Like to call this meeting to order.

It is November fourth, two thousand twenty-five, and this is our Cordelane City Council meeting.

Oh, and it's election night, so you still have time to go out and vote.

Yes.

Um, roll call, please.

Joel.

Gabriel.

Here.

Miller.

Here.

Evans.

Here.

English.

Here.

Wood.

Here.

Go in.

Here.

Thanks for being here.

Uh, we have the invocation next grant.

And if you could stand and stay standing for the pledge, please.

Guide us, good and gracious Lord, in this liminal time, this election hour.

Bless all who have volunteered to serve us.

Watch over the young women who are here tonight to witness the proclamation of the uh year of the girl by this city and lead them as they lead us when their time comes.

Draw us away from our own points of view and help us to discern what is your point of view.

Guard us from the distractions of the excitement of the season.

Teach us humility and the vision to identify the gifts of those with whom we disagree.

Grant us courage for the facing of the future.

Spur the members of this council and all in this room to speak the truth as they understand it and to ask forgiveness for the mistakes that come with being human.

Thank you that you hear and answer our deepest yearnings as individuals and as a community.

Assure refuge in the midst of the turbulence around us, for we ask it in your name.

Amen.

Thank you, Grant.

Christy, would you lead us in the pledge, please?

The United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God with liberty and justice.

Thanks, Christy.

Any amendments to the agenda, Council?

Seeing none.

We have a presentation proclamation International Day of the Girl.

And Dan English is going to read that.

And yes.

Brian, you're going to receive it, right?

Did I and my Girl Scouts come up?

You betcha.

Girl Scouts come on up here.

No problem here, you're in the center of attention right now.

No pressure.

Look at that.

He's gonna councilman.

I'm gonna read this.

There you go.

Thank you, Councilman.

Okay, whereas October 11th, 2025 marks 13 years since the United Nations adopted the resolution to declare October 11th as the International Day of the Girl to recognize girls' rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

And whereas the world's premier leadership development organization for girls, Girl Scouts, has emphasized public service, civic engagement, and the love of the outdoors and camp in girls for over a century.

And whereas Girl Scouts in this council adopted and overcame to grow to 4200 girls last month, the most since 2013, and vow to continue growing to provide girls optimism adventure.

And whereas Girl Scouts offer girls 21st century programming and science, technology, engineering, and math, the outdoors, entrepreneurship, and beyond, helping girls develop invaluable life skills.

Whereas next summer, Girl Scouts will travel to Washington, DC to celebrate their national convention and the 250th anniversary celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

And whereas on the 13th anniversary of celebrating the specialness of girls, we are reminded more than 50 million women or Girl Scout alums as role models to the 1.1 million Girl Scouts, and we recognize and honor the 1.1 billion girls across the globe who make the world a better place.

I now therefore Dan English, on behalf of Woody McEvers, mayor of the city of Corland, do hereby proclaim October 11th, 2025 as the International Day of the Girl.

Girls, turn around with me here to stand next to the council behind.

Thank you very much, Council.

Sir, can I just say a couple words?

You betcha.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Can the girls come over and get in front of you on camera?

So their parents and grandparents?

I don't know.

I think in front of maybe your podium, if they were.

I just want their grandparents to be able to see them.

I thank you, and thank you very much, Mayor.

This is the second year you've given us a delightful proclamation.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

I did bring cookies, they're over here.

Troy, um, the administrator threatens me not to talk to me the rest of the year unless I make the cookie delivery happen.

Traffic on I-90 almost prevented it.

That I see police is probably somewhere here.

I don't know.

There could be a couple travel cameras that got a Girl Scout vehicle kind of moving through things pretty quickly, but I did make it, and I just want to celebrate these girls here.

These girls last year were number three in the country for selling cookies.

So pretty incredible for what they do.

This is this week is the week of Idaho.

We were last night in Moscow, tonight we're here, and tomorrow we're in Sandpoint.

So go Northern Idaho.

But this is just a night girl for you.

That proclamation was for you.

So thank you, Councilman English, for that.

This is a night of democracy, but it's also a night of the day of the girl.

We want to hear your voice.

Everyone here in this room want to hear your voice.

So thank you, City Council, for doing that.

Councilwoman uh Miller is a huge Girl Scout fan of yours, as are the rest of the team up there.

I appreciate very much.

I did not get here in time to give you all your gifts to the lady councilwoman up there, so I will leave them over there at the administrative station over there so I don't disrupt the meeting that I'm more than I already have.

But I'll just finish with two things.

One, we have a new cookie coming out next year.

It's a Rocky Road flavor-based cookie called Explorer More, so get excited for that.

So you'll see that at a cookie stand near you in March.

And this country, this state loves this country, and this community and the rest of the Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho donated 42,000 boxes of cookies for our U.S.

military first responders as well as our health care workers.

We've given so many out to our first responders, including many overseas, and we just had 2,000 nuts donated during our fall sale for our first responders as well.

Almost 3,000 nuts as well.

Um and I know you love this country and Girl Scouts do as well.

And the girl, the tall girl in the middle, Ray, um, she was number three in our council last year for donations of cookies.

She had over 500 boxes of cookies donated to our U.S.

military.

Wow.

So yes, round of applause for Ray.

So I'll exit stage right, but I will just tell you Corta Lane loves its Girl Scouts and its Girl Scouts love Coralane.

We hit 7,000 total members this year, second time since 2013, and that happens because of Patriots and believers in girls like each of you.

Good luck in the elections tonight.

We believe in you, and we'll be in DC this summer for our national convention, celebrating 250 years of America being a shining light on the hill.

God bless you all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brian.

Brian, thank you.

Kiki, do you still have your vest?

I do.

That's all my sash and my brain.

There you go.

And I know the ball.

There you go.

Awesome.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Brian.

Thanks, girls.

Moving along.

Uh public comment.

Anyone signed up for public comment?

Oh, it's coming.

That's kind of disappointing.

Right.

Hey, John Pushner.

Hi, John.

Welcome.

Okay.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, thank you so much for your service.

Uh, briefly, I'll just mention as our kids were trying to decide what to wear for Halloween.

My 14-year-old referenced the movie Toy Story and suggested to my 11-year-old that he dress up as Woody.

And the 11-year-old said, McGavers?

So that's pretty funny.

I thought I'd share that with you.

Um, a couple of things that I wanted to mention.

The voluntary separation incentive program.

I urge you to, from my understanding from what staff recommended at the workshop, is to not adopt it because it raids this year's budget further.

I urge you not to pass it.

Um the city does need more revenue, but digging into tax dollars and reserves, I don't believe is the right answer.

We have the hotels, and I know some of you don't believe that they will voluntarily add a fee to their bill, but I promise you they will.

Consider driving through uh a restaurant in town, they ask, would you like to make a donation?

Panda Express.

As you pay for your meal, they say, Would you like to donate to the children's cancer fund?

And if we spin it to the hotels to collect this extra fee to fund our first responders in our streets and our parks, I promise you they will partner with us.

Um, we don't have to wait till the end of tonight's election to know that our first responders do need more support.

They need a chaplaincy program, volunteer group of chaplains who will support them when they get called out.

And we have many people in our community who will step up and do this.

So I urge you to start today and create that.

You don't have to wait for the election.

Um I'm going pretty fast.

Okay.

The other thing, I don't know that this will happen.

Kind of hope that it won't happen, but if there's a vacancy created in city council because of tonight's election.

I know last time that happened when the mayor resigned and Woody was appointed.

There was a little bit of heartburn and a little bit of disagreement on how to handle that.

And may I make a suggestion?

Of course, you are all very bright, and you can decide for yourselves and debate, but the suggestion I would make is that if there is a vacancy created in city council because of tonight's election, please consider appointing somebody who ran for city council that had the most votes, but maybe did not win a seat.

So that would be, I think, a way to honor the people's votes tonight, and we don't know who's gonna win yet.

So that would be a good idea on how to handle that.

Um I think that's everything I have to say.

Thank you all for your service.

Thanks, Sean.

Anyone else?

Have anybody else signed up?

Hearing none, I'm gonna move on.

Announcements, council.

Kiki had her finger up.

Just don't do the Kiki.

I have two things, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, one thing is the Housing Solutions Partnership has an annual planning and zoning workshop every year.

This is be the fifth one coming up, and it's going to be held December 4th.

I wanted council to know about it.

We um have outgrown our other locations, so we're moving it here to the library room.

And it's primarily for um our planning and zoning commissioners and electeds and those involved in the housing industry, but you'll get a full report on what happened at that meeting and um right after it.

And the second thing is this last week I had spoken with Republic Services about the possibility of them being able to set up a recycling program for Coroplast signs, aka our campaign signs that end up in the landfill.

So they just uh said yesterday that they will be able to do that.

Um I spoke with Renata and asked her if she could let the other city clerks know so that they could email out to candidates to say that there is a recycling capability.

If you're done with your signs for forever, um you don't have to throw them into the landfill.

So there'll be a story come out in the paper about that.

Good.

Excellent.

Thanks.

Kiki.

Anybody else?

Dan.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, so I just wanted to remind everyone that Leaf Fest is coming up next week.

It's gonna start in the south part of town, move north, put your leaves out on the street if you have leaves.

Um, but we didn't have normally we do like a big leaf fest presentation, but we didn't have one this year for some reason.

Don't know why.

Uh also wanted to mention, so I talked to Todd, and he's not here tonight, and he would be the master of Leaf Fest, the uh the king of Leaf Fest if you wanted to call it a carnival.

Um, and he mentioned to me something about the Marriott Hotel that is being put in just uh north of us, kind of, and that it's sinking.

Troy, do you have an update on that?

Yes, we are working with the developer to and the engineers to remedy that situation as well as the business that is directly east of the building.

So it is being worked on.

I believe we've had multiple meetings on that.

So yeah, we have engineers, we've done a lot of videoing of those voids that are happening along that wall.

Okay, so it's be it's being taken care of.

So if people want to contact us and they have concerns about I don't know, park side falling over, it's being taken care of.

Yes, we are addressing that with engineering and meetings and talking with the owners.

Okay.

Yep.

Thank you so much.

And I just wanted to congratulate uh council member Gabriel on his victory tonight.

Although it is disappointing not to have a sample ballot with your name on it.

I mean, I had people asking me where's Gabriel's name, but okay.

I just do like they tell me to.

Any other things, Council?

None.

I'd like to uh do a couple of committee appointments if I could.

I would like to nominate Jim Leen, Mike McDowell, and Warren Bates to the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Commission.

Uh Jim Watchett to the Library Board of Trustees and Richard Schaeffer and Annalise Miller to the Historic Preservation Commission.

Mr.

Mayor, so moved.

Second.

Discussion.

Roll call, please.

Wood.

Yes.

Gabriel.

Yes.

Evans.

Yes.

Miller.

I can.

Uh-huh.

English.

Yes.

Thank you, Council.

Consent calendar.

Mr.

Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve consent calendar as presented, including resolution number 25-060.

Second.

And move to hand second discussion.

Roll call, please.

Gabriel.

Yes.

Evans.

Yes.

Miller.

Hi.

Book in.

Yes.

English.

Yes.

Wood?

Yes.

Thank you, Council.

Good.

We're zooming along.

Glenn, you're up.

We're doing resolution 25061.

Approval of a contract with United Pump Company.

BBA United Pump and Drilling.

Or rehab of Hanley well in the amount not to exceed 200,000.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Tonight I have for you a presentation for the approval of the lowest responsive bid and the award of a contract to United Pump Company.

And as you said, doing business as United Pump and Crown Drilling.

This is currently the Hanley well from an overhead view.

A little bit of history on the Hanley well.

It was originally drilled in 1990.

These are some of the best pictures I could get out of our older books.

As you can see, it looks like there's a 24-inch casing being drilled into the ground, and I don't think they really cared about OSHA back then with some of the heights that they're standing upon with no rigging.

Submersible means it's down in the water.

So it's susceptible to electricity and water don't mix.

So what is a well rehab?

Our process of discovering any issues that we see throughout the years with higher amperage in the motor, um vibration, hours run time, that really just determines on when we do a rehab project.

So a rehab project would be to remove the top section of the motor up here.

This is the discharge head.

We see 12-inch column pipe.

All of that gets removed, inspected, cleaned, uh so forth, and then the any new parts that need to be used installed gets all put back into the ground.

Um there were uh bids solicited.

We received two bids from two different companies, special to pump pump being the other one.

United Crown United Pump was the lowest responsive base bid of 94,513.

Bid options were included in this uh solicitation for bids, meaning basically that we were we know there's gonna be wear items, so options were put in there for certain replacement.

Traditionally, we don't see all of those wear items needing being replaced, but we want to make sure that we have enough budgeted for that.

Um this total cost of the bid did come in um over budget by a few thousand dollars.

If this if we we don't traditionally exceed that budget because not all the wear items most likely need to be replaced, uh we can reuse several of those things as long as they're in good condition.

If there was a case where we did see that we were gonna become over budget from lots of wear and tear and full replacement needed to be done, we would come back to council with a report on why, and then requesting the extra funding to move forward.

So we would propose that all of the associated components come out of the well, be inspected, cleaned, anything that can be refurbished would be brought back into tolerance and then reinstalled to uh for an active well for us.

Um part of the bid also requires a downhole inspection, which is a riveting video if you ever want to show up to see it.

We're just going down the hole with a video camera.

We're taking all 360 angles, making sure all the casing is intact, no holes to the outside earth, and then making sure our screens down at the bottom of the well are free and clear from debris.

Oftentimes with extended use, we we could see caking of sand or any mineral deposits in a rare occurrence in Court of Lane where we might have to break that stuff up so we can actually get more water flow.

But this this we haven't seen that uh in quite a few years on any of our wells, so that's not expected.

But regardless, we'll we'll definitely take a look to make sure it's everything is good.

And with that, I would request that the council approve the lowest responsive bid uh in a water contract united pump for a budget not to exceed 200,000 dollars.

So I would stand for questions if there are any council questions.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So when you say the overall bid replacing everything is a few thousand over.

Correct.

I think that if you torn this apart and you're bringing things up, you would want to replace everything.

So a lot of times the we we definitely try to keep the cost as low as possible.

Um the stainless shield shaft that goes down the middle of the column pipe, most of that stuff can be re uh reused and straightened.

Um as well as the collin pipe, it's very expensive materials.

So some of those components are not necessarily a big wear item, like the collin pipe, all that happens through that is just the water flows through it.

But sometimes those pipes can't be separated because they've been in the ground so long.

So you're happy with refurbishing versus new?

We we've found that refurbishing as long as they're cleaned up and inspected and make sure they're within specification and tolerances that they can be reused.

Most of all are well rehabs.

We've we've uh um reuse many, many parts throughout just to keep the cost down.

Thank you.

Kiki.

I'm gonna thank you.

How long does this extend the life of the well until you have to do this again or do you have a feel for that?

It's kind of uh it's a good guesstimate on our end.

We we do take vibration analysis often.

Um we're gonna look at amperage to see if there's further drag on potentially if the motor or the pump is wearing out.

So all those factors are taken in.

Um we also look it in each year.

We look at the runtime hours, that's our biggest um way that we can get a pulse on whether that pump needs to come out.

Traditionally, we look at these and say annually about every 10 years, 10 to 12 years that these pumps need to be replaced.

When we have pulled them out, we find out that the pump down below is the biggest wear item.

And most of the time, those are about halfway worn out in 10 to 12 years.

Okay.

Yeah.

Any questions?

All right, look for a motion, please.

Mr.

Mayor, I make uh motion to approve resolution number 25-061, approving the approval of a contract with United Pump, doing business as United Pump and Crown Drilling for the rehabilitation of the Hanley well and the amount not to exceed 200,000 dollars.

Second.

And moved and seconded discussion.

Great job.

Thank you for the pictures too.

Hearing none.

Roll call, please.

Evans.

Yes, Miller.

I go in.

Yeah.

English.

Yes.

Wood.

Yes.

Gabriel.

Yes.

Thank you, Council.

Moving on.

Resolution 25062, amendments to personnel rules one, 10, 12, and 13 to amend the employee probation provisions, update terminology, delete language no longer needed, and provide clarity.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Oh, Melissa Tosi, sorry.

Thank you.

Uh so uh all the changes, edits and amendments are in your packet, and it looks like there's a lot, but it's it's really not that much.

So I tried to just uh bring it down to the minimum that I wanted to make sure that you are aware of and happy to stand for any questions.

But the main purpose of the amendments that I brought forward tonight was to change the probationary language for our lateral police officers from the current 18-month probationary uh time frame to 12 months.

Um and then there are multiple rules within our personnel rules that has a probationary language.

So it's just kind of grabbing all that language and putting it all under one rule.

And then when going into a rule, there's always some odd wording that's been there for a long, long time, and just some things that need to be updated to uh make it more clear.

So the rules uh we're going to discuss tonight are rule one, ten, twelve, and thirteen.

They all have probationary language within it.

Uh that main rule 10 will be where all the probationary language ultimately is.

So just a few highlights.

Um each of these rules has the probationary language in it.

So under Rule 1, Section 7, you'll see that that language is just being removed from this section and placed in rule 10.

So under that same rule though, there's some outdated language.

Section five talks about a requirement for council to publish in the newspaper if you choose to repeal the entire set of rules.

I'm not sure why we would repeal the whole set of rules.

But by removing that, all the amendments would just follow the same process.

We would be required to post them for employees prior to a meeting, and uh the amendments would all be the same.

Under section six, uh, it currently reads that appointments are made by the HR director.

Uh while it is true that HR is involved in all of our appointments, it's ultimately the department head's decision on appointments.

Um I do consult with them and I'm part of the approval process with the recruitment.

Um so changing that to appointments are made by the department head would be a more accurate uh reflection of our current practice.

And then just some general housekeeping in this rule.

Um we have a appointing power written throughout the personnel rules, which really is the department head.

It's just kind of an odd way to state that.

Um, and then there's just some outdated language that needs to be cleaned up.

So this main rule 10 will be where all the probationary period uh language sits under the main section one.

This is where we would the probationary period for our lateral police officers to 12 months, um, and it just kind of clarifies the language what happens at the end of the probation period and the time frames that we calculate for an employee's probation.

Um and then under section two, excuse me, uh we have what happens with our current uh promotion uh employees that uh fall under a six-month probationary period.

Uh there's nothing in there that uh states what we do with transferred employees, and what we are currently doing is placing them on the same six-month probationary period as promotion, so that is adding transfers within that same section.

Um, and then section four is just the language cleaning it up to what happens if an employee does not end up passing a probationary period as a new uh new employee or uh promotion or transfers, and then again just some general housekeeping changes.

Uh Rule 12 also has probationary language in it, uh, just removing that language and placing it in Rule 10.

It clear clarifies that employees do receive an increase at the end of that 12-month probationary period, and then there's some outdated language that speaks to a 5% increase for promotional uh increases that is old language, um, and so I'm deleting that, and then again, just some general housekeeping changes.

Under Rule 13, the uh probationary language in there is just completely being deleted and moved to rule 10.

So these amendments were brought forward to our executive team for discussion as personal rules requires, they were sent to our fire union, Lake City Employees Association, and police association for any comments.

Um I originally posted the language, I had it amended for all employees to fall under a 12-month probationary period.

Um police administration had requested that it was only changed for laterals only, which would require our entry-level police officers to stay at an 18-month probationary period.

Uh, and the police officers association was agreeable to that as well.

So this language is only for laterals.

So in conclusion, uh the main amendments just updating the lateral police officer time frame.

Uh, that 18-month probationary time frame really was put in the personnel rules long before council had approved there being a lateral police officer program.

So that's just kind of outdated as well.

Puts all the proposed amendments for probation under the same rule and just updating language for clarity.

So my recommendation is council approve the amendments to rule 1, 10, 12, and 13.

Questions, council.

Christine.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Melissa, thank you.

I I do have some questions on this, but I also want to tell you in the council that I did get a message from the police association today.

There are some um concerns with some of the language.

And so they would ultimately like council to give them another opportunity to sit down with you and go through it.

Might just be as easy as you explaining it.

Everyone can understand it, but I'd like to give them that opportunity.

But I have some questions, if I may.

Oh sure.

So I guess the first one is are we calling our staff department heads or directors now?

Because department head language is in this.

Right.

The department heads have their own person the own rule towards the end of the personnel rules, and it defines the employees that fall under a department head.

So we have the appointed officers, we have the library director, and then we have the department heads and it lists them out.

Okay.

Um if you have this in front of you.

Do you I noticed that you you you explained it, but I couldn't quite I couldn't quite track it.

Um removing that whole section on repeal.

What would be the mechanism for council to repeal it if we don't have this language?

Yes.

So uh the paragraph above that basically just states that all amendments, so if council had amendments as well, um it would just go through the same process as staff does.

So it would be required to be posted in City Hall, distributed to department heads, um, sent to the employees association, which is what I do as well, and posted 10 days prior to a council meeting.

So you wouldn't be required to post something in the newspaper.

Uh you would just have the same posting amendment requirement that staff does.

Okay, very good.

Um, and then as you get farther down that page to appointments, Mr.

Mayor, may I continue?

Yes, okay.

Um that language has been changed, you know, kind of significantly to be honest with you.

Um it talks about appointments to a vacant position in the competitive service shall be made in accordance with the rules.

I assume those are personnel rules, and shall be made in the best interests of the city.

So there's no definition about the best interest of the city.

But what was struck from that was I guess something that's a little more tangible was promotion shall be based on merit and fitness to the ascertained and for the practical by competitive examination.

So that seems more descriptive than just best interest of the city.

And I don't know how to define best interest of the city in any way.

Sure.

And I guess from an HR perspective, I don't know how to provide define merit and fitness.

So fitness can be a very subjective term.

And uh so that's why that sentence is deleted because merit and fitness is really hard to define.

So we're just looking at hiring the best people for the city, um, and how we do that is based on our testing process or the interview process.

Um I think the merit and fitness is just a really subjective sentence.

Okay, but you also marked out competitive examination in that same sentence.

Well, our all of our processes are recruitments are done through a competitive examination.

We can leave it in if I mean if you feel that it is clear to our process that we do, we can leave that in.

Well, I I mean that would be up to the full council, but maybe we if council agrees that the police association can have another conversation with you about this, then we could see what what you all think about that.

Um is there another place in personnel rules that refers to competitive examination?

Or is this the only place?

Um there might I would have to do a word search.

I mean, our all our our rules are done by a competitive examination, whether we do internal or external recruitments, so we would consider that a competitive process regardless.

So it probably is in the personal rules in other places.

I would have to look though.

Okay.

The the next couple of paragraphs probably are just going to need some conversation.

Um maybe the original uh personnel rules brought forth to see that that this has been written this way.

But the way it appears now and some of the questions is that a department head would basically be trying to hire someone, but they would need your final approval on who they hired.

And it doesn't match which on page 103 under termination, they consult with with the HR director, as they should.

Um we want to make sure that our department heads are following all employment laws.

You know, you may need to conduct I cramp in certain situations.

So I can certainly should be consulted.

But the way it reads now is that the authority is question it, the department head do the hiring, or do you do the hiring?

And your equals and so that's I think that's part of the rub.

Right.

Uh so I agree it's not my job to hire another department head's employee.

I'm certainly part of the process and making sure that the recruitment is a fair and equal process and consistent uh what we do in all of our departments.

Uh the current language is appointments shall be made by the HR director.

That's the way it currently reads.

So my proposed language is to change it to appointments shall be made by the department head with the approval of the HR director, only because I'm part of the recruitment process and making sure that that's done appropriately, not that I'm approving the person that they're hiring, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I think those are the kind of conversations that hopefully you'd be willing to have with uh the police association.

Um and then I think I think that was the bulk of my concerns about this.

Um I would just like there's no rush on this.

Um it isn't something that has to be done right away.

So I would like to give the employees an opportunity to sit down with you again and just go through this.

Mr.

Guten.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh so I have a question on that same section, section six, page ninety seven.

Um, and I don't know the answer to this, but what is a competitive service?

So it says appointments to vacant positions in the competitive service shall be made in accordance with it.

So what is the competitive service?

So the the personnel, the employees that fall under the the rules is the competitive service.

So it it would be all of our benefited staff that fall under the competitive service.

So full-time benefited employees.

So it's everyone.

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

You did vet this with all the associations?

Yes.

And was anything changed from what you originally gave them?

No.

Okay.

And you never had any desire to be the hiring person, correct?

No.

I'm part of the process, but ultimately our department heads are responsible for the individuals they choose.

Is there maybe a wording that maybe could be different?

Yeah, I think it might be palatable to PD with with you, uh not P PD specific, but that maybe maybe get you off the hook a little bit too.

Well, I'm fine with the con in consultation.

I mean, we have that in the personal rules as well.

I think the the rule that you're referring to currently says that the HR director hires.

And I'm saying that that's not my role to do.

I'm trying to give it to the department head with the approval of HR because of the process of the recruitments, not I don't need to select who they're actually hiring.

Mr.

Mayor.

I'm just a clarification question here.

Um it seems to me like the body of work is already done and the associations have already looked at it.

And I think Christie started her conversation with it may just need explanation to the police association, and that may be all that it needs.

So I'm just wondering why there would be a reason to hold this up and not approve these changes with um the ability for you to go to the police association, make those explanations, might be fine.

If they do have an issue, there wouldn't be anything prohibiting you from coming back and saying they wanted this change made and having us approve that.

Is that not the case?

No, I I can't imagine we wouldn't be in agreement.

So Mr.

Mayor.

I think that it's a lot easier to work with people before you finalize something, just to make sure everyone's on the same page and that um but having to come back and go through a whole process of changing personnel rules when this no there's no rush here.

No one's at fault for anything.

It's really just can we just continue the conversation?

And they could do that easily and bring it back to the next council meeting.

So I would make a motion to table this item until the next council meeting.

I'll second that.

Yeah.

I mean, there could be something about consultation in the process or something that still, you know, that they've got an important role in it, but they're not, you know making a firm decision.

So anyway, I again, and with the timing since there isn't anything, I think it's better to uh just do a little bit more of this work and uh yeah, sounds like it's you know 98% there or more.

So Mr.

Guggen.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And Melissa, I know that before this happened, you sent out an email, you sent it out to the whole city, and you say, okay, here's the stuff.

Give me your feedback, let me know what's going on.

Is there any way we could make that more formal so that if there ever is a doubt up here, we could have a signed document by the associations and the unions that are that are affected that would say, yeah, we're cool with this, because I think that would really it would formalize it and it would remove any doubt that there is miscommunication.

Yeah.

Well, I have an email from the police association that they're fine with the amendments.

Do you?

Yeah.

Do you is that something you could share with us right now?

You want me to pull out my outlook?

That's up to the mayor.

If it'll make us keep going forward or waiting around for you.

Well, Mr.

Mayor, I don't think it changed whether she got an email or not.

They now have said they have concerns.

So I don't think they're major.

I think Melissa can resolve it.

But why wouldn't you give the benefit of the doubt to employees working together?

Right.

I guess my only uh wish would be that the concerns are brought forward to me that since I'm doing the amendment.

And that was why I say because you've sent out the you sent out the the email.

A few weeks ago.

Yeah, and we don't really interact with them, and if they are responding to you, they're not responding to us as well.

So we just expect that's going to be brought to us at some point.

But if I hear that they're not happy now, then something something must have broken in the system somewhere.

That's news to me.

Yeah.

Is this a big deal for you?

Yeah.

And would you do me a huge favor and just call all three associations so we know for sure next time that again they're happy.

I don't want to read your email to cluster completely with that.

So I wouldn't bring forward an amendment without telling you that an association group is not in agreement with it.

And if they weren't in agreement with it, I would let you know.

So you are making a decision based on having all the information.

Well, I thank you as I have a thousand times for this great stuff you do, how you keep it together, I have no idea.

But you keep it straight, you do a wonderful job.

So we just gave you one more meeting, okay?

Okay.

Anything else?

For a roll call on that.

Miller.

Hi.

Yes.

English.

Yes.

Wood?

Yes.

Gabriel?

Yes.

Evans?

Yes.

All right.

Moving on.

Melissa, you're up again.

Take a breath.

I'm good.

This is uh approval of a voluntary separation incentive program.

Yes.

So uh in October, council directed staff to bring forward a program to consider for an incentive program.

Uh so the decision tonight would be should council approve a voluntary separation incentive program for employees that are looking at leaving city employment.

Uh the goal of the voluntary separation incentive program is to reduce overall personnel costs.

So uh by offering an incentive, our hope would be that um departments would have an opportunity to review the need for a position after an employee leaves.

Uh potentially uh restructure a department based on their current organization, uh, delay hire any new employees to uh see savings there, and then uh refill positions that have been here for you know a quite a few years that are sitting at the max, refill them at an entry-level wage.

So this slide is from our finance director's uh presentation from the workshop, just kind of gave a sample of employees that were at or near PERSI eligibility and a few employees in this mix that uh might be interested in the incentive.

So the proposed criteria of the program would be first to have employees submit uh intent of interest memo to HR by uh December 5th, so we could kind of gauge who's interested in the program.

Um proposing that the data separation would be through the end of 2026, and this would be eligible for any full-time benefit of position.

Looking at savings of a minimum of $25,000 in the first year of the employee separation.

Making sure that it's clear that if an employee is eligible for the incentive program that they are not eligible for the retirement consultation benefit, which has a different type of monetary value.

The approval process would go through our city administrator and in consultation with the department head as well as the finance director.

And then final approval on the agreements for the employees would come back to council.

And then after approval by council on those individual agreements, the separation date for that employee would not be able to be changed.

So the proposal on the incentive payout is basically a 1% base wage.

We look at the employees' date that they're leaving.

We look back the 12 months prior at their base wage, and we multiply that by the number of completed service years with the city.

So just a quick example if an employee is at 100,000, 1% of that at 20 years would be a $20,000 taxable check at separation.

Could you uh explain what the uh the retirement consultation benefit that we would take away?

What is that?

Just advice or something.

So on occasion we have employees separating that we could really use their consultation services on certain things.

So there is a benefit in the personnel rules that allows up to 240 hours, and we would end up paying 24,000 towards the employees' consultative services, and we put that into their HRA VIPA plan.

So it's a retirement benefit that pays into their VIBA to help them essentially with medical costs that you would have at retirement.

So we're basically saying if you're going to take advantage of the incentive program, we are also not going to pay consultant services.

Okay.

So then the employee separating separating employee would be left with their leave payouts in the proposal.

We would have the employees' sick payout, which we only pay out to eligible retirees, would go under 100% of that payout would go into their HRA Viva plan.

There's some tax savings for the employee as well as the employer by doing that.

And then their leave payout for their vacation and comp time balances would just be paid out in their last check, and they would be able to defer that into any of their defer comp plans if they chose to.

And then the last part of the proposal is that the employee and the defendants would be opting out of the city's continued medical coverage.

So there's some savings with the city there as far as liability with claims.

If we had 30 retirees all jumping on our plan at once, those expenses end up getting passed down to our employees, and we would want to avoid that.

So as far as the financial savings, it's kind of unknown how much interest we would have until we look at the intent to participate.

And it's really just going to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Each position, how they'll be held open, what the savings is between what they're making and what we would anticipate having to bring an employee in at.

We would go over that with each employee on a case-by-case basis.

So the cost of the incentive would be basically funded by the wage savings generated by the separations and just the general vacancies for each position being held open.

So previous incentive programs have produced savings mostly due to completely not refilling positions or some possible reorganizations that had some savings.

Our departments now are running pretty lean, so I'm not sure how much opportunity we have for that.

That has been the main savings in the past.

So you're so we kind of come full circle on what the program kind of ended up doing.

So decision tonight should council approve the voluntary separation incentive program for employees separating in 2026.

Council Christy.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Melissa, thank you for this truly.

I know that you spent a lot of time on this and coming back with the mechanism.

I think believe Choi and Katie were involved.

Council asked at the workshop that you come back to us with this, and I I think you really all took the time to make sure everyone's comfortable with it.

It's fair, and it benefits I think it'll benefit the city.

One of the things that we talked about in the workshop was the idea that council can't just constantly be going and trying to grab more revenue.

That's just not a model that's sustainable with our budget into 2029 of let's just go and keep taking foregone or more taxes.

We really need a mechanism to look at our spending and where maybe we can cut some of that spending.

This through this incentive, not only does it incentivize our employees who have been valuable long-term employees that maybe they want to write off in the sunset and we'll start with a whole new more affordable crew.

Um, but it also gives our our city administrator some discretion in examining these roles and determined through attrition.

Do we need to fill that?

Or are there opportunities where maybe we don't?

Um, how long are we going to hold that open for it to make sense?

I'm completely comfortable giving the city administrator that um level of discretion and authority.

Uh I think this is a a move in the right direction to do something to bring our budget under control in the coming years.

So I I really appreciate your work on this.

I think it's going to be a a really good positive thing for us.

Mr.

Guken.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, Melissa.

So if I understand this right with that one chart you showed and it had all the little boxes on it, that there won't be a separation incentive offered unless it can get us $25,000 savings.

So if that doesn't pencil out, then the employee doesn't qualify.

Yes, and and we've had employees in past years when we've offered an incentive that were not eligible because they didn't meet the criteria.

Okay.

Um next question I was gonna ask.

Oh, the question was brought up during public comment.

Uh does this dig into our budget at all?

Is this does this have a negative effect on the budget?

I mean, I I think looking at it, it looks like it's positive.

So I just wanted to see if there was a negative at all.

Uh I d I don't think that I could probably add much more than what Katie provided in her workshop presentation.

So it's it seems like it's a positive.

I mean, Troy, you're you're the budget guy.

Thank you.

Council and Mayor.

The This is a long-term play.

You know, we won't get it back in the first three months because we're looking to have $25,000 in savings.

But if that individual that made 100,000 and we paid out $20,000, you know, it's in the budget at $20,000 for those wages that we're then going to pay out right away.

So you know the good news is we have cash in order to do that.

However, the new hire, should it be a new hire will come in at a lower wage and we'll get those savings, and then in year two there'll be more savings.

So hopefully that answers your question.

Probably day one, it doesn't save us any money because it's not a short-term, but the longer we can keep them open or restructuring is where we have in the past been successful in reworking the financial plan.

Very good.

Thank you.

Kenny, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

With the elimination of the $24,000 consultant contract, that's a savings right there, correct?

That's a good point.

We just want to be clear with our team members that that is not an option.

We have not been bringing that forward to you very often for that consultation agreement.

So yes.

Yeah, it's it's been quite a few years since we've brought one forward.

Any other questions?

Just wondering if there was any discussion about elected officials and like if we chose not to run again or leave early, but uh full-time benefited positions.

Oh plus, if it's the one percent of your wage, you're gonna get 50 bucks.

Yeah, really.

Scratch that, okay.

All right.

Any other comments, questions?

Hearing none to look for a motion, please.

Mr.

Mayor, I'd make a motion to approve resolution number 25063, approving a voluntary separation incentive program.

Second.

And moved in second discussion.

Roll call, please.

Go kid.

Yes.

English.

Yes.

Wood.

Yes.

Gabriel.

Yes.

Evans.

Yes.

Miller.

Aye.

All right.

Thank you.

Hillary, welcome.

Approval of the Cordelaine area of impact for the county.

Right, great.

Good evening there.

And council members.

So here before you with Court of Lane's proposed area of impact and map.

So the decision point is should City Council approve the Cordelane area of impact and the map attached here too that will be presented to Cootney County and which will guide future development by allowing the city and county to weigh in on development and annexation requests.

Implement city subdivision and zoning standards within the AOI boundary, and replace the existing area of city impact agreement and map, which went into effect in 1993.

So a little bit of background.

And that changed this provision that was called the area of city impact or ACI to this now area of impact.

And so it's really changed how these agreements, as we had before work between the cities and the counties.

We don't, we aren't going to have the shared tier anymore.

They're trying to not have these fights between cities on where they can grow.

And so that's really the goal is to make it more clear and concise.

With this new state statute, we have to comply by the end of this year.

So as I already mentioned, they were previously referred to ACI or area of city impact, and ours was entered into in 1993, and we have not made any changes since that time.

So the state statutes really want us to shrink the boundaries only to have the AOI include areas that could likely be annexed in five years.

And so we really took a hard look at our AOI or our ACI as I just because ours is such a large area out into some of the hillside areas that are unlikely for us to grow.

We don't have the utilities out there.

We don't really want to have our firemen out there.

We don't have the ability to have hydrants and all the water pressure and things like that.

So we really took a hard look at that and looked at areas that maybe we could shrink to be more consistent with the new state statutes.

We did meet with the other cities within Cootney County last November.

And then we met with David Callahan, the county's community development director last month to kind of show our map and what we were looking at for the agreement.

The other cool thing with the state statutes is it actually allows the county, if they're agreeable to this, to not only address some of our subdivision, but also our zoning ordinances.

So within this AOI that if they have development coming forward in the county that's not coming in for annexation, that they could apply our standards if we have this in the AOI.

So that's one of the new provisions.

We did reduce our boundary.

We don't have any conflicts with any of the other cities.

We didn't, when we met with them a year ago, we didn't have any areas where we were trying to land grab or anything.

Um approved, it would replace the current ACI as well as the map.

And then the goal is to evaluate every five years.

There's also the ability to renegotiate any of the provisions at any time.

So if we kind of realize it's clunky, it's not working, we can we can request that we amend that process.

And then if both the city and the county agree, then we can amend that.

So this is a map that shows kind of all of the layers combined.

So the city limits is in that bright green.

The current ACI is in blue, which is a little harder to see, and then the proposed AOI is in red, and this slide makes it a lot easier.

So these are the three areas that we were looking to clip out.

So these two are on the other side of the river, which we really don't have the ability to extend water.

Doesn't make sense to serve in those areas, and then over here, kind of further up on the upper Fernand Hill French Gulch area, and then this area.

If I can get the cursor, there we go.

That's further along Corderlean Lake Drive, south of Sunnyside.

So these are areas that we don't believe are really feasible for annexation in five years.

If we want to look at it in five years and say, yes, we're gonna grow, we can expand the boundary at that point.

So as um I mentioned the new state statutes do allow a little bit more than the old one did.

The old one we were limited to subdivision and infrastructure.

So the county would notify us if they had a subdivision, we'd look at it and we'd say, yep, we need some improvements to the roadway or not, because we'd say there's it doesn't make any sense to do curb and gutter or sidewalk if it's so far away from the city, so we would say no, but now it allows us to add some other provisions.

And so we have done that.

We have included in this area of impact for Court Alane some other things, and David Callahan has been agreeable to that.

So we're hoping that you support that and that the county approves it.

But so we're able to incorporate some things from our hillside ordinance related to the leaving the 25% of the site in natural state and not having bright reflective paints that so if there's a house there, it's not super visible.

The shoreline ordinance, having that no disturbance within the 40 feet of the ordinary high water mark, having the road and driveway grades not to exceed 8%, so that's helpful for fire, as well as other fire and emergency access.

Our city standards have that 75,000 pounds and making sure there's the drivable surface and the fire trucks can turn around.

Um some other things like double frontage lots, compatibility of land use is one of the things is having them not approve a conditional use permit if it's in our area of impact if it's inconsistent with our comprehensive plan in our zoning.

So we have a list of those items.

Um there's some other things talking about utility stub outs, dedication of right-away, et cetera.

And then the big thing is really just the compliance with our comprehensive plan and zoning.

There's a provision for notification.

So the county, if they have any request for a zone change, subdivision, planned unit development, or conditional use permit within this AOI boundary, they would notify us and give us 30 days to review and comment.

And then if we have an annexation, we would notify them 30 days before we have a public hearing.

So we require a pre-annexation application and meeting.

So we would send that information to the county, and then we would also notify them of any annexation public hearings.

So that's how that's drafted.

And for the approval of this process, associate state statutes say the city council does not need to hold a public hearing.

The county will be having two public hearings.

So bringing this for you this evening for approval.

The county has um public hearings this Thursday with their planning and zoning commission, and then the Board of County Commissioners is having a hearing next Thursday, and they're bringing forward a variety of the agreements.

So Athel, Cordelaine, Houser, Post Falls, and Hayden are in this round.

And then the next round is Hayden Lake, Rathram, and Dalton Gardens.

That's the goal is to have all of them in place before the end of the year so we can comply.

If we don't do this, then we're without the agreement.

You have to go through this lengthy process with the county to kind of re-establish this.

So our recommendation is that you would approve of this.

Uh, there's no financial impact because it's it's really just changing the map boundaries and providing some more guidance in the code.

And the recommendation is that council should approve this AOI and map to guide development and annexation and allow this process to move forward, which would replace the existing ACI map.

And questions, council.

Yep, happy to answer any questions.

Yeah.

On the um looking at that area of impact map where we're going to uh the one that shows the removed areas right now.

It looks like well, I'm trying to figure out did you look at any of the layer of like the legislative districts that are around that uh I'm guessing because currently, and I forget how they're drawn now, but they kind of go around city limits and impacts or it may not be a consideration.

We really didn't.

We truly, when we met, we had the departments look at you know, really where is our infrastructure and what are the slopes?

What are the areas where we truly think we're gonna grow?

So the city limits again is in this the bright green, and so there's a lot of areas where it just you can tell, even these are kind of like the platted lots and the roadway network.

So there's a lot of areas that just don't seem like it's feasible.

We did leave in you know Potlatch Hill and some other areas.

Um so there's still areas that we can fill in those pockets in the count in the city, but um, and I think this is a good approach to get rid of the I mean to say we're not even interested in those other ones, especially across the the river.

So um okay, thanks.

I think you I had a question exactly on that.

Um Hillary.

I'm not I'm terrible with maps.

But it is there um south of the river included at all, like beyond the site.

Let's just look at where Hagadon Marine is and that whole area.

That's already in the city, so yes.

So this is really kind of just beyond that.

It's kind of difficult to tell.

But so the this is kind of the river here.

Okay.

So this would be the area that would be kind of clipped out.

So this is Mill Millview Lane, kind of that extends.

So there are areas that are still within the the boundary.

Okay.

Thank you.

Sure.

Kimmy.

Mr.

Mayor, I think.

You're taller, your hands taller than hers, sorry, Keith.

Um, Hilary, I was gonna ask about that.

Um this is supposed to be a potential annexation within five years.

So is that where the challenge pump station is, lift station is in that blackwell island area that you're thinking could be annexed and put more uh uh pressure on that particular system?

Is that question for Glenn?

Nobody wants to talk about it.

Okay.

We'll just deal with that.

I do have challenges with water and everybody's quite shift off to the county proposed.

Uh is a challenge.

Okay.

And then um uh two other quick things.

There's a couple of places that are looked kind of odd to me, like up at the top corner that are just cut out.

Right.

Is that um is that civic property or what is that?

So these are following the existing, so where it doesn't really show up blue, this is an existing boundary, so we weren't proposing to modify that.

Is that what you mean?

Kind of yeah, right there, and then up in the very top in the center, there's one area cut out that isn't in the red line.

I think that's not specific.

I mean, it's possible we have the other jurisdictions that theirs butt up against potentially too, Dalton and Hayden and other areas.

I'm not sure on these.

And then this area.

I it it looks good to me.

Um it makes sense.

Uh but can you remind me was this uh one of those uh was this bill one that if you didn't comply by the deadline, then the state would appoint if you couldn't come to an agreement, then the state would appoint someone to come in and determine what your boundaries were if it wasn't done by the deadline?

It's I don't think the state does, but the county could certainly, and we're kind of without the agreement at that point, and then you have to start there's all these provisions for how we have to request going through the process and the lengthy hearings and the cost of all of that.

So yeah, we would rather comply.

Um the other thing that Randy was saying to me to point out is we don't have to annex these areas.

This is just the areas that were are likely to be annexed, and so we really to have annexation, you need to have it within the AOI.

Have a plan.

So don't feel like you have to annex in this whole area in five years.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Hillary, thank you for the forward thinking on this.

And I recall a few years ago we talked about this exact thing in trying to eliminate the possibility to annex into the urban interface.

And specifically south of the river, it cougar gulch, the nature curving conservancy.

That's easy for me to say.

And I think we did a lot of good work then.

This is great, and I think this is just great thinking and great job on your team to do this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm all in favor of it.

Uh questions.

I have just a couple here.

Could you zoom in on the city of Hutter there?

Oh, or we take it over.

Well, it's not in our boundary.

So when I see all that ziggy zaggy up there, do you know the story behind that?

Because I know we've helped them with water.

We have when they get in trouble.

I know Sean and Troy and I sat down and kind of looked parcel by parcel in that area trying to figure out the map.

So it's yeah, I don't know.

So I guess the question becomes is this a wall that you cannot go out of?

No, you can modify the boundaries.

So if it's flexible.

Yes.

And then the pro you just have to go through the process.

Okay.

And then when you look back on the last one, how much land went away, or how much was maybe we could say we gave back.

Is there a like so many acres or you know, from the old lines to the new lines?

You don't give it back.

So the interesting thing with this current map.

So this one maybe makes it a little easier to see.

So the current ACI is basically this whole perimeter thing here.

And we our city limits are green.

So we we have not gone, especially on this side, anywhere near the boundary.

So we didn't have to give it back.

But as I mentioned, like that's been in place since 1993.

So that was more than 20 years worth of growth that that was anticipated.

So uh at least for our community.

We've seen a lot more kind of infill or kind of the the smaller greenfield developments that's kind of happened within the boundaries.

But we don't have to give it back.

The one difference with this and the current the area of city impact is we have those shared tiers.

So there's currently there's areas where we have a shared tier with post falls, and so then you have this whole process and there was different types of annexation.

So that's changed as well in the state statutes.

And the county is happy with this?

Yes, it sounded like the county likes this new process, and hopefully the hearings go smoothly.

There's no other questions.

I'd look for a motion, please.

Mr.

Mayor Mike a motion to approve resolution number 25064, which is approving the approval of the court of lane area of impact and map.

Second.

And moved in second discussion.

Hearing none, roll call, please.

English.

Yes.

Would yes.

Gabriel.

Yes.

Yes.

Miller, I hook in.

Yes.

All right.

Mr.

Mayor, I would also like to make a motion to recess to Monday, November 10th, 2025, noon, here in the library community room for a hearing on the appeal of a massage license denial.

The Hong March Taller.

Second.

Questions?

Hearing none.

All in favor say aye.

Opposed.

We are at recess.

Thank you, everyone.