City, IHD open to contract talks

SANDPOINT — Street maintenance will continue as usual by the city of Sandpoint following an Idaho Supreme Court decision which nullified a joint powers agreement between the city of Sandpoint and the Independent Highway District.

"Right now, for the community, it’s status quo," City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton told the Daily Bee on Thursday. "We aren’t changing any services through the city, the funding coming into the city hasn’t changed at all."

During Wednesday's City Council meeting, the city announced its annual pickup of un-bagged leaves that will begin Nov. 14 and awarded annual snow removal contracts for the winter ahead.

Under the agreement, the city received about $400,000 from the highway district in annual tax revenue, but Stapleton said the city budgeted 18 months of reserves "just in case." The city will receive November's payment and she expects it will receive the December payment as well.

"I would say both from the city perspective as well as the Independent Highway District — I’ve met with two of the commissioners in the last day — and the conversations have really centered around maintaining the level of service for our citizens and moving forward in a mutually beneficial way and really being open to communication," Stapleton said.

She said the highway district does have some jurisdictional responsibility in Sandpoint and discussions will continue between the two powers with the goal to have a new agreement by the end of the year.

Under the 2003 joint powers agreement, the city assumed maintenance and control over Independent Highway District routes within the city and the district turn over half of the tax proceeds it collected within city limits. The district sought unsuccessfully to renegotiate the terms of the agreement in 2013, but was rebuffed.

The highway district resolved to disregard the agreement in 2013, prompting the city to sue the district for breach of contract. The city prevailed in 1st District Court, but the supreme court issued a ruling Monday which declared the joint powers agreement illegal and therefore invalid.

The high court held that the agreement violated the legislative requirements for maintenance of city streets located within the boundaries of the highway district and that the agreement did not conform to the requirements set out by the Legislature.

Independent Highway District commissioners issued a statement on Wednesday indicating a willingness to move forward for the good of the patrons of the highway district and the residents of the city.

“The IHD commissioners look forward to working with the city to come up with a new agreement which is in the best interest of taxpayers that both agencies serve,” said statement read.