I just wanted to say hi, welcome.

Thank you for your interest in running for office.

It is such an incredibly important role.

And I just want to say thank you to each one of you for being here today and for your interest.

And then we've got amazing people that are going to run the meeting and that are going to help you understand what to go through, which is so good to do.

Thank you.

So I'm going to exit.

I just wanted to say welcome and hello.

And thank you so much for your interest.

Shah.

Our city clerk, Shar Tim, and remind me of your name.

Haley Hicks.

Haley Hicks that are here today that are going to walk you through this.

And you know what?

As mayor, I think I do micro for those licenses.

I just want to say that it's the city clerk for me as city working in the city.

They're the ones that keep us in line.

And I am so thankful for the expertise that Shar has that she helps me.

Um whether it's running a meeting, they're the keeper of the records, making sure we do it all right.

And so I am very thankful for our city clerk, Shar Tim.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh again, I am Shar Tim.

I am the city clerk for the city of Napa, and my partner in crime.

My name is Haley Hicks.

I'm the director of elections for Canyon County.

It's not working.

Okay.

So here's the agenda that we have for our brief time with you today.

Uh we wanted to let you know that this is NAMPA's second election by council district.

So the first time was in 2023.

And uh now with this one, we are now converting fully to council districts.

Uh one of the requirements now is that the council member has to live within that council district at the time of filing.

We're going to talk about the city council and the mayor roles and responsibilities, as well as candidate filing dates and the packet.

If you have not gotten a packet, um, it is in the on the back.

It's also available online.

Uh there's a brochure regarding campaign finance, and then we are going to talk about temporary signs.

We have our code compliance supervisor here, Kent Lovelace.

And then at the end, we are going to do um questions and answers.

Uh we will give you a mic at that time because we are live streaming and recording this.

So again, this is just a high-level overview of the information.

Again, it's meant to be helpful, but not replace your responsibility to do your due diligence.

Again, we ask that you write down your questions or save them until the end, and uh then we'll go ahead and go through that with you.

Thanks.

So, City Council districts.

Districts one, three, and five are the ones that are gonna be elected in November of 2025, and the mayor is citywide.

Um key reminder is you have to live in the district at the time of filing, and the the mayor has to live in any district within the city limits.

Um you do need to be a qualified elector, which is something that um Haley will be going through.

Um, and that there is a 30-day requirement to live within the city limits.

We are currently um waiting for the Secretary of State to provide us written uh guidance on if there is any time limit that you have to live within a certain district.

Uh right now the interpretation is that you have to live in the district at the time of filing.

And here is a QR code, so you can search the district by home address.

So here is uh an excerpt from the NAPA City Code section 2-2-3-1, and it's regarding the duties of the council members, and basically you are would be a member of the legislative and policy making branch of the city.

And it goes into a little bit more detail of what the expectation is.

So the responsibilities and time commitment, basically you're in charge of the budget and the legislative and policy making.

Your time commitment are the city council meetings, the executive sessions, the special council meetings, board and commission representation, emergency needs, and it is for a four-year term.

The compensation right now is 10,930, but um that was recently increased and beginning January 1st, 2026, it will go to 18,930.

And that is now bringing it up to very comparable standards with our surrounding municipalities.

You also will have benefits for access to health insurance and life insurance.

So the duties of the mayor, according to NAPA City Code Section 2-2-3-1 and Idaho Code Section 50-602.

You're going to be devoting your full-time and attention to the affairs of the city of Napa because you will be our CEO.

You will preside over all of the city council meetings and only vote when you have to break a tie.

And you will take care that the ordinances at the of the city and the provisions are complied with and enforced.

Again, this is a full-time position.

You will have regular meetings with directors and meetings with citizens as well.

You will have late night and early morning meetings and additional events on evenings and weekends.

Doesn't this sound like a great job.

The compensation right now is at 110,510.

And beginning January 1st, 2026, it'll be 135,000.

Again, this is now bringing it up to being comparable with the other municipalities that are around us.

You all have access to health.

That's okay.

Health insurance and life insurance.

So these are really important dates for you guys to remember.

Um and if you have the packet, those dates are also in there as well.

So the candidate declaration period is from August 18th to August 29th.

Uh and it's at 5 o'clock.

That is a hard time, and we'll talk about that a little bit in just a minute.

Um September 5th is two things can happen.

You can do a write-in deadline and you can also do a withdrawal deadline.

And I'll have Haley talk more about what that write-in is about and why it's a little bit different from the candidate declaration period.

On November 4th is the election day, and if you do win the election on January 5th, 2026, we will be swearing you in.

So your candidate filing packet, like I had mentioned, you're gonna have a city clerk's letter, and it details out a lot of the information that I'm explaining to you right now.

You will also have the city office candidate filing information, which is multiple pages, and in that you will have the first page, which is the most important, but you'll also have a uh petition page if you want to get petition signatures versus if you want to pay the $40.

There's also going to be a district map in case you are wanting to run for city council, you can see what um the districts are, and then there is a campaign finance.

So during the candidate filing, this is basically the process that we highly suggest that you follow.

Is you first of all you complete your filing packet.

We have printed copies that are available here at City Hall, but you can also go online and get those.

When you have the packet finished, we really encourage you to go ahead and go to Canyon County elections first.

They are going to be able to verify that you are a qualified elector, which is the main thing that has to happen.

They're going to verify of your voter registration.

Again, I'm going to have Haley go ahead and uh talk a little bit more about that, and then when she's done, I will talk about what I'm looking for when you come to the NAMPA City Clerk's office.

Hello.

Um again, my name is Haley Hicks.

I'm the director of elections for Kenyon County.

So when you guys bring your packet in, we're going to make sure that you're a qualified elector within Canyon County.

Um that means that you are registered to vote.

If you are unsure if your registration is up to date, you can always go to vote idaho.gov to check your registration, make sure it has the correct address and all the correct information for you if you've had anything change.

We're going to verify that you have lived within the city.

Or if you're running for city council, that you also live within the city district.

Um, if you decide to do a petition, we're going to verify all of those signatures on the petition and ensure that they're qualified electors that live within city limits, and if you're doing city council that live within the district that you're going to run for.

We also check for homeowners' exemption.

If you don't have a homeowner's exemption, that's okay.

We check to verify that if you do have one on file, it does have to match your registration.

So if you have a homeowner's exemption and your registration is not up to date with the same address, we'll need to get that corrected as well.

Um, once we do all this verification, we're gonna give you a certification sheet and the packet back so you can bring it over to the city and then follow through with the process that she has for you.

Thank you, Nami.

So when you come to the city clerk's office, um, you're gonna have your verified candidate filing packet from Kenyon County with you.

Um when I receive it, I'm basically gonna have my team tag team, and we're gonna be doing various things.

We're going to do another verification.

I'm going to be asking for your driver's license.

It's a way to just make sure one.

I have to make sure you're 18 years old.

I know.

I just thought someone just roll their eyes.

But it also helps us to verify if the address has changed.

If it has changed, um, it's just one uh check that we have to make sure on.

Uh the other thing that we're going to do is I'm going to make sure that it has that page has been notarized.

That's something that Canyon County will do for you free of charge.

Correct.

Um it'll be notarized.

I will see that they have uh date and time stamped your form, and I will be looking for that qualified elector page that states that you uh that Canyon County has verified that you are a qualified elector.

In the meantime, while I am looking at all this and then to see if you have a petition and if that has been verified by Canyon County, or if you just want to pay the $40, my staff will be looking to one, ensure that your address is within the city limits.

If you are going for a council member, they will be looking to verify that you live within that particular council district.

They also are going to ensure that you do not live in an enclave.

City of Nampa has quite a few enclaves, so that's something that we do double check.

Oh, yeah.

And so thank you, Amy.

Um we strongly encourage that you start this process.

You have two weeks starting on the 18th.

Please do not wait until the 29th, and do not wait until 445.

And I know people, yeah, it actually has happened, not in this juris jurisdiction, but um there is a municipality that um had relayed to me that at an election several years ago, someone did come in at 501 and they had to reject it.

So do not want that to have happen to you.

Um also, if there are any issues, usually it's going to be regarding your voter registration, and that is something that Haley can do as long as she has the time before the end of uh the candidate filing period to help resolve that for you.

Okay, oh, you want me to actually read the okay.

Okay, and also this packet does become a public record.

We do not redact any information, so your your phone number, which is a requirement, as well as an email address, correct?

Those are gonna be available.

So what basically happens is once I receive it, um, I will do a verification and I will actually have to complete a verification form.

I will then send that to Canyon County.

You put that on your website.

We also put that on the NAPA City uh website as well.

So it is available for people to see.

And uh another reason why I really would like you to start with Canyon County first is that there is a new law that I am required to notify Canyon County within 24 hours of someone filing.

So if you start with Canyon County, they've already been notified, and then I'm just verifying that the yes, I truly did that.

So I mentioned this once before, but you do have two filing options.

You can either pay the 40 filing fee, which will be paid in my office, or you're gonna have a nominating petition, which you collect at least five signatures with qualified voters from your district.

That's important to have if that's the route you want to go when you go to Canyon County because she is going to verify that those are registered voters, and they will I think you'll notarize that page as well.

You can notarize that page.

And then we always ask we always ask that you get all 10 signatures.

That way, if you do have somebody that happens to not live within the city limits or not within the district, or they're not a qualified elector, it's you still have other signatures to go through.

Thank you.

Okay, so here is an example of the candidacy declaration of candidacy form.

Um again, please clearly print your name exactly how you wish to appear on the ballot.

You're going to put your um your legal name in the candidate information, but you do have um if you look at the third line, it says ballot name.

So for example, my my full name is Charlene, but I go by SHAR.

So that is how I would want to put it on the ballot.

And no, I am not running.

So you do have to be a register to vote in the city.

Um again, contact your county clerk to verify that you're registered.

You're gonna have to do that anyways.

And the signature of the candidate must be notarized, so please don't sign it before going to Kenyon County because they will notarize that for you.

Please do not wait until Friday.

So do you want to talk more on the campaign finance?

Because that's not my wheelhouse.

So for campaign finance, you are not required to start reporting until you meet a $500 threshold.

We still ask that you keep track of your expenditures or contributions because once you have hit that $500 threshold, your treasurer will have seven days before for them to file a cumulative report from the first expenditure or contribution all the way up into the current day.

And you also, before you receive contributions or you make any expenditures, you need to have a political treasurer.

You can choose to be the political treasurer yourself.

If you decide to choose someone else, they must be a registered elector within the state of Idaho, and we they need their full name and address.

So you just go on to the Secretary of State's website, go ahead and create an account.

There you can declare your treasurer, they'll approve it, and from there you can start making expenditures or taking contributions.

Reports after that, reports are due on the 10th of every month.

And then if you need any more information, please go to sunshine.vote idaho.gov slash login and they have all that information for you that you can research.

If you have any problems with creating the account, please contact the Secretary of State's office.

Um and if you have any questions about the content, how to complete the report, any other kind of questions that you need to know, you can contact our office as well.

Or you can email us.

Code compliance supervisor.

And he's gonna go ahead and talk about temporary sign.

Good afternoon.

I'm Kent Lovelace.

Um I'm code compliance supervisor.

Um talked a little bit about the placement of campaign signs.

It's really simple.

These ladies do the heavy lift.

I uh I just kind of fill in.

Um where we see the biggest problems are on the right-of-way.

Campaign signs are not supposed to be on the right-of-way, they're allowed on um private property with permission.

Um the other is the what we call the vision triangle.

So if you're pulling out from the intersection and it's walking view of oncoming traffic, that would be the vision triangle.

Um if you have any questions on where the right-of-way is, where the uh vision triangle is.

I left my cards back there.

Please grab them.

Uh give me a call, we'll walk you through it.

Not that big of a deal.

Um if the signs are in violation, code compliance can pull them.

Um we will hold them for a period of time.

Um if if we have pulled them, you're welcome to give us a call, and we'll get them back to you or you come pick them up.

So just keep in mind that the reason why we're doing all this is is for public safety.

There's our number.

My so the code compliance number is to our admin.

Um that phone's manned all the time.

On my card is my desk number.

I'm in and out of the office a lot, as you can imagine.

Um either one of those numbers will work.

So again, there's a packet back there and cards.

Any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask.

Okay, so um, for your campaign signs, we um please make sure that you add paid for on those signs or any type of um campaign material that you have on election day.

The signs need to be um 250 feet away from any polling location that also goes for early voting locations as well.

Now, if there is a private residence or business that is adjacent to the polling locations, they are exempt from that statute.

Um everybody, my name's Amy Bowman.

I'm the director of communications for the city of Nampa.

And I just wanted to put this on your radar.

If you are going to be running to please mark this date, Wednesday, September 24th, the Nampa Chamber will be holding a candidate forum.

Uh we've typically had it here at City Hall, but they have a new fancy building that they want to show off, which is great, and it's just down down the road, it's not very far from here.

And um typically that's moderated by the Idaho press.

And so you will not want to miss that because a lot of people who will be voting will be looking at who to vote for.

And so it's a great way for them to get to know the candidates.

And so September 24th, this is the date that I received last week, so it could be subject to change, but this is the date that I would anticipate.

Um it looks like they want to have a social networking with the candidates from five to six, and then the actual forum would start at six.

Typically they do it kind of by chunks, they'll usually do it by, you know, we'll do the city council candidates and then we'll do the mayor candidates, and sometimes they have I'm not sure the other um items on the ballot.

If they're I don't think commissioners are up this year, right?

Are they?

No, okay.

So sometimes they have anything that's related to to um Canyon County.

But so I would plan for these dates, and then also make sure that you bring promotional materials because typically they will have tables that you can put materials on if you have that.

Um when we've had it at City Hall, it's the only day that we uh we would allow like campaign signs on our property, but since it'll be at uh the chamber office, I imagine, but I don't know.

So you could ask them if they would allow if you have yard signs, you can maybe put them out there.

So I just want you to know all that information so you can be prepared if you haven't um run for uh an election before.

And then let me see.

I think see it did work.

Um if you have any more questions, um, and we that kind of concludes I think our our presentation.

So we have some microphones if we have questions from the audience.

Does anybody have questions?

Um and I will put this presentation on our website as well, um, so you have access to that.

And I'm probably not the one to answer the questions, but go for it.

Hello, uh I can speak from the side.

Uh Rico, Canyon County Clerk, good to have you all here.

I just wanted to provide a little bit of additional information to the great work that Haley has provided uh via information, and that's regarding the campaign finance laws.

The 10th was yesterday, which was the deadline for filing.

Um there was a little bit of a some confusion over the last couple election cycles about how the fines or when the fines are assessed.

It's a $50 per day fine uh until the report is filed.

Um within 24 hours after the deadline, which was yesterday, so today I've not sent out, we have not sent out notification either via phone or email.

Um what's what's what's a little challenging is you don't have to file until you've raised or spent $500, which she spent, in which case you don't have a filing requirement.

So you're not missing a deadline, you're not gonna incur a $50 fine.

But for those of you who have raised or spent five hundred dollars, and that's reflected within the July report that that was due yesterday.

Okay, the July activities.

Uh even if you spent or raised $500, say a prior month, and then you have a month in which you didn't raise or spend anything, you still have to file that monthly report because you're carrying forward uh finances from the prior month.

Okay.

Um so our role is to be assistive and to try to reach out to the candidates who filed at least through the secretary of state.

We're not tracking necessarily those who've done a press release.

Um, although if if someone has announced that they run, you are a candidate.

You're legally uh a candidate, you're a declared candidate.

So, and as Haley said, you can't raise or spend money until you've appointed a treasurer.

So you really do need to make sure you uh file with the Secretary of State's office.

Uh it doesn't take very long, like five minutes.

Um so um, but so 24 hours we will try to notify on the um the 11th of every month just to the declared candidates that only if a report hasn't been filed as a courtesy to you to say, hey, get it in, just so you know the $50 a day fine doesn't kick in until the first day after 48 hours after the deadline.

So the state's trying to give you some time to come into compliance.

Um we have no desire or zeal to try to assess a $50 fine.

It really is to try to bring people into compliance.

It's for the sake of the public, it's it's the sunshine law so that the public can see and know who is donating to the candidates and how they're spending the money.

So we will reach out uh probably by the end of today to there's several candidates.

There's nine candidates right now that are filed for the city of Napa that includes mayor through city council.

And if you have not, again, if you've not raised or spent $500, I don't want you to fear that you're having to file something under threat of a $50 penalty.

You can just uh you know keep as is.

So but uh hopefully that just clarifies things because there are people who do call in and file complaints, and so uh as the clerk and Haley, we have the responsibility of enforcing the sunshine laws at the for local races and the city elections fall under the local races.

So uh the $50 a day fine wouldn't kick in until Wednesday would be day one, if that makes sense.

All right, thank you.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

Oh, yeah.

Thanks, Rick.

Does that also include the funds that you personally put into your account?

Yes.

Okay, yes.

So funds that you personally put into your account uh are design need to be designated as a donation.

You have different options on personal funds.

Uh and again, we're not trying to be exhaustive in the report today because there's a lot more information in um the packet and as well as the statute.

But there's a thousand dollar limit that applies pretty much to everyone else uh with the except there's a couple exceptions.

If the state party, a political party were to donate, it's a five thousand dollar limit, and then you can personally fund your own campaign with no max limit, okay.

Um that's important is you can designate part of your personal uh funding for your campaign as a loan.

You have to designate it as such if you intend to recover remaining funds at the end.

Uh if you don't designate it as a loan, then it's it's considered you know a campaign donation from yourself to your own campaign, and you won't be able to recover any money that's remaining at the end of the campaign.

Um if you have outstanding debt at the end of the campaign, you're also allowed to raise money beyond and after the election to try to retire any uh campaign debt that you might carry over as well.

But uh, do know if you're gonna put your own personal money uh in to either designate as a loan or personal donation, the law allows either option.

So yeah.

We just covered, so we did a good job.

How soon can we go to the elections office?

Any time to take our paperwork in?

Um we're not able to accept anything until the 18th.

Oh, on the 18th.

Okay.

So just as long as it's within that filing window.

And you're in Caldwell, correct?

We're in call both so it's 8 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

I know it says 8 the 18th through the 29th, but it is during business hours.

And please do note the elections office is in a new location.

Yeah, um, it is that correct location.

But if you go to the old elections office, you're gonna be going to misdemeanor probation because it's been repurposed.

So uh the elections office is actually closer to those living in the city of Napa.

It's near the animal shelter and it's near the DMB.

It's kind of sandwiched between those two.

So and open eight to five Monday to Friday.

Any other questions?

Okay, awesome.

Okay, yes.

Um, when can we put our signs out?

Do you have the answer to this?

There is no I'll just say from the state, there is no um deadline.

I know some people talk about a 60-day unspoken deadline, but there's no statutory governance over that.

Um it's also important to note that there has been recent uh legislation that allows you to put signs in your uh front yard and an HOA.

Uh if the HOA tells people that the signs need to be removed per HOA rules, uh the HOA does not have that authority per recent legislation that says political signs are protected speech.

Uh so um I I would just say follow what can't follow if if you put signs in the right-of-way, they're subject to removal.

Just don't call the clerk or the elections office because that's sign removal is not under our jurisdiction if signs are uh in the right-of-way, uh, whether that's a highway district or within city limits, that's totally uh governed by uh those entities.

What we don't have here is Napa Highway District One or Highway District Four.

Uh those two highway districts do encompass, I think sections mostly outside of city limits.

But if if campaign signs are placed in the right-of-way that are within uh those two highway districts, they have their own uh they have their own rules.

And I did not bring a packet on what the highway district rules are, but they there's uniformity.

All the highway districts throughout Caney County have a uniform code.

They do limit the placement of signs.

I think it's limited to only maybe a couple a couple weeks before the election, but I I need to I I will just tell you go look at uh what what the highway districts say if you're gonna put signs in there right away on the high on the on the highway district uh right away.

So yeah.

And I'll just add if you have volunteers who are helping you with their campaign, please share this information with them.

Sometimes it's helpful if they can keep a log of where they put them, because then if you're picking them up, uh then it's helpful to kind of know some of those locations and um remember that picking with up picking up within seven days.

Um and we will most likely just throw them away, which you paid probably good money for those signs, so please come and get them.

Um and I'll just add to Kent, because I've seen some signs in like the middle of our traffic.

Our director of transportation is here, she'll appreciate me saying this.

The middle of like our what are those traffic islands called?

Please do not put them in there.

That is that's not a location for that.

So when in doubt, leave it out.

That's what I'd like to say.

Okay, any more questions?

Okay, well, thank you guys so much.

We appreciate you coming.

Thank you in advance for your interest in serving our community.

I will say I've seen the hard work that it takes to run for mayor or city council, and it's it's really wonderful.

So thank you just for your willingness to do that.

Thank you.