June 2026 Council Minutes
June 2, 2026
Those Present: Brooke Bergholm, Marty Nate, Mayor Tony Price, Tee Steadman, Maintenance Shane Clark, Maintenance Hadley Wright, Sheriff Deputy Wes Barnhill, Deputy Scotty Hymas, Steve Waechtler, Landon & Janae McCoy
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Maintenance Hadley Wright
The council entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate to approve the published agenda and was seconded by Councilor Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from May 5, 2026, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to accept the minutes as read and Councilor Brooke Bergholm seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. The Mayor read a letter to follow up the minutes from City Attorney, Adam McKenzie in regards to Wyatt and Ava Smith’s shed and placement.
Addison Ochsenbein, of Sunrise Engineering, was unable to attend the meeting but provided an email to Lynette for updates. He sent an email to the State for LHTAC to release the funds for the transportation plan study for the City to be reimbursed. The Transportation Plan is almost done with a couple minor changes to add still. The City was not selected for any of the LHTAC grants but will apply for the construction and sign grants again.
Dennis Duehren, of the Montpelier Rotary Club, came to the council looking for donations for the 4th of July Fireworks, He has been to Paris and was asked to go to other cities in the community as well. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to donate $250.00 to the rotary club for fireworks and was seconded by Brooke Bergholm. All were in favor and the motion carried.
Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill, came before the council to discuss placement of the license plate reader in Georgetown again. He provided a demo of how the reader works in the city earlier today with Mayor Tony and Councilor Jordan in attendance. He shared that the informatioin is purged per Idaho Code after 150 days or 5 months. The information being shared can be chosen who gets the info and it narrows the scope for what information is out there. Landon McCoy was there to reiterate that we are celebrating 250 years of Freedom and he doesn’t feel it is worth the slow march of surveillance coming in and sets a precedent for more to come in. He said privacy is important even with nothing to hide. Barnhill responded that it is easy to remove if the council feels its no longer in the City’s best interest to have. There is an arbitration agreement for no cancellation fees but does feel this is one more tool to fight the bad guys. He said it is designed to search for letters and numbers only and doesn’t take pictures inside of vehicles at all. The Mayor said he watched in action today and it was interesting to see and it is a neat tool. Pictures are taken in real time and send pings to a mobile app. It can send notifications and receives for nationwide amber alerts, etc. Barnhill said he thought of Georgetown first for placement because of our contract together. If the City denies it, it will kill the project for now because it would need to go before the commissioners for approval to be in the County. Councilor Marty Nate said she appreciated Landon’s concerns but likes the good that it can do. Councilor Tee Steadman shared a personal story in the 90’s when his sister was almost kidnapped and happened in a small town just like this and how criminals think they can hideout in a small town. Shane Clark shared stories of baling hay at nights and it’s amazing to see the traffic that goes on in our town late at nights along the backroads and near the cemetery and makes you wonder what’s going on out there. The council again appreciated Landon and his comments and concerns. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to approve placement of the license plate reader in Georgetown and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The police car was discussed again. Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill and Deputy Scotty Hymas came back to report their findings that the Sheriff is not prepared to not get our quarterly payment and our payment goes to the General Fund and not necessarily the police fund. It would have to go before the County Commissioners on June 8th to be approved to trade our quarterly payment for the vehicle. The Mayor is still concerned about selling the police car and if the contract with the Sheriff Department comes up and we don’t renew and would need the vehicle again. The council responded that the radar and radios are out of date and we can’t hardly afford to keep the car and would need to do upgrades to those things for it to be usable again along with tires, inspections keeping the radar up to code, etc. Councilor Tee Steadman gave context on the last time we were trying to hire an Officer before contracting with the County and we did not have a large pool to choose from and when we thought we had someone hired, they no longer wanted the job. One of the perks of contracting with the County is that they are on call 24/7 vs our own Officer has their own hours and isn’t always available when crimes are happening. The County said they can use the vehicle as backup if any of their trucks break down and they would remove the Georgetown stickers. Steve Waechtler was in attendance and said $4,000 for the vehicle is a fair price as he knows what vehicles typically go for. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to sell the police car to the Bear Lake County Sheriff Department for $4,000.00 and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried.
Water rationing for the summer was discussed. Shane said the water levels have been maintaining at normal and hasn’t changed over the last few months still. It probably isn’t a big concern right now yet but all should be aware to be mindful of hoses running all the time and to only water in the evenings. There should be some restrictions on troughs running over and maybe the City should look into requiring a back flow system. Mayor Tony also commented to only water grass and not the pavement too. At this time, Lynette will put out awareness on facebook, the website, the post office and the group messaging service as those are quicker, easier and less expensive to get the word out.
The floor was then opened for public comment where there was none.
Building Permits were discussed. Troy Hooley has submitted an application for 2 storage connexes to be placed on his property to be used for storage and has submitted pictures of what the end result will look like. Heather Kipp has not gotten a permit for the connex placed on her property. The Sheriff Department can go and visit to notify she is in violation and get a permit for it. Councilor Tee Steadman made the motion to approve the building permit with a fee of $150.00 and was seconded by Brooke Bergholm. Voting was 2 in favor and 1 opposed. Motion carried the council.
City Auditor Matt Regen, came to present the Audit for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 to the council. He explained that local governments need a second set of eyes to go over things so that the person preparing the statements is separate from the Auditor. He reviewed some different points of interest with the council and that expenses in the General Fund are Government Activities and those in the Water and Sewer Funds are business activities. He commented that we have good reserves and explained that he looks for if we are operating within our budget, which we are. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to accept the Audit for Fiscal year 2024-2025 presented and was seconded by Councilor Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried.
Police Report: Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill, presented a report for May to the Council and said there were a few single vehicle accidents, located the tea handles that were mistakenly thought to be stolen, and helped with a child welfare check. Mayor Tony called about some speeding along Stringtown and has requested more of a presence along there. He said there will be some more troopers in the summertime to assist there. They have received some grants from ITD for the summer to focus on Georgetown and Nounan. There is an open investigation for some bitcoin fraud in town. The Mayor said only half of the town has purchased dog tags and how do we get the other half to buy them? It was decided that the police can deliver notices to help but no matter what, there will probably not be 100% compliance. There has been no decision on the restitution of the dog issues. Barnhill reminded everyone to call the Sheriff Department if you see something or to report speeders.
Councilor Marty Nate felt the need to review the Ordinance #27 for Planning and Zoning, with the council because it can be confusing. She said it was adopted back when the City was still a village and we need a new one written and the old one needs to be repealed. She wants the council to take note for what needs deleted and what should be added. She reviewed the maps with the different districts and zones. She gave a few suggestions for making the lot sizes bigger and it needs to be updated and easier to read.
Councilor Marty Nate gave an update on Twin Creeks days and said she needs help serving the dinner. She is planning on a welcome speech by the Mayor at the flag ceremony and asked if he and his wife could help collect money for wristbands for the kids activities. She said she did not get the sidewalk grant and will hear back about another around the 12th. She feels the approach still needs to be fixed regardless. There are ants underneath the cement at the pavilion causing the cement to crack. She has applied for a lot of grants and hopeful to hear back. She said the council needs to be more unified with their decision making and discuss things at the table here in the meetings. She was disappointed the Smith’s had to wait a whole month to move their shed. All have agreed to represent together and need to learn and grow together as a council and support each other as a team. No one is more important than the other or can make decisions alone.
Maintenance Report: Shane Clark gave their report for the month of June and stated that he and Hadley have been collecting monthly samples, the barricades are done for Twin Creeks, they had a grave and did some utility locates throughout town and mowed at the park and cemetery. They fixed a sewer line and did some work at the cemetery. They installed the cattle guard and removed a tree at the cemetery and have been getting the wheel lines ready for the land app. We had some wheel lines end up in the sewer pond with the wind storms and have contacted insurance about repairs, but it may be cheaper to just repair than to pay the deductible for the claim. We won’t know the damage to the lining of the pond until it is drained this fall. Shane has put a Starlink service at the water tank for the SCADA to work better and it was replaced and repaired. They installed some school zone and children at play signs also.
Office Report: There are 17 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of May. She reported that Mitch Poulsen said the impact area hearing went over very well and has passed with the County Commissioners. She reminded the council there is council training in Boise with AIC during June 10th-12th and they also offer monthly videos and trainings that are helpful to all learning and continuing education. She will also be out of the office next week for High School Rodeo State Finals in Pocatello.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of May 2026 in the amount of $22,199.00 in the general fund, $19,707.73 in the water fund, and $29,670.69 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $71,577.42. Councilor Tee Steadman seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate that council adjourns from the June 2026 council meeting at 10:10 pm. Councilor Brooke Bergholm seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith,
City Clerk-Treasurer