Just.
Ruth Pierce.
Yes.
Chris Read Yes.
Greg Hawkins.
Yes.
Jason brown.
Yes.
Nathan Murray.
Yes Grayson Stone.
Yes.
Cherry bomber.
Yes.
OK.
Motion carries 7 to 0.
It takes us to our items of consideration.
In our first item of consider is a request to authorize a city
engineer to approve a Southwell number five,
change order for Pheasant PRV in the amount of $847,410.
Includes some contingency for a total request of $900,000.
There we go.
John Here we go.
Yes.
My name is John keefer, staff engineer, working for the city,
specifically the request is to authorize
the city engineer to approve a Southwell
Number five, change order.
The change order is merging the pheasant PRV with the Southwell
number five project.
The pheasant provides an existing project It is.
The city is creating a new pressure zone along the Pheasant
Road and a new pressure release valve going in at Pheasant Road
and kenyon Road as well as there are multiple water valves that
are being shut off, setting up a pressure
zone on that pheasant Road and we have a water
pipe specifically that we're connecting to sides
on either side of the coulee as well This
is all right next to the Southwell, number five.
And so it is more efficient cost wise
as well as schedule wise to put these two together.
They're both water system improvement
projects The Pheasant PRV has its
own $850,000 budget already OK.
Any questions for John ?
Kay, What are council's wishes?
Ruth Pierce Yes, I move we authorize the city engineer
to approve a Southwell.
Number five.
Change order for Pheasant PRV in the amount of $847,410
and include some contention c for a total
requests of $900,000.
Sherry vomer.
I'll second have a motion and a second to approve to authorize
the city engineer to approve a Southwell Number five,
change order for pheasant for the pheasant PRV in the amount
of 847,410 and include some contingency for a total
request of $900,000.
Any further discussion?
OK.
Amy, roll call.
Vote, please proceed.
Yes Frank Hawkins.
Yes.
Jason brown.
Yes.
Nathan Murray.
Yes.
Grayson Stone.
Yes Harry Bulmer.
Yes.
Andrew pearce.
Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries Seven zero.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Kate that brings us to our next item of consider a request
to use the saving from Harmon Park Court Light
project to finish the landscape and purchase some benches.
And we have Wendy Davis Good evening.
Marin Council.
It's kind of nice to be here saying
we got something almost done.
And we saved some money So if you'll recall in February
the proceeds of the sale for the fire station were allocated
to Baxter's Park with 130,000 reserved to do the lighting
at the Harmon Court.
And as Harmon Park Tennis Court project So as we're nearing
completion of that, we're anticipating about $29,000
in savings Out of that 130.
And the landscaping part which is where the park hits
the sidewalk, there's a significant difference
in elevation between the existing grass We need
to redo the sprinkler system and do all
those things that I think originally parks
had planned to try to do that.
The amount of work that's going to require They
don't have the bandwidth to get to it right now.
And so i went and got an estimate
to see what it would take to bring a contractor in
to finish the project.
I'm the savings would certainly cover that.
And then any additional savings.
We have from that, we would allocate
to the little bit of savings.
We have off of the court project to buy the benches to put around
the tennis courts and pickleball courts
So that's what the request is Do you have any questions ?
Sherry vomer i don't have any questions,
I'm ready to make a motion, but I'm
really happy to see that Harmon Park
is getting the new things done.
I went by and saw a lot of that work that's being done
and it's great.
It must have lights Park So the lights are almost done.
I noticed on Friday they were up.
And so there i think they're about done too.
So it's it's good, I think.
Go ahead, Sherry So I will move to use the savings from harmon
Park Court lighting project to finish the landscaping
and purchase benches.
Chris Reid i'll second have a motion and a Second to approve
the request to use the savings from Harmon Park Court
lighting project to finish the landscape and purchase benches.
Any further discussion ?
Amy Roll call.
Vote please.
Craig Hawkins yes.
Jason Brown Yes Nathan Murray Yes.
Grayson Stone Yes Barry Volmer Yes Bruce
Pierce Yes Chris Reid Yes.
Kate Motion carries 720.
Wendy looks like you've got the next one as well.
I do.
I'm parked here for a minute but this one
is a item of consideration to consider a request
to approve the amendment to the memorandum of understanding
between the Idaho State Department of Agriculture year
and the City of Twin Falls, and authorize the mayor to sign it.
Thank you so in April of 2025, we entered it.
We had a memorandum of understanding
for the use of that space to do the hot wash stations.
It also outlined the reimbursable bowl project piece
and the state's commitment to reimbursing the city
for any improvements that we make down there
as part of their wash station.
And then the future use of the space
and when we allocated the fire funds in five uary,
I still didn't have an updated mOU.
So this amendment has taken a little while to get,
but we're finally, there and it just really extends
it through the end of the year.
So if i'm lucky, we'll be able to get this work done
and get it taken care of.
But I don't see them going anywhere for a while.
So I think we'll see this MOU coming again.
But hopefully we can have the wording in it in such a way that
makes everybody happy So the next time it'll be super easy
But tonight it's simply just the approval of the MOU
and knowing that the funds we allocated
in February if I don't get that under contract I'll
be back in October.
So to reallocate some of those funds
to do the rest of that work down there at the boat launch.
So know the questions for Wendy Bruce Pierce i'm
happy to make a motion and go ahead, move We approve
the amendment to the memorandum of understanding
between the I'll state department of Agriculture
and the city of Twin Falls, and authorize the mayor to sign it.
Craig Hawkins second, you have a motion
and a second to approve the request
or to approve the amendment to the memorandum of understanding
between the idaho State Department of Agriculture
and the City of Twin Falls, and authorize the mayor to sign
it any further discussion?
Amy Roll call.
Vote, please.
Jason Brown.
Yes.
Nathan Murray Yes.
Jason Stone.
Yes Vollmer Yes.
Pierce Yes.
Yes.
Craig hopkins Yes.
OK.
Motion carries.
720.
Thank you Thank you Okay.
That brings us to our last item of consideration tonight
and that is a request to award a contract tonight for every
corporation in the amount of 1,360,700 and $787 and authorize
the mayor to sign it sign the f f ACA about screwed up again.
FAA Grant Applicant nation and con contract for Terminal
Access improvements Thank you.
Yeah, I even wore a different color jacket today
to try to help with that confusion
and help me figure out Right.
Yeah.
Good evening Mayor and council Tonight I'm here for, to ask you
to consider the request or word knife River Corporation
in the amount to it in into a contract for the amount
of $1,306,787 for the terminal access Improvement Project
Hopefully you see now on your screens the graphic that helps
show the scope of this work.
This work is going to repave the airport loop.
Thank you.
Sorry i so the you can see that we're
going to repave airport loop, which is the main access
into the terminal.
We're also going to address the sidewalks that
are in mostly short term in order
to fix some ADA compliance issues that we have.
And it will also address some of the aDA ramp access
onto sidewalks out into long term.
The whole idea here is to make it easier for our customers
to access the terminal building and make it
a safer, more reliable experience for them coming in.
In addition, we're going to replace the sewer
line and the water line that comes
into the terminal on the west side of the terminal building.
So will improved that while we have the pavement torn up
and working in that area in front of the terminal
So this process, did go through a public bid process at bid
opening, we had five different bids
and p C was initially we identified
as the apparent low bid.
Once we went through, the FAA mandated process
to vet those bids and make sure that all of the rules
were followed we discovered that there were some errors
and omissions that made the pBC bid non responsive In addition,
it's important to note that we found out that the bid schedule
number two, which was an additive alternate that would
have allowed us to put heated sidewalks in the terminal
front just to help with customer safety during the wintertime
was not eligible for the FAA grant money
that we were seeking at this time.
So staff chose to remove that.
And it was no longer in incineration.
But all the bids that were responsive
were being judged based on bid schedule number one After we
go through that process.
It was then apparent that knife river was the apparent low bid
or the actual low bid when only considering schedule adoption
number one So moving forward it's
also important to note that this entire process used FAA
regulations to make sure that we followed all the open bid laws
and public bidding laws and the city attorney's office
concurred with staff's recommendation and to award bid
to knife river as the low bid The contract will be reviewed
by the city attorney's office before it's given
to the mayor for signature And this process or this project
won't proceed unless fAA grant funding is
secured So in conclusion,
staff recommends that staff recommends awarding the contract
to knife River Corporation in the amount
of $1,306,000 and $781,306,787.
And authorize the mayor to sign the contract
and grant application And I'll stand for any questions.
Chris Yeah, a couple quick questions.
First, do we know what time frame.
I know that this is we still have some things to take
care of, but when are we looking at having
this construction done?
We're hoping to begin construction and complete it
next year, Next fiscal year, most likely in the spring,
early summer OK.
Here is what we're targeting Obviously,
we got to get through a few other processes
and make sure timing works for stakeholders in the terminal
and for the contractor.
Right.
And as far as the contract and making sure
the airport will always be accessible during construction.
Great question that is part of the bid schedule.
We will make sure that we continue to operate.
There will be some slight inconvenience
just because we'll reroute passengers that are coming
in and leaving the terminal.
But we aren't anticipating closing Perfect.
Thank you, Jason.
So thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Councilman Reid answered our asked all my questions
I'm prepared to make a motion.
If there's no further discussion questions.
OK Go ahead, Jason.
Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we award a contract at knife
river Corporation in the amount of $1,306,770 and authorize
the mayor to sign FAA grant application
and contract for Terminal Access improvement
for Three oh second cash.
A have to have a motion to award a contract to knife river
corporation in the amount of $1,306,787,
and authorize the mayor to sign the FAA grant application
and contract for terminal access improvements
any further discussion on Amy Roll Call Vote, please.
Nathan Murray yes.
Grayson Stone Yes.
Jerry vomer.
Yes Pearce.
Yes.
Greg Hopkins Yes.
And jason Brown.
Yes.
Motion carries 720 Okay.
That brings us to our item on the agenda for
public, general public input.
As we have the last couple of little while,
please make sure you sign in.
We'll use that same sign in sheet for our public hearings
here later in the meeting.
So this general public input will be regarding
any general city business So if you're here to talk about budget
we will have our public hearing later in this evening
But this would just be general public input at this time
And again, it'll be the same for both.
So I can outline a little bit, but I'll go over that as well.
So make sure you fill out this sign up sheet when You come
to address the council, please make sure you state your name
and you'll have two minutes to address the council
on those items that you like to discuss Amy,
is there anyone for I know you're you just got it.
So you Yes, I have a couple on here Okay.
First one is Maria Hernandez My name is
Maria Hernandez I was born and raised
here in Twin falls, Idaho.
Proud champion, follower of chief Standing Bear,
the Park Indian tribe, Multiple proud champion,
follower of Culver's culver's restaurant on Pole Line Road.
Twin Falls, Idaho.
The reason why I'm a proud champion follower of Culver's
restaurant is because they are taking in 100% of their proceeds
today that their restaurant makes to the ten
victims of in and out for the unforeseen tragedies that
occurred on August 1 in our beautiful community
When I heard what Culver's did, I
immediately did everything I could to print
flyers to hand out downtown.
This past Saturday, I asked Pastor Lynn Schaller of Amazing
Grace Fellowship can you announce
this message to everyone at the City Park at the Gathering
this Friday.
So the community can band together
to help You see, I believe in unity Unity makes a difference.
Unity brings people together.
Unity makes a dream.
Work.
I think you're good.
What if this were to happen to me in this tragedy
that I did not ask for?
I would want help I would welcome help Ashley Garibay born
November 6th, 2000, to contrast August 1, 20 26,
when May you rest in peace I would like to challenge every
church, every restaurant, every business in Twin Falls,
Idaho, to unify together and do what covers restaurant.
Did unity makes a difference Sometimes tears our prayers Mine
are today about 30s Maria Thank you
Sorry to interrupt you, but I was
watching it just so you didn't.
You knew what was going on I wasn't Not sure why
that's not showing up on there.
But we're going to try it again.
Our next one is Sandy King Thank you
And I appreciate your taking testimony I'm here to talk
about the flock cameras.
I have several family members that are in law enforcement
and usually the first instinct is to say,
hey, that's great because you can identify,
just like with the in and out incident everyone
was able to see what went on and how tragic
it was, but also who it was.
Um, however are we give up our personal freedoms every day
in this country always for good intentions
or appearing to be good intentions.
I do not believe the flock cameras are good intention.
One of the family members that is in law enforcement
or was in law enforcement.
I did quite a bit of research on the internet and, you know,
some things on the Internet.
I right in some orange But this seemed
to be pretty well documented.
It was by news reporters who were testing and contacting
different locations You have two handouts that I
provided and there is some pretty shocking information
and evidence that these cameras are not with you're supposed
to be a lot of the information that is being gathered is more
than just the name of a plate and the name of the owner
It's your Social Security number.
It's family.
It's if your car is traveling in the same area every day
and you are near another car within a time frame,
you can easily be targeted it through these flock cameras
because it's all a lie.
And they'll say, well, you were here with this person
and this person committed a crime,
or they believe they committed a crime
and you get sucked into that.
So and it gets worse.
So i would please ask you to read through these decipher
how you choose to just appreciate it.
And can I say one last thing?
No, you're 2 minutes is up.
Thank you very much Appreciate it.
But we did receive we did receive your handout.
Thank you.
You.
Is there any other general public input A couple more.
Jeff Nelson Only a few talking points.
My name is Jeffrey, Nelson First,
my condolences to the people in and out who passed away.
But why wasn't like there to save us?
It's flock safety right Why?
Because it's flock surveillance The chief talked
about in a previous meeting about getting a drone
You can be there in 45 seconds.
While we do that mean to pretty soon we're
going to put a taser on the drone to stop the crime
or get on the drone to stop the crime
We've created the false God with they.
I I don't know how many Christians, we have up here
Revelations tells us how it ends,
but we don't have to perpetuate it There's nothing
we can do to stop evil Don't be a supporter The greatest
responsibility is to stop something like this so you don't
have to go home to your family and kiss
your grandchildren or your children and say,
I helped with this son or granddaughter.
This is part of my legacy.
I helped with the flood cameras Now they're being used
and I pretty soon we know who knows where it's going
We all know where it's going.
It says so directly Revelations.
If you've read it what my experience
most people have never read our book from the beginning
to the end.
I have so anyway, so let's just use our full FAQ.
You know, I think it's a travesty Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you And our last one is Noah Heck
Good evening Mayor and council.
My name is Noah.
Head cameras with Twin Falls I'm going to give you something
different to chew on today.
I wanted to say thank you for investing in the escape Ark
at Harmon Park.
And One of the things that I do, I work from home and I go for
walks throughout the day.
And I. I frequently walk by that skate park
And it brings a lot of joy to me to see the youth of our city
having a resource like that available to them,
that they treat respectfully, that they
treat their fellow participants respectfully no matter the age.
You've got teenagers who will be playing with kids who are not
old enough to go to school yet And the reason that I wanted
to bring this up today is on my walk today,
I saw that they were finally putting in the lighting posts
that I know were approved previously.
I mean, keeping an eye on that.
The Post report today, they were raising the lamp post.
And I was very excited to see that.
And I wanted to say thank you all
for continuing to invest in recreation
opportunities for the people.
It's windfalls.
Thank you know because that in and if you didn't, we asked you
to fill out your name appropriately Is your name John
Hancock So we've been laying out this procedure
for the last couple of opportunities.
I won't have no intention of denying your First
Amendment rights, but if you.
We've asked you to fill out and we have every obligation
to ask you for your legal name and to have you identify
yourself okay, That's fine.
But I don't have to allow you to speak
if you're unwilling to not follow the procedures
that we have in place.
So you can make that you can make that decision You
can provide the information that we've asked you to provide for.
And we've had conversation with our legal counsel to make sure
that that we are on legal ground to do so.
So you get to make the choice whether you want to provide
your legal name and you have your two minutes,
just like everybody else Yup So is that it, Amy, for that one.
OK, we'll move into advisory board reports
The advisory board reports at this time OK.
So city council or city manager's office.
And at this time, you'll hear a lot from me
in a minute OK That'll take us to our public hearing
portions of the meeting tonight And our First one will be
a public hearing for the planned unit development
amendment for River hawk Plaza PD
to allow health fitness facility minor on property located
at 1341 Parkview Drive and care of Gerald Martins and I better
start.
I better read the paper before we get.
We get going.
Thank you So these will be the steps
that will follow for the three public hearings
that we have tonight.
The first one will be the one that I just spoke on,
and it'll be the council will follow the Nine
steps outlined listed under the public hearing
portion of the agenda.
City staff will present the request and policies
the applicant will then present their request
The Council will then ask questions
or the applicant or staff.
Sorry of the applicant or staff After questions have been asked,
the public hearing will then be open during the eight time
anyone in attendance is given the opportunity
to comment or ask questions about the request being
considered when giving testimony,
please step up to the podium State your name
and address and present your comments or concerns.
After giving testimony, please sign the public sign in sheet
located was in the lobby.
It's now down here with Amy with your name and address.
For the record after public comment conclude our concluded
the applicant will be invited to answer any questions
and make a closing statement Staff will then
answer or clarify any comments as needed After the closing
statement, the public hearing will be closed
no further testimony or comments will be
from the applicant or audience.
Will be allowed.
The council will then have an open discussion and take action.
That will be the procedure for for the at the three
public hearings that we have tonight,
we'll start out with the land use one.
OK Thank you, Mayor.
Council members.
So tonight.
This is a request to amend the allowed uses in the River Plaza
There are two proposed sorry, and it is in the r Two zone,
which now is called town neighborhood one
and an r two zone is intended for single family and duplex,
but they've also added the professional office
overlay to the area to give more business options to this area.
So the p D also has a list of outright permitted uses
ranging from medical offices to commercial daycare
to beauty salons uses in the pro overlay are also allowed
with the special use permit.
Health fitness facility is not on the current list of outright
permitted uses in the PD or as a special use
permit in the professional office overlay.
So that's why we're here tonight This block is located
between North college Road and Cheney Drive
and it gives a transition from residential to commercial uses.
It's right here.
Sorry, Right here And you can see it
is surrounded by residential.
But we've got Canyon Ridge High School here
on to the east You go up to.
The uses allowed in the PUD are intended to serve
the surrounding communities.
Staff believes that a health fitness facility minor would
be a good fitness fit in this area
as it's designed to be smaller and sized
to serve the surrounding community A health fitness
facility minor has an occupant load of 49 people or less
And so traffic in to and from the facility
will not overload the current roadways.
Appreciate it.
Should say that in 2015, a Crossway
Fitness was approved in this period as a special use permit.
But it was it was approved as part of a religious facility.
It's so the church was approved with the sup with the fitness
center as part of their ministry So the 2016 composite sense
of plan designee meets is this town neighborhood
which is intended to support primarily
residential development.
While also accommodating civic institutional and neighborhood
serving uses to meet the daily needs
of the surrounding residents.
So all although the underlying designee portion is residential,
the river hawk Plaza was intentionally developed
as a professional office park serving adjacent neighborhoods
through with the professional office overlay
So the only thing what we're here for tonight
is this is the amendment.
And what they want to do is simply to add health fitness
facility minor under the services section
of the permitted uses in the D a staff is finds that this
proposed amendment satisfies the approval for a plan unit
development amendment because the proposed use will not be
detrimental to the health safety,
and welfare of the public The existing streets
and infrastructure can serve the use its it's compatible with
surrounding land uses and the use provides for an additional
neighborhood serving service consistent with the transition
between residential and the commercial development On July
28th, the planning and Zoning Commission
approved recommending this request to City
Council by a vote of 4 to 0.
And so tonight staff recommends that City Council approves
the proposed PUD amendment to allow the Health fitness
facility as an outright permitted
use within the river hoc plaza.
The applicant is here to get their presentation
and I'm here to stand for questions.
Any questions for Kelly at this moment?
Kelly, just when you describe the difference between a minor
and a major Yes.
Health facility, please.
Yeah, absolutely It's basically occupancy
So the minor is anywhere from 0 to 49 occupants at one time.
And anything over and above that turns it
into a major health fitness facility
And that's more like your gyms.
You know your large gyms like Planet Fitness and all that.
This would just be a little neighborhood fitness facility
and could not have more than 49 occupants at a time.
Thank you Chris.
Trying to remember 2015, I believe.
Did we do extended hours of operation with that one
as well And did we?
And are we requesting that as well here?
We're not requesting that here.
OK.
And I don't have the 2015 ACP in front of me.
I don't remember seeing that.
But hang on a second.
It's okay.
I just remember, folks were there.
I wasn't here then.
I and honestly I don't remember seeing
that as part of the specialty.
OK.
I meant that was approved You still got it?
Vaguely.
Remember a decade ago?
Yeah.
Think disappointing did you?
Man, you're young.
What they did was they had a a controlled locking system where
members of that church had a key just like most churches do,
to get into the building They could
use all of the facilities of the church
OK Any other questions for the applicant
comes up Okay Thank you.
You.
My name is Gerald Waters.
I've heard this evening representing this project,
this is the last occupant that will complete this project.
Some seven buildings, some 12 or 14 various tenants
out there They're all mostly medical related or physical
therapy related And I had I known what health fitness minor
was Five years ago, would have been on the list,
but I didn't know if it even existed
Did I fall under the category of medical services
We have read staff report We concur with staff report
and we request approval of this allowed use.
Thank you.
Thank Cheryl Any questions for Gerald ?
OK we'll open up.
We'll open up the public comment period
for this specific application at this time Anybody
in the general public audience that would like to address
the Council on this be you.
So I don't think, Amy, we had anybody sign up for that one.
OK.
We'll go ahead and close that that public hearing
for the PUD portion.
Any further comments from the applicant?
Okay Any clarify any questions for staff Okay.
What are council's wishes Grace and Stone?
Oh, Mr. Mayor, I'm prepared to make a motion.
OK, go ahead Mr. Mayor.
I make a motion that we approve the plan Unit Development
amendment for River Hawk plaza PD to allow health fitness
facility DoorDash minor on property located
at 1341 Parkview Drive Care of Gerald Martin's peace 20 6-2077.
Kay ruth Pierce.
I'll second that Kevin motion in a second to approve the planned
unit development amendment for River Hawk plaza pod to allow
health fitness facility minor on property
located at 1341 Parkview Drive in care of Gerald Martin's.
Any further discussion by the Council Okay Amy roll call vote
please Grayson Stone Yes.
Sherry Bulmer.
Yes.
Yes Reed.
Yes.
Craig Hopkins Yes.
Jason Brown Yes.
And Zlatan Murray Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries 720 Okay.
That brings us to our next public hearing which is a public
hearing on the Yeah, the use of on the public
hearing on the use of your home to read
the correct number 342,868.
A foregone revenue in the 2026 2027 fiscal year to cover
ongoing operations and maintenance costs
beginning October First, 2026, and ending September 30th, 2027.
Mr. Mayor and members of the Council after the public
hearing staff will ask for you to approve resolution to 026-05.
That's included in your packet Ultimately,
for your consideration in 2016, the Idaho Legislature
adopted House Bill or seven 4, and at that place
it began the process of defining conditions
in which cities can use or incorporate portions
of its foregone balance into its budget In the past,
cities had the ability to collect what would be referred
to as a foregone balance or an amount that was not necessarily
associate with the 3%.
The new construction annexation or any allowances
that are provided in Idaho Code to allow the ability
for the city to collect that tax And any amount that a city
council or at that point in time elect
it to forgo it was put in this fictitious bank account,
if you will in which the city could draw down.
Add a point in time In 2006, we saw several cities
begin a drawdown process.
And then in 2021, as a part of House bill 389,
there were additional sideboards that
were placed upon the use of foregone balance
and the amounts that could be collected
in any One fiscal year.
Those sideboards included a 1% or 3%.
Rule.
1% could be incorporated into the city's budget
to offset the increased cost associated
with Operation and maintenance Or the city
could collect up to 3%.
And that 3% would be have to be dedicated
to one time capital projects.
And once those capital projects were completed that money,
then would be removed from the taxation authority of a local
government in compliance with Idaho Code 63 802 We are
following the process that was mapped out as a part of House
Bill 389, and in that process this evening,
it is to ask the City Council to host a public hearing
for the inclusion of that foregone balance and then
to adopt a resolution if you believe that is
in the city's best interest as part of the case that we've been
making over the course of the last 12 meetings,
the operational costs for the city of Twin Falls,
this year exceed $509,900,
which is equal to about 2.1% as all share.
And I've shared with you in our overall operation
and maintenance budget.
And you you can see where this 342,008 68 would help offset
those increases that we are experiencing The resolution
outlays that we will use this to cover
increase to operational costs.
And as we have demonstrated that since covid,
the operational costs have continued to grow.
Admittedly at a much slower rate,
but recover since those larger increases
where we were seeing 11 and 12% increases
according to the MZI we have been solely chipping away
at that operational deficit With that,
I'm happy to stand for any questions.
And then, Mr. Mayor, it is required
to have a public hearing as required by Idaho code.
Any questions for Travis at this point Travis We'll go ahead
and open the public hearing on the use of foregone revenues
in the 2026 2027 fiscal year budget to cover ongoing
operation and maintenance costs beginning October one, 20 26,
and ending September 30th 2027.
There are anybody that would like
to address the Council on the four use
of foregone monies Casey No.
One coming up at this point, we'll close the public hearing
session on the use of foregone revenues in this
upcoming fiscal year 27 budget.
Any other input there, Travis Just two quick things.
Number one, when you adopted the preliminary budget on August
3rd, as we shared, it did include that amount to balance
Should you elect to change from the preliminary budget we
will have to remove $342,868 out of the general government fund.
The next step in authorizing would be approval
of Resolution 2020 6-005.
Okay What are Council's wishes So I'm ready to make.
Okay, Travis, we can go ahead and move to approve
resolution 2020 6-005.
That correct?
Yes.
Okay.
I make that motion.
Kevin.
Motion to approve resolution number number 2026.
Dash 005 as printed in the agenda tonight,
Craig Hawkins i'll second have a motion and a second to approve
resolution number 2020 6-005.
Any further discussion by the Council I
just want to clarify even though the heading says 342 816 it's
342 868 incorrect in the resolution
in the attachments it is correct.
Any further discussion, Amy A roll call vote,
please Harry Bulmer Yes.
Yes.
Read yes.
Craig Hawkins Yes Jason Brown Yes.
And Murray Yes.
Grayson Stone Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries 720.
That brings us to our last public hearing for the evening
and that is the final discussion and public hearing on our budget
discussions that have been transpired
over the last several weeks.
And we have Travis Rothwell again
Well, Mr. Mayor and members of the Council,
I know that this is the time that you've been waiting for
and watch me then go back, sit over there
and not have to present 13 weeks in a row,
but really I think the budget, as you've been able to witness
and go through this process is a tremendous undertaking
by the members of the team As we shared
throughout this entire process.
Our budgeting is something that is not done quickly.
In fact, in order to be transparent
and to share how resource assets are intended to be expended
in the budget many members of the team
came forward with a particular level of expertise
to share their thoughts to share their wishes for funding
through the capital.
The Council capital allocations and then
also to make sure that they were available to answer
your questions for any other projects that came up tonight.
Is the culmination of the last 12 weeks of conversation
And so my intent is to go through to the budget in
a high in a high level detail.
But the level of thoroughness so that the general community has
an understanding of how we are proposing to spend resources
in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on October 1st
Admittedly, I will not be covering all items
for individuals who are interested in learning more
about what is included in the budget That budget has been
online since the 7th of July.
And it will remain on our website
into perpetuity In addition to that,
I'm happy to share that as you have been receptive to comments
and questions even after the budget passes,
because we begin the formation of the fiscal year 28 budget
in just a few weeks So with that, Mr. Mayor,
members of the Council part of the requirement
is to share that the budget that is before you
and ultimately, the ordinance that we will ask you to consider
complies with all elements of the state code
as it relates to municipal finances We've spent time moving
through those requirements and I think One of the things
that you just accomplished was in 63 802,
the public hearing for the inclusion
of the foregone balance into this budget.
In addition to that part of the job description of a city
manager outlines that the city manager shall keep the Council
fully informed of the city's financial conditions
and describe its future needs Our budget
process accomplished just that.
But in addition to that, our quarterly finance reports that
are provided to the Council by our Chief Financial Officer,
Brian Howard helps serve that need
as well So part of that process and we are about to roll that
out again later in the fall is our citizen survey It is
our first review in a sense It's our report card to see how
is the city of Twin Falls performing
in the eyes of its citizens.
We have two different surveys as part of that process.
The first process is a scientist based survey
where individual calls will receive an invitation often
through a postcard in which they can expect a paper survey
or they are given a special code that they can go online
and completed electronically.
Once we complete that portion of the survey
we open it up for anyone who would
like to share their thoughts.
So we have a scientific survey We have a survey that is often
responded to by interested persons,
and we find that the results are very, very consistent
and similar.
These are just a few snapshots of the entirety of the Citizen
survey it goes through.
And in analysis and ask questions
about the entire service line that
is offered by the city of Twin Falls
I'm sure at this point in time each one of you
could probably share in detail on employment rates, housing
concerns But really we do that to share that we take
a sincere and honest look at all of the economic indicators that
are in affecting families who reside inside
of the city of Twin Falls.
We want to make sure that we are aware of how this budget is
going to impact individual households We also want to know
how those trends are going to impact the city of Twin Falls
As an organization as we continue to look to deliver
services we engage our employees Yes,
it is the city manager's responsibility to craft
and create a budget But like all people we have blind spots
and my blind spots have a level of expertise
that doesn't necessarily lend to me to understand the full scope
and duties of every single employee
that we have inside of the city.
And so we invite them to the table.
We invite them to help us construct this budget.
And throughout that entire process
that we started on July 7, you saw the members of the city's
long term planning team make presentations to you,
share their expertise and share why they believe
certain expenditures are critical in the completion
of our mission and fulfillment of the city's strategic plan
And then we reach consensus We have
what's called a core leadership team in which we
ask all of the members of that.
It's about 60 members in our organization And to gather
and collectively, we balance the budget
So yes, it is the city manager's responsibility to stand here
and presented, but I do not do it alone.
There are many hands that help in this process
and they deserve a lot of credit for the document that
is before you We use organizational values
as our approaches to make sure that we are building
a consistent budget that follows a one city approach
And what does that mean?
A one city approach is really simple in saying that we do not
operate in silos We do not operate
as independent department We work collectively
and collaboratively, and there are sacrifices made willingly
by some departments in the interests of other departments
for certain projects And I believe
it is how all government should operate
and according to experts, we're pretty good at what
we do The City of Twin Falls has received the FOIA
award and the certificate of Achievement
for Excellence in Financial reporting
for 14 consecutive years, which is among the highest
of any city in the state.
But we don't do it for the awards In fact, when you look
around, you don't see any of those awards
hanging out in our building.
We do it because it is a model best practice or a model?
Best practice that doesn't ask our citizens
to understand a budget.
Merely through a whole bunch of line items
understanding and a chart of accounts is not transparency.
What we do is we want to make sure that the budget document
that we have is understood by all individuals
So what is the city of Twin Falls?
The first place that we need to do is absolutely level set
to make sure that we're all looking at the city of Twin
Falls through the exact same lenses What is
the population population right now is estimated
to be 57,077 individuals.
That's about a 10.17% growth rate since our census
and is we continue to follow those trends.
We could have a population of nearly 65,000
persons who reside inside of the city
of Twin Falls by the year 2030.
But I think that we also know that twin falls in serving
as the economic hubs population expands
well beyond 65,000 persons.
In fact, with 40,000 vehicles that the brain bridge every
single day We know that our population can approach about
112,000 plus individuals on any given monday,
and that excludes those weekends where we are hosting regional
events We take a look at retail sales per capita and we are able
to demonstrate that the economic power of the city of Twin Falls
in terms of retail capital exceeds $2.1 billion,
in which that equals growth $38,320 per person based upon
2022 statistics, which is the most up to date information that
we can point to However, we also know that the per capita
income in 2024 was $32,338.
There's a bit of a disparity there
where your per capita to retail sales
exceeds your per capita income.
And after an investigation, if you were to cut the per
capita retail sales in half, it would be slightly over $19,000.
And at $19,000 it begins to fall much more in line with the major
urban cities that are inside of the state of Idaho It's just one
of the other indicators other than crossing things
that we examine to determine how big is the city of Twin Falls.
And every person who comes to the city of Twin Falls
has and should have an expectation of service
delivered, should they need it.
Housing is something that we talk about
not only in our organization.
But across the entirety of the state.
May of 26, the estimated median house in side of the city
of Twin Falls was 373,000. $332 which
is a 60% increase since 2020.
And it is down from what we saw in June of 22 highs.
However that growth trend, that trajectory of housing
still makes us one of the more difficult places in the country
or to obtain homeownership and then our interest rate
or excuse me, our unemployment rate we're at 3.6%, 3.6%
is what most economists would describe
beyond fully employed Most economists would
describe that at four and 5%.
And with that information and we know that the labor
market remains tight.
And so these are just some of those factors
that we take into account when we're building our budget.
And we want to make sure that we're checking off the eight
excuse me, the six overarching strategies that we have,
we want to make sure it's stable,
sustainable bold, and nimble.
And I can confirm to you that as we go through this process
and part of the long term planning process
it's not designed to budget in the single year,
but it's really designed to forecast our costs Five
years from now, we want to make sure that any new higher
any program or service change has the ability
to be funded long term This is not a one year
and done process for us I shared that we want to build
a budget that is sensitive to our operating
environment We tie everything to our current 2030 strategic plan.
But as we've shared with you on numerous occasions.
And as you are aware, we're in the final, final stages
of creating the 2040 City Strategic Plan We're expanding
that goal post ten years because when we started in 2012 18
years seemed like a good time.
And now it's 2026, about to enter 2027 and three years was
not a long enough runway to continue to help and create
and realize the community that our citizens who have engaged
in that process want us to become We strive to be
the employer of choice We have said on many occasions
that the services that we deliver are through quality.
I talented individuals.
And it is those individuals that really help create the service
levels for our community It is this budget includes
the statutory allowed 3% increase the 90%
of the new construction value and 1% of the city's
foregone balance And we minimized
all utility rate increases to make sure that we complied
with bond covenants but also had the ability to create revenue
streams that didn't create shock increases in the future
this is the slide where a lot of people want to know
and that is what is going to cost me in Twin Falls this year
or next year in comparison to this year under this budget
and as I've shared with you,
this slide is wrong One of the reasons
or could be wrong one of the reasons
that this could be wrong is because in My 26 years of doing
this, I have yet to find that median person, the person who
lives in the median home, who consumes the median amount
of water and sewer We use this as an illustration
and it hopes to have a good understanding of what
the totality of the budget has on the whole, the second is,
as we shared with you.
And as you are aware, we are finalizing our negotiations
with PSA as we move forward.
And we can confirm that the most expensive option
on the table based upon the renewal of that agreement
is $12.32.
And the council will have future decisions to make to determine
whether or not that 1232 remains intact
or if that amount is lowered But that is a conversation
for a future day Again, here are some of the economic indicators
that we spend time looking at Municipal cost Index
The fact that we continue to have a slight labor
shortage in the state of Idaho, where for every 100 jobs
there are 97 qualified laborers where our housing market, which
is the three colored wavy line graph,
represents the Treasure Valley the state of Idaho,
and twin Falls.
Is that in that golden rod color and the bottom
is comparison of the median income and the need of
and the amount that is needed for a median income
to achieve a median home in Twin Falls.
And as we have shared we ranked Fourth out of 1898 counties
surveyed in this case Fourth isn't good So diving
into the budget the total taxable value of the city
of Twin Falls, you can see, has increased from 6.4 billion
to 6.7.
Nearly $6.8 billion.
Our total expenses in this budget are up slightly
and collectively, you can see that the net expense
losses are what we focus on.
The variance between the total expenses and the net expenses
as we've shared, has to do with the transfers
from the enterprise fund to the tax supported funds
or essentially the rents that they pay for the human talent
services that are not functioning
within those individual departments under idaho Code,
we are required to keep all fee based part of our budget
separated and divided.
And essentially, they rent attorney's services as they rent
Human Resource Services is from the general government services
in this budget, we're looking at a 5% increase for water a 5%
increase for sewer We held a public
hearing on august 3 in which those rates were discussed.
We did not have to hold a public hearing on the sanitation rates
because on that worst example, you
can see that they're going to decrease by 38.7% As I shared
in the last chart, the city of Twin Falls
is nearly $6.8 billion in total value,
but that excludes 770 nearly $780 billion
of urban renewal value in combined
all the value of the properties inside of the city's
geographic boundary exceeds $7.5 billion that signify
and because in 2021, the city's value was 3.4 billion
This is a reflection of our tax rates and fiscal year 21.
And you can see that it is downward trending and it has
been flat over the course of the last five fiscal years If you
were to extend this chart out beyond 21,
you would see that it is significantly more downward
trending We project the tax rate for this year will be $5.03 per
$1,000 of taxable value as opposed to $5.06 that was
offered last year or for the current year So after wanting
to know how much it's going to cost inside of the city of Twin
Falls, we're often asked, how do we compare
to other urban entities ?
This chart is designed to reflect
that we receive information from outside sources.
We use the associated Taxpayers of Idaho Levy Book
and we use Zillow for our market pricing.
And this is we're looking every city
and county in the state of Idaho is in the final stages
of their budget.
They're all having or will have their public hearings
on the budget.
And so this is the impact of the current budget on our residents.
By comparison and to major cities in idaho.
And you can see with the exception of a quarter lane,
we fare better than the rest You'll also notice that Boise,
Meridian and Nampa are excluded and
they're intentionally excluded.
The first reason is because roads and operation
and maintenance for transportation systems
is a significant portion of our budget
and that service is performed by the ADA county Highway District
for all of the cities that are located within the county Simply
they don't do roads And it is something that is absorbed
into our budget Nampa is excluded because it had made
the decision to to enter into a fire district
So the city of Napa no longer offers fire services as a part
of the full services that they offer
And so that is the reason why those three
cities are intentionally excluded So when
we look at the city's budget,
it's broken into really two large component to one
are the government funds and the government funds are
the general fund, the street fund the airport fund one
of our funds that receive some portion of its funding
through property tax calculations
The second piece of that is the enterprise funds
or those that receive a fee in exchange for a service provider
fund, sewer fund, Santa fund.
And then the other non major tax supported
funds are going to be non tech support funds are going to be
things like Turkeys, Lake It makes sense that if we're
service organization, the single largest expense that we're
going to have is our people.
And when you look at the entirety of the budget,
44.5% is dedicated to personnel, which covers the costs
of salaries and benefits for the 355
soon to be 357 employees with the approval of this budget
operation and maintenance and capital are the same at 23.3%,
debt service is at 3.2%.
The only debt that the city of Twin Falls has
is associated with a revenue bond that was approved
by the voters in 2014 for improvements
associated with the wastewater treatment facility.
And then those transfers that I talked about,
the rent for professional services that
is paid by the enterprise funds back to the government fund
in the tax supported fund, you can
see that 63% of the total budget is spent in general Fund Street
Capital Airport and the other non major tax
supported funds are of the government funds 55% of it
is funded with property taxes That doesn't mean
that 55% of the budgets, property taxes, it
means that 55% of the 61.87% is funded through property taxes
And when you look at it, it's a slightly more than a third.
And focusing on property taxes just for a second, if you add
the cost of police fire prosecutorial services
and street funding those Four entities
cost more to the city of Twin Falls
than the total amount of property taxes that we bring in.
We receive other revenues that are illustrated there to really
help round out the revenue sources for the $61.87 million
New construction is a big piece of that.
And you can see that the new construction
tends to ebb and flow.
And it's a direct result of building activity
that occurred in the prior years.
And so when we collect a building permit,
there is a first capture of resources to assist builders
and developers through that building permit process This is
the piece that falls onto the tax rolls and you can see that
this year that that new construction
value is about $473,000 of new money this year.
And that is with the reduction of the and percent as required
by house Bill 389 building permit revenue You can see
the ebbs and flows and it is very much tied
to the local economy in this year's budget,
we're estimating that will collect
a million dollars in total building permit revenues.
That excludes McCann nickel, Electrical and Plumbing
This is just the structure piece of it.
We use this as hopefully an indicator to determine value
as we try to provide our pride, try to project what
the new construction role will be
and request liens on the overview,
on the government funds knowing that you could
probably give this any questions for Travis
Mike Travis All right.
So the next piece we dive into, the next largest
action on that first pie chart is the are the enterprise funds.
And when you take a look at the totality of the enterprise funds
or again, those funds that are funded with fees for service
46.6% is in the water fund, 37.4%
is in the wastewater fund and 13.8% is in the city fund
and off to the right, you can see
the increases or the decreases associated
with each one of those funds.
For this upcoming fiscal year Striving
to be an employer of choice.
We want to make sure that our compensation and benefits
are at and near market.
And so this budget calls for a 3% performance
adjustment for our employees.
A 3% table move for our employees.
And it's important to recognize and this
is going to sound a little bit like government
math for a minute 3.6 doesn't equal
3 plus three doesn't equal six.
That front end of the table in the back end of the table.
Slide 3%.
And it depends upon where individuals live
within those bands to determine if they get any portion
of that second 3% table move.
We find that very few of our employees
will receive that over the course of a fiscal year.
But it's really a reflection on where we start compensation
and what is the cap of that compensation.
We provide $900 into a Veba retired joint account that
our employees can use for post retirement medical expenses
as part of our overall health insurance plan When we
transition to a high deductible plan, we offered essentially
a buy down of $1,000.
And we contribute that into each employee's HSA account
I am happy as I shared that gretchen Scott and other members
of our team really paid near to us
in moving forward to becoming self-insured as a health
insurance model Just the two years that we have been there
have saved us more than a market average
If we would have received the market average of health
insurance increases $1.1 million of benefit expenditure
and for the second year in a row health
insurance rates for the city of Twin Falls
will remain exactly the same.
There's a 0% increase associated with that
or the city of Twin Falls, and our employees
And we continue to build up the health trust corpus to ensure
that it is well funded in the future event
that we have some of those shock claims.
And we continue with our retention
pay agreement in moving forward As I shared with you,
we're looking at adding essentially what amounts to two
new positions And honestly had these two positions not come
before the city council and having conversations
with the exact leadership team who really vet positions,
the need for position and that future viability
we may have been hesitant to add either one.
We do see the need for the school resource officer
and the fact that that is 90% reimbursed by the new charter
school helps defray that cost.
That 90% reimbursement is directly reflective of the 10%
amount of time that we will be able to have this individual
serving as a police officer inside of our community
outside of the schools and then the project manager,
as it was shared last year.
And because of the significant capital
projects that we have not only in parks.
This year and next year, but the larger projects
that we have with water and wastewater services,
we came around to saying it's a good idea and so
kind of question.
Travis Yeah.
Chris Reed If you could just remind everybody here.
Why we had that large jump from 24 to 25.
Great question in 24 to 25, we incorporated the library
into our organizational structure
prior to fiscal year 25 library employees
were following their own employee handbook.
They were following their own employee processes
And so we while they were funded by the city, we did.
Now include them in our overall employee count
And so that is why that jump occurred.
Thank you.
I just wanted everybody to see it
because that looks like we got a little crazy
and started hiring folks.
But they were already part of the family They were.
We just classified them as a different employee
that that chart, if we reflected library employees,
we'd see very very small incremental growth
in new employees.
It's really based upon those numbers that are at the bottom.
One of the things when we were looking at the total number
of new employees is i would be remiss
if I didn't share that there were many requests that came
in that were not funded and we did not want to add employees
into this budget that we couldn't guarantee that we would
have the revenue sources moving forward for at least a period
of Five years as they're moving through our payroll
And the last thing that we want to do
is have this begin to look more like a unstable roller
coaster, because we get very dependent upon staffing
in the delivery of services And when we have to pull back,
that causes a disruption in our ability
to perform operation and maintenance continues to grow.
And you can see that the municipal cost
index this year is project iNG a is about a 2%, 2.19% increase.
I and it's very similar to what our budget came in at this year
Total operation maintenance across all funds
is $23.8 million, as illustrated on the previous slide
And then this is the one that looks more like the roller
coaster This is when we have infusions of money when we are
recipients of grants, when we have sl, f, r, f funds that come
into our community Really, this reflects all of the dollars
from all of the funds that are coming into the system
And as Matt Barnes was up here just a moment ago,
$1.3 million additional expenditure
are associated with a grant is part of this budget
and as we projected forward and as Matt shared during his part
of the budget presentation, we have some very large capital
projects specifically around runway research
saying that we are going to continue to see spikes in that
moving forward consistently across our organization
and we spend somewhere between 2.4 and $2.8 million
of property tax dollars in the general fund associated
with capital operation and maintenance
as part of the project.
We shared, there are 700 excuse me $820,000 this year.
Historically with $770,000 of funding that is reserved for one
time capital projects at the Council's discretion from
the 7th of July through the entirety of the process So these
are the list of projects that the Council approved
and the to be determined indicate step four work that
needs to move forward So in total
there are $721,000 with the project
acts that have been identified.
There is an additional $99,000 that has yet to be allocated,
but it is in the expense column and staff will come back
on those different projects as we do our work to share what
the cost of the umbrella shade at City Park and Downtown
Commons would be as well as the seed money for the arts
Commission I said that everything is tied
to the city strategic plan.
These are the eight primary focus areas
I'm going to go into each one of these focus areas
as a matter of quick recap but focus area one
is a healthy community and as we shared in each of these,
I'm not going to read all of these line items,
but as we go through, we talked about some
of the different things that we felt were meritorious of funding
that were outside of staffing outside of operational costs
more one time projects to move forward.
And you could see additional signage, installation Urban
Outfitters, these lakes are shown
falls and automated ticket booth as a direct result
of labor challenges.
The entirety of the park is funded through the road
admittance fee of $5 without the ability
to man the gate Not only is it a lost revenue
but it's also a lost access and so we wanted to make sure
that there is an opportunity to meet the needs of our citizens
as well as meet the needs of the cost to maintain that world
class facility Erica with the library
came and she shared the phase three carpet remodel.
This is a project that has been going on for a last couple
of years and they shared with you that the First time they
tried to do it all in a single year,
they recognized that that was not the best approach.
And so they broke this into a multiple year project
inside of the original budget.
You will see all of these items One of the changes
that was made was the real time Information Center of $88,400.
That item was removed from considering funding the rest
and the balance of this program is remained in tact It it
includes mobile radio radios a lease payment on a fire
apparatus canine vehicles, an additional police cruisers
the accessible community really talks about not only roadways,
but multi modal areas of transportation
as well as the airport.
You can see the airport projects at $1.4 million an hour
Favorite chip seal project at a tune of 2.1 million.
And credit to the team.
They have spent a lot of time analyzing the best approach.
And it's not a liked approach.
And it's not something that last year
when we did my neighborhood, I liked either
But really it is the only type of system that or program
that we have that really maintains the road
infrastructure and prevents significant potholes
from occurring I can remember early in my tenure
as city manager when Eastland drive
started to be lost as a result of the significant moisture
events.
There were potholes the size that of small automobiles
and we were barricading the roadways
and yes road construction is an inconvenience
and we like to say in Idaho, we really only have two seasons.
Hopefully a really good winter And then construction
But this really kind of talks about that
plan to maintain an accessible community
The environmental community really
speaks to our water and our wastewater system
as it talks about mainline replacement
and how members of the water team
have shared that it is important to continue to upgrade
and replace water line systems.
We have water lines in our community
that are significantly undersized
and so going in and replace them with a modern spec
to allow for greater not only water flow and delivery.
But also fire flow should an unfortunate
circumstance present itself.
This goes through the entirety of those lists
and not only replacing water lines, but also nearly $1
million for the sewer lines and the dewatering system
There's improvement at the city's wastewater treatment
facility a prosperous community is really connected
to our partners ship with the Urban Renewal
Agency and the airport and finding ways
for our economic development team
to continue to market Twin Falls,
to continue to attract companies for growth and opportunity
and really to allow us to grow that economy
when we grow our economy,
we grow the size of the pie that we have and then we're
able to spread those costs across greater users which
is the best way for us to lower individual tax
burdens The council capital piece of that
is that responsible community And then this is the employee
section that I talked about In addition to that is making sure
that folks have the right technology, such as computers,
that our radio systems can still continue to communicate
with themselves and fiber loop systems
to make sure that we have greater control of signalisation
of traffic signals and to make sure that the different
satellite offices that we have the ability to communicate
through or reliable system So you're here,
you worked your way all the way through this calendar.
And tonight is the public hearing.
Mr. Mayor.
It is appropriate and under idaho code to open up the next
phase to the general citizen input as it relates directly
to the expended chairs that are included in the preliminary
budget for fiscal year 27 Any questions for Travis before
we open up the public comment ?
OK.
Looks like we're at that particular moment in time.
Travis will go ahead and open up the general the public hearing
on the fiscal year 2026 2027 budget
for the city of Twin Falls.
And again as we recounted the nine steps, 4,
we're about halfway through those steps.
So if you have testimony, please state
stand or come to the podium state your name
and address the council.
You'll have two minutes.
And then I also need to make sure that everybody
has signed up in on that.
So we'll go ahead and open up the public comment period
for the budget for fiscal year 27 for the city of Twin Falls
If you don't mind, if you would state your name for us.
So we thank you.
My name is Oubre Nelson C Mayor and council members
I couldn't quite understand if what happened
to the flock camera budget.
I was here on August 4th, so I'd like some clarification on where
that is in the presentation today Mr. Mayor,
I can answer that There are two components to the flock camera
system that are in the budget The first was the piece that was
removed and that was for $88,000 that has been
removed from consideration and is no longer
in fiscal year 27 budget.
The operating and maintenance for the existing 40 cameras
remains in the budget.
All right.
Thank you for that clarification.
Good.
Step in the right direction.
I still would like to see all the cameras gone.
I think that was pretty clear from the last meeting I want
to show you or read to you some of the headlines that are
happening across the country about flock cameras
There's one called Flock could enable
nationwide wide surveillance.
Texas constable warns we shouldn't wait.
The concern here is issue issue of one camera taking
a picture on a license plate.
The issue is what happens when a large network of cameras
collect information about vehicles that are seen,
information searchable and non searchable.
Here's another one.
More than 160 flock surveillance cameras have been vandalized
or destroyed I hate to see something
like that happen in our where people are
so incensed that that happens.
This is from Flock stats incidents.
Marcus significant escalation of public opposition.
Here's one flock is losing dozens of contracts
as controversy grows at least 54 cities across the US
have voted to cancel non renew or recheck flocks.
Automatic system.
And finally, Washington post article 50 police officers
and various departments use flock cameras
to stalk women, including ex wives and romantic partners
without their consent for your thank.
Thank you. you for your thank you counsel.
Thank you.
You Anyone else that would like to address the No,
I we got your ears initially It's on the record.
Thank you You appreciate it So, again One more.
One more call for input on the fiscal year 27 video.
Twin Falls Budget being nobody to run up to.
Amy's side of the desk.
We'll go ahead and close that budget hearing at this point.
And open it up for discussion.
Travis's final comment and discussion
by the council Mr. Mayor and members of the council,
I have nothing further to add associated
with the public hearing I am happy to answer any questions
that you have related to the budget
Any questions for Travis related to the budget
at this point You know, go ahead and open
it up for council discussion.
Chris Read i would like to make a adjustment or a motion
for the council to vote on a line item, if that's all right.
Mayor yes I move that the city suspends
the use and financial obligation of automatic license
plate readers.
A LPR cameras until the Idaho legislation legisla nature
adopts comprehensive rules regulations and accountability
measures governing the use of LPR technology,
including consequences for misuse
We have a motion to have a second.
Mr. Mayor Illustration.
OK.
I have a motion in a second.
A motion by Chris Read in a second by Grayson Stone
and correct me, Chris, if I didn't get all of that,
I can read it again.
If you'd like, if you don't mind.
I move that the city suspend the use and financial obligations
of the automated automated license plate reader lPR cameras
until the Idaho legislature adopts comprehend of rules,
regulations and accountability measures
governing the use of LPR technology
including consequences for misuse.
I have a motion and a second on the item
that Councilman Reed had just read.
Any discussion by the City Council on that item
On that motion, I should say Hey Amy, roll call, vote please.
Chris Read yes.
Greg hawkins No Jason Brown No.
Nathan Murray.
No.
Grayson Stone Yes Gary vomer No.
And Bruce Pearce Motion motion fails 5 to 2 or 2 to 5.
Sorry I misstated that.
The motion failed.
225.
Any further discussion on that?
But on the budget itself as a whole, Grayson stone
or Grayson, you still on or do that Oh, no,
thank you, Mr. Mayor.
I'd like to make another substitute motion I move
that the City of Twin Falls implement any and all laws
associated with license plate reading technology within seven
days of being signed into law by the governor with fiscal
responsibility, the city to enforce.
I'll second.
Hey I have a motion in Grayson.
I'll have you if you don't mind reading that again,
just so I don't have to necessarily restate it
similar to Councilman reed's, I move that the city of Twin Falls
implement any and all laws.
Associate with license plate reading technology.
With seven days of being signed into law by the governor
with fiscal responsible cities regarding
the city of Twin Falls.
So I have a motion by Councilman stone in a second
by Councilman Reed on that motion Any further discussion?
I just want to be clear.
So you're saying should the legislature adopt rules.
This coming session starting January?
Governor signs into law within seven days?
We as a city implement those.
That's correct Is that I like that idea Is is that is that
possible I mean so if what happens is the 7 days,
I mean, sounds reasonable, but I don't know if that's something
that can be done So I just when we put it time frame on it
like that, I just want to make sure that it's
reasonable Yeah, absolutely.
I believe First and foremost, that this is a topic that
will be for the Idaho legislature
and the Idaho legislature has the ability
under certain circumstances to declare that emergency exists
So the legislature has typically to effective date one
is the beginning of their fiscal year on July 1,
when emergency may exist.
They have the ability to have that go back as
far as January one, which would cause
the city to go into compliance.
And so the city would move forward within a seven day
period to comply with that law If the Idaho legislature were
to make the decision to to comply the ban is
no longer allow a prize of any name
variety inside of the state.
The first thing that we would do is toggle the switch
and turn them off and then we would
have to work through a process to have them physically removed
from their locations That might take longer than 7 days,
but the compliance would be the collection piece of it.
What is important to recognize is it at this point in time,
I can't share what those rules and regulations would be.
But I believe that we would in our best effort,
work to comply with all of the rules and regulations
as we all took an oath to do so.
And if we could not do so within a seven day period of time,
I would come back and report to the City Council
on what that timeframe would be for us to be able to achieve
that objective but know that if they were banned outright,
we would simply turn them off Ruth Pierce.
Yes.
So I just want to clarify this motion
and that you mean keep the existing contract
as is with the caveat, if the governor
has it within Seven days of the governor signing the law.
So your motion is saying, leave it
as is with the potential of this law change.
Correct But Grayson, I think, Mr. Mayor.
Yeah, the previous motion failed.
So we got to just do something.
I think this kind of settles what we're
hearing from the general public is that we'll keep it as is now.
And then when the legislate convenes and what,
January 11th, I'm pretty sure it will be a hot item.
And then once legislative or legislature,
it's signed into law, that we're in compliance
with the seven days.
OK.
That being said, I'm going to vote no on this.
A motion.
And the reason being is we've had
a couple recommendations by Chief Hicks on some revisions.
He would like to see with the contract.
And I would like to propose after we vote on this motion,
propose accepting adopting those revisions as amendments
to the contract Travis.
Mr..
Baer Yep not to play parliamentarian
but if I were in your place and you are voting
it may be important to understand
what some of those amendments would be I'm happy to.
Go ahead.
Yes So two things that Chief Hicks recommended is one,
we turn off the air Nick machine learning component
of the contract and to do currently
the Nationals search function is off.
I want to make sure that remains off
and it's only toggled on if we have a local crime
that requires it Okay.
And the third is, I'm not sure anywhere
in here we said that we authorized chief Hicks to sign
that a contract as amended.
So that's what I would propose if this motion doesn't pass.
OK Can I ask a question?
Let me go to Grayson real quick, and then I'll come to you.
Chris Go ahead.
Grayson Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Can we go through that first motion.
First and then go to Councilwoman Pearce's motion ?
Yeah, we're still yeah, we're still in.
I'm not making a motion and just saying
I'm voting no because I want to see revisions We're still taking
comment on your motion, Chris.
Read I like both of them.
I can comfortably say yes to both
So yes, do as soon as the legislature deems
whatever they deem, let's move forward
with it within seven days.
So again if it's a dismissal of it,
if it is a harsher penalty for misuse of it,
we move forward with that.
And I'm completely comfortable.
I'm comfortable with both.
I don't really Sorry.
Go ahead, Grayson.
I think, Mr. Mayor, I don't think
either one of those motions will conflict with one another.
I think that's exactly what we're wanting to accomplish.
So I'll be voting yes for mine.
And then probably vote yes for councilman Pearce's rule.
Where are we comfortable that we're handling it properly?
From a parliamentary standpoint So
I don't have bruises on the line of.
Yeah, so currently, we only have we
only have a motion to accept the seven
day adherence to state law.
My understanding and correct me is
that we would need to amend either the current motion to add
what you wanted to do or we would have
to vote on the current motion and then
rerun a motion including the comments that you've made.
Both would be appropriate because I have a third.
So that's all right.
I guess I'm again confused because this motion
that you guys just made assumes we keep the contract as is.
And that's correct.
She said So I just want to make sure.
But it could be amended.
I mean, it's just whatever the state comes in I apologize.
So we have Bruce.
OK We have Bruce Bruce's online Bruce, are you there
Echo is negative and the he's on a fax machine, so I'm sure are.
Are all the mikes off Okay, Bruce let's
try that one more time Hello?
Can you hear me?
We can hear you now.
Yes.
I think it would be important to specify by that Grayson's
motion is not a motion to accept the contract as it was proposed.
But you could still approve the rest of that motion Which
is as far as what the city does upon legislative action
That way, the two motions would not be contradictory but if you
were to approve Grayson's motion as accepting the contract
as is, then that could preclude a further action to put
in any amendments to it Go ahead Hey, Grayson Stone,
If we make if we approve my motion
and then ruth passes her motion, wouldn't
that essentially accomplish the exact same thing at one meeting?
I would recommend is Grayson with your motion
to state that you are open to amendments to the contract
as it currently sits?
Right.
OK.
Okay Thank you, Bruce.
So Grayson, I'll let you address Bruce's comments there and then
so, uh, Mr. Mayor, thank you I would amend my previous motion
to move that the city to in Falls implement any and all laws
associated with license plate reading technology within seven
days of being signed into law by the governor
And our current contract shall be open to amendments
per chief's recommendations and approved by Council
Chris, you were this.
Absolutely.
Okay So we have a motion and a second on the table.
Any further discussion Okay.
Amy, roll call.
Vote, please Grayson Stone Yes Nathan Murray Yes.
Jason Brown Yes.
Greg Hawkins yes.
Chris Reed Yes.
Bruce Pierce.
Yes Sherri vomer.
Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries 720.
Any further discussion?
Ruth Pierce Okay, I'm going to attempt my motion.
Should be short.
I move.
We accept the current flock contract
with the following revisions One Turn off the eye
machine learning component of the contract
to the National search function remains off unless twin falls.
Please PD needs access for a local crime
and three authorized chief to sign the contract Okay.
I have a motion on the table.
Do I have a second?
Nathan Murray Yeah, I'm.
I'm willing to segment.
I would ask.
I know we talked about at one point
a regular reporting mechanism from police to this council,
perhaps on a quarterly basis outlining just
some of the use they've seen Is that would
you be amenable to adding that to your motion?
I'm not going to include that in my motion
because I think we have to kind of set parameters
and maybe we do.
I had not in our staff to we can come back with a recommendation.
We can agree to do periodic reporting if that's of interest
to the council I would ask you to consider the motion
and then I'll go.
So, Nathan, are you accepting?
Okay, so we have a motion and a second.
Any discussion on that motion from the council Okay Amy,
roll call.
Vote, please Raise.
Pearce Yes or read.
Yes.
Greg Hawkins.
Yes Jason Brown.
Yes.
Grayson Stone.
No And Nathan Murray?
Yes Motion carries.
Six two one Okay, so as we move continue to move forward,
I think Travis, you heard that there
is an interest from the council at least
to provide some level of we will do
that as we as we move forward.
We will do that and we'll do that at open council meetings
Okay, Chris, read, I'd like to discuss the budget.
If that's the right move forward Go ahead.
First, I want to say thank you to everybody
You said it's a group effort.
There is 60 some individuals that helped
put this together for I don't know how many people presented.
They're not all here.
But thank them, please.
They spent a Monday evening with us.
And we do appreciate that.
So, Ruth, I don't know if you i just want to add that I talked
to a lot of other organizations and no one that I'm aware
goes to the extent of talking about the budget
as much as we do And we joke about it being 13 weeks,
but it's very very informative for not only council,
but the entire community.
And I appreciate it I'm ready to make a motion.
Mayor all right.
Anybody else want to add in the comments?
Go ahead, Chris I move that we adopt ordinance 008 dash 2026
of the city of Twin Falls adopting the 2026,
2027 fiscal year budget for the city of Twin Falls in the amount
of $96,547,281, beginning on October 1, 2026, and ending
on September 30, 2027.
I'll second that.
I have a motion and a second to approve ordinance number 2020
6-008 as written and presented in the meeting tonight Mr.
Mayor.
Yes, Travis if you would like for this to be approved.
This evening, you need to suspend the rules
or we can have you do that.
Chris, Do you want to do that?
First I move that we dispense with the reading rules and put
ordinance 008 dash 2026.
Sorry, my eyesight that I apologize on third and final
reading by title only Second that you have a motion
to the dispense with the reading of the rules and put
ordinance number 2020 6-008 on third and final
reading by Title only.
Any further discussion I need to read
that correct, Travis Just to make sure I do it properly or do
or you're good.
I'm good.
Okay.
Amy Roll call.
Vote.
Just wanted to make sure Chris read.
Yes.
Mike Hawkins.
Yes.
And Brown.
Yes very.
Bulmer Yes.
Nathan Murray yes.
Grayson Stone Yes.
And Bruce Pearce, Yes A motion carries 720.
Chris I'm going to call on you again I move that we
adopt ordinance 008 dash 2026.
I'll second have a motion to approve ordinance number
2020 6-008 any further discussion
on the budget and that motion?
I amy roll call.
Vote, please Grayson Stone Yes.
Nathan Murray Yes Gary Bulmer Yes.
Jason Brown yes.
Craig Hopkins Yes.
Chris Reed yes.
Chris Reeve.
Oh ha Yes.
Okay.
Motion carries 7 to 0.
Brings us to the conclusion of our public hearings tonight.
We do have an executive session a request to adjourn
into executive session 47 dash to 061B to consider
the evaluation dismissal or discipline
of or to hear complaints or charges brought
against a public officer.
Employees staff member or individual agent
or public school student What are Council's wishes to moved?
Second, I have a motion in a second to adjourn
into executive session.
According to Idaho code 70 4-02061.
Be any further discussion on Amy Roll
call vote Craig Hawkins Yes.
Jason Brown.
Yes.
Gary Barber Yes.
Nathan Murray.
Yes Grayson Stone.
Yes.
Bruce Pearce Yes.
Chris Reed Yes.
A motion carries 70 zero.
That concludes our meeting tonight.
We will not be returning to city council chambers
Thank you It's do me a favor Would
you like Where are we meeting?
Are we all the way?
You mind ?