will ask for testimony. First, we'll start with if there's anyone who would like to testify in favor of this action, and then anyone who would like to testify in the neutral position, after which we'll ask if there's anyone who would like to testify in favor of this action. So at this time, we will go ahead and declare this public hearing open, and we would ask if there's anyone that would like to testify in favor of this action to come to the podium, state your name and address, and let us know what you'd like us to hear. Is there anyone that would like to do so? Is there anyone online with their hand raised? No? Okay. All right. Okay, thank you. If there is, then I would ask if there is anyone who would like to testify in the neutral position on this particular item. Anyone? All right. Seeing none, is there anyone who would like to testify against this particular item? None. Okay. Seeing none, we will close this public hearing, and I would entertain a motion to move forward on the amendment of the fiscal year 2026 budget.

I can make that motion.

All right. Thank you very much. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second. Seconded by who was first?

Council Member Reeser. Okay. All right. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded that we... that we pass ordinance number 1356 and consider it first read. Any further questions or comments on the motion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Aye.

Sorry, Councilmember Cullen, were you voting in favor or opposed? Okay, thank you. Sorry, we didn't realize you were online. So I'll wait a minute for the delay so that we can let your vote come in. So thank you for being here. We appreciate your attendance here. So I guess we won't excuse you after all, because you're online. So good to have you. Okay, that motion passes and will be considered first read. So let's move on to item number five. which will be the public hearing for the final assessment rule for local improvement district 54. This item will be designated as ordinance number 1355 if the motion passes and also would be considered first read. So we will turn the time on this one over to our public works director, Mr. Keith Davidson, to talk about this item.

Thank you, Mayor. So this is LID 54. I believe everyone should have received in their packets kind of the official costs that were mailed out on that. So if there are any questions, I can answer those at this time or if you want to move into the public hearing.

Maybe I read it wrong. I looked through it and it seems a lot there, but Is it true that the bids came in considerably less than the estimates?

No, I think what you're seeing, there's some that came in higher, but because we took over paying for the curb and gutter, everybody's dropped significantly, unless they only had sidewalk. Okay, so that was the difference. Then that would be the change. The curb and gutter was the difference. Okay. Yes, go ahead.

I know I spoke to you about this, the letters that we received. So with the Gosses, you said that there's not going to be a charge then.

No, looking at that, there was a sewer that I didn't need to dive into. So there was a sewer. There was an Orangeburg pipe that went to one of their homes. And so I got to look into that a little bit more. So that would be, I think, the $3,500 on that. That would be the what? That would be the $3,500, I believe, is what the cost was for the replacement of that line. So I just got to see exactly what happened there, and we'll get with the gases on it. Okay. Yeah.

Nothing on the sidewalk?

No, we didn't do any sidewalk on that one because we were holding off because they changed their zoning to HDR because they're anticipating selling the property. So I just got to look into that Orangeburg pipe because that would be one thing that we would look at because obviously we don't know when that's going to be needing to be replaced. And if it was Orangeburg pipe, we've seen those notoriously fail. And that's the last thing we want to see is... in the interim have that fail on it. So that's why I want to look into that a little bit more.

Okay. There was another letter, Kitchell, I think it was. Yeah. I had some questions about that too. So there's no curb on that. He had the pictures.

No, there is curb, but the curb's in terrible condition. But this is one of those miscellaneous properties. And so we weren't in there reconstructing the street. And so that's why we weren't doing any curb. It was just one of the properties that... um had changed hands i guess it it changed hands and so i had discussions with noah trying to find out a little bit more the back story on okay how did how did we go through this um and so it changed hands i believe in 2019 um they refinanced i believe is in 2020 or 22 22 yeah um and so that's what and i'm not sure what happened in 2019 i mean catch it at that time. But when they went into refinance, it triggered because Noah sees those as they come in because the banks want to know, is there any... outstanding loans on this property, right? So LADs. And so with that, that triggered it. And then Noah had a conversation with him back then in 2022. You know, we sat and said, hey, this needs to, we need to put in a sidewalk. And on this street, and I'm trying to remember if I brought it up with council or if we just did it in internally with the mayor. So Salem is a narrow road. Some of the homes are close on there. Bear Street is very similar to that. And we required the sidewalks on Bear Street. So at that time, we hadn't made the determination. And so we said, we're not going to require you to put in a sidewalk at this time. And then subsequently we went through that analysis with that. And then, and then we made the determination that, okay, no, we need to. We need to put in the sidewalks on these streets. So, as properties, which there's did changed hands. And so we did send out right the letter. That everyone got on the back in February. 20 of 2025, so that letter went out to them as well as. um an email that went out to him on regarding the sidewalk going in um april 23rd of 2025 and then subsequently in talking with noah um i think jordan our intern um had tried had done phone calls and obviously must not have gotten a hold of him on that one so so that's kind of the history of of where we're at with with that property

Okay. Any further questions for Keith on this item? Okay. All right. Thank you. Appreciate that. And this is also a public hearing. Same process. We will ask for any testimony in favor of this action in the neutral position and then against this action. So we will go ahead and declare this public hearing open at this point in time. And if there's anyone who would like to testify in favor of this action, we would like to hear from you at this time. Please, same thing, come forward and state your name and address. Is there anyone that would like to do so? Anyone online? Nope. Okay. Is there anyone who would like to testify in the neutral position on this action? Yes, sir.

Well, Mayor, first, John Goss, 509 South 5th West. Did you just, for the record, state your name and address? John Goss, 509 South 5th West. Sorry. Sorry, yes. We appreciate your kind words about Galen. That was nice. And I was going to save myself for the against position, but after having it explained by Noah and Keith with the Orangeburg pipe, We understand the ramifications. It's just that we just barely spent almost $2,000 getting the comprehensive plan amended, getting it rezoned. And then we get a bill in the mail for $372. And I texted Noah and said, what's this for? And then I got another bill that was $3,400 plus. Okay, I shouldn't have texted him the first time. Anyway, we're neutral now. We understand what it's for. So the disputation, we're not fighting it. So we appreciate it.

Thank you. We appreciate that. Thank you for... Finding we always appreciate it when you come in and talk with Noah and Keith and find out the facts. And, you know, it's it's just nice to have people that are willing to listen and and, you know, learn how things work. And sometimes we wish they could work differently and better. But, you know, we're this is what we've got for now. So thank you for that. Is there anyone like any other people who'd like to testify in the neutral position on this action? All right. Seeing none, is there anyone who would like to testify against this action? Anyone online? No. All right. All right. Thank you. Seeing none, we will go ahead and declare this public hearing closed. And at this time, I would entertain a motion to... to approve the final assessment roll for Local Improvement District 54 and designated as Ordinance 1355 and First Red. Is there such a motion?

Mr. Mayor, before we get to the vote, Keith, do you feel like you've addressed this issue with the Kitchells? Is it Kitchell?

I have not had a conversation with the Kitchells. Okay. First I heard of it was Monday when I got back. I was gone all last week. So we haven't had a conversation with the Kitchells. I mean, we're more than happy to have a conversation.

It sounds like Noah has reached out at least to explain. At least that's what I catch here. I just want to make sure that their concerns were at least addressed, whether we... Whatever we vote here, I just want to make sure that they have.

I would have to defer to negative. They would like a follow-up.

Noah, say that again, please. They would like a follow-up. Okay. So we will take care of that right away. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

All right. Thank you.

All right. Okay.

Any other questions or comments?

Okay. Then I would entertain a motion to go ahead with this action. Is there such a motion?

Mr. Mayor, I would move that we accept the final assessment role for local improvement district 54 and adopt ordinance number 1335. 1355. 1355 and consider it first read.

Okay, thank you. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second that.

Seconded by Council Member Riggins. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion or questions? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? All right. Thank you. That motion passes. So we will go ahead and consider that first dread. All right. Thank you. Item number six is our presentation by Taylor Riley about automatic license plate recognition camera systems. We'll go ahead and turn the time over to Taylor. If you would come to the podium here. Are you going to go over there? Okay, I guess that's all right.

Is either one okay?

That's fine. Is that easier for you to be able to do that? Yeah. Okay, that's fine.

Good evening, council members. Tonight, I'm not asking you to solve a crime. I'm asking you to decide whether every innocent civilian in Rexburg should become part of a nationwide AI surveillance network. My name is Taylor Riley, and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss a topic impacting communities across the country, AI surveillance systems. Is it working? Okay. Okay. A month ago, I asked this council to take action by establishing ordinances to prevent these technologies from coming to Rexburg. Tonight, I'll share information and data to help you make an informed decision. This is a significant issue involving privacy, constitutional rights, and responsible use of citizens' information. I'm an outdoorsman, entrepreneur, and Idaho resident of 17 years. My wife and I chose this area as our long-term home, and my background is in media production, marketing, and outdoor education. About two months ago, I began researching AI surveillance after noticing an increase in traffic cameras and sensors across cities, including small communities. I started hearing about systems being deployed nationwide where vehicle data was collected and accessed without traditional search warrants or probable cause. That caught my attention. So let's dive in. What is all this flock talk about? Flock safety began in 2017 as a privately held manufacturer and operator of security hardware and software. It operates its systems under contracts with law enforcement agencies, cities, counties, neighborhood associations, and private property owners. Their product line consists of license plate readers, video cameras, audio detection, mobile security trailers, Flock OS, and drone as first responder. They claim that 10,000 plus missing people were located in 2025, and one million plus cases were supported by Flock last year. They sell the idea of safety, reduced crime, searchable evidence, cross-agency visibility, audit ready use, local control, and faster incident response. Flock license plate readers are motion-activated cameras connected to cloud-based software that uses AI to capture, analyze, and search vehicle data. These cameras are commonly installed at roads, neighborhood entrances, and parking lot exits, collecting information such as license plates, vehicle characteristics, and other identifying details. The process is simple. Agencies contract with Flock, install the cameras, and the collected data is processed through Flock's cloud-based platform. In Idaho, police chiefs in Idaho Falls, Wilder, Greenleaf, and St. Anthony moved forward with Flock systems without requiring city council approval before installation. This here is St. Anthony's contract. The city purchased FlockOS, Flock's cloud-based platform that connects surveillance equipment and data into one system. It uses AI to analyze data, provide alerts, enable cross-agency sharing, integrate with CAD and record systems, and includes tools like free-form search. St. Anthony purchased four safety bundles, which includes solar-powered license plate readers and video cameras connected to the Flock OS platform. The installation cost was $17,000, with an annual subscription cost of $17,000. The contract was signed last October by Dan Haley, Flock's chief legal officer, and Chief Greg Bellew of the St. Anthony Police Department. The cameras were installed on Bridge Street and are maintained by both the City of St. Anthony and Flock. The equipment is installed and is now part of a surveillance system of over 125,082 automated license plate readers powered by AI that captures and analyzes images of all passing vehicles. It stores the details of your car's location, the date, and time. It analyzes the make, model, color, and even features such as dents, roof racks, bumper stickers, all of which become searchable data points. The cameras collect data on millions of vehicles regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime. This data does not need a warrant to use. The network produces more than 20 billion vehicle tracking plate scans every month. But Flock isn't just a license plate reader. It has been deployed in parks and public spaces. Their website says that it's for parks of all sizes. It boasts it's always on outdoor security cameras. Flock video helps you prevent vandalism, monitor behavior, and respond to complaints with confidence. Clear footage gives park teams and law enforcement what they need fast. It's gunshot detection also goes beyond gunshots to include other audio detection that is AI programmed to listen and record, including vehicle crashes, fireworks, and protests or public demonstrations. Let's not forget to mention that flock cameras use a combination of motion detection and infrared technology, or IR. IR allows cameras to capture clear images at night without using visible flashes to the human eye. We put all these features together and this is just one company in a growing surveillance industry seeking contracts with agencies, businesses, schools, parks, and so on. Other companies such as Axon, Motorola Solutions, Genetech, Leonardo, Neology are competing for data collection and surveillance solutions as well. The surveillance race is on and it isn't showing signs of slowing down. One other emerging technology is Leonardo's signal trace, which analyzes electronic devices that travel together to create a unique digital footprint. Devices such as phones, smartwatches, fitness trackers, your dog's microchip, and other devices emitting frequencies can be detected and paired with other surveillance systems even without a known license plate. Signal trace is effective in off-road areas such as parks and stores and performs with or without license plate readers. Now, here's what happens after all these data are collected. The data is uploaded to the nationwide networks. Artificial intelligence automatically analyzes what is recorded and makes it searchable for investigators. It breaks it down into keywords. Someone can search red pickup near downtown yesterday, white van with roof rack. If multiple Flock cameras are deployed, it will reconstruct a person or vehicle's route. So how is this and other systems being used? We already heard from Flock how many cases it claims to have supported, but as expected, the AI isn't always accurate. Utah resident Brad Johnson was charged with felony damage to an Uber driver's vehicle this year after facial recognition technology identified him as a 94% match from a screenshot and linked it to his driver's license photo. The AI result became key evidence against him, but Johnson proved he was not involved. He had not taken the Uber ride or been at the location, and the actual suspect was later identified. After five months, the case was dismissed. In 2023, Robert Dillon was arrested in Florida for allegedly luring a child away from a McDonald's, despite being 300 miles away when the crime occurred. Police relied on an AI system that identified him as a 93% match to the suspect. Dillon told officers they had the wrong person, but he spent the night in jail and had to borrow money to post bond. The charges were eventually dropped and his record was cleared. Dylan said the experience still haunts him, stating that police relied on dangerous technology instead of doing their jobs and actually investigating. In Florida, Lindsay Isaacs spent 13 days in jail, falsely charged with triple homicide. Her car was simply the same make and model, different color, no damage and a partial plate that didn't match. Remember when I mentioned that nationwide APLR networks can be accessed without probable cause or a warrant? That access creates opportunities for misuse. Across the country, there have been numerous cases of officers using ALPR systems to monitor romantic partners, ex-partners, or individuals they had personal interest in. A Wisconsin officer tracked a romantic partner and one of her exes nearly 180 times in two months. In Florida, a sheriff's deputy used ALPR data to track and pull over a woman he met while working security on a film set. In Jerome County, Idaho, a sheriff used Flock to search for his wife's vehicle more than 700 times. Other cases show how these systems can impact innocent citizens. Ice and Border Patrol have used Flock over 4,000 times in immigration enforcement without using warrants. Kansas police used ALPR data to investigate a man who criticized the police department. In Colorado, a woman was falsely accused of theft based on a flock alert, and another family was held at gunpoint after their vehicle was mistakenly matched to a stolen motorcycle from another state, resulting in a $1.9 million settlement for the family. Atlanta, Georgia has experienced one of the largest expansions of ALPR technology in the country, with more than 5,000 flock cameras now deployed across the city. However, FBI crime data has raised questions about the effectiveness of this massive surveillance network, showing no measurable impact on the Atlanta Police Department's ability to solve crimes. At the same time, at least 20 Georgia police officers have been arrested for misusing surveillance databases. We could discuss these cases all night, but the point is clear. When surveillance systems expand without strong safeguards, innocent people can become the ones forced to prove they did nothing wrong. Idaho law limits ALPR use to authorized Idaho agencies and requires data to be used only for law enforcement or traffic purposes. Access is restricted to authorized personnel and prohibits unrelated uses. The question is whether participation in a national surveillance network violates Idaho law by allowing Idaho citizens data to be accessed outside the state. Flock automatically connects agencies to Flock OS, providing nationwide law enforcement access. Many ALPR searches do not require a traditional warrant and instead rely on agency policies or authorized purposes for accessing that network. Concerned citizens across Idaho are speaking out at city councils, but this issue extends far beyond our state. At least 98 cities nationwide have canceled, rejected, or deactivated these systems, including communities in California, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and others. Salmon has rejected ALPR and submitted a resolution that no money be spent on it without the council's permission, since often this is done without any public input. Clearwater County will not be renewing due to lack of crime solved and community concerns. In Los Altos Hills, California, officials ended their flock contract after residents and council members questioned whether the cameras reduced crime enough to justify the cost and raised privacy concerns. In San Marcos, Texas, the council canceled FLOC after reviewing research that questioned whether surveillance technology actually improves public safety. Charlottesville, Virginia declined to continue its pilot program, determining that the concerns outweigh the benefits. In Roseville, California, an investigation found that 71% of FLOC-generated alerts reviewed involved incorrect license plate reads. There is growing concerns across America about the potential misuse and abuse of surveillance technology by law enforcement. While we may trust the individuals currently serving our community, systems should never depend solely on personal restraint. Good policies protect citizens regardless of who holds power. Assuming these technologies will never be misused risks sacrificing both public safety and the constitutional rights they are meant to protect. We cannot live by the idea If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear. Tell that to Robert Dillon, Brad Johnston, and the many others who were wrongly accused and forced to prove their innocence. That same logic would mean that if you are not saying anything wrong, you do not need free speech. But we understand that is not how rights work. Rights are reserved for people under suspicion. They are protections for every citizen, especially innocent people. Privacy is a fundamental right, not a reward for innocence. The issue isn't whether you're doing anything wrong. The issue is whether the government should monitor innocent people without cause or before any crime has occurred or is suspected to occur. In America, the government generally needs a reason before searching your home, reading your mail, or tracking you. That's the principle behind the Fourth Amendment. The Bill of Rights wasn't written to protect criminals. It was written to protect ordinary citizens from excessive government power. The founders assumed government power would eventually be abused if left unchecked. We talked a little bit about mission creep. Today's promise may be we're only looking for stolen cars. Tomorrow it becomes outstanding warrants, minor traffic violations, tax collection, protest attendance, political demonstrations, firearm owner tracking, routine movement history, religious affiliation. Technology almost always expands beyond its original purpose unless law is clearly limited. One month ago, I called for transparency regarding any discussions involving automated surveillance networks, a ban on AI surveillance and mass surveillance tools, and a comprehensive privacy policy, privacy ordinance establishing clear standards for future technologies. Today, I have provided a draft ordinance designed to protect Rexburg citizens' rights and privacy from AI surveillance systems and technology that can be misused. I asked this council to take proactive action by reviewing this ordinance, allowing public input, and considering amendments to the City of Rexburg code that establish these protections. Again, I appreciate the time you've provided for me to share this information with you. I'd much rather be at home with my family than talking about this, but this is important to me and more than 20,000 other Idahoans engaged in deflocking Idaho. Technology is advancing faster than the laws that govern it. Once a surveillance network is built, history shows it almost never becomes smaller. It expands. The question before this council isn't whether today's officials can be trusted. It's whether the laws we adopt today will protect Rexburg residents decades from now. George Orwell said it best a powerful quote from the book 1984 is nothing was your own except a few cubic centimeters inside your school, and it should never come close to that. Thank you council members and if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Okay. Thank you very much. Is there any questions, Mr. Riley? We appreciate all that. Oh, you have a question. Go ahead.

I just have a question. Thank you for the information. I agree that I think it is something that we should talk about. So can we have on an agenda, a future agenda to discuss?

Yeah. Yeah, let's take a look at that amendment. I mean, as Mr. Riley mentioned, the state does have some pretty strict laws that, you know, we need to obey. And so, you know, whether those might supersede any ordinance that we would, we would have anyway. So we'll take a look at that and see, we'll consult with our legal counsel and see how those relate. And, uh, but yeah, there's a lot to think about and talk about and discuss with this issue. And we've, we've already had those discussions actually with our police chief and, and others. So, so we do appreciate the information and, uh, we'll, we'll certainly take a look at things. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Okay, item number seven is a time for public comment. These are for items that are not on the agenda tonight. Is there anyone who would like to make any public comments or make the council aware of anything? If so, we would ask you to come to the podium and state your name and address and let us know about anything that you're concerned about or would just like us to know. Is there anyone that would like to do so? Anyone online, Patrick? No, okay. All right, seeing none, then we will move on to item number eight, which is, excuse me, our staff reports. Item 8A is our finance report with our CFO, Mr. Matt Nielsen. We'll go ahead with that at this time.

Well, and I'm not going to have an official, like the monthly report tonight. So I'll just report from here real quick and see if you have any questions. And then I'll just give you a quick update. We did have our first police, internal police committee meeting, I guess we would call it. And we are going to put together a presentation for you. We kind of talked through some options on that. And then our plan is to bring that back to you the beginning of September. So we'll bring that back. And yeah, so other than that, unless you guys have specific questions, that's probably all I have to report.

Okay, any questions for Matt on anything financially related?

Are we going to be having a presentation about America 250 and everything that happened with that?

Yeah, and we could probably do that in September if we want to put that on the agenda. Just even today, I approved two bills. And so that's why I kind of want to defer it a little bit is I don't want to get in court and then miss things. And so... So, yeah, I think if we did it September, that'd probably be fine. Maybe that second one in September would be good, and then we would hopefully have everything paid by then.

Okay. All right. Anything else from Matt, from anyone?

I have one thing.

Okay, go ahead, Council Member Erickson.

Did we have anybody from the City Council on the committee with the Police Department coming up with plans and ideas moving forward?

Yes, Council Member Reeser was there.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, all right. Item number B is our public works report with our public works director, Keith Davidson. Item number one.

All right, thanks. I just have one item, and this is approval of a resolution. And this resolution is to enter into a local grant agreement with the state. And this is for 9th East, in between 7th North, Barney Dairy Road, putting in that road and building the bridge across the river. And so looking at that, so some of the things that we have to do, obviously, is enter into this agreement, and then there's funds that we need to set aside at the front end, even before it's bid out for this project. And so our share of that, those funds are, scroll down just a little bit. No, it's $7,969,560. So that's our share of that. And then where those funds are going to come from for this project. We went through, do you have that? Okay. And so, The original one that we looked at was the middle column with the 4 million was coming from LTAC. Urban and rural contributions were gonna be 4 million. Our impact fees, our street impact fees were gonna be 3 million. And then the other street sources were gonna be 600,000. And then LTAC came back and upped the amount that they wanted to see on there. And once again, this has not been bid out, so we don't have official prices, but they were just estimating and then they took the estimate and bumped it up. And so we had to make some adjustments on there. So LTAC is going to kick in $4,737,000. And then we went to urban renewal today and they're going to kick in the 4 million, almost 200,000 on that. And then we can pull from our impact fees, the 3.1 million. And then from our other street sources, we'd pull the $629,000 on that. So that's kind of the breakdown of where those funds will come from. We've just got to put those in basically like an escrow account with LTAC for this project before we even bid it out. But the idea is to get these funds available, enter into this agreement, and then so we can get that project bid out.

And then, as you mentioned, Keith, and we talked about a little earlier in the urban renewal meeting, LTAC is just estimating high because of construction costs going up. But if the bids come in and they aren't as high as that 12.7, then those amounts would be reduced proportionately as well from where they came from. correct yeah i believe so yeah really rosy looking at that so for a lower bid but we'll see how that goes okay are there any other questions thank you thank you for that explanation any questions from anyone about about this item before we move forward if there is none then i would and i would entertain a motion to approve resolution 2026-11 is there such a motion

Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve resolution number 2026-11 and approve the state and local grant agreement for this construction project.

Okay, thank you. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second.

Second by Councilmember Tijan. Any further questions or discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, that motion passes. We will go ahead and enter into that agreement. Thank you, Keith. We appreciate that. Is there any other questions for Keith while he's up on public works items? Just kind of to let you know, I guess that's fine, Keith, you can sit down. Since we're moving into mayor's business anyway, I'll just talk about, we met with the ITD, two of the ITD staff members yesterday and expressed our thanks to them for the wonderful job they did on Main Street, getting that all paved and working with us on our 4th of July festivities and getting it done before then, which was great. They've also been active on several other projects around. We have a good relationship with ITD and we want to keep it that way. We've expressed our thanks to them for the things that have been going well. Then we talked to them about a couple of other items. We talked a lot about things coming up like the 12th West intersection that we're looking at trying to figure out the best way to improve that, widen it and either, you know, maybe either do a roundabout or, you know, just changing the signals up and something like that. So talked about that. We also talked about some of the things that we need to do at other areas around town where they have state highways to be able to improve traffic flow and things like that. So we're working with them on a lot of items, and they've been really good to work with, and so we appreciate their help on things. We do have, on item number nine with Mayor's Business, we have two ratifications to take place. You should have received information on both of these ladies and Candy McFadden as a member of the Planning and Zoning Board and Tawny Cottrell as a member of the Urban and Rural Board. So we'll go ahead and handle those separately. Is there any discussion or questions or anything on either one of these candidates before we go ahead with the ratification? Okay, hearing none, then I would entertain a motion to ratify, first of all, Candy McFadden as a member of the Planning and Zoning Board. Is there such a motion?

I'd like to make a motion that we ratify Candy McFadden as a member of the Planning and Zoning Board.

Thank you. Is there a second to that motion? I'll second that. Second by Council President Erickson. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, we will go ahead and make that official. The second one is Tawny Cottrell as a member of the Urban Renewal Board. And she would be taking Randall Porter's place, who we thanked him for his 10 years of service on the Urban Renewal Board and gave him a plaque. And he's done a really great job for us. And we're confident that Ms. Cottrell will actually be a great member of our Urban Renewal Board as well. So with that, if there is no other discussion, I would entertain a motion to ratify Ms. Cottrell as well. Is there such a motion?

Mr. Mayor, I move that we ratify Tawny Cottrell as a member of the Urban Renewal Board.

Thank you. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second.

Second by Council Member Teejan. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right, we'll go ahead and make those both official. Thank you very much. Just another couple of items on Mayor's business. They're not on the agenda, but I'll mention them. We were contacted by the RCI group, which is the Reconnecting Communities group that we've been working with to help us identify grants and things to mainly try to get the crossings over Highway 20. And they asked us if we would have someone come back to the National Regional Transportation Conference and participate in a panel discussion. And since Justin and Keith were both going to be gone on vacation, that left me. So I went back. And it was actually a really good experience. We had a good visit with those people, and they appreciated us coming back. They paid for all the travel and everything, so that made it nice. It didn't cost us anything. And I participated in that board. We talked about, you know, just the issues we have with trying to get traffic back and forth and emergency vehicles and things and how our need is for crossings and things. And one of the good things about it is I was able to meet personally with the RCI people after the conference and talk with them. And they actually want to enter into an agreement with us for another six to nine months. It'll actually be a really about a year because it doesn't start for until October. And they're going to help us identify funding sources and they also have technical assistance they have engineers on staff that will help us to be able to design things and all that kind of thing so. So I think it was very beneficial, and they are. They have us on their radar as a community that's very engaged with them, and they want to help us out. And sometimes those groups are really good because they can help us identify grants and things that sometimes we don't know about if we're not involved with some of these folks. So that was a really good experience. It turned out to be a good experience, and I'm glad I went and was able to work with them on that. Item number C that I've got here is I also attended... I have this rock that I passed around a little bit. This is what they call the Stibnite. These posters, you're welcome to look at them. Afterwards, they're kind of interesting. The INL is working with this company to reopen the mine up in Stibnite, which is up in the mountains up above Stanley. That mine will produce gold, and it will also produce antimony, which is... something that we are in this country, we're running into a shortage of because a lot of it comes from China and Russia and some of those supplies are getting cut off. And so this mine will help to protect our country by helping to produce the antimony that they need to use in ammunition and munitions of all kind. and uh it will also help to kind of reignite the economy up in that area because there's kind of a ghost town there now because once the mine shut down back in the after the world wars were over uh the town kind of disappeared so that will kind of that will help a lot with the economy up in that area so that was interesting and we also have another uh another event down at the INL this Friday that we're planning on attending. They're going to be talking more about nuclear energy, the future of nuclear energy, and how we can hopefully use that to bolster our energy grid and all those kind of things. We're pretty actively involved with the INL group so that if there's anything that will benefit Rexburg, such as a small modular reactor or something like that in the future, we're on their list as being interested. So, so those are just some of the things we've been working on behind the scenes here. So yeah, That's it really for my business at this point in time, unless any of you have any questions or anything about anything really in general. If not, we'll go ahead and move to item number 10, which is items of consideration. We have item number A, which is the planning and zoning recommendation to approve the Home Depot subdivision plat located at approximately 901 South Yellowstone Highway.

and this application is to subdivide the property into six lots um alan would you go ahead and tell us a little bit about this please okay mayor council members thank you uh the property is located just east of the temple that is being built out here next to the north rexburg exchange it includes this parcel and this parcel and it will be split up And this will be the plat that will be done in there. Construction has already started on this. Home Depot actually owns their lot individually, but it's included in this plat to move forward. So they have started that construction. So it's presented to you today. Planning and Zoning has reviewed this and they are recommending approval to City Council and we presented it to you.

Thank you, Alan. Is there any questions for Mr. Parkinson on this particular item before we move forward?

Does Home Depot know that?

No. They own the one lot in that.

So there are others involved?

Yes. There's a developer that is running the whole project. It's called the Home Depot just because they're the anchor store in there. And they're here being represented if you have questions for them. Right. Any further questions from anyone?

I know it was brought up at the planning and zoning about traffic. So what is that? Are we concerned about that through there? Like, because it's right next to the freeway.

Yes. And this has all been reviewed. There's been a traffic impact study that's been done. There will be a stoplight placed on that Teton River Temple intersection right there, right in this corner. So it will have the stoplights that meets the all of the requirements according to the traffic impact study. They have their ingress, egress, they're working on that now. They're actually installing sewer lines, or trying to at the moment. That's why you get the big traffic back up out there now.

Yeah.

Yes, traffic has been addressed. It's kind of crazy out there.

Yeah, it's best to avoid that area. If you need to go north, it's better to go around the other way. So right now it's...

The excitement of what's happening. Yeah. So, Alan, just for clarification. Yes. There are two accesses off of, what's that, Teton River Temple Street to the Home Depot parking lot.

Is that correct? And they will be private.

They'll be private.

Yep.

Is that kind of the dimensions? Yeah. Of the right-of-way?

Well, there will be a road building, and they have to build it to a certain width. Those are just the widths they have in there. Where it's private, all they have to do is meet the requirements of the fire department.

Okay, so it'll be... It'll look like a real narrow access from this drawing, and so I just...

wanted to that's 40 acres so sometimes it's hard to yeah to see the scope of that but yes they they will meet the standards that are required for fire and everything else okay but no other access i mean obviously off of second east no not just the one just the one and i believe that's the only one that'll be allowed between walmart and there by the north side of walmart okay All right. Thank you.

Will you be able to access Walmart from the other side? Is that what you're saying?

Well, you'll still be able to pull in the north side. That one will stay in place. But from that north one to the freeway, this will be the only exit off of Second East.

So you haven't allowed for any access to the south then?

No.

Off of Teton River Temple Street?

I'll say that again.

Well, off of the Teton River Temple Street, it doesn't show here any future access to the south.

No, there's nothing shown right now.

Is that part of the plat that we're approving? Yes.

This right here is one parcel over in here.

Because if you say there's going to be no more access to the second east north of Walmart, there's a pretty good section of ground there that's going to need access.

They're going to have roads eventually that will connect into Walmart's parking lot, and then you'll have cross traffic. And eventually you're going to have other roads coming to the east of Walmart that will connect back to Moody. So in the future, that will happen.

But I would imagine that there should be access also on the north of that property through this, through this plat to Teton River. I mean, to have it all connected together. It's not required. There should be at least planning for access to the south.

Yeah. And eventually that will, because one of the things we would like to see is connectivity coming in later on to connect to Walmart's parking lot. So that would come through, but that's at the end of this property line, so it's into the next one before that connection would happen. Right now, they've met the maximum requirement they need for fire, and everything else is only having the one. Future development will connect to this valve.

Heath has a comment about that, too.

I was going to say... We frequently require, as developments occur, interconnectivity through parking lots. So that would be another way for accessing so people don't have to come out, come back in to get to other parking lots. So as development occurs on that south side, we'll be looking at potentially where interconnectivity could happen with that outside of another street right away coming down.

Does that make sense? It does, but I still think there should be a street. At least planning. There will be.

Yeah, there will be. I think there's some confusion here on what you mean by just interconnectivity versus an actual street coming down to Teton River. Because there will be a street coming down to Teton River Drive at some point in time.

No, I'm talking about from Teton River South to the... You're talking from here back to... Yeah, that way.

And more than likely, there will be something that will happen right along here. And that's too far back. Or it may be coming farther here. But there will be, as Keith stated, interconnectivity between these parking lots in the future. And so you will connect across into this one or connect into this one and possibly into this one. Those are all things that is the person that owns the land in between. When he becomes ready to develop his, then we will push for that.

Okay, thank you for that explanation. Okay, if there is no other questions, I would entertain a motion to approve this subdivision plat as stated on the agenda. Is there such a motion?

Mayor, I'll make that motion to approve this Home Depot subdivision plat.

Okay, thank you. Is there a second to that motion? Second by Council Member Johnson. Any further discussion or questions? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Okay, thank you. That motion passes. We'll go ahead with that plat designation. All right, item number 11A is our second readings. We have ordinance number 1350, which is a fiscal year 2027 budget or appropriation ordinance. Is there any, we've gone over that prior. Is there any questions for Mr. Nielsen before we consider a second read? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to consider ordinance 1350, second read.

Mayor, I move that we consider ordinance number 1350, second read.

Thank you, Council Member Teejan. Is there a second to that motion?

I second.

Second by Council Member Reeser.

Is that Reeser? Is that you?

Yep.

Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? All right, we'll consider ordinance 1350, second read. Move on to item number two, which is ordinance 1353, amending the dates for firework stand sales to June 23rd to July 10th to comply with the state statute 39-26061. Any questions for Mr. Rammel about this before we consider it second read? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to consider ordinance 1353, second read.

Mayor, I'll make a motion that we consider ordinance 1353, second read. Thank you.

Motion by Council Member Riggins. Is there a second to that motion?

I'll second that.

Second by Council President Erickson. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? All right, we'll consider ordinance 1353, second read. Item B is our third readings, which is ordinance number 1352, rezone from light industrial and medium density residential two to community business center zone at approximately 4 West Moody Road. Is there any questions about this item before we move forward? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to consider ordinance 1352, third read. make a motion that we consider ordinance 1352 third red thank you council member johnson is there a second to that motion second by council member riggins any further discussion Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? All right, we will consider ordinance 1352, third red, and that will be done with that one. All right, item number 12 is our consent calendar, which is the minutes from the July 15th, 2026 city council meeting and the approval of the city of Rexburg bills. Is there any questions or comments on minutes or bills? Hearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the consent calendar and pay the bills.

All right. Motion by Council Member Reeser. Is there a second? I'll second. Second by Council Member Riggins. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor?

Aye.

I guess I'm assuming he said, I didn't hear it, but okay. That motion passes. We will enter the minutes and pay the city bills. Thank you very much. And all of the vendors that we owe money to thank you very much as well. So, all right. Is there anything else to be brought up? Just, Just any items of announcement or anything like that?

Just a comment about our pickleball courts over in Smith Park, as if we had that discussion.

We have had some discussion about that in staff meetings and such, yeah.

Well, my wife went over and tried to play on them. I mean, they're unplayable.

Oh, really? They've fallen apart. Yeah. We've got a contractor that's been working on those, but I don't know exactly where he's at. Matt, do you know what the status of that is?

They've actually been going back in and reworking those over the last 10 days or something like that. And so I wonder if she was playing on the one that they opened back up. Because remember when we walked it last fall, it wasn't too good, the work that they had done. So the idea is that they're going to go back in and crack seal, open up some of those that were bad, and then they're going to repaint everything again.

Yeah, the paint's all faded away, and it's just not – Yeah, it looked pretty bad this spring. I walked around over there, and I was – If you get a chance, go look at it. You'll see what I mean.

Yeah, and I don't think it's done yet unless he finished it in the last four business. Well, maybe they were in the middle of it.

I was there today, and I didn't go by the pickleball courts, but I could see them, and there was nobody there. There was nobody working or anything.

They're practically unplayable. Yeah. That's the problem.

Well, we'll follow up on that because we're aware of that problem and we've had the contractor supposedly in there doing some work and if there's more to be done, if he hasn't finished it, then we'll push that harder too. uh they will just just since we're on that subject we we received i think we received it some of that netting that you put around the fences to kind of cut the wind and dull the sound a little bit too because we have had a few neighbor complaints about the sound over there so we're uh i think they may i don't know if they've got it up yet but if they haven't got it up yet because i didn't drive by today uh then it'll be going up pretty quickly here so that will hopefully help that matter a little bit too so all right can i can i just bring yes uh one um eagle park um i took my my grandkids over there to ride bikes the other day and uh

Wow, the bathroom facilities there are gross. I mean, it was incredible. And then the trash, the trash cans, I don't know how often those are emptied or whatever, but especially the bathroom facilities are, I mean, they're nice facilities, but they're just not being taken care of. So... I had, I had a pressure washer. I would have gone over there and pressure Washington myself, but I don't have a, I don't have the ability to do that unless I can hook up a long hose. But anyway, just the thought on that. And then I,

Thank you for letting us know that. I haven't been over there for a while, so we'll follow up on that.

The second thought is I've had some employees from BYU-Idaho who have they play on the golf teams for the teams that they form for and then they play golf. There are members of the BYU-Idaho community that play on those teams, but who live outside of the city. And they're charged different fees because they live outside of the city. And the thought that they've brought up to me is those folks work here, they buy here, they do whatever, and they're part of the BYU community. And so they would wanted me to propose that maybe consider that if you are part of the that league that you would pay a straight across the board prize to pay so anyway just uh i don't know how that works i don't know who if i yeah if i if i may yeah or may i yeah and just quickly and just deb is our our wonderful city clerk is i'm sure she's

a little bit with just, we have things on the agenda. And so, uh, rather than have it turn into other things, I would encourage you guys a number one. So Eagle park, I would encourage you, uh, to throughout the week, um, put in a call to city staff specifically who's over Eagle park. And so I think Eagle park would be, uh, Matt, is it, uh, John?

Yeah.

So John, John's going to be gone. So just a week, but we can take care of that from that end.

Yeah. And so, and then from the golf and this kind of leads to my bigger point. And so the purview of, of that decision would fall under the golf board. And so, and we have a wonderful golf board and they come in and hear those proposals. It is a recommending board. Um, and so we meet again on Tuesday. And so I think that would be the perfect place to get done on the agenda. And that can be discussed with the golf board. And then any of those things that are discussed, if it needs to move forward to city council, um, we do that and we just kind of follow in that line.

In other words, what you're saying is things that. or need decisions or whatever should be on the agenda and not brought up. Yeah. So what I'm usually asking for when we're in adjournment is just, do you have an announcement or something like that? But yeah, things that we need to take care of.

No, but we all feel that again, this is when we're together and, and. and doing those things but i think in fairness both to just the golf board and to our other committees put them in front of put it in front of them first um and then uh because again they do a wonderful job and and they meet and they but i do appreciate you letting me know about the the bathrooms and that because we'll follow up on that and couldn't take that do you think you could have whoever you were talking to just send me an email early in the morning yeah

And just have them spell out the request because I'll just need to post by tomorrow, whatever's on that agenda for the golf board. And so if they could include a request in an email, I'll ask them to do it tonight. Okay.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Okay. We are adjourned. Thank you everyone for being here and thank, thank you all for being here. We appreciate that.

Thank you.