The Malad City Council met for a regular meeting on Wednesday, November 11.  This are not the official minutes of the meeting, and should not be taken as such, though they do reflect the proceedings of the meeting.  Some topics may have been left out or truncated for space.  The city office can be contacted for complete records of municipal meetings.

There were two hearings at the meeting, in addition to a lengthy agenda.  

Public hearing—Zoning Change, Isaacson

Dave and Keeton Isaacson of  727 S Main sought a rezone of their property to commercial from residential.  The PZ committee recommended to rezone due to the proximity of other commercial buildings nearby.   

Keeton spoke to the council, explaining that they were “looking to rezone so we can have our rental business there.”

HOA president for the Cedar Ridge development adjacent to the property spoke.  The residents had expressed concern about the amendment.  This was mostly due to the lack of fencing, containment, and the visual space that might result.  They requested the installation of privacy fence and removal of debris, etc.

The PZ committee’s comment was that the hearing itself was for rezoning, whereas some of the concerns seemed to have to do with different issues than zone.  Notices went out to nearby homeowners.  The HOA was not asking for the notice to be denied, but for the homeowners be aware.  

The property owners stated that they were fine with doing whatever they could to accommodate the development’s concerns, and the two sides are starting to speak with one another.  

The hearing was closed, and the council deliberated.  Councilman Lance Tripp motioned to accept the PZ recommendation for rezone.  The rezone motion passed.  Mayor Hawkins advised them to stay in contact and that there were other things that the situation could be revisited as it develops. 

Public hearing for variance—Landon Maedgen

Essentially, Maedgen was seeking a variance in order to turn an outbuilding (garage) into a residential space through remodeling.  The issue is that the garage did not meet the minimum square footage for a designated residence in the city, eing around 100 sq ft smaller than the 850 sq ft requirement. The cinderblock garage is on 100 W.  

PZ Administrator Shelly Williams noted that “after a long discussion” the PZ committee recommended denying the variance in order to keep residential homes 850 sqft. Williams noted that the building “wasn’t a home beforehand, it was a garage without living quarters, more like an accessory building” and that“If you allow [the variance], who else would want to do this with a shed?”  There was also some discussion reported about whether it would even be feasible to make it livable. 

Maedgen explain that the high cost of housing prices at the moment was one factor that had interested him in the project.  He epxlinaed that he thought it would be nice to build it out into a home.  “I understand if it doesn’t pass, I could always just build on to it,” he said.

Lance Tripp noted that  “We have had a lot of discussion in this past year over these kind of issues, and I would hate to set a precedent.”

The denial of the variance was unanimous.

Sheriff Williams

Williams told that council that there had been 163 total incident reports for county and city.  5 at the schools.  

He stated that “things are a little calmer.”  The city seized 4 oz of marijuana in October.  

Applications have come in for some of the open positions in the department, which is still working under full capacity.    

Williams reported that after the first of the year, the abandoned vehicle process changes.  The changes should make it easier for both the Sheriff’s Office and the wreckers who become involved in the process.

PZ

Administrator Shelly Williams stated that “We had a boring month.”  Other than the two public hearings just discussed, “It seems a little quiet.” Fingers crossed.

Recreation

Scott Ray of the Recreation Board recommended the nomination of Heather and Justin Howe as directors of the rec program. They will oversee a number of sports, and they would also like to start basketball.  After discussion it was determined that they will be the 2026 directors of the Rec Board.  

For basketball, it would be Thursday nights and Friday mornings at the elementary school.  The length of the games, and the teams were yet to be decided.  The first year they would rearrange the teams to try to make them as close as possible in skill. Then they would re-evaluate.  The cost and rental of the gym, as well as the exact nature of the games and team distribution were still being discussed.  The hope was to hold the games in the month of Dec and into Jan.  

A  motion to add the basketball program was passed.  

Ray also raised the issue of adding lattice to the courts.  The lattice would alleviate the problem of damage to the court surface.  Gravel, which is tracked in by people using the court, has the potential to degrade the court surface over time.  Lance Tripp thinks it would be about $500 to install the added screen to keep sediment from blowing in through the fence.    

“This spring we had a lot of leaves,” Ray said.  “Thanks for the extra ones!” Ray joked.  [The city planted more trees near the courts earlier this year.]  

A motion to approve fence netting (shade screen) for up to 600$ passed.  

Tyler Webster thanked Scott for being on site and notifying him whenever things need to happen at the park.   

City Superintendent Tyler Webster 

Webster advised that dives into the water tanks were performed recently.  Sediment was cleaned out.  There was about a half inch of sediment at the intake.

Webster sought approval for a snowplow from Filer.  A 2006 International Bobtail  Sander and a plow was located for $59,516.  There are a bit over 70K miles on it.  Motion passed.  

Pond 5 should be almost empty but is almost 2/3 full.  If they can hold out until December to empty it, it should be ok.  

Code Enforcement

John Chirstophersen says that his letters have been effective.  There are a few people that haven’t responded, but many have.  RVs being occupied as residences have been an issue.  One person wants to be on the agenda about their options.  

There are two sheep that have been located in the city, and no one has been able to figure out whose they are.  The brand inspector doesn’t have any jurisdiction over sheep.  

JC reported one annoying dog, which must be an undercount.  

City Attorney Brett Evanson

To the question of the plow truck approval, Evanson noted that there is a procurement statute for things above $75K.  Otherwise the rules are mostly up to the city.  There is nothing in the city code about it.  Evanson looked at policies around Idaho.  In Sandpoint, there is a range where in those ranges, different employee levels are authorized to make decisions.  

A per diem policy for travel expenses (food, mileage) will be drafted.  

On the issue of property exchange, Evanson stated that according to ID code, the city can do that, as long as it declares the value of the property to be exchanged.  He advises that they should have an appraisal.  He also thinks they should do a public meeting about the process and do a notice.  The prop must be exchanged for real prop of equal value.  Then the documents are executed.  The value of the parcels behind the City Hall [which had precipitated the discussion in question] is unknown.  

City ordinance to add golf and go karts as prohibited uses to the park ordinance was discussed.  

Ordinance 502 deals with rules for the city park and rec facilities was approved.  

Jeni Sperry got a quitclaim deed, which can be signed and recorded so that the library owns the little piece of property to its west.  

The ordinance number will be added to signs in the park to help enforcement 

Steve Fandel

Through a long process, Fandel found out he has a cistern and is not hooked to city sewer.  He has been paying sewer for 15 years.  The city can’t back pay for the whole time, he realized, but wondered what could be done.  The house was purchased in 2010 to fix up for retirement.  His wife passed away in 2011, and since then he has been coming up and working on the house.  He retired in 2018, and has done a lot of work on it.  Last year he had the driveway paved and asphalted.  He had a problem with a downstairs toilet, and then found out there isn’t a line.  Initially, various plumbing services thought it might be broken.  They jackhammered down to the possible line, and found that the 110 year old house has a cistern.  It was completely cleaned out, but it was determined there was no pipe out to the street.  From the house to the middle of the street would be $31K.  He went to Pocatello and got a steel plate to seal the access to the cistern so that it can be pumped out on demand.  He figured that he should be able to get some sort of refund for fees paid.  He has receipts from January 2015 until September of this year.  The total was over $4,500.  

Attorney Evanson noted that the statute of limitations on this issue  is “a little bit tricky.”  He believes there is a statutory 3 year look back period, but that it is possible that the it could go back to 8 years in some circumstances.  

Fandel had talked to Jerry Thomas, who used to live across the street.  Thomas said that when the line was run down 400 W it wasn’t going to go down 400 N, so some residents did it themselves.  

Fandel was looking for some kind of refund.  “I put a lot of money into fixing that house up,” he noted.  $1,692 would cover 3 years that are under discussion.  

Councilmember Jaime Olsen motioned to compensate for the whole amount [the $4,500 or so] from the sewer account, rather than wait until a later meeting to decide.  The motion passed unanimously.  

Trees at the Park

The light show situation was discussed.  Locations for this year are potentially problematic.  After exploring the potential locations for the show that would allow for parking, viewing, and the necessities of the equipment, the only places located were the previous site near the library—which is currently undergoing sidewalk installation—and another spot in the park.  The issue with the second spot was that there are two trees that would potentially need to be removed.

The new sidewalk has been dug out, but they still need to put it in.  The work and materials are free, which is why the timeline is not up to the city.  They will not make it here in time to set up the light show.  The sidewalk pouring would have to wait until spring, or they would have to find another location for the light show.  

A motion to remove trees and move the light show to the second location in the park passed.  

Development Water Rights

There is a zoning requirement that stipulates that irrigation has to be used for outside watering.  

The CR developer is requesting a will-serve letter from the city verifying that there is enough culinary water and infrastructure for the Cedar Ridge development.  The letter helps the project gets financing.  It is for the Health Dept, and is potentially a new requirement since phase one and two of the project were initiated. 

Tyler Webster said that typically, the water rights come with the land.  He suggested limiting water usage in common areas.

Shawnee Shirk spoke to the council representing the developers.  She said that they used 5.2 acres of watered lawn.  Between the 3 phases, that’s 19 buildings, 76 units, .068 acres.  The average in Idaho is .3 acres of lawn.  

Evanson clarified what the developers were asking for.  Shirk said that SIPH [Southeastern Idaho Public Health] wanted a letter saying there is enough sewage room for the waste.  And they also need a letter from DEQ stating that there is enough culinary water.  

Lance Tripp wanted to know what to do going forward about water rights that are sold with a property.  

Shirk wanted to know how or why there may have been changes to what was required between phases.  Evanson said that he will look into it, but he bets that the ordinance was in place, but was not complied with.  He said that there is an ordinance that says that building in a irrigation zone means that the developer needs to bring water rights.  

Mayor Hawkins didn’t think there would be a problem with either of those letters and that the water study showed that.  

The mayor asked Shirk about the potential for zeroscaping to decrease the amount of water needed from secondary sources.  

The HOA pays a water bill, and the whole thing is on one system.  

A motion to sign those letters was approved.  

America250

Lon Colton and Leigh Love spoke to the Council about the America250 plans for the upcoming year.  

He explained that it was a good idea to meet with the city and figure out what was going on between the two groups.  This is largely because the city is generally in charge of organizing the Fourth of July events in Malad, and the America250 committee is planning to make the 4th the pinnacle of the celebration of the country’s semiquintennial [250 year] celebration.

Right now, there is $5K approved by the county.  The committee was hoping to celebrate throughout the year leading up to the 4th.  Colton’s intent is to encourage businesses to do things on their own as well, a sentiment that was echoed by committee member Leigh Love and others.  The idea is that the commemoration is a once in a lifetime event, and rather than dictate all of the events, it would be great if the spirit of the celebration were adopted wholesale throughout the community.

The committee itself would like some small event every month or two, leading up to the 4th.  The first of those activities was the float in the Homecoming parade, which introduced the concept to many who had not heard of the planned America250 national drive.

Colton reported that the state is doing a project with the “Spuddy Buddies” [the state potato mascots, which have been redressed as Revolutionary War figures] The state treasurer has allowed for the use of them.  Some of the Buddies made an appearance at the Malad Elementary Veterans program, where visitors were offered the chance to sign the “Declaration of Independence,” which will be gathered from across the state and displayed at the capital next year.

“This is the first and only time that you’ll have a 250 year of the Declaration of Independence, and let’s make this a blow out of the water activity!” Colton said.  

There was some discussion about the plans going forward.  The city wanted to make sure that 4th of July events that are part of the community traditions, such as the kids races, will be in place.  It was clarified that there were no plans to remove any event of that sort.

“The plan is to use the same people, but just have it be bigger than ever,” Love said. “100% this is a community event for everyone.”

Discussions of some of the specific events that might be planned was then undertaken.  Some of the events planned will take place on the 3rd.

“We want it to be nice and big and special,” Love said. 

“We’re all on the same team with this,” Lance Tripp said.

“Let’s make it amazing,” Love said.   “We don’t want donations from businesses, we want businesses to get into it themselves.”  

Colton noted that another thig that had been discussed was painting murals around the town.  The plan would be to work through the art dept at the HS.