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State of the City of Eagle 2019 Welcome Everyone It is great to live in our community and a pleasure to work for the Citizens of Eagle. The City of Eagle, as you can see by the number of people here today, enjoys the luxury of having citizens that are engaged and see their participation as a large part of shaping our City and making Eagle what it is today. I have to say a few things about - Stan Bastian. Stan was appointed to the Eagle City Council in 1991 and first elected to the Council in 1992 and served until 2008. He was elected to the Idaho Senate in 2008. He served on the College of Western Idaho Board from 2008 to 2019. He was reelected to the Eagle City Council in 2015. Stan has been a dedicated public servant for Idaho and Eagle for 28 years. Please join me in giving him a big round of applause for his dedication and service. Enclosed in your program insert is a list of donors . Total scholarship funding for the past two years is over $13,700. Today I am going to focus on Eagle’s - History, Growth and the Future: I am happy to report that the State of the City is Healthy! I would be willing to bet that in February 1971, when the Ada County Commission approved Eagle as a new city no one imagined that the small rural community would grow into the community you see today. At incorporation the population was 359, most of the land was agricultural and everybody knew your name. By Comparison: Here are the incorporation dates and current population of Ada County cities. Boise in 1864, nearly 100 years before Eagle was incorporated, Meridian,1903, Kuna, 1915 and in Garden City, 1949. Star was incorporated in 1905, the incorporation was turned back in 1929. The City was incorporated again in 2000. Over the past 48 years Eagle has grown an average of 650 people a year or approximately two people a day. Some notable dates in our history include: In 1976, Jerry Deckard and Jerry Potter started the Eagle Business Association the forerunner to the Chamber of Commerce. ---PAGE BREAK--- In 1978, The City adopted it’s first comprehensive plan. Since then we have had 13 amendments or updates with the most recent completed in November of 2017. In 1989, Mayor Guerber appointed the Horizons Task Force to review the City’s comprehensive plan, a new plan was adopted a year later in 1990. In 2000, the city had grown to a population of 11,085 in 10 years from 1990 Eagle grew by 233%. By 2010, the city had another large jump in population to 19,908 an increase of 80% We anticipate the 2019 population estimates for Eagle will be just under 32,000 residents. This is another 60+% increase in 9 years. Today the average daily increase of people moving to Eagle is approximately 9 people a day. Eagle encompasses 17.5 square miles, within Eagle we have 1,200 acres of federal BLM land and approximately 377 acres of County enclaves within the City. Enclaves are created when land is surrounded on all sides by property within the city limits. Eagle, as it is today, has always been a crossroads for the Valley. The Oregon Trail followed the City’s southern city limits. Depending on the weather of the previous winter, parties traveled either along the bottomlands of the south channel of the Boise River near Lakemoor or along the higher and drier bench which is roughly the route of today’s Chinden Boulevard. At the north end of the City was the Goodale Cutoff, originally used to get miners to an area near Riggins. One of the early contributors to the growth of Eagle was the Interurban Trolley, running from 1890 to 1928. The Boise Valley Loop was used to connect Eagle to all of the cities and towns in the valley and to move farm produce and freight. On a lighter side of history In the early years the Boise newspaper enjoyed poking fun at the new city of Eagle they thought it was an easy target. It is said that the city, at that time, was a little more than a telephone and the trunk of the Mayor’s car. Why do people choose Eagle? Standards established years ago by mayors and council members set high standards for Eagle. Their vision was for Eagle to become a town with a Smalltown type of atmosphere. They established strict building and design standards. Today if you compare our city to some others you will see an excellent mix of residential areas from small to large lots, small to large homes, apartments, condos and townhouses. The Comprehensive Plan spells out transition areas where one type of land use changes to a different use. What you see today is a standard for development that sets Eagle apart. City leaders in the past and present continue to hold the line to keep Eagle what it is today. Time and time again we hear residents new and old tell us our high standards and quality of life are why they live here. While Eagle holds the distinction of having the highest average property values in the Treasurer Valley, if not the state, we also have the distinction of having the lowest tax levy in the Valley. The average home in Eagle is valued at $388,700 City taxes on the average home are $383.00 a year after the home owners exemption. ---PAGE BREAK--- In 2018, 95 homes in Ada County sold above 1 million dollars. The average price of the 95 homes was $1,334,252. – The City of Eagle lead the county with 46 of those home sales. These numbers are reflective of the high standard our City has placed on maintaining Eagle’s standard and as a great place to live, work and play. One of the largest challenges today is how do we maintain our standard and support the infrastructure needed for a growing community as we go forward. In November 2017, the City adopted a new comprehensive plan that set a plan to diversify the City’s tax base while also preserving and enhancing the quality of life we all enjoy. In the three short years since I was elected Mayor, the City as well as the Treasurer Valley have experienced many changes. Just think about the changes taken place with elected officials in the past three years. We have a new Governor and Lt. Governor. Two of the three legislative officials for district 14, all three of the Ada county commissioners, one of five Ada County Highway Commissioners, two of Three Eagle Fire District Commissioners, and three of Four Eagle City Council members are all new. All totaled, fourteen of twenty-one elected officials representing the people of Eagle are new and ten had not held public office before. We continue to recover from the downturn of the economy. Last year we undertook a large project of updating one of our parks. Guerber Park was completed before the peak of the last boom. The down turn in the economy created a situation that prevented the City from doing much of the maintenance needed to keep the park in good condition. During the past year a new splash pad, a playground that is ADA accessible, new pathways and playing areas have attracted people to the park from all over the treasure valley. To ensure that we protect ourselves from a lack of future maintenance we established a deprecation schedule to fund major repair and replacement. Eagle’s Performance in the past year includes hiring Robin Collins as the new Economic Development Director. She in conjunction with the Boise Valley Economic Partnership and the Idaho Department of Commerce is working to bring much needed commercial development to the City. Our goal in this endeavor is to bring needed services to our residents and to help relieve some of the tax burden on homeowners. Our current goal is an 80 to 20 split between homes and commercial property taxes. In addition, she be will working closely with the Eagle Urban Renewal Agency as their executive director. We see this partnership as a big step forward for the City and the URA district including our historic downtown. The city council voted to enlarge the membership of the Urban Renewal Agency. The expanded make-up gives the board a broader membership with a wide variety of experience to support projects to remove blighted areas, assist with tax increment reimbursements and promote economic growth. In Parks, Trails, and Recreation, individual programs developed by the department have increased offerings to residents from infants to seniors. Several sports classes including a unique spin called Sports- A-Polooza, and golf 101. ---PAGE BREAK--- Most exciting is the addition of an Eagle Youth Soccer League that will start its first season in August. Please look through the latest Activity Guide mailed to all Eagle households for programs that will enhance your enjoyment of your community. Easter the Spring Hiking Series, and the Detroit Rip Rap Tours might be right for you. If you use our trails and pathways along the river you know of the damage caused by the floods two springs ago. Our trails and pathways superintendent is the City’s lead on securing funding from FEMA to make the necessary repairs to our trails and paths. To date we have fully repaired the Laguna trail, we received $102,000 in FEMA funds and a city match of $34,000 to complete the project. We will soon begin repairs and improvements on the north channel greenbelt trail from the Garden City border to Mace River Ranch. We have learned firsthand and experienced the difficulty in coordinating with Federal and State agencies to secure funding. As I understand we are the only municipality in the area putting in the time to secure the 1.7 million in federal dollars needed to complete our repairs. In addition a group of individuals headed by Don Stockton, Robert Minch, and engineers from JUB engineering have been working to secure the necessary easements to extend the Mace Trail into Eagle Island State Park. The Dry Creek Trail and Underpass, a new trail, located next to the Eagle Nazarene Church is fully functional. The City will add pathway lighting early this spring to complete the project. This project took longer and cost more than expected however a combination of a federal grant and city funds made this path and connection under highway 44 a safe passage for us all. Special thanks to the Eagle Nazarene Church and Nichoel in our planning and zoning department who coordinated the project. In a couple of months work will start to rebuild and upgrade Reed Merrill park. Again, we will fund deprecation for future needs. We are proud of our recent purchase of 35 acres of land to build our first park on the west side of Eagle Road. The land is located at the Floating Feather and Meridian Road intersection. The new park will include a new long awaited Dog Park for our canine friends and baseball and softball fields for our youth. We also received a small parcel of land on Plaza Drive and Second Avenue from Ada County Highway District. Nicknamed “Fitness Park” the general plan is to add amenities to this area that will support the senior/accessible equipment installed on the north side of Plaza Drive. We are also pleased to announce a donation of approximately 12.5 acres of land located on the North channel of the Boise River adjacent to Renovair and Truman Cove developments. Charlie Wood made the donation to the City at the end of 2018. Preliminary plans are to have a natural park and to stock the two ponds located on the property for fishing. The area is in a flood-way, therefore amenities will be somewhat limited. Special thanks to Mr. Wood. We will schedule a ground breaking as plans are finalized. We are continuing our efforts to secure additional park land as new developments materialize in the Western area. 2018, was the library’s busiest year yet. Total items loaned increased by 26.7% - to 565,000 items. This includes books, dvds, audiobooks and games. In addition to traditional library offerings reading clubs, ---PAGE BREAK--- early childhood literacy classes, preschool and elementary school-age STEM classes, teen classes, adult classes and self-directed educational opportunities were offered to people of all ages. As with the rest of the valley Eagle saw a robust year. The Building Department issued 709 single family home permits and 12 commercial permits for 2018, and our Planning & Zoning Department processed 289 land use applications. In 2019 the City will undertake our 1st City wide capital facility plan to establish policies for new and on- going infrastructure investments. The Public Works Department highlights for the past year included the rebuilding and expansion of Guerber Park, it is an outstanding improvement involving hours of oversite from our staff. Our fleet was upgraded with another hybrid vehicle and tracking systems were installed in vehicles. Web- based irrigation controllers were installed to improve efficiency and energy savings. Also a new enclosure was installed for the recycling area with art work funded by the Arts Commission. Glass recycling, leaf recycling and increased capacity for all recycling activities is overseen by Public Works. They also worked with a local boy scout on an Eagle Scout project that identified, and tagged all City street light poles. City Clerks and Treasurer Departments special projects this year include a compensation and class study by the Mercer Group to review and evaluate all job classification and pay scales for city employees. Each employee’s position and job description was rewritten. We feel the changes recommended by the study will allow us to retain employees and ensure that they are compensated for their job skills. In conjunction with the study they will update the City’s personnel manual. The clerks also completed a new purchasing policy manual, researched and decided on new payroll system to improve efficiency. In March of 2017 at the state of the city we discussed Domestic Water Services in Eagle. On the screen is a copy of the slide used to outline water companies and customers. At that time I stated that it would only be a matter of time before someone would purchase Eagle Water Company and it would be in the best interest of the City of Eagle to purchase it. The next slide is a comparison of customers then and now. What has transpired since that time is a matter of great frustration to me as Mayor and obviously frustrating to the city council and our citizens. In 2007, bond proposal was considered to provide funding for the purchase EWC At that time, after significant public comment and concern, the decision was made to cancel the bond election. Later the City signed an intertie agreement at the request of Eagle Water Company in 2008. The agreement set forth a first right of refusal for the purchase of Eagle Water Company. The agreement states, if Eagle Water Company determines to sell or convey all or any part of its Water System, which shall be deemed to include, but not be limited to, water rights, wells and other infrastructure, and received a bona fide offer for this Water System, before making any agreement to sell all or any portion of the Water System, EWC shall give notice to the City stating their desire to sell and the amount and terms of such offer in detail. ---PAGE BREAK--- Discussions were restarted in 2013 when a company now known as H2O solutions approached city officials about purchasing EWC. These discussions progressed through 2018 and abruptly came to a halt, when Suez announced through a press release, that EWC, and H2O Solutions entered into an agreement to sell the company to Suez. We feel it is in the best interest of Eagle citizens, business owners and the City to purchase Eagle Water Company. As we go forward with the process required to pursue this purchase, we ask for and need your support. As we look ahead, Eagle will continue to grow as the rest of the Valley grows: We can anticipate growth and development in the area west of Linder Road. We will work on enclaved Ada county properties to bring them into the City, and update zoning ordinances to better implement the comprehensive plan. We plan on formalizing BLM land uses, and Initiate the Capital Facilities Plan. We will also be working with home and business owners to establish clear community boundaries related to enforcement of city codes. Mayors Awards: This year’s mayor’s award for Community Spirit goes to Robert “Bob” Wright. Bob grew up in Rupert, Idaho. Bob’s father and uncles founded Wright Brothers in 1956. Bob attended Boise State where he met his wife and business partner, Terri. Bob & Terri moved to Eagle in 1980 and in 1981 Bob, Terri, and partners formed Wright Brothers, a construction company as we know it today. With over 50 years of construction experience Bob has played a huge role in the City of Eagle and how we look. Wright Brothers has built or remodeled many of Eagle’s great buildings and public spaces including: the Eagle Library, Heritage Park, Merrill Park, the Winding Creek Building, & Smokey Mountain, to name a few. Bob and Wright Brothers is known by all as a community partner and have supported the City on numerous occasions: They provide labor and equipment for events like Day of Caring, Eagle Fun Days, and snow removal to those who needed help; Bob helped establish and rejuvenate the Eagle Viticulture Development and wine industry; He brings lunch to the Eagle Fire Department, Police Department and families in need during Christmas. You can even find Bob walking the streets of State Street and Eagle Road picking up the trash twice a year for the Adopt A Highway Program. Bob also initiated the Eagle 616 Lions club so that we could breathe life into our community, including The Eagle Veterans Program & Together, Bob & Terri have raised 4 children in our community. In 2019, Bob handed over the reins of Wright Brothers to the next generation. Bob now enjoys spending time with his 5 grandkids. He loves being called “papa” and teaching them the value of community and sharing his love for the community which he helped build. ---PAGE BREAK--- Citizens and community partners know Bob as an advocate for Eagle and for his endless support of the community and the people in it. For these reasons I give Robert Wright the 2019 Eagle Mayor’s award for community spirit. Bob and his family are out of town due to a death in the family, Robert Grubb will be accepting the award on behalf of Bob Wright. This year’s mayor’s award for Philanthropy goes to Shah Afshar. Shah, his wife and two daughters have lived in Eagle’s impact area for almost 20 years. Shah was born in Iran in 1954 and is 1 of 4 brothers. Shah’s hometown has many similarities to Eagle, a community with a rich culture including Poetry, Music, Food and Art. The wine Syrah is from this part of Iran. In the 1970’s Shah moved to California to attend Pepperdine University and eventually made his way to Idaho State University. In 1979, Shah graduated with a degree in Pharmacy. Due to the political unrest between the US and Iran early in his career, Shah was challenged to find the right employment. To that end Shah became a self- employed small business man. This entrepreneurial spirit lead to Shah opening “All night Pharmacy”. As the Boise valley grew, Shah looked to find meaningful and profitable ways of serving his community. He partnered to open a new pharmacy that focused on serving nursing homes and assisted living facilities and by the late 1990’s the business had boomed. Eventually, Shah sold his business and looked to establish himself as a custom-tailored pharmacy that provided compounding services- the practice of providing patient specific custom pharmaceuticals that was common in the 1900’s. In 2002, Shah opened Customedica Pharmacy in Downtown Eagle. In 2012, Shah purchased the current Customedica site. Shah’s vision for his business and community mindedness lead to the development a pedestrian friendly community-oriented business within Downtown Eagle. Through Shah’s business success he has committed himself to supporting many organizations throughout the Valley. Shah is arts minded. He regularly attends and supports the ballet and philharmonic. But Shah is a very modest and shy philanthropist. Without recognition, Shah has provided space in his building for the Eagle Food Bank. He holds fundraising events supporting the Food bank as well as other community activities. People throughout Eagle know Shah for being a big hearted, deeply caring, and honest person. For these reasons I give Shah Afshar the 2019 Eagle Mayor’s award for philanthropy. In Conclusion, Eagle continues to be a great community with a bright future thanks to the efforts of our citizens, elected officials and staff. As we venture forward into 2019 we all strive to enhance our community as we continue to call Eagle Home! Thank you.