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Bonners Ferry City Council opens year with new
mayor, council members sworn in, issues
discussed |
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January 6, 2016 |
 Bonners
Ferry has a new mayor.
At last night's City Council meeting,
newly-elected Mayor David Sims was sworn into
office and jumped right into work on city
issues. Mayor Sims was elected two months ago in
last November's elections. He had formerly
served as chairman of the Boundary Economic
Development Council.
The meeting began with Mayor David Anderson
presiding. After a few routine agenda items to
start the meeting off, Mayor Anderson asked City
Clerk Kris Larson to step forward. Ms. Larson
then administered the oath of office to the new
mayor and to recently-elected city council
members.
Council members who were sworn in at the
meeting, beginning their new terms of service,
were Rick Alonzo, Connie Wells, and Adam Arthur.
Mr. Alonzo is now beginning his second term on
the City Council, Ms. Wells her third. Mr.
Arthur, who was appointed to an open two-year
seat on the council and began serving last July
1, was elected to continue in the same seat in
November's elections.
Later in the meeting, council members voted to
appoint Councilman Rick Alonzo as City Council
President.
City Council member Ron Smith, also present at
the meeting, who is continuing his current term
and was not up for election last November, was
also present at the meeting.
After all the swearings-in were completed, the
mayor and council proceeded with city business,
first hearing reports from the police chief,
fire chief, city administrator, and water
department supervisor.
The council then approved its first resolution
of 2016, and the first under Mayor David Sims,
which was a listing of all the charges for
"licenses, permits, fees, assessments, rates,
and charges by the City."
The council next gave the new mayor his first
assignment, authorizing Mayor Sims to sign a
city contract with Matt Maggi Logging to remove
some trees in the area of Mirror Lake Golf
Course.
In other business, the council approved a
payment to contractors working on the Cassia
Water Tank Project, and approved payment to
Probst Electric, a Utah firm that has finished
the job of relocating city power poles and line
on Division Street in Moyie Springs, moving them
to the west side of the newly-expanded street.
The council also discussed Boundary Volunteer
Ambulance rental use of the Fire Hall, discussed
a new city-wide telephone system (proposed to
replace an outdated system in place since the
1990s), and discussed future plans to begin
broadcasting city council meetings.
In the final order of business at the meeting,
they spent time discussing a new policy to do
criminal background checks on all individuals
who do volunteer work for the city in any
capacity. At present, the thinking is to have
the city's chief of police review those checks,
toward an end of ensuring that assignments as
city volunteers are appropriate and to protect
the city from liability risk that may arise in
some situations and assignments with volunteers
who might have a prior criminal history. |
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