Orepac, Building Renovations for Hotel Space, Projects at the Airport
All Council City Council members except Kim Mahon were at the meeting on April 2nd.
Jordan Zwygart, CPA, presented the city council with a 40-page audit on fiscal year 2022-2023. He said everything looked in order, and his only suggestion was to provide training for city employees on the unique software the city uses. That training has already been scheduled.
Western Timber General Manager Doug Davis told the council he expected the sale of Western Timber to Orepac to close on April 3rd. He said all Western Timber employees will stay on with Orepac and that Orepac is interested in the property the city owns between Grossen Creek and Galena Street.
Mayor Bruce Gardner said that when Boise Cascade donated that property to the city, there was certain language used that would prohibit certain timber businesses from using the land. He said the city would look up the exact verbiage.
Clerk Ashley Scott and public works supervisor Caleb Shumway said the city had been considering that site for the placement of another city well.
Davis said Orepac hoped to put in a storage/warehouse building and might be interested in the buildings vacated by Whole Foods. The council told him that Whole Foods has a two-year lease on those buildings, and only one year of that lease is up.
Western Timber has been in business since 1983; they have had a presence in Council since 2001. They also have locations in Weiser and Coeur d’ Alene.
John Moyle told the city council that he had purchased the building directly to the east of M&W Market. He plans to renovate the building at 106 Illinois and turn it into two, short stay rental units. Each unit will have a kitchen and be built in a studio style with three beds. It will be available as a hotel or corporate retreat or for anyone passing through town who needs a place to stay.
Moyle’s Cousin, Tina Sutton, owns the building directly east of his and her family currently uses the home, which has already been remodeled, as a place to stay when they come through town, and Doyle said he will be able to use it if he needs extra space for a large number of guests.
Doyle and his wife own property south of the golf course and hope to build on that property in the future.
He said he hopes to start taking bookings for October and plans to have an open house on July 4th.
In other building business, Cheyenne Bennion told the council that she and her husband had purchased the old Assembly of God Church at 403 N Dartmouth. She said her husband owns Weiser River Customs and is a general contractor and plans to remodel the building to provide Airbnb like housing. The sale closed on April 2nd, and Bennion estimates that it will take two years for the remodel job to be completed.
The couple plan to keep it zoned commercial but will be adding water and sewer hookups. She said she hopes to have six single rooms and in what is now the sanctuary, three bedrooms, one bath and one kitchen. She said it will be similar to a hotel or an inn. Currently, one tenant is living in the back apartment.
“When your husband’s a contractor, your projects must wait,” she said.
In other business, Bennion, who is also a board member on the Council Chamber of Commerce, told the council that for safety reasons, the chamber wanted there to be no parking on Illinois Ave a few hours before and after the 4th of July Parade. The council said that it would need to consult their attorney about writing an ordinance, and Sheriff Ryan Zollman said that for his deputies to tow away vehicles, there would need to be an ordinance.
Bennion suggested using this year as a test case and putting up no parking signs and cones and notifying the public ahead of the scheduled event that they could not park on Illinois. The council thought her plan a good one.
In other business, Mayor Bruce Gardner read a proclamation written by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Elizabeth Doyle Foundation supporting care givers of military veterans. The city of Council supports their efforts to help those care givers.
Sheriff Ryan Zollman attended the meeting to ask what his deputies are supposed to do with dogs found running at large. He said that it was fortunate that last week, Mayor Gardner was able to take in one such dog at Heartland Animal Hospital, but he said he needed a more permanent solution.
Mayor Gardner said that the city has a kennel on Mountain View Road, but that any dog the sheriff took there would need someone to check on the dog and feed it twice a day. Mayor Gardener, city clerk Ashley Scott, deputy clerk Julie Pate, public works supervisor Caleb Shumway, and council member Dave Tubridy all volunteered to care for any dogs that were housed at the kennel. The kennel will have a lock box to allow deputies to drop off dogs as needed.
Jessica Rogers and Rick House, members of the Cambridge Seventh Day Adventist Church, told the Council that Mindfit, a mental health seminar would take place on April 4th, 5th, and 6th at the Cambridge Seventh Day Adventist Church. Rogers said the program would focus on suicide prevention, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression and on what to do if one is experiencing any of these mental health issues. She said one of the goals of the seminar was to alleviate the stigma sometimes associated with mental health issues.
Kathy Hughes, Council Airport Commission Chair and Council Airport Manager, reported there was a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspection of the airport in March. She, along with Scott, Pate and Shumway attended the inspection.
Inspector Rene Wegener, the local agent, conducted the inspection, and Hughes said she was complimentary about the airport’s cameras (weather and individual hanger cameras) and about the pilot community involvement and the collaboration between the city and the airport commission.
Hughes, Scott, and Kayla Brown, from JUB Engineering, met to review the annual capital improvement plan.
During that meeting, the following items were discussed: the airport pavement rehab construction was moved to 2025 after an FAA review call, they kept the masterplan update slated for 2026. 2028 is still projected to begin a seal coat design project and they added 2028 as a non-Airport Improvement Program taxi lane extension project. They also added 2029 for seal coat construction and 2023 as a placeholder, carry over funding year.
Hughes also reported that Danny Beachy, Terry Power and Shumway worked on the inoperative runway edge lights and discovered and fixed a short. They had to disconnect the windsock, which had been causing the short.
Also, she said the Treasure Valley Pilots’ Group is planning to fly into Council on April 13th to have breakfast in town.
The next airport commission meeting will be held on April 22, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. at airport hanger 5 with a Zoom meeting invite as an option, all are invited to attend.
https:us02web.zoom.us/j/813647167?pwd=NmVEdlcrdk.JybzBLRidpeFhJT2R2UT09 Meeting ID: (813) 647-47167 Passcode: 146514
Finally, Scott reminded everyone that city hall would be closed while she and Pate are attending trainings on the following dates: April 8-11th, April 24th, and May 7th.
