Council stands firm on food bank bill

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint City Council again denied the Bonner Community Food Bank sewer bill request and weekly Live After 5 concert events during their regular board meeting Wednesday. Both requests were originally denied by the council Nov. 4, but were added back to the current agenda.  

Two tied votes from the Sandpoint City Council kept them from approving a reduction in a sewer bill for the Bonner Community Food Bank and kept Live After 5 events from occurring in town.

Alice Wallace, executive director of the food bank, had requested a reduction in the sewer bill. Shelby Rognstad, mayor-elect, asked for the motion to rescind the denial, saying the request was reasonable that the water did not go down the sewer drain, but rather was used for landscaping during the hot summer months. He asked the council to reconsider the request.

“To be frank, I think this is an extremely difficult decision and continues to be one for me,” Rognstad said. “I didn’t feel 100 percent confident in my vote after the meeting where this was denied.”

It was originally thought that the large bill was from a leaking toilet, a problem the food bank has dealt with in the past. However, after an investigation, it was found to be from watering the shrubs using a soaker hose that was left on over the weekend on multiple occasions.

Councilman Thomas Eddy showed concern about the legalities of granting the request. Scot Campbell, city attorney, said sewer use is based on water use and everybody pays their respective water rates, whether commercial or residential.

“If the water doesn’t go down the sewer, then we have flexibility because we didn’t incur costs to treat the water,” Campbell said.

Residential owners are granted a small break under the assumption they will maintain landscaping, and Rognstad said that same break should be given to businesses.

“Businesses do landscaping and they use water for landscaping,” Rognstad said. “I think there is an opportunity for us to grant this request.”

Rognstad said the water/sewer policy would be looked at during a future workshop with the council so there is a policy to follow on future requests. Mayor Carrie Logan said the issue with the food bank is not urgent, as the sewer bill has been paid.

“In fact, immediately after they left this meeting, a couple of council people, thank you for doing that, made arrangements to pay the excess bill,” Logan said. “It would be my recommendation that you do to not establish an amount for this customer at this time pending the workshop.”

Wallace told the council she doesn’t understand how sewer use is linked to water use and that not all water used goes down a sewer. She said they had two months with excess charges and she appreciates the donations from people to help with the bills, including the donations she received before she left the previous meeting.

“I don’t see how you can just say because we used water, it automatically went into the sewer,” Wallace said. “It won’t happen again, you don’t have to worry about that. Even if I have to lock the faucets.”

Councilwoman Deb Ruehle, Councilman Thomas Eddy and Councilman Bill Aitken voted no, with Councilman Bob Camp, Councilwoman Shannon Williamson and Rognstad voting to approve the request granting a lower sewer bill. Because the vote was tied and not 4-2, the motion died and the original decision was not rescinded, Logan said.

The council also discussed weekly Live After 5 events, which was also denied at the Nov. 4 meeting. Rognstad said organizers did not have a chance at a rebuttal and felt they deserved one after complying with many of the council’s requests.

Organizer Tyler Davis presented the weekly concert idea and asked for use of Farmin Park on Tuesdays to host the events. The park would have cordoned off part of the street to corral the concert attendees. The council denied the request originally stating there was not enough local vendor interest and the vendor fee was too high for the area.

Rognstad said Davis did a fair job of complying with council requests and he showed flexibility on starting dates and using all local vendors. Rognstad said that showed a desire to support the local economy. Williamson agreed saying her former decision was premature and the idea should be explored further. She said the organizers should be given an opportunity.

“It could be a great thing for town so I would like to see it explored,” Williamson said.

Camp, Aitken and Ruehle voted no, with Rognstad, Williamson and Eddy voting yes. Because the vote was tied and not 4-2, the motion died and the original decision was not rescinded.

In other business, Rognstad discussed a letter they received from Mayor Carrie Logan, which included information about forming a workshop to create a policy for denial or approval of building permit fee waivers and other requests. This stems from the council approving the waive more than $7,000 in building permit fees for Kochava in the Bonner Building at the last council meeting.

According to Rognstad, Logan wrote that the council should draft a policy to establish a foundation to base decisions on for waiving fees. Rognstad said he will form a workshop in the future to accomplish a uniform policy for their decisions. He said the policy should be similar to the tax reimbursement program by the Idaho Department of Commerce.

“Whereby if the business or entity can be shown to create at least 20 jobs earning the medium income for the county or greater, then that is considered to be a threshold whereby there is enough of a benefit to the community in terms of increasing the tax base and economic activity, that it is justified,” Rognstad said.

Kody Van Dyk, Public Works director, presented the board with an Engineering Roster for 2016. The roster lists the engineers the city could work with throughout the year. Van Dyk said they did not get a single experienced communication engineer for the fiber project. The document will expire at the end of 2016 because the companies and/or the employees with the companies could change or there could be new companies. This is the first roster the city has approved, and it was approved with a unanimous vote.

“Never done this before,” Van Dyk said. “This was a request of the mayor to do a roster. I think it’s a good idea.”

The council unanimously approved the local option tax ordinance and Bonner County’s canvass of the city election results. This declares the results of the election as final.