City of Kamiah City Council Meeting Minutes December 14, 2022, at 6:00 PM
1/9/2023
City of Kamiah
City Council
Meeting Minutes
December 14, 2022, at 6:00 PM
Mayor: Betty Heater
Council Members: Genese Simler, James Kelly, Scott Moffett, Kaylee Hunt
Guests: See Attached Sign in Sheet
Mayor Heater called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM
Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Motion to Approve Amended Agenda was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member James Kelly. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Motion to Approve Consent Agenda was made by Council Member Kaylee Hunt and seconded by Council Member Scott Moffett. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Public Comments:
We had several public comments regarding the mess on 13th Street.
Candy Borgelt: Has been a resident on 13th Street for 38 years. She is choosing to sell her home for many reasons, but mainly because of the lack of pride she sees in what used to be a lovely neighborhood. She has had several buyers like her home, but once they see the neighborhood, they change their mind about making her an offer. The city has ordinances in place to help prevent the issues that we are facing. There will be no restoration or repair of motor vehicles conducted on any residential property for monetary compensation. Hobbie vehicles are limited to 4 and they can not be stored in the front yard. These are just two of the ordinances that are not being followed. There is also a public nuisance ordinance and a dog ordinance that needs to be addressed. Candy feels the neighborhood is not safe, not appealing, and thinks illegal activity is happening and nothing is being done to correct any of these problems. Her own children hesitate to bring her grandkids for a visit since they feel it isn’t safe to let the kids play outside in the yard.
Lonalee Hoogland: Resides at 711 13th Street. She purchased her home as an investment property and has recently done a partial remodel and landscaping to improve her properties value. She also feels that the nuisance’s on 13th street will make the selling of her home very difficult. She deals with an abandon trailer across the street. There are several racoons, skunks, and feral cats that reside at the abandon trailer that reck havoc on the neighborhood. There is an automotive salvage yard where the resident keeps hauling in vehicles, cargo containers and junk. Across the street form that is a lot suspicious activity going on with suspected drug dealings and the amount of dogs on this property far exceed the cities ordinance. At the end of 13th Street someone had dumped a load of wood in the street making it hard to get a vehicle through on that end of the street, not to mention the inability of a fire truck to get to a home in the event of a fire or an emergency. These issues definitely effect our property values, and we don’t feel safe walking in the neighborhood.
Shirlene Yates: Resides at 721 13th Street and her disabled son lives across the street at 724 13th Street. The neighborhood was pretty comfortable until the summer of 2019 when a couple moved their motorhome onto the neighbors property and were living out of it with several dogs. Shirlene and her son, Craig have been chased by these dogs several times and feel they must carry mace just to protect themselves from being attacked. She is sure that she nor her son would be able to out run these dogs so they have gone from walking back and forth to each other’s homes to driving every time (daily). She knows that these dogs are not licensed and she also states that there are several cars and truck that frequent the property that don’t even have license plates. She is confused as to how these cars are able to drive around town without a license plate. She states that she should be able to feel safe and secure in her own home, and she doesn’t.
Patsey Carpenter: States that she has the same complaints as the others and fears that the dogs will knock her down and seriously injure her.
Dan Prada: He is the listing real estate agent for Candy Borgelt’s home. He told the Mayor and Council that he has shown the home 3 times in the past 4 months. He has had several clients like the home, but once they see the neighborhood, they change their minds. In his opinion the only option they have to sell this home is to lower the price, and this is unfair since the house falls within the comps of the area and is well worth the asking price. It isn’t the sellers problem that the neighbors have excess cars, trailers, busses and junk in their yards.
Mayor Betty Heater: Assures that the city will do what it takes to fix this nuisance and wants the residence of Kamiah take pride in our homes and our community. She will be having the clerks write down addresses and take pictures of the properties that are less desirable and cluttered with junk. They will then issue letters with our ordinances giving a said amount of time to comply with cleaning up their property. If this does not work, we will get the cities attorney and law enforcement involved to correct these problems. Mayor Heater thanked everyone for coming and she assured them that their complaints have been heard.
Mike Tornatore: Mike wanted to let everyone know that he has been working with one the problems on 13th street for some time now. He wants everyone to know that we hear what you are saying, we know there is a problem and we are working on correcting it. He also told everyone that he was talking with the father of one of the properties telling him that his son can not run a automotive repair business out of his home. He was under the impression that the father and son were working on cleaning up the mess, but later realized that the father hadn’t said anything to the son and the son didn’t realize he was violating city ordinances. The city has given a 30-day verbal warning to get the vehicle mess taken care of. With in the next couple of weeks we will revisit the property and make sure it is complying.
Discussion Items:
Stillman Norton was via phone and discussed the next step in the process of the Judicial Conformation Bond for the Bryan Drive Booster Station. He states that the city can now apply for funding. There are several organizations who will provide funding, USDA, DEQ and Rural Development. He has offered to do the paperwork for $1,500 and a special meeting will be held to make this decision.
KFR has requested to extend the red no parking painted on the curb in front of the fire station. They also are wanting to replace the No Parking sign with Fire Lane Emergency Parking Only. The motion to approve extending the no parking and replacing the sign was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member James Kelly. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Request ½ forgiveness of consumption from a water leak at 403 11th Street in the amount of $115.00. The motion to forgive ½ consumption was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member Kaylee Hunt. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Because of the holidays it was decided to cancel the scheduled council meeting on December 28th, 2022. Motion was made by Council Member Kaylee Hunt and seconded by Council Member James Kelly. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Judicial Confirmation has been approved and Stillman Norton has spoken to the council about our next step.
KFR Monthly Report-Jared Silvis: For the month of November Kamiah Fire & Rescue had 60 calls for service. From November 30th,2021 to November 30th ,2022 we are up 130% for the year. Out of the 728 calls for service 563 were EMS, 86 Fire, and 64 Transfers. This year KFR has had 310 hours of training and personal development.
Mayor Betty Heater and City Clerk Brenda Taylor signed the condemnation report of non-compliance with the building inspectors request to demolish and remove the building located at 307 Hill (R) Street in Kamiah.
Motion to go into executive session pursuant to Idaho Code Section 74-206(1) based on the following statutory disclosure requirements (a) (b) to consider personnel matters was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member James Kelly. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye. Motion was made at 6:55PM
Re-enter regular council meeting @ 7:26 PM.
Motion to approve grant writing contract with MFT in the amount of $1,200 each month and when allowed 3% fee of each grant obtained. Motion to approve this contract was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member James Kelly. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Motion to approve Justin Lycan being promoted to Public Works Director January 1,2023 after Mike Stanton’s retirement. Justin’s promotion puts him at a rate of pay of $28.50 an hour. Motion to approve the promotion was made by Council President Genese Simler and seconded by Council Member Scott Moffett. Roll Call Vote: Genese Simler aye, James Kelly aye, Scott Moffett aye, Kaylee Hunt aye.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:28 PM
Next Meeting: January 11th, 2022
“All agendas are posted in accordance with Idaho Code Title 74.”
___________________________ ____________________________
Betty Heater, Mayor Brenda Taylor, City Clerk