Moyie Springs city council

Moyie Springs city council, May 2 minutes

June13, 2012

City Council met in special session May 2, 2012, at the Moyie Springs City Hall.

The meeting was called to order by Mayor Doug Evans. Present were Councilmen Steve Economu, Chad Farrens, Terry Johnson and Bart Klaus. Due to a misunderstanding on the time of the meeting, City Attorney Dan Featherston was not at the meeting.

Waived the approval of the minutes of the regular meeting on April 4, 2012.

The following residents attended the meeting: Gary Forrester, Gary Mohler, Edna Fry, Rick Utter, Les Vetter, Lois Vetter, Dale Hire, Jackie Hire, Tyson Ensz, Les Swanson, Darla Evans, Douglas Reoch, Clara Miller, Stephanie Tucker, Tia Avery, Jeff Avery, Ken Carpenter, Joy Carpenter, Brian Woods, Ron Frederickson, Kevin Frederickson, Carol Robinson, Sunny Kimball, Kelley Kimball, Beverly Plato, Carol Pomeroy, Lila Finley, Valerie Surprenant, Sue Ackerman, Ken English, Adam Michel, Loren Michel, Francis Horton, Drexel Love, Claine Skeen, Steve Oxford, Mike Ashby, Linda Ashby, Carol Mesenbrink, Jim Ball.

The topic of discussion is Mandatory Garbage pickup.

Mayor Evans said there is garbage on the sides of the highway from here to town. The Mennonites picked up garbage last weekend between the bottom of the Sand Hill and Roosevelt on Moyie, and I don’t how many garbage bags there are along the side of the road. That’s due from everybody from the State Line this way hauling their garbage in the back of pickups, so we in Moyie are looking for a change and we want to see what the people’s opinion is.

Rick Utter said it sounds like a law enforcement problem to me. If they’ve got garbage blowing out of their rig that’s littering and an unsecured load, that’s not the residents of Moyie’s problem. Jackie Hire said people need to be more responsible and tie that load down better. Valarie Surprenant asked if we could explain better you mean alongside the roads? Doug said we are looking for household pickup for garbage like the City of Bonners Ferry. Valarie asked if Doug meant pickup your yard? Mayor Evans said no – put a can out for garbage pickup – household garbage.

Gary Mohler said we can all agree we have a landfill issue, are they going to do recycling? Or are we going to compound the problem we already have. Mayor Evans said we are going to get into that too. The City of Bonners just took on recycling. Ron Frederickson explained how it is going to work.

Les Swanson said he was told the city or the county is putting a manned site east of the Moyie Bridge. Doug said we have just recently been told the same thing. Les Swanson said he thinks that is going to help with the issue because people from the State Line to the bridge are not going to bring garbage. You might get people from the Sand Hill coming this way, but he doubts it. Les Swanson said instead of mandating 650 residents of Moyie to a mandatory pickup, I think maybe we should look at doing a mandatory covering your load.

Mayor Evans said it’s not a county law, it’s a State law.

Les Vetter said back to your statement about garbage in the ditches, I drive to town to work every single day, and Bonners Ferry has got mandatory garbage pickup, but when you go down the North Hill, it’s just like from here to Bonners.

Ken Carpenter said he read the minutes of the last meeting, and it’s worded to say cities must sign up for garbage pickup. According to the Statutes I looked at, cities have the power to do so, but they are not obligated to do that. Ken said he thinks this new manned site east of the bridge will make a big difference. I don’t agree people should have to spend money they can’t afford to spend. Basically you will have people that are trashy regardless. Ken said he thinks we have more of a junk issue around here.

Les Swanson said he thinks the other thing we should be looking at, is last year my family & I participated in the city cleanup. Mayor Evans said wouldn’t it be nice to get this many people out there? Les Swanson said there was maybe 10 or so people picking up garbage, others picking up stuff. Les said instead of doing it once a year, we as a city should do it twice a year. Les said they collected enough cans that they were donated to the school. We as a community should say let’s take care of this issue instead of the city saying we’re going to mandate you to pay x amount of money. Mayor Evans said that’s why we’re having this meeting.

Doug Reoch said he had the garbage truck come to his house, but he doesn’t want to be told he has to. Mayor Evans said the council, me especially, am in favor of it for one reason. I think it would be a big help in cleaning the City of Moyie up.

Mayor Evans said you drive around and see a pickup full of garbage because they don’t want to take it to the dump every week, every month – it is an issue in Moyie.

Rick Utter said if we’re paying for it, they will have to haul it. Joy Carpenter said there has been a big influx of dogs running wild, and I think if we start putting our garbage out on the street, there will be more tipped over cans and more garbage on the roads than there is now. Rick Utter said Frederickson’s picked up garbage on his road today, and when he got home the garbage cans were in the middle of the street and everything else – that’s kind of a nuisance.

Sue Ackerman said people are always throwing things out the car window by her house and she picks it up. She doesn’t want to pay for other people’s garbage.

Valarie Surprenant said there are yards that are trashy, but there are a lot of people who do pick up their yard. Valarie said it doesn’t seem reasonable to make people do this. It doesn’t feel good to be told you have to do this. Is there any other option besides making people do this?

Mayor Evans said Claine Skeen is here and he can give us the heads up with the option on the other side of the bridge. Mayor Evans said there are more options, it doesn’t have to be done, it’s entirely up to the council. That’s why they were wanting to hear input from the voice of the city which is you guys. That’s why we put that in the water bill is to get you guys here. It’s sad that the only time we can get people here is if we mandate something on them.

Carol Robinson asked if we aren’t already paying a landfill fee? She was told yes. Mayor Evans said the City of Bonners gets a cut on that. Garry Forrester asked how much is it going to cost? Ron Frederickson said it will be close to what Bonners is - $8.25 for garbage pickup and $3.25 for recycling per month.

Garry Forrester asked if the charge would be in the water bill, or how is it going to be paid? Mayor Evans said that was the idea we discussed.

Rick Utter said the other issue there is if you’re going to contract it has to be put out for an open bid. Mayor Evans said he doesn’t think so. Les Swanson said if we’re expecting them to pay, it’s your responsibility as a council to do your best to find the lowest bidder – there’s more than Frederickson out there. Les Swanson said if they are mandated to do this, it’s up to the council to get the best price. By getting several bids, it’s going to be competition.

Mayor Evans said he agreed. Mayor Evans said we haven’t picked anybody or send out any bid forms. We’re getting the general public involved right now to find out how you feel. We know how you feel, it’s pretty obvious. Mayor Evans said he wishes people had this feel for cleanup day. Every year there’s a notice put in the water bills for cleanup day – Mayor Evans said he takes pride in the city.

Valarie Surprenant said she thought, just by the way it was worded, that everybody is to pick up their yard. She and her husband went out and picked up their yard, so maybe there was a miscommunication. Sunny Kimball asked if the city has an ordinance for nuisance property? Mayor Evans said no. Sunny said maybe they should – mainly trashy yards.

Mayor Evans asked Claine Skeen for information on the manned site east of the bridge. Claine Skeen said he’s not here to step on anybody’s toes. The county has 3 manned sites around the county plus the landfill. The county charges a solid waste fee every year. The City of Bonners residents are about $20.00 lower than county residents. The people in the City of Moyie are considered county residents. Claine said the City of Moyie is a little bit higher than the City of Bonners Ferry.

A couple years ago the county eliminated all the unmanned sites throughout Boundary County. Deer Creek was probably one of the main locations that Moyie used. There was a lot of illegal dumping there and that’s the reason we eliminated that site. Boundary County is under a small community exemption. We can bury 20T of garbage per day. Once we exceed that, we lose that exemption. We’re in the process right now of putting a monitored site south of the Moyie Bridge where the State pit is now.

Claine said he already has a permit, and knows what the cost will be to install power. Right now we are working on the budget and this site is in my budget for next year. At that location you will be able to pretty much throw away everything other than a dead body or construction demolition debris.

Claine said he can’t guarantee that site is going to go in, that’s up to the Boundary County Commissioners, but through his budget, that will go in if the budget is passed.

Mayor Evans asked Claine if he will know by October 1, 2012? Claine said he’d probably know sooner than that – he’d like to have that site up and running sooner than October. He has one person that is a fill-in position – he could put him out there for probably 3 days a week. His budget starts in October, then it would be 7 days per week. Steve Economu asked Claine if the manned site would change our solid waste fee per year? Claine said he is working on the budget right now and doesn’t want to raise anybody’s solid waste fee, and at this time they are close to not raising the solid waste fee from what you’re paying now.

Steve Economu said if the fees are raised, it would be County wide? Claine said yes. Steve asked if the manned site would change what we’re paying now? Claine said if it does change, it will change across the table whether it’s Moyie or Bonners Ferry, or a county resident.

Les Swanson said the City of Bonners Ferry has a lower solid waste fee than the county. If we’re mandated by the city to go to this mandatory pickup, would we be given the same rate as the City of Bonners Ferry? Brian Woods, attorney for Frederickson’s, came to talk to people so they would get a little better feel for what’s going on and maybe help some people understand how it might benefit the city and the residents of the city, what it might cost and what it is already costing you whether you recognize it or not. Frederickson’s have been doing this work in this county for 40 years and I think universally people have a warm and fuzzy feeling about them. I think they do a very good job and I think the City of Bonners Ferry would tell you that. They’re professional, they’re insured, they’re bonded, they have modern equipment and they have a track record for doing a good service in this county. They’re part of our community and they are second generation working in this local company.

There is a franchise with Frederickson’s in the City of Moyie, and it’s an older franchise with Ron’s father. That’s not what we’re here to talk about. Some of the costs that you’re already paying, the residents of this city already pay, whether they think about it or not, there are already costs that are being paid.

About 60 of the 290 homes in this city are already persons who are already using Frederickson’s service, and they’re paying about $12.00 per month. All those 50 – 60 will see a dramatic reduction.

Drexel Love said they pay $20.00 per month because they are the only ones on the road. What about the others who aren’t – the other 230-240 in the city who aren’t paying for this service?

They are in one of three groups – they’re either combining interests in the landfill, making special trips to the landfill with just garbage or they’re not hauling at all which seems to be somewhat of a problem, which is why we’re talking about this. There’s two ways you can figure what it’s costing those people, you can either just say it’s costing for the gas, or you can say with the IRS, if I put a mile on my vehicle, the IRS says they’re going to reimburse you a mileage rate. That takes into consideration insurance, wear and tear on the vehicle and all those other factors involved in making a trip. If you start the trip because you’re combining your trip, going to Bonners to buy groceries, you’re still going about 2 miles every time you go to the dump and back it’s a 2 mile round trip.

If you do that, and you do it 2 or 3 times a month, you’re putting 8.6 miles on your vehicle and you figure just the gas, you’re going to pay $2.00-$3.00 per month just for that. If you use the IRS rate, you’re going to spend $4.77 per month just for that.

You may not realize it, but you’re paying it.

If you make special trips to the dump, then you’re going to make a 16 mile round trip every time you go and if you go 3 or 4 times a month, you’re going to be paying $13.71 just in gas, not considering anything else if your rig is getting 14 MPG. Use the IRS rate, taking into consideration all those other expenses, you’re paying about $26.64 per month according to the IRS. If the county puts in the manned site your costs would go down, but my point is you’re already paying something.

The city does not have to put it out to bid, they can negotiate with one contractor or they can negotiate with several contractors. Cities have big, big reasons to make sure the people they are contracting to provide service to their residents are actually capable of doing it and have a long track record of doing it and are not sort of fly-by-nights kinds of operations. They have a long, good standing track record and good reputation. It is true that they can do that, it’s just that they’re not required, under Idaho law to do that. Remember, when we’re talking about these dollar costs, and going back and forth to wherever you’re going, you’re ignoring a lot of other costs and I want to make sure you guys understand all these.

You’re ignoring the time you’re spending doing this, the wear and tear on your vehicle, spills in the truck, and garbage spills out of the truck.

There’s the risk of injury of loading the garbage into the truck and out of the truck at the landfill, weather issues in the winter – all of these are avoided when you go to a curbside collection system. You also have damages, in the form of losses, and the loss of your cans – they blow out the back to or from the landfill, lids get lost, and then, of course, you have the mud at the landfill. There are a lot of nonmonetary convenience factors that are also supportive of a curbside collection system.

In addition to saving you money there’s a lot of other significant benefits to the city. I’m not making this up, this is real stuff.

What of community beautification? If you’re a single mother, and you’ve got two little kids running around, and you don’t have good transportation, and you’re living at the poverty line, and the big wheel breaks. You’ve got to get that out of your yard or it’s going to sit there and the grass is going to grow around it and it’s not going to make the place look very nice. It’s a major problem for you, if you’re living close to the line, to make that happen.

If you’re getting a weekly service, it comes by, you’re naturally going to be able to take advantage of that a lot easier than getting it to the landfill or some other site. You’re going to have a lot prettier community. You’re going to help the 50 – 60 people already on the service because if you just go garbage, their rates are probably going to go down, and they’ll probably like that, so there are 50 – 60 people who would be in favor of it for that reason. You’d have less pollution on the way to town, less vehicle traffic on the road and you’re going to help economic development.

Economic development comes in two forms – businesses moving in or residents moving in, and the reality is the baby boomers are retiring and they’re relocating from higher costs, higher tax states. You guys think $8.50 is a lot – I’m a Kansas guy, I tend to think anti, you know, sorta not bigger government kind of stuff too.

The reality is we live pretty cheaply in these parts – a lot cheaper than people in other states live, and they’re looking for lower cost states to move to. Moyie has the ability because of the geographic beauty of attracting those people. If you get a better looking community, it helps in that, and it helps retain the people that are already there. Les Swanson said he understands the benefits. He’s lived in his home for 5 years. Not once, if these are all the good benefits, not once has Frederickson ever put a flyer, never called my home, knocked on my door to offer their services to me.

Only now are they saying, they go through our city council or our city council contacted them, I’m not sure which it is, and then we’re being told you’ve got to do it and these are all the good benefits.

If they wanted to do economics, shouldn’t they have been out drumming up business for themselves? Instead of 30 maybe they could have had 80 or 90 people out here in Moyie. Not once in the 5 years I’ve lived here have I ever been contacted by Fredericksons.

Brian Woods said that may be and I don’t have answers to that. I know that Ron & Kevin and his family are really busy. Ron Frederickson said it’s more of a privacy issue.

Mayor Evans said from my talk with him, he doesn’t want to step on anybody’s toes, and that’s where he’s coming from. Les Swanson said we should be supporting him – if he wants our business, maybe he should drum it up instead of mandating it. Brian Woods said that’s a fair point and I think that’s what the council will ultimately decide what direction they want to go. I’m just trying to point out some of the benefits to the folks in the city and to the city itself of possibly looking seriously at it – it is a positive, at the end of the day, of doing it.

Could Ron and his family have done better in business development previously, well sure, but that’s also just not – he doesn’t like being in people’s faces and forcing things. Steve Oxford said they recycle their garbage, is that something they’re going to do? Brian Woods said absolutely – they’re willing to do any level of service that the city feels is appropriate. They’re prepared to do whatever.

Steve Oxford said he lives in the city limits, the city doesn’t plow their street because it’s private, so how are they going to get in and out of their road? Brian Woods said that’s one of the reasons why the cost structure needs to be pretty close to Bonners because Bonners does do a better job of clearing their streets, they do a better job of maintaining streets, there’s more density in the pick ups. In other words, they stop every 50 – 100 ft. instead of every mile or 300 yds.

That’s why he wants to be competitive and help the City of Moyie, but really, probably from a cost perspective, there’s probably the same or greater cost of providing the service here than in the City of Bonners.

Gary Mohler said he can see some of the benefit. One of the benefits would be if they slowed their trucks down. Gary said he’s called in twice and left messages complaining about their drivers and never got a response. They come flying through my neighborhood. You can see where they make the corner, they roll the rocks from the tandems.

Brian Woods said that’s a good point and if the city did decide to do this, and that’s up to the city to decide, the city would enter into a contract, presumably with the provider, and the city can say just that. The city can say not only that, but other things that need to be said like: you have to have certain liability insurance, you need to have certain kind of equipment, your people need to be bonded, all those regulatory things that need to be a part of this, should be a part of it and that can be one of them.

Brian Woods said as a lawyer guy he doesn’t like hearing that either. Gary Mohler said he can tell every garbage day because they come up Elk and turn over to Westwood and they cut the corner. Sooner or later someone is going to be coming up there and they’re going to catch them head on.

Les Vetter said he’s lived in Moyie Springs his whole life. Les said he had Frederickson’s haul his garbage and they did an outstanding job for him. Les said he chose to hire him to come and pick up his garbage. He had no complaints about their service, ever. All the things aside you said about wear & tear on your vehicle, I work for the county so I know how you get paid for your mileage and how that works. Les said now he chose to haul his own garbage. He keeps his house up. His stuff doesn’t fly out of his pickup. He chooses to do that on his own.

This is about mandating to us to give Frederickson’s our work when he can do it himself, and he chose not to have them do his work anymore.

Brian Woods said Les is right, and that’s a philosophical perspective, in other words people are going to have disagreements over what the right philosophical result is.

Most larger cities don’t give you a choice, they’re not going to give you that option. I’m sure that’s why you choose to live in a smaller community because right now you have that option to either have the service or not.

Most cities will tell you that they don’t let their residents decide you’re not going to have the service. From a health and sanitation and beautification and a safety perspective, and the black plague in the middle ages, that was because of the failure of sanitation, failure of garbage service. I’m not suggesting that’s a problem, but I am suggesting that has been a huge problem. That’s why every city, of any size that I’m aware of, in this country, requires all residents, who are in the city, to subscribe to some sore of garbage service.

While you’re going a great job, the neighbor across the street isn’t, and then your home value suffers from that, you smell it, you have to look at it, you have to deal with it from a nuisance perspective. Even though your house is looking great, the guy across the street couldn’t care less and is not being responsible.

Les Vetter said he works for the Boundary County Assessors Office and has for 15 years. Bonners Ferry is part of his revaluation cycle – every 5 years he does the South Hill – he knocks on every single door on the South Hill every five years.

Bonners has mandatory garbage pickup and when he goes around the neighborhoods in Bonners Ferry, even though they have mandatory garbage pickup, you’re going to find the same pigsty houses with the same pickups full of garbage in the back of them, just the same as they are right now, and they have mandatory garbage pickup.

Brian Woods said you will never fix 100% of the problem until a city gets and chooses to enforce other regulatory things. Cities pass all sorts of things and then cities have to decide are we going to enforce those things that are on our books. Cities have all kinds of regulatory police power authority. Having them on the books and enforcing them are sometimes two entirely different things, and I don’t think the City of Moyie, correct me if I’m wrong, have any of those regulations.

Ken Carpenter said he doesn’t want Moyie Springs to be a little Bonners Ferry. We are Moyie Springs – just because Bonners Ferry does something, whether it works for them or not – it obviously doesn’t – there are places that are junky, and there’s always going to be some of that here. We shouldn’t be penalized for all the people around Moyie that are getting this stuff flowing into the ditches, and some of them even come through Moyie. So don’t try to turn us into little Bonners Ferry – we’re Moyie Springs and proud of it. Most of us take pretty darn good care of our place, and if there’s a problem, then maybe certain people should be let known to get their stuff together and start doing something.

Jeff Avery said you’re not going to be able to regulate people into being better citizens. They’re going to choose to or not to and passing more laws to regulate their lives is not going to solve the problem.

Brian Woods said at one level he agrees and another level he doesn’t. Mayor Evans said Brian Woods is not with the city, he is with Fredericksons. Brian Woods said he is just trying to facilitate, to give people different ideas.

The City of Bonners Ferry does get a break on their solid waste fees. The City of Moyie, if they decide to do this, can certainly say we’d like to negotiate with the county. Brian said with the changing demographics, in this part of the world, and the higher density levels we’re going to see, as the city decides whether to expand its borders to encompass more property, he thinks expectations will be higher for the people that are moving in, maybe your response is they shouldn’t move in then, but the expectation levels are higher, and the level of service is a pretty high level of service for a reasonable cost.

Edna Fry said why should she want to pay for mandatory anything? She takes her garbage in 4 time a year. Edna said she doesn’t make garbage, she recycles. Edna said she doesn’t want a monthly bill because she takes her garbage only 4 times a year – and her car gets 27 MPG.

Rick Utter said the sales pitch is great and they do provide an excellent service for the people that want it. Rick said he hasn’t ever heard complaints about them. Rick said he has followed their truck to the landfill, from Moyie, and has seen garbage blowing out. That could happen with anybody’s rig, but you’re asking us to pay a fee for something not all of us need. Those who need it or want it are welcome to hire them. Rick said he has 2 bags of garbage per month because he recycles and sorts. Why should he pay a monthly fee for 2 bags of garbage when he goes to town to buy groceries – yes, it’s 2 miles into the landfill but that’s still less than that monthly fee is going to cost him.

Brian Woods said on the whole, I don’t use it so I don’t want to pay it. Every city and county and any governmental agency always faces arguments just like that based on those kinds of factors. Brian said personally he doesn’t drive to Canada but twice a year. He doesn’t always drive on those roads, but he still has to pay for them.

Lila Finley said that’s what they’re saying – they have to pay for all of that and they don’t want another thing they have to pay for. Brian Woods said that’s for this group and this group to figure out.

Claine Skeen said with that solid waste fee we pay to the county, you can come in and dispose of anything at that one solid waste fee per year – 350 days a year.

Rick Utter said his question, as a citizen of Moyie, does that fee include also wood debris, metal debris, etc., or is that going to be another additional cost, above and beyond the existing cost of garbage and recycled material. You’re still going to have to haul your wood debris, your metal debris, etc. Rick Utter said here again, he’s heard it before, either you can provide the service, Bonners Ferry Garbage will provide that service, at an additional cost or are you going to be in the same boat you’re in tonight and haul it to the landfill?

Brian Woods said he will respond to that on several levels. One – you can put garbage and wood in your receptacle and it will be hauled to the landfill, but then, what happens is the county pushes back, and Claine knows this like everybody else, the county pushes back and says to the City of Bonners Ferry, well that’s contributing towards our 20 ton so please don’t put it in with your garbage. That’s a county request that you not put your lawn cuttings and wood, etc. in with the regular garbage. You recycle that or do something else with that – that’s coming from the county.

That wouldn’t necessarily be coming from the City of Moyie. Fredericksons for years and years, since 1968 picked up yard waste every year in the City of Bonners Ferry without a complaint or additional cost. They did that and would have continued to do that, and then the county talked to the City of Bonners Ferry and said they didn’t think that was such a good idea anymore because they were pushing up against the 20 ton limit per day.

If there’s a regulatory prohibition on that, that would probably be coming from the county commissioners to the City of Moyie. Frederickson’s would be willing to do it and I’m sure the City of Moyie would be willing to do it, the questions is whether or not the county would permit it. Rick Utter said if you take it to the landfill, your have to separate it. Brian Woods said that’s when you take it. Rick Utter said if they pick it up it should be separated. Brian Woods said no, the answer is no.

Rick Utter said then why should we pay for a service that doesn’t help us?

Brian Woods said it does. Right now the City of Moyie can say you can put your grass clippings and everything else in with the garbage. Rick Utter said then they would be filling up the landfill and that’s not the idea.

Mayor Evans said we’ve discussed that, we’re kind of getting the hint about what everybody here in the room wants. Is there anybody else that has anything else to add?

Doug Reoch said he thinks the issue about the yard clippings – there’s things you can’t leave by your garbage cans for Fredericksons to haul. Partly, they don’t have time, partly some of it is too much for them to move. Sometimes you can load up a pickup to haul to the landfill and you have 3 guys helping you.

Mayor Evans said he entirely understands what Claine is saying. In Claine’s aspect he looking at a 20 ton limit and Fredericksons will haul it if you put it in 2 cans you will haul it, right? Ron Frederickson said yes, if it’s under 60 lbs. and it’s 3 cans.

Rick Utter asked Claine Skeen wood and grass clippings don’t count as part of the 20 tons per day, right because they are recycled and sent out? Claine Skeen said right.

Mayor Evans said when you go to the dump, if Fredericksons go to the dump, if that counted? Claine Skeen said whatever is in the truck goes in the landfill.

Ken Carpenter said which means eventually we all pay a bunch more when that landfill gets full. Sue Ackerman said doesn’t it bother you that those who have garbage service don’t recycle at all?

Mayor Evans said he thinks that’s why Bonners Ferry went to the recycling program. Claine Skeen said the recycling program is a voluntary program. We all need to look in this room, he doesn’t want to be a garbage cop. At the same turn around, this community, twenty years ago, got that small community exemption. You’re paying $100, $98 if you live in the City of Bonners Ferry. He’s sure Ron has done numbers, he’s done numbers – it will double, if not triple your solid waste fee once we start shipping this out of Boundary County.

Claine Skeen said he’s not picking on anybody here, but whatever happens will affect Boundary County. Mayor Evans said if the dump ever closes down, it’s going to take, at present time what’s it going to take, Claine? Claine Skeen said $1.8 million. Mayor Evans asked how much the county has? Claine Skeen said $800,000 plus. Mayor Evans said if that’s 10 years from now, that will probably be 3 times that much, right? Ken English asked Claine if he happens to know what it costs Bonner County to haul to their landfill? Claine Skeen said $45.00/ton 2 years ago.

Mayor Evans said so that’s if the landfill ever closes down, we’ll have to pay to haul it off? Claine Skeen said we can either transfer it out or go into a lined landfill. Claine Skeen said the reason he’s here is the recycling program is a voluntary program. Bonners Ferry Garbage has been an excellent company, we work very well together as a county and a private hauler. Claine said his job is to make sure this landfill stays open as long as possible, whatever needs to be done, needs to be done.

Mayor Evans asked if the council had any questions for anybody? Does the crowd have anymore?

Francis Horton asked Mayor Evans if he could repeat why he supports this?

Mayor Evans said because he thinks it would make the city a lot cleaner.

Valarie Surprenant said she can’t help but wonder, the majority of them keep their yard clean, pick up our trash and haul it. Would mandating this actually make the people who have trash in their yards and are not keeping up their yards, is it really going to make those people say – hey, let’s pick up our yard today? They haven’t for the last year and a half – let’s do it because we have garbage cans.

Jimmy Ball said the way the county or the City of Bonners currently bills, they’re billing the landowners on the water bills, and they’re going to add the garbage onto the water bills. Jimmy said he probably has 40 water bills in the City of Moyie. That’s how many houses he will be responsible for paying the garbage on. Every other municipality, in the county, including the City of Bonners Ferry, the tenants get the bills directly. If the landlords get the bills, the tenants are the problem, as far as picking up their yards, he doesn’t see how that’s going to make the tenants do anything when he is the one getting the bills and paying it regardless of their responsibility level.

Mayor Evans told Jimmy that would be up to him to enforce. Jimmy Ball said that’s the truth, and that would be…..what he’s going to do is just check how that all works, how he gets forwarded all those bills. Jimmy said he doesn’t have the time or money to enforce something like that. He said he’ll be forced to pay the bill, but he’s not going to go out and give people garbage cans and tell people to put their garbage out. If he was going to do that, he would just go out there and do that then he would get the money and he would haul the garbage to the dump – then he would get paid.

Brian Woods said he would like to make one additional point, if the city decides to do a mandatory service, they can put in place whatever other regulatory requirements or ordinance. In fact, we’ve talked about, and already provided, a draft of an ordinance for their consideration. You can add to that whatever regulatory things you would want to have.

The city would have the ability to send that notice out to a resident to say your yard needs to be cleaned up by such and such a date. Since they have the service and are already paying for the garbage service, whether or not they’re using it, to that point or not, the city would additional regulatory tools to send an easy letter out and say to that resident you either do this by this date, or either the city will come by and pick up your yard for you, and send you an even bigger bill, or we’ll fine you. Cities and do, and do do, all kinds of things to get compliance with what they want to see to beautify the community.

For those people who are already taking good care of their yard, great. Ken Carpenter said the city can do this without mandating our garbage pickup. Brian Woods said Ken is exactly right, the city can do that too.

Francis Horner said why don’t we do that first before implementing this big city wide project? Jimmy Ball said if they do that, that’s an overall burden, just like animal control – they’re taking on the burden of enforcement at that point. Brian Woods said that’s right, and then the question becomes a balancing act between the property owners who are taking care of their property and see their property values diminish, and their ability to sell and their ability to take pride in their community diminished because of the unsightly ones. Jimmy Ball said all of his houses are currently rented, brought in revenue, I’m paying more and more water bills all the time, all of my houses are tax paying – this community is growing. It’s growing in a good way, all his stuff he tries to keep hammered out and he works well with the city.

Brian Woods said your point is exactly the point I want to make. Jimmy Ball said if there needs to be enforcement it doesn’t need to mandatory, he can simply take requests and he’ll go out there and handle his tenants.

Valarie Surprenant asked if that’s something they can do – the city going out and requesting the people clean up their yard? That’s something that can be cone now? Mayor Evans said we can draft more ordinances, just like this one. Valarie Surprenant asked if it would be something that would have to be drafted, it’s not in place right now?

Carol Robinson if the city passes a clean up ordinance the city would have to hire somebody else to enforce it because Sandy, Ken and John don’t have time to do that. Mayor Evans said that’s exactly true. Carol Robinson said we’d have another employee, another set of insurance, another withholding, the whole business. Mayor Evans said bigger burdens. Carol Robinson said we need to police ourselves, and talk to your neighbor if you don’t like the way his yard looks and offer to help them. In her neighborhood that would work because they do work together. Why don’t you try to get a block party – that sort of thing. Mayor Evans said we’ve had one for the last five years.

Jimmy Ball said the person on Division St., the guy that has the stuff all over his yard, is the worst looking house in Moyie Springs, bar none. That guy is not going to change anything, the junk cars out in back, the campers, a mobile home that’s falling in half back there. This thing is not what Moyie needs. If anything we need more employees to enforce the law that probably already exists in an ordinance. Jimmy said he would work with the city – he owns a ton of houses here. He told the council if they give him orders he will follow them to the tee because he appreciates us. He doesn’t need to be forced to pay thousands of dollars – it is a burden to him to have an expanded government. He can barely afford to stay in business as it is.

Mayor Evans asked if there are any more comments? Joy Carpenter said many of those here tonight do recycle and take care of their yards. She has nothing against Frederickson’s – they picked up her garbage at one time and it wasn’t their problem that she couldn’t remember it was Wednesday. She thinks mandating it, Ken will still have to take it to the dump because she can’t remember it’s Wednesday, and then as far as recycling, there’s an extra charge. Mayor Evans asked if there are anymore comments?

Hearing none, we can call this meeting concluded and he appreciates everybody coming. He would like everybody to know there is a cleanup day notice in your water bill every year, and we’d enjoy seeing this many people come to cook hamburgers and hot dogs when we get done working. We’ve cleaned up about 100 cars, in the last five years, in the City of Moyie.

Sunny Kimball asked when the decision on mandatory garbage pickup will be made? Mayor Evans said at the next regular meeting, next week – May 9th. Tyson Ensz asked if this comes up for a bid, can he be notified? Mayor Evans said yes. Mr. Ensz was told if you work for a government entity, you have to be insured. A motion was made by Steve Economu and seconded by Bart Klaus to adjourn.

Motion carried.