Temporary street deal OK'd

SANDPOINT — City Council approved a memorandum of understanding last Wednesday with the Independent Highway District that will allow street work to be completed by the city and to allocate funds from IHD for that work.

For 10 years, a joint powers agreement allowed the city to assume control of all streets in city limits and required IHD to pay all highway ad valorem taxes collected on property in the city. In Sandpoint v. Independent Highway District, the Idaho Supreme Court recently found the JPA to be void and unenforceable.

"The purpose of this (MOU) is a placeholder until we can come to a more permanent agreement," said city attorney Scot Campbell. "It keeps the status quo and keeps us working on the streets."

Under the MOU, the city staff will continue the maintenance and improvements of city streets and IHD will allocate 50 percent of property taxes from properties within the city.

City staff will process all approach, encroachment and other permits in regards to city streets, and are responsible for signage, traffic control and planning. Some aspects of the agreement require mutual negotiations and approval by the city and IHD, such as utility franchise agreements and public hearings for street vacation or validation over any public right-of-way located in the city.

Other stipulations of cooperation between the city and IHD in the MOU include meeting quarterly to discuss issues involving transportation projects and public rights of way in the city, and both entities shall obtain written consent of the other with respect to any decision involving ownership or jurisdiction over any public right of way.

According to the MOU document, the city and IHD intend to use fiscal year 2017 as a trial period to look for improvements that can be made in their working relationship. They hope to have a permanent agreement worked out before the MOU expires on Sept. 30, which ends the fiscal year for both the city and IHD.

Besides the MOU with IHD and the decision by council members to support the Greater Sandpoint Greenprint, which the Daily Bee reported on last week, two other topics were covered briefly at Wednesday's meeting.

The Schweitzer Cutoff Road bridge replacement project is one step closer to commencement after council members approved the purchase of a 4.09-acre right of way at $45,000, located to the southwest of the bridge. The cities of Sandpoint and Ponderay have an interagency agreement for the replacement of the bridge, and the project is administered through the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council bridge replacement program.

The final resolution of the evening approved by council members was a parks and recreation software agreement with CivicPlus to upgrade to electronic registration, facility use rentals and marina slip management. The estimated annual cost of the software upgrade is $4,120 with additional credit card fees. The parcel purchase and software upgrade costs were included in the city's budget for the 2017 fiscal year.