After approval of the consent calendar the Preston City Council meeting opened with the swearing in of officer Levi Coon by Dan McCammon to the Preston police force.
Colter Hollingshead of Keller Associates updated the council on the status of the wastewater treatment plant. He confirmed that they are just waiting on approval of the design plan from various agencies. The USDA has responded with approval and he expects to hear back from the DEQ in a week or so. Once approved they can move to step three which will begin with opening bidding on the project in July for about six weeks. It is expected that construction will begin this fall or early spring of 2023 and take about two years to complete. He did discuss the rise in costs and the grants that will help fund the project.
Jim Mullen, partner in Keller Associates was also present to answer questions the council had. Mayor Keller noted that the council and the city staff have worked “tirelessly” to acquire funding for the project and increased from about 1/3 in grants to 2/3 but with the recent cost increases that has dropped to about 50%. They intend to continue working to secure as much funding as possible to lighten the load on the community.
Business licenses were approved for Brad Shurtliff, 1383 W Industrial Park Rd, ProCon Homes, Inc and ProHaul Trucking as well as Sheryl Kimball who is moving Naylor Insurance Inc. To the old health and welfare building.
Resolution 144 AMEND F.Y. 2022 Salary Resolution was amended after being presented in a previous meeting. It passed unanimously without further comment.
Molly Beseris representing Four County Alliance came before the council to request support for the alliance which is funded by counties, cities and the Idaho Dept. of Commerce. Her work so far in behalf of the Preston area was praised by Shawn Oliverson. The council approved her donation request unanimously.
As he did with the county, Vic Pearson came before the council to request a donation in support of the Preston youth Football League. The league needs new helmets and other equipment as helmets have an expiration date and the league hopes to add a third grade team to the 120 youth from 4th to 8th grade they already have. The council unanimously approved a $3,000 donation to the program.
Chris Larsen prefaced the presentations of Rise Broadband and Direct Communications about bringing fiber connections to the city. He feels the addition of fiber is an important part of city growth and has been working on options to bring that service to Preston. A survey regarding fiber internet infrastructure and to help the city with some research has been created at this address: www.prestonfiber.net/
Jason Reuben of Rise Broadband presented his design, plans and benefits to the community. He noted that no funds are needed from the city unless the city wishes to include additional locations not currently in the plan. Hook-ups to the network would be on an on demand basis.
Dan Direct Communication also presented a plan that is currently underway and will continue. Funds from the city would accelerate the process. Fiber is already available on all of the major corridors of Preston from Direct Communications.
Kris Beckstead and Eileen Wheedle requested an area near Benson Park for venders in order to hold the annual sidewalk sale. After some questions about safety and traffic a motion to approve the request was presented and tied with Chris Larsen and Terry Larson in favor and Todd Thomas and Brent Dodge opposed. Mayor Keller broke the tie and voted in favor passing the motion.
Nick Andreason presented the idea of a long term security masterplan and the council decided to have Chief McCammon continue the discussion with Andreason
Todd Thomas requested the reappointment of Alicia Robertson retroactive to Dec. 20, 2021 and Larry Morrison retroactive to Oct. 22, 2021 for another three year term on the city recreation board. Both had appointments had expired. The council voted unanimously in favor.
Morrison then came forward to discuss the future use of Craner field’s ball diamonds for the softball portion of the rec program. The fields have not been maintained and need work to get ready for next season due to the growth of the softball, baseball and t-ball programs. It was unanimously decided to allow Morrison and councilman Thomas to move forward with removing the grass and preparing the fields.