HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - January 17, 2018
Mayor Jerry Merrill
Council Members:
Christopher Mann Jordan Busby
Mikel Walker Tisha Flora
Brad Wolfe Sally Smith
City Staff:
Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney
Matt Nielson – Finance Officer
Keith Davidson – Public Works Director
Val Christensen – Community Development Director
Scott Johnson – Economic Development Director
Blair Kay – City Clerk
6:30 P.M. City Hall
Council Member Flora said the prayer
Council Member Mann led the pledge
Roll Call of Council Members:
Attending: Council Member Flora, Council Member Mann, Council Member Busby, Council Member Walker, Council President Smith and Mayor Merrill.
Council Member Wolfe asked to be excused.
Public Comment: not scheduled on the agenda (limit 3 minutes); issues may be considered for discussion on a future agenda. Please keep comments on point and respectful.
Steve Oakey said he is against proposed Ordinance 1179. He asked the Mayor Youth Advisory Board Members to retract their request of raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products in
Rexburg from 18 to 21. He suspects that if they do not retract their request, the City Council, Madison County Commissioners and possibly the Sugar City Council will proceed with the
passing of their request.
Steve Oakey explained in the United States 18 year olds are allowed to serve in the military and often in times of war, they are required by force of conscription. To perhaps travel
across seas to a foreign country to kill people and die if necessary. 18 year olds are allowed to vote, they are considered intelligent enough to vote for those people who are going
to create policy in their local, state and national jurisdictions. 18 year olds are allowed to marry, which means they are allowed to have sex and are required by law to provide for
their children. 18 year olds are required to serve on a jury; this means they are capable of making judgments for and against their fellow citizens. 18 year olds are also charged as
an adult if they commit a crime. 18 year olds in the Mormon Church are charged with the heavy responsibility of preaching their brand of gospel to the world. This means that the leaders
of the Mormon Church consider 18 year olds to be responsible, thoughtful, and capable of carring heavy burdens on a day to day bases; however, before us is an ordinance that treats
18 year olds as incapable of everything he mentioned.
Steve Oakey indicated the way he understands the proposed ordinance; it doesn’t create a prohibition against the use of tobacco. It only prohibits the purchase of tobacco until they
are 21 years of age. This will create a black market where 18 year olds will be forced out to the street and through a rather disagreeable and nefarious means to purchase the tobacco.
Steve Oakey said the challenge he places before City Council is not the challenge of the American Heart and Lung Association’s attempt to try to diminish people from smoking. This is
a valuable thing that all should be doing by means of education and persuasion not by the use of force. He explained by way of comparison in 2009 the Harvard School of Public Health
conducted a study on the top three preventable causes of death in the United States the 1. smoking with 467,000 deaths 2. high blood pressure at 395,000 deaths and 3. obesity with 216,000
deaths. His second point by way of comparison, the San Diego State University Professor of Psychology Jean Twenge recently wrote a book called iGen. In the book she has established
a phenomenon that we are seeing today, where the younger generations are becoming more and more dependent on screen activity. It is getting to the point where it is becoming more addictive
in many cases. He asked if the City of Rexburg, the surrounding cities and counties are now prepared to create laws that prohibit the consumption of salt, sugar, and fat to create a
regime of exercise that requires all of us to manage our health and screen use.
Steve Oakey explained by way of demonstrating the law of unintended consequences has certain repercussions that often times are not seen. In many cases forced behavior by the use of
coercive law has some very poor consequences. The perfect example of this is what happened in 2014 with Eric Garner. Eric Garner was apprehended by the city police, was forced to the
ground in a strangle hold and later suffocated. This was a bureaucratic mishap that ended in the death of a man. Mr. Garner was selling loose cigarettes on the street of New York.
In the City of New York many people sell loose cigarettes in clubs and pubs. The reason this is happening is because the do-gooders and social engineers signed into law a law that created
a prohibitive tax on the package of licensed cigarettes. People like Eric Garner would drive to a neighboring state to purchase packaged cigarettes where little to no taxes are paid
to bring them back to New York to sale the loose cigarettes and tripling their profit. He said prohibition laws intended to do good by correcting other people’s behavior turn out to
have a benign pernicious to them.
Hunter Brown presented on a project he has been working on. He created a group called the Slope Style Mountain Bike Group. He has also started another group called the Projects Club.
The club will be doing fundraises for family activities in the city. One of the projects he has been working on is raising $20,000.00 to purchase equipment to have an indoor bike park.
He showed a drawing of the equipment for the indoor bike park. He has talked to several local businesses for sponsorships. He asked City Council for a place to keep the bike equipment.
Council Member Mann asked about the design of the bike equipment. He questioned if people would have to carry their bike to the top of the slope. Mr. Brown replied yes, the people would
need to carry their bikes to the top of slope.
Council Member Busby asked how much room he will need for the equipment because the Zone has multiple uses. He also asked if the equipment is easily disassembled. Mr. Brown replied the
equipment will be compactable and easy to disassemble. Council Member Busby questioned the liability to have the equipment at the Zone. Mayor Merrill asked Mr. Brown to continue to
work with Recreation Director Crowther about having the equipment at the Zone.
Presentations:
New Employees:
Jason Steiner - Water Department
Jason Steiner introduced himself, he grew up in Rexburg. He has been married for five years and has a three year old daughter with a little boy on the way. He started working for the
City Water Department in May as a seasonal worker and started full time in December. He is attending BYU-Idaho University and is majoring in Health Science.
Jon Faldmo - Marketing Coordinator
Jon Faldmo was not present at the meeting.
Nils Himle - Water Department
Nils Himle introduced himself, he said he grew up in Bakersfield, California. He is married and has an eight month old daughter. He has lived in Rexburg for about a year. He started
working for the City Water Department a couple of months ago.
Committee Liaison Assignments for 2018:
Council Member Mann: Golf Board · Emergency Services Board · Development Workshop
Council Member Mann reported Emergency Services Board has not met; however, he spoke with Fire Chief Child. Chief Child informed him that the Fire Department has been called out to several
chimney fires in Rexburg. All of the fire fighters helping with fires in California have returned. The Development Workshop did not meet.
Council Member Busby: · Airport Board · Traffic & Safety · GIS Oversight
Council Member Busby reported the Traffic and Safety Committee and the GIS Oversight Committee meet quarterly, they have not met. Airport Board met; however, he was unable to attend
the meeting. He spoke with Public Works Director Davidson and he informed him that they are still garnering support from local pilots for the possible move of the airport.
C. Council Member Walker: MYAB· Parks & Recreation · Trails of Madison County
Council Member Walker reported Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board met they have been working
on the tobacco 21 initiative. They presented the initiative to the Madison County Commissioners.
Parks and Recreation met to work on events coming up at the Zone. The Trails of Madison County
have not met.
D. Council President Smith: Legacy Flight Museum · Beautification Committee · M.E.P.I.
Council President Smith reported her committees have not met.
E. Council Member Flora: School Board · Rexburg Arts Council/ Museum of Rexburg
Council Member Flora reported the School Board will be meeting tomorrow. The Rexburg’s Arts Council met, their goal is to create a program marking the 100 years since World War 1 ended.
Council Member Flora reported and showed pictures of the painting going on at the Romance Theater. She mentioned some of the paint colors, they are using: grey, dark grey, teal, gold.
They have painted the walls and ceiling; it looks beautiful. They are also working on applying for some grants to help restore the tabernacle.
F. Council Member Wolfe: Planning & Zoning · Urban Renewal Agency · Police
Council Member Wolfe was unable to attend the meeting.
Staff Reports:
Finance – Matt Nielson
Chief Finance Officer Nielson reported he is working with several departments to update some of the fees. They are doing a comprehensive look across the departments. The list of the
updated fees will be before City Council in about four to six weeks. He mentioned some of the updated fees will include: Rexburg Rapids fees, golf items, police fees, and miscellaneous
fees. The changing of the fees will require a public hearing.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Operating Expenditure Budget Summary Report. The City is 25% into the fiscal year; most of the departments should be close to 25% spent. There are
several departments that are slightly higher due to the pre-purchase of software. The Legacy Flight Museum is at 41% because they purchased an airplane with funds in the reserves that
were already budgeted. The Emergency Services is slightly higher because of all of the wildland fire calls. The City has spent about 23% of the operating budget. On the Capital Expenditures,
the City has spent 10% so far, this is typical it doesn’t go up until the spring and summer months.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Operating Revenues Budget Summary Report. The revenues haven’t kept up with the expenditures; however, this is typical. One of the main revenues
is the property taxes, the city has only received 11% of those taxes by next week the city should receive about 2.2 million dollars. It will be the city’s January payment which is one
of the lager payments. In the Capital Revenues the city is at about 8%. He reviewed the total revenues and total expenditures.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Cash and Investments Balance Report. This time is the city’s low point with the investments each year because the city is waiting for those new revenues
to come in. In the fall the city pays out a lot of the construction projects that finished late in the season. The city has about 21 million dollars invested of that about 20% is considered
next day liquid short-term cash, which is about 4.1 million dollars. The city also has about 30% of it’s portfolio in the managed accounts with Zions and Moreton Investments with a
return of about 1.8%. The city has a lot of it’s funds in the diversfied bond fund at the state level and local government investment pool is at 1.24% which is high. The city has asked
their managed investors to look at short-term investments until the rates go up so that the city can than re-invest at a higher rate instead of being locked into a five year term at
a lower rate.
Council Member Busby questioned the $25.00 in the Idaho Centeral Credit Union Savings. Finance Officer Nielson explained the credit union requires the city to have an account be opened
for a CD with a minimum amount of $25.00 in the account.
Council Member Busby questioned if the recyling program is helping to offset some of the sanitation tipping fees. Finance Officer Nielson explained, the city hasn’t done an in depth
analysis for a few years; however, when the city did the analysis they found that the recyling program did
help with the cost of the tipping fees. The city residents are not charged for the city to pick up their recyclable items.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Quarterly Treasurer’s Expenditure Report. The Airport Construction fund has $63,000.00 saved between the city and county to do the 10% match for
the FAA projects. In last year’s fiscal year the city was able to get out of the red in the operating side of the airport fund. The airport reserves fund has $534,000.00 to fund the
possible move of the airport.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Art Promulgation fund has $183,000.00 which is a significant amount. The city will be transferring about $60,000.00 out of that fund to use on projects
for the Romance Theater. The Fire Operations is in the negative because they need to bill the first quarter to the Ambulance and Fire District. In the general fund there is about 4.8
million dollars in cash. There was an increase in the general fund last year of about $423,000.00. The Golf Course is in contract negations, they are trying to come up with ways to
increase revenue. In the Golf Course Operations there is deficit of about $100,000.00 and a construction loan of $579,000.00 for the nine holes that were built about seven years ago.
The city pays down on the loan about $40,000.00 to $50,000.00 per year.
Council Member Busby questioned the negative amount in the Geographic Information Systems fund. Finance Officer Nielson said the city is waiting for the county to pay their portion of
the costs.
Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Parks Impact fund; it has about 1.2 million dollars in reserves. The fund is at the highest he has seen in a while. He said the Revolving Loan Fund
has 418,000.00 available to loan through that program. The Sanitation Fund has a reserve of about $800,000.00 which is really healthy considering the amount of money a new sanitation
truck would cost. In the Sewer Fund there is a reserve of about 3.5 million dollars between operations and capital. In the Street Downtown Revitalization fund there is a deficit of
about one million dollars; however, Urban Renewal has issued a check to the city for about $987,000.00 for that fund. The Water Fund has about 7.8 million dollars reserved.
Council Member Busby questioned the Community Safety Lighting Fund. He wondered if the fund has a sunset clause. Finance Officer Nielson replied the fund will be part of the upcoming
budget discussions. Council Member Busby said a lot of the funds have been used. Finance Officer Nielson said the average cost of one street light ranges from eight to ten thousand
dollars.
Council President Smith questioned if there has been progress with paying down the Golf Course Construction Fund. She also questioned the original amount of the loan. Finance Officer
Nielson said the fund has been backed up by the utility funds. He explained the city originally set it up for the Golf Course Operations to pay about $65,000.00 per year on the loan
and they did for several years; however, the amount dwindled to about $18,000.00. In the last two to three years, they have shown a loss. The loss last year was closer to $40,000.00
in the operating side. He indicated two years ago the city started transferring money from the general fund to help pay down the loan. The county did the same thing so the city and
county combined pay about $50,000.00 towards the loan per year.
Council President Smith asked about the Revolving Loan Fund. The fund is quite high, she questioned if a lot of people have paid off their loan. Finance Officer Nielson said people have
been paying their bills regularly. He has asked Doug Polson to put together a summary of the fund to present to City Council.
Public Works: - Keith Davidson
Public Works Director Davidson thanked City Council for their willingness to do the polling for new sanitation truck. They received two bids for the body of the sanitation truck and
one bid for the chassis. He is recommending Schow’s Truck Centers be awarded the bid for the chassis and Southwestern Equipment Co.’s for the bid of body.
Council President Smith moved to approve the polled bids for the body and chassis of a new sanitation truck to Schow’s Truck Centers and Southwestern Equipment; Council Member Busby
seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Public Works Director Davidson reported the wastewater treatment plant received a sample of the biosolids back and it is considered Class A exceptional. They will now need to go through
the Enviormental Protection Agency Part 503 biosolids requirements to see if they can give away the bio-solids.
Council Member Busby asked if the sewer plant is running as it should without glitches. Public Works Director replied there are some valve issues, they are working to correct. The plant
is producing methane gas. They will do testing to check the quality of the gas. If the gas quality is good, they will use the gas to run through the boiler to heat the pasteurizing
process.
Council Member Busby asked if the city will see any savings in utility costs by using the produced methane gas. Public Works Director said the natural gas bill for the sewer plant is
running quite high by using the methane gas it will lower that bill. The real savings will be seen in the disposal of the bio-solids because they will be considered class A. If the
sewer plant starts to produce enough methane gas to run through the generator, there could be savings in power.
Council Member Mann asked about the bids for the restroom at Riverside Park. Public Works Director said he is still working with Parks Director McInnes on the designs of restrooms that
will be needed at the park.
Council Member Mann also questioned the speed limits on Pioneer Road and West Main Street. Public Works Director explained Main Street is a state highway. He will check with the Idaho
Transportation Department on the results of the traffic study. He will request the speed limit to be set at 35 mph.
Mayor’s Report:
Public Hearings: – NONE
Items for Consideration:
Ordinance 1174 Amending Ordinance 1125 concerning the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code and the Idaho Residential Code; and amendments to Ordinance 1108 and Ordinance 1059.
(Request a suspension of the Rules for passage and adoption)
Discussion:
Community Devleopment Director Christensen explained the adoption of the codes is state required. The one item in the ordinance that is not state required is appendix F that deals with
radon control. The city is only doing the radon control in the areas of the city with high radon levels. The areas in the city that show high radon levels are up and down the valley.
The property owners have the option of testing out of the radon control. The cost for the radon testing is $25.00.
Council Member Busby moved to approve Ordinance 1174 Amending Ordinance 1125 concerning the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code and the Idaho Residential Code; and amendments
to Ordinance 1108 and Ordinance 1059; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Council Member Busby moved to suspend the rules Ordinance 1174 Amending Ordinance 1125 concerning the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code and the Idaho Residential Code; and
amendments to Ordinance 1108 and Ordinance 1059; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a roll call vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Council Member Busby moved to approve and consider Ordinance 1174 Amending Ordinance 1125 concerning the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code and the Idaho Residential Code; and
amendments to Ordinance 1108 and Ordinance 1059 third read; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Conditional Use Permit (#17 00756) to reduce visitor parking to 6% as allowed by the Rexburg Development Code in the Pedestrian Emphasis District (PED). The zoning for the property is
High Density Residential One (HDR1). The said parcel is located at the corner of S. 2nd W. and W. 7th S in Rexburg, Madison County, Idaho.
Discussion:
Community Development Director Christensen explained when the Ivy Aparments were built the developer requested reduced parking at that time the City Development Code required 10% visitor
parking. The 10% vistior parking was for the total number of students living at the partments. There are about 900 students with about 90 visitor parking stalls.
Community Development Director Christensen said the Ivy Apartment’s management indicated there a lot of empty visitor stalls that could be used by their tenants. He explained a study
was completed by the city and university to identify how much of the vistior parking was being used at all of the apartment complexes in the city. They concluted the average use of
vistior parking was about 6% meaning that it was 60% full. There is about 40% of the vistor parking that is not being used. The new sections of the Development Code that were adopoted
changed the percentage requirements for visitor parking down to as low as 3% with a conditonal use permit and down to 6% by right. City staff is recommending the approval of the condition
use permit to reduce the Ivy Aprtment’s vistor parking to 6%.
Council President Smith moved to approve the Conditional Use Permit to reduce visitor parking to 6% as allowed by the Rexburg Development Code in the Pedestrian Emphasis District (PED)
at approximately S. 2nd W. and W. 7th S.; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Calendared Bills and Tabled Items:
“LAND USE ACTION” – Bills Recommended/Approved in a Land Use Public Hearing Procedure (Recommend Suspension of the Rules): NONE
Second Reading: Those items which have been first read:
1. Ordinance 1179 – Raising the minimum age to buy Tobacco Products in Rexburg from 18 to 21 – MYAB
Discussion:
Chris Kennedy expressed his concerns on a business stand point. He questioned how are the businesses going to regulate the sale of tobacco products. He also questioned how the police
department will enforce the law. He said they would be losing business to the county stores because the 18 year old would be able to purchase the tobacco products there. He believes
state legislation is needed before the city can move on pass the ordinance.
Mason Cameron is a member of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board. He said California, Maine, Hawaii, and New Jersey are states that have already passed this legislation. The draft has not
been in use since 1973; however, there are people smoking every day since then. The highest time for a person to get addicted is between the ages of 18 to 21 according to the institute
of medicine. The state legislator will start debating this initiative come spring. He believes a change and stand needs to start somewhere. There are over 290 cities and counties in
the United States that have changed the age of purchasing tobacco products.
Mason Cameron explained smoking, obesity and high blood pressure are the leading causes of preventable deaths; however, the only one of those three that law can affect is smoking. He
said this initiative affects the youth directly and is something the youth is passionate about. They hope by passing this ordinance it will make a difference in the following areas:
improving health outcomes, prevents diseases, reduces suffering, saves money on health care, protects the youth and improves military readiness.
Council Member Mann asked if the MYAB has presented the proposed ordinance to the County Commissioners and what the outcome was. Mr. Cameron said, they met with the County Commissioners
and will present the proposed ordinance at the next County Commissioner’s meeting.
Kelly Piper said she is also a member of the MYAB. One of the main issues of passing the ordinance is who will be the first to pass the ordinance the city or the county because if the
city passed the ordinance the underage users will go purchase the tobacco in the county. Once the initiative goes to the state level; it will hopefully be on the floor come spring.
Kelly Piper said one of the main reasons the youth are very passionate about passing this ordinance is that tobacco use is a big deal in the high schools. Tobacco can be provided to
younger children by
the 18 year olds that are attending the high school and using tobacco. High School students have an issue with peer pressure where they can be swayed more easily to use tobacco. They
hope by passing this ordinance on a city level more legislation will follow on a state level.
Steve Oakey said he took steps to not make this a health issue because he doesn’t believe ultimately that it is a health issue. He explained it is an admirable goal to try to get people
to stop smoking. There are many issues in our lives that are worthy of attempts to try to correct. In his mind it is an issue of freedom for the individual to make individual choices
and part of that is the freedom to be able to make the wrong choices. He said he used Eric Garner as a case study for the law of unintended consequences because throughout Mr. Garner’s
life he made many mistakes. Eric Garner’s life was an example of bad choices; it was compound and made worse by the fact that good intended people trying to help people make the right
decision forced them using the coercive nature of law.
Steve Oakey advised everyone to look up Wayne B. Wheeler and to study the unintended consequences the prohibition movement he created. The attempt to social engineer people’s behavior
has always turned out bad. There have been behaviors in the Jim Crow South that attempted to keep the white and black population apart. There are the attempts to prohibit people’s private
associations either in marriage or sexual partnership. He mentioned the then mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg enacted a law that prohibited the sale of more than 20 ounces
of soda. He said yes, there have been people who have tried to prohibit the behaviors they thought, less intelligent or miss-guided people were incapable of making the decision that
they can’t drink more than 20 ounces of soda and they can’t smoke their own cigarettes. We do however; expect them to behave on all other levels as adults. In his opinion this is not
a health issue, this is simply a freedom of individual responsibility and action.
Steve Oakey explained the passing of this ordinance maybe a public virtue signaling. This is an act that we are all guilty of, in a public setting in an attempt to persuade people how
good we are. We try to demonstrate our virtue in public by trying to persuade other people that their behavior is incorrect and having us believing I’m a good person because I’m advocating
a rule that will force you to change your behavior. The ultimate problem here is that this law will fail because people crave their own freedom and make their own decisions. They have
distaste for a law enforcing these personal and private relationships.
Council President Smith commented on the list of items Mr. Oakey went over when someone turns 18 years of age. She explained there a lot of things in the United States you can’t do until
your 21 years of age some of these things include: you can’t drink alcohol, you can’t gamble, you can’t buy a handgun, if marijuana was legalized in Idaho you wouldn’t be able to smoke
it until you are 21 years of age. She said going back to the health issue caused by smoking none of the items she listed are on the top three lists of preventable deaths, smoking cigarettes
is on that list. She said the age change to purchase tobacco has been changed back and forth from 18 years to 21 years of age. She said because tobacco use is at the top of the list
for preventable deaths, there shouldn’t be a problem with waiting for people to be older, maybe more mature, less susceptible to peer pressure and addiction.
Council President Smith indicated she doesn’t agree with Mr. Oakey’s remarks regarding public virtue signaling. There is a diverse group of people here who are not trying to deceive
people; however, they are trying to do the right thing.
Council Member Mann said this is the way of the future; there are other states that are passing the law to change the age of purchasing tobacco to 21 years of age. He would prefer the
ordinance to be passed by the city and county. He would also prefer the ordinance to not take effect immediately to give law enforcement time to enforce the law.
Council Member Walker asked the law enforcement officer attending the meeting how difficult the ordinance would be to enforce. Detective Ball said it will be difficult to enforce if
only the city
passes the ordinance and the county doesn’t because people can go across city boundaries into the county to use or purchase tobacco.
Mason Cameron explained he understands how easy it is for someone of legal age to give an underage teenager a cigarette. The ordinance is trying to shift the age from 18 year olds who
associate regularly with younger teenagers in school. He said 21 year olds don’t associate with younger teenagers on a daily bases like 18 year olds. He indicated he doesn’t agree with
Mr. Oakey’s argument that the ordinance will take away someone’s freedom; addiction in our youth is not freedom. In the near future 30,000 Idaho youth will die because they started
smoking at the age of eighteen. He said anyone can become addicted to smoking it doesn’t matter how virtuous someone maybe.
Chris Kennedy said the reason the other states passed the law is so that it could regulate both tobacco and marijuana sales. He doesn’t believe this is a virtue issue either; you are
going to choose to smoke or not to smoke. He said some people choose to use tobacco by the way they were raised in their homes. He believes the law to change the age to purchase tobacco
needs to be changed on a state level to make a difference and less difficult to enforce.
Discussion regarding enforcing the ordinance by law enforcement.
Council Member Busby questioned when the bill will be before the state legislator. He asked how many counties are going to pass this ordinance. Kelly Piper indicated she is unsure if
the law will be passed as a usage law.
Council Member Busby said he agree with Council Member Mann that the county will need to be on board to make the ordinance more effective. He indicated as a school representative and
a member of the county probation and parole board, they are very excited about the passage of the ordinance.
Council Member Flora moved to second read Ordinance 1179 raising the minimum age to buy Tobacco Products in Rexburg from 18 to 21; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill
asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: NONE
Tabled Items: Those items which have been the subject of an affirmative vote to a motion to table:
Ordinance 1177 – 2nd reading tabled pending a possible legislative change to Idaho State House BILL 216 to Amending the Development code for Short-term Rentals, Bed and Breakfast Inns,
and Boarding Houses – City Council
Mayor’s Business:
Mayor Merrill thanked Council Member Mann for attending the Martin Luther King Jr. banquet in Idaho Falls.
Consent Calendar: The consent calendar includes items which require formal City Council
Action; however, they are typically routine or not of great controversy. Individual Council members may ask that any specific item be removed from the consent calendar for discussion
in greater detail. Explanatory information is included in the City Council’s agenda packet regarding these items.
Minutes from January 03, 2018 meeting
Approve the City of Rexburg Bills
Council President Smith moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the minutes and city bills; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Council Member Flora moved to go into Executive Session per State Statute 74-206 (a) To consider hiring a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, wherein the respective
qualities of individuals are to be evaluated in order to fill a particular vacancy or need; Council Member Mann seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a roll call vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora
Council Member Mann
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Executive Session Ended 8:30 P.M.
Adjournment 8:30 P.M.
APPROVED:
____________________________
Jerry Merrill, Mayor
Attest:
_______________________________ _____
Marianna Gonzalez, Deputy City Clerk