City Receives Grant to Rebuild, Pave North Heigho
The regular New Meadows City Council meeting on Monday, March 24, 2025 began with a moment of silence regarding the fire on Vet Clinic Road in old Meadows and all involved. Council Members Traci Foster, Jeff Parnett, and Shiloh Ryker were in attendance with Josh Carr excused. Mayor Julie Good and Deputy Clerk Sonya Broadhecker also attended. Mayor Good brought the meeting to order and asked Ryker to read the Mayor’s report and subsequent items.
Ryker delivered the report stating Mayor Good has received complaints lately regarding stormwater. Mayor Good’s report also noted that city staff are working hard to keep water flowing. Since the water table in town is currently extremely high, this has been difficult. The water table is projected to remain high for another month. Public Works staff is watching river and ditch levels in order to advise the City Council of any flood issues.
A note was offered that driving slowly will best help deter road deterioration during this season of regularly changing temperatures and weather conditions.
Good’s report noted that John Stone has agreed to work with the City on the Ziply Fiber internet project and is willing to assist with other assigned city projects. Stone has sent a contract which is being reviewed and will be presented for City Council approval. A meeting with Ziply has been requested, but has only been met with auto replies. The project will not move forward until a meeting occurs.
Another case of vandalism occurred in the men’s restroom at the city park the weekend of March 21-23. The City has discussed possible solutions with Four Corners Communications.
The Road and Streets Committee held a meeting on Tuesday, March 18 and engineer, Grae Harper, let the committee know the City was chosen to receive the $1.8 million grant for reconstruction and paving of North Heigho. The sign grant the City applied for through LHTAC was not received.
Mehen Memorial Skatepark plans continue to move forward and Mayor Good met with Molly Johnson and Preston Woods to discuss needed items and what could be donated or purchased at a reduced cost.
Mayor Good’s report noted that she is continuing discussions on adding MeadowCreek to the Gold Line route as well as the possibility of adding the Youth Center.
Regarding the Youth Center, Mayor Good reported that windows have been installed and plumbing and electric work is going in. A request has been made to Johnny Brown, Jr. to repaint the Heartland Recyclers sign so it can be hung in the Youth Center as a historical reminder.
The Community House Thrift Store informed the City of $10,000 available for furnishings for the preschool and another potential donation may be available from Perpetua Resources. Several grant applications will also be sent out this month.
The Meadows Valley Early Learning Foundation along with Cambria Williams with Southwest District Health will be doing a walk through of the Youth Center on April 2 at 5:00 p.m. The Fire Department also took a recent tour of the building with the General Contractor and building plans have been reviewed by the State Fire Marshal. No feedback had been received as of the time of this meeting. Any further inspections required by code will be scheduled.
The meeting then moved to another discussion of options for a Local Option Tax or an Improvement District. Foster presented a brochure with discussion and informational items to be edited, approved, and then presented to the public to encourage transparency and open communication. The conversation continued noting received complaints and support for the tax along with general desire for improvement of city roads and streets. The brochure would communicate specific steps needed to fix drains and streets, increase paved areas, and show potential costs.
After much discussion, the Council tabled the conversation with a decision to finalize the brochure and set up further conversations with the community including a community potluck and discussion night. Mayor Good also reiterated that any of these options will have to be approved by the public by a vote and the city council can not put a tax in place without the people’s approval.
The meeting continued with a unanimous approval of an action item to approve the new Youth Center logo designed by Foster.
A motion was then made to approve a resolution for Week of the Young Child Proclamation for April 5-11. The proclamation notes that the city is working to “promote and inspire high quality early childhood experience for the state’s youngest citizens” and that this week goes alongside the work of the Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children. The proclamation continues stating “When our community invests in early childhood education and educators, we also invest in our children and families”. The week will include special activities for families and children including an event at the Depot, library storytime, and a special day at the YAC after school program. The motion was approved unanimously.
Another motion to approve a resolution for Strengthening Families Month Proclamation recognizes that community support of families and children helps to prevent childhood abuse and neglect. The resolution issues a “Call upon all citizens, community agencies, faith groups, medical facilities, elected leaders, and businesses to increase participation in efforts to support families thereby preventing child abuse and strengthening the community in which we live.” The resolution was approved unanimously.
A motion to approve City Clerk Kyla Gardner and Deputy Clerk Broadhecker’s attendance of the Association of Idaho Cities Conference in June was approved unanimously along with approval to pay for their registration fees and expenses incurred while attending the conference. A related approval of a City Hall Closure on June 18 and 19 was unanimously approved.
A discussion concluded with a motion to begin steps toward a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) so the city can gain approval to excavate a previously discussed rock source for base material to rebuild roads. Mayor Good explained the City must abide by its own ordinances and procedures. The City will need approval from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), will need a river reclamation plan, and will need to have a CUP public hearing, along with other requirements. Engineer Harper noted that a financial review showed using this rock source could save the city 20-25% of costs for road reconstruction.
Kirk Kundrick, the City’s Water Operator, came into the meeting to report that as the fire department was accessing the city’s water for the ongoing fire in old Meadows, the water system had met 1500 gallons per minute on the booster station and was operating as designed. Kundrick noted that at some points that evening three trucks had been filling at once and making back and forth trips between the fire and the city to fill a portable reservoir. He reported the booster station was at its designed set point with all pumps on at once and this is great news that the improvements made over the last couple years are working as they should be.
The Mayor then asked for a motion to approve using up to $6,000 toward purchasing a new pump for the jetter in the stormwater system or having the current pump rebuilt noting the city puts aside discretionary funding each year for items of this category. A motion was made and approved unanimously by the Council.
The Council then went into executive session.
After returning from the executive session, the Paid & Pending Claims were approved unanimously. The March 10 meeting minutes, November and December 2024 & January 2025 Financials were not yet available online and will be on the next meeting’s agenda. Future meeting topics may also include the brochure put together by Foster, a possible “get to know your City Council members” feature in the Meadows Valley Monday emails, the next step for the rock pit CUP, a Skatepark update, and the city volunteer policy.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2025 at 6:30 p.m..
