Grimm: Board must be more open

SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency is going to become more transparent, that is if one commissioner has his way.

“We’ve grown and our projects have become more complex and more numerous,” SURA Commissioner Jeremy Grimm said.

His main concern, Grimm told other commissioners at SURA’s regular meeting Tuesday, is transparency and the ability for not just the public, but even SURA board members to conduct historical research about SURA and its projects and initiatives.

Grimm, who has “intimate knowledge” of economic development initiatives and projects in Sandpoint from his previous position as the city’s economic development director, said the agency could do better.

“There’s no mechanism for me to pull up — by index — sidewalk projects or even search projects for individual companies or people, or financial reports,” he said. “In my mind it’s a transparency issue.”

The information does exist — it’s currently archived in binders and file cabinets stored by SURA Chairman Eric Paull, who suggested that individual commissioners should be creating binders for themselves as well. But for the public to gain access to that information would require a public records request, according to Paull. 

Grimm felt it critical that SURA improve its website’s transparency as the organization advances forward, and its tax revenues increase. People — both board members and the public — should be able to access SURA information about projects, finances, by laws and other information.

Grimm pointed out to board members that a web search of the agency actually provides two different websites: a city-generated site, and SURA’s autonomous website.

“I find that very confusing,” he said. “Neither of the pages allow you to go back historically and look at agenda packets.”

The agency also has no dedicated email server. Commissioners currently use personal or even business emails to conduct SURA business, all of which is public record.

Grimm suggested that Boise’s Capital City Development Corporation was “the model” for such transparency. Its website includes many of the items Grimm felt were lacking on SURA’s website.

“These are public tax dollars that we’re spending,” Grimm reminded commission members. “I just would like us as a group to really prioritize straightening this out and really presenting a digital face to this organization.”

SURA was established by the Sandpoint City Council in 2005. Its primary purpose, according to its website, is to fund “critical infrastructure projects in Sandpoint which would stimulate economic development and arrest urban deterioration and obsolesce.”

Independent of city government — its board of commissioners are not elected, but appointed by the city council – the agency is responsible for two economic development areas: the Downtown Urban Renewal Area and the Northern URA.

Grimm volunteered to lead the website update effort, creating a proposal for consideration by the commission. He noted it will take time and money to complete the website.

Commissioner Steve Lockwood moved to assign Grimm to scope a new, more accessible website. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. 

SURA’s autonomous website can be viewed at www.sandpointurbanrenewal.org. The city-hosted website is available at www.cityofsandpoint.com/urbanrenewal.asp.