September 1, 2026
Those Present: Brooke Bergholm, Marty Nate, Mayor Tony Price, Jordan Rasmusson, Maintenance Shane Clark, Maintenance Hadley Wright, Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering, Tyler & Katana Sorensen, Landon & Janae & Bowen McCoy, Brittney Miller, Steve Waechtler, Molly Beseris of Four County Coalition, Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Councilor Marty Nate
The council entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate to approve the published agenda and was seconded by Councilor Jordan Rasmusson. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The minutes from August 4, 2026, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Marty Nate 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.
Molly Beseris of the Four County Coalition, came before the council to discuss our Comprehensive Plan and what she can do for us to update it. Our plan has been reviewed previously but last time it was updated was in 2012 with the completion of the wastewater project. She said that every City, County, and Government Agency has to have a comprehensive plan. We need to add in the economic development, traffic and impact of the mine. She said there are grants out there to help with the cost of updating. She said the mine did an impact study recently and can refer to it. She said once we have a plan it is important to follow it and get the community’s input. The council agreed to pursue it and it could take up to 5-6 months to finish. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson made the motion for Molly to proceed with the Comprehensive Plan and figure out what we need to do. Councilor Brooke Bergholm seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council. Molly will work on finding funding for it to get done and report back.
Councilor Brooke Bergholm said that there wasn’t a lot to report on for the Ordinance #27 as of yet. She has been visiting with citizens and her dad Barry about working on a committee but she’s not sure it’s something that she wants to tackle just yet without a lot of background. She’ll report back at the next meeting.
Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to move into the Public Hearing for the purpose of setting the budget for the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: Marty – yes, Jordan – yes,Brooke – yes. The Mayor voiced concerns about the budget for Twin Creeks and wants to reduce it. He has spoken with other cities and says they don’t budget for City celebrations and feels it’s spending too much of tax payers money and wants it to be more self-funding. He feels it should be reduced to $6,000. The floor was then opened for public comment. Former Mayor Steve Waechtler voiced that the fireworks were brought about 4 years ago and have been very successful and the community loves it. This year the fireworks brought in just shy of $10,000 in donations and cost $7,500. Steve volunteered to take over the fireworks show if that’s what it takes to keep them going. The public in attendance felt it is money well spent and this years’ Twin Creeks was one of the most well attended in history because of the great activities held. Clerk Smith reported that there had not been any comment written or verbal in relation to the proposed budget received. She also said since she has been the Clerk, there has always been a line item for the Twin Creeks Celebration and just because a line item has a dollar amount doesn’t mean it all has to be spent. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson made the motion to go out of the Public Hearing and back into the regular meeting. Councilor Marty Nate seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: Marty – yes, Jordan – yes, Brooke – yes. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to approve the published budget for the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year. Councilor Brooke Bergholm seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: Marty – yes, Jordan – yes, Brooke – yes.
Ordinance #118 an appropriations ordinance relating to the proposed budget was read aloud. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson made the motion to approve the Ordinance and was seconded by Councilor Marty Nate. A roll call vote was taken and is as follows: Marty – yes, Jordan – yes, Brooke – yes. Clerk Smith will send to the News Examiner to be published and will be official after publication.
Police Report: Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill was in attendance to give a full report for the month of August. There were 42 contacts throughout the month and only 1 citation was issued. He said that was unacceptable and has been addressed with their team and won’t happen again. He reported that the grant for the License Plate Reader has been nixed for now. It would require the County to also sign up for I.C.E. And we don’t have resources for that, so it is put on hold for now. He reported on some Monkey and Dog incidents with a monkey passing away and a dog being put down for biting someone.
Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering reported that the LHTAC grant has officially been wrapped up and closed. He said there should be some more funding from LHTAC coming up and he is still tracking down funding for the transmission line. It was asked if he could find a grant for the fencing at the lower sewer lagoons and he will look into it.
The old grey service truck was discussed. The office received an offer of $300.00. The Mayor did not post the vehicle for sale nor ask Hennings what they would give for it. The original offer said that was as high as they would go. Steve Waechtler made an offer for $500.00 and chocolate chip cookies. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson made the motion to accept the offer from Steve Waechtler for $500.00 and was seconded by Brooke Bergholm. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The floor was then open for public comment period which there was none.
Building Permits – there were no permits submitted for the month. Mike Hopkins has received a building permit earlier this year and is going to start now and get his water and sewer hook ups installed before November. Steve Waechtler said he will need to renew his roof permit next year as he is not going to get to it this year.
Councilor Marty Nate had a few things to report on. She is still thinking on the playground surfacing and noticed Inkom has astroturf. She spoke with Soda Springs and they recommended doing astroturf instead of poured rubber. She got a quote for $86,000 for astroturf. Tyler Sorensen said to look at football turf because it’s much cheaper. She said she got a bid from Houston for the sprinkler system in the park at $1,000 per zone and figured there are 15-17 zones. She asked about the water truck taking water and was told they are from ITAFOS and came last fall too. We will charge them $20 per thousand when they are finished. She asked about the Mayor’s meeting with Simplot back in April January and wondered how it went since we haven’t heard anything about it. He said they wanted to meet him in person, and she said we should have heard about the meeting by now and he shouldn’t go alone and take 2-3 others from the City with him. She inquired about the fence around the lower lagoons. She’s worried about a gate at the top not being enough. Shane Clark voiced that he feels it’s too much of a liability having it open and a fence may not be required but a gate at the top is not adequate. He said there is too much traffic that goes in the area and we shouldn’t take a chance. He said just barbwire isn’t good enough and a security fence like the top lagoon is what is needed. He said there should be a gate with lock and key so the farmer can still access and 3 other gates around too. Councilor Tee Steadman is working on getting some bids but it could cost $50-75,000 for the fence. Marty thanked Shane for his input. She said the Council should think about implementing business licenses in town and to put on the next agenda to implement an ordinance first. She would like a letter sent to Austin Waechtler to get his fence done. The trailers at Alice Andersen’s neighbors place were discussed. Marty feels like the Ordinance defines them as a building as other trailers are used for storing and never get moved. The council said there are more eye sores and fire hazards throughout the town too. They commented that Georgetown is a nice place to live because of able to do things not allowed in other areas because we are rural. Jordan commented that the trailers may be moveable but not easily moved.
Councilor Jordan Rasmusson wanted a follow-up on the chicken coop at the Sorensen’s and they were just served the letter today and have 10 days to move the coop.
Mayor Tony Price reported that Becky Smith is not going to have her Fall Harvest this year because of the timing with the Temple Open House but will shoot for the seed swap in the spring.
Maintenance Report: Hadley Wright gave their report for the month of August and stated that he and Shane have went up to the Spring and it is holding up and levels have even come up. They had 2 graves at the cemetery, mowed and trimmed the park and cemetery and moved the water. They cleaned the port up to the tank, shutoff services at 2 residences, fixed a water valve, removed the curbing around the playground, patched the manhole up by Hayes Lane. They took water samples to Pocatello and planted the grass on some graves. They had to do a couple of locates for DigLine and sprayed weeds around the tank and pump house. They also turned the school zone signs back on for the year.
Office Report: There are 21 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of August. She signed the Mayor up for the Blue Cross of Idaho Mayor Walking Challenge which starts in October. She received a public records request relating to the deaths of the guys at the sewer lagoon years ago also.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of August 2026 in the amount of $26,803.92 in the general fund, $10,937.60 in the water fund, and $26,475.55 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $64,217.07. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson 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 September 2026 council meeting at 9:50 pm. Councilor Jordan Rasmusson seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith,
City Clerk-Treasurer
Leave a Reply