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1 Star City Council Meeting Minutes February 7, 2012 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on February 7, 2012 at 7:00 pm at Star City Hall. Mayor Nathan Mitchell called the meeting to order and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Council persons Tom Erlebach, Gary Smith, Tammy McDaniel and Chad Bell were all present. Swearing in of Councilman Tom Erlebach: Mayor Nathan Mitchell administered the oath of office to Councilman Tom Erlebach. Approval of the Agenda: Bell moved to approve the agenda, Smith seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Consent Agenda: McDaniel moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of Claims Against the City for January 2012 and Regular Meeting Minutes of January 17, 2012, Bell seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Presentations/Public Input: Committee Reports – No reports were given. Public Input: Frank Turner, 234 N. Devon Way, Star, Idaho, thanked the Council that listened to him regarding his frustrations with downtown Star. Turner stated that he thought the sidewalk on S. Main Street was a done deal and now we are having a town hall meeting. The Mayor explained the process and reviewed what has happened to date regarding the sidewalk discussion. Turner believes that we need to do the most good for the most people. We need to do the infrastructure for State Street. Business owners aren’t doing much for their own property. Old/New Business: Star Fire Department Lease Agreement: The Mayor explained the power bill has not increased significantly which was to be the determining factor in the rental amount. The Mayor stated that we charge the Water District $200.00 per month for space. Bell suggested charging the Fire Department by square foot usage. Erlebach stated that he is thinking the same, they have three rooms they are using; he does not want to charge for the meeting room. The Mayor will have some calculations for the next meeting. City Committee Guideline Discussion – The Mayor stated that Council was given two sets of guidelines for committees; one is the one we have used in the past. Bell thinks what we have is fairly good. There are a couple things that need to be addressed such as: are we assessing our committees on an annual basis; are we looking to invite and assess the new members; there are no set amount of participants – who is a member and who just shows up; we need guidelines on who is eligible to be on the committee – we haven’t defined that. Bell has polled several people in town and they think that committee members should be citizens of the City of Star. The Mayor stated he believes that it depends on the committee. Erlebach stated that he has no ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 problem with people on the committee, but believes people voting should live within the city limits. The Mayor stated that we can go through it tonight and debate what’s in the handbook or we can think about it. Smith wants to think about it some more. He stated that the financial responsibility is still with the Council. Smith stated these are volunteers and he wouldn’t want to be too restrictive. Bell agrees completely. If we are going to look at this document or if we are going to rewrite it we need to all be on the same page. He appreciates our committee volunteers. Smith stated that we should define the committees. Smith thinks some parts of the guidelines are too restrictive. Smith stated that we need a set number for the committees. McDaniel stated there is nothing in the guidelines for the process of the appointment. The Mayor will draft some changes and bring them back to Council. It was the consensus of the Council that Committee Reports will be given at the last meeting of the month. The Council discussed eliminating a couple committees and add others. Bell stated he has heard from several people regarding the committee members living in the city or outside the city. The Mayor stated he has heard it as well. Terry Malarkey stated that there should be public input. Bell stated that it is totally on our shoulders; we haven’t given committees clear, defined direction. We need to put it in place and it needs to be clearly defined. Denice VanDoren asked if there was anything in the document about ethics. The Mayor stated there was. Date for Home Town Celebration – The Mayor met with some of the Home Town Celebration members and they talked about a different date for the venue. It has been the first Saturday after the fourth of July. The request is for the second Saturday of the month. It was a consensus that it would be the second Saturday in July. Reports: Council – Erlebach stated he has talked with Kim Ingraham and she is very busy and doing a good job. We have 100 participants for the basketball program. Erlebach stated that the Chamber put together a flyer to go into the newspaper for business exposure. Smith asked about the street light in front of Steve’s Auto. The Mayor stated they are working on it. Smith attended the Chamber ribbon cutting and the District 14 meeting. The discussion was on education and redistricting. Smith attended the Eagle City Council to hear about urban renewal. Smith attended the Association of Idaho Cities meeting. Smith talked about the first Friday at Helena Marie’s. Smith attended the credibility connections supported by the Department of Labor. There will be a Senior board meeting tomorrow. McDaniel attended the Chamber banquet; it was very successful and they had a good turnout. Chief Courtney has not returned a call to McDaniel regarding their meetings. Bell stated the Valley Regional Transit meeting scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled due to snow; it has been rescheduled for next Wednesday, the 15th. Bell attended a COMPASS Seminar about housing trends. Bell announced that Jim Eagan passed away Saturday. His funeral will be at 11 on Friday. ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 Mayor – The Mayor stated that Hazel Dixon also passed away, her services will be on Saturday. The Mayor is waiting on bids for drop down microphones. He does have bids on collar microphones, they are $690 a piece or $3,500 total cost. The Mayor stated we would get other bids. The Mayor stated that just as a note to everyone – several nights ago there were a dozen cars broken into on Annafaye (Middle Creek). Several high dollar items were left in cars and they simply broke windows to get them. The road construction at Floating Feather was cleaned up. The Mayor attended the Chambers banquet, it was a great event. Regarding urban renewal, the California Governor has disbanded all urban renewal agencies. The Mayor stated that the minutes would be fixed. The Home Town Celebration group has talked about adding some items to the event this year. They have heard from quite a few people about adding adult entertainment on Friday night. Judy Tomkinson stated not to hold up the date for the HTC because of the quilt show. The Mayor stated we are a year away from renewal of our waste franchise and if the Council is still okay with it we will be accepting other bids. The Council has no problem in accepting other bids. There is a legislative issue right now involving video franchising. The Mayor is in favor of deregulating and opening up the franchises. The Mayor sent out a communication letter to our congressional delegation to support transportation funds for funding Hwy 16. The Mayor will email a copy of the letter to Council. The Mayor stated that there has been an on-going conversation about an ice hockey rink at the west end of the valley. The mayor will be coming to the Council with a formal request to participate in a feasibility study. If it shows that it is feasible, then we would be partners. The Junior Steelheads have committed to becoming the Idaho Stars and locate in Star, if this happens. The Mayor will bring back a more formal presentation at a later date. There is private money already at the table. The Town Hall meeting will be on the 16th. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. Approved: Respectfully Submitted, Nathan Mitchell, Mayor Cathy Ward, City Clerk