May Council Minutes
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026May 5, 2026
Those Present: Brooke Bergholm, Marty Nate, Mayor Tony Price, Jordan Rasmusson, Tee Steadman, Maintenance Shane Clark, Sheriff Deputy Wes Barnhill, Addison Ochsenbein from Sunrise Engineering, DeLoy Kunz, Steve Waechtler, Neiko Waechtler, Tyler Sorensen, Landon & Janae McCoy, Scott Hymas, Wyatt & Ava Smith
Meeting called to order: 7:00 pm Invocation: Councilor Brooke Bergholm
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 April 8, 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 minutes from the Special Meeting held on April 14, 2026, were read aloud by Clerk Smith. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to accept the minutes as read and Councilor Jordan Rasmussen seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Addison Ochsenbein of Sunrise Engineering came to the council to give an update on the Transportation Plan Study. He said things are moving forward with the plan and he is checking with his colleagues about the funding coming from the State for the study to reimburse the City. He will update when he knows more.
Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill came before the council to discuss placement of a license plate reader in Georgetown. It is a grant with no matching funds and he would like to place on the corners of Stringtown. It is still in the project stages and has not been awarded yet. He clarified that it is not a speed camera and cannot issue violations from it. It would just capture the image of the license plate and would help with warrants, homicides, stolen vehicles, etc. You can set parameters and it will send a flag to dispatch. He also said it is a camera by Motorola and not a flock camera. Landon McCoy asked how hard it would be to vote to remove the reader later on. It was answered it would be easy to do. It is not manned but powered by solar power. Landon voiced his concerns of opening a door for misuse and other systems to be brought in and wondered if there is a contract to keep it here. He has done lots of research of municipalities having to remove for misuse and feels like it could infringe on 4th Amendment Rights and Privacy. Tyler Sorensen voiced about the struggles we have had installing radar speed signs on the highway and the placement of the signs along the highway right of way was not permitted even though flashing signs help alert people to slow down. Landon said that privacy matters which is the whole point of the Constitution and is very concerned and doesn’t think laws have caught up to the issues we’ll have with these systems yet and it’s making it too easy to track people. Steve Waechtler asked how long the information is stored and if the pictures are of public record. Deputy Sheriff responded that public record and open to the public are two very different things. He received an opportunity to apply for a grant for placement in the County for one reader and thought of Georgetown because we have a contract with the Sheriff’s Department. The Grant is available until the end of August so there is still time to research and discuss. Councilor Tee Steadman said our roads are a direct route to Jackson Hole which has been found to be a hub for drugs and sex trafficking and if we can help put a stop to it or find more quickly or track down if there is a hit and run, we should look into it. He said he appreciated Landons comments and concerns and for coming to the council to discuss. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to table the conversation until the next monthly meeting and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Becky Smith came before the council with an idea for a Farmer’s Market and Community Growth Plan. She would like to get our community back to the simple things of life with a share harvest of bringing excess from your garden and can trade or barter and bring the community together. She doesn’t want this to be a place to entertain people, but people can share for 3-4 hours max and not make it complicated or chaotic and no hassle. It would be all volunteer and the council would need to approve the use of the City Property and to promote on social media. The second thing she would like to do is a seed swap and plant start each spring. Again, to bring back the simple activities to include everyone and be very vanilla with no sprinkles. She would like this to be setup as a 5-year plan to see whether it will truly work or not and would like a commitment from the City council for approval, support and willingness to do for 5 years and a council member assigned to work with directly. Landon McCoy said he’s been apart of seed swaps and it’s been great to attend. The exchanges would be through community currency and get back to the grass roots. She said the community already loves the lighting event and this could build onto that. She will need a letter that this is City sponsored so she can get going on seed grants etc. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to let Becky run with her Farmer’s Market and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
A year ago we had discussed getting rid of the police car and nothing really happened. Wondered if we even need it still because it doesn’t get used and has all of the police equipment in it still. Deputy Scotty Hymas said he has done some research on Kelly Blue Book and with the mileage etc it is listed as fair condition for $3-5,000 and knows some of the equipment, like the radio is out of date and soon the car and equipment won’t be worth anything. The county is interested in the car to use with the rest of their fleet and would be used as a backup patrol vehicle. The City crew cannot use it as a run around vehicle with all of the lights and equipment in there. At this time, it is not being used for its intended use and so it would be in the public’s best interest to have the county use it. Clerk Smith asked if we could trade the amount of our Quarterly payment coming up for the contract for the County to have the car. She will speak with Adam about trading and writing up an agreement or Resolution and Scotty will take back to the Sheriff and we will readdress at the next meeting.
The Annual Audit isn’t fully completed yet but Clerk Smith was able to get numbers back from the Auditor of amounts to reimburse the General Fund from the Water and Sewer Funds for expenses incurred throughout the fiscal year. If things are different when the audit is finished, then numbers can be trued up then. Councilor Marty Nate made the motion to transfer $35,112.64 from the water fund and $35,140.34 from the sewer fund to the general fund for yearly expenses and was seconded by Tee Steadman. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Wyatt and Ava Smith spoke during the public comment period about having a self serve farmer market shed. It is smaller than 12×12 and would be moveable. She wants it to be a shed vs a stand so it can be used year-round. She will sell sourdough bread and small crafts. She is in the commercial zone and she says after researching that she is protected by Cottage Food Laws for her but it would be up to the City if she could include other crafts from outside people that want to sell things in the shed too. She is on a corner lot and setbacks are 15 feet from the road. She was advised to move it to 30 feet back and feels that is too far back and into her yard now and would like to move it back to where it was and what is allowed within the Ordinance to do. The Council gave their approval for her to move it back to the 15 feet to the property line and she can have vendors in the shed.
During the public comment period Tyler Sorensen voiced concerns about shortening the commercial zone. Councilor Marty responded the reason for shortening is because it’s too big for our town now and that less commercial ground is less headache. There was concern for availability for places for business along the highway and worried about the homes. Homeowners can sell for higher prices now because can list in the commercial zone. Comments about why changing it after all these years unless there are real issues with it and if growth can still come and do we want it. Will it affect anything if we don’t grow and don’t shrink. Councilor Brooke Bergholm said it is better to rein it in now and there are pro’s and con’s to both sides regarding changing the commercial zone. It is a big process to make it change and there still needs to be more thought put into it. The council appreciated the discussion and input from the community.
Building Permits –
- Neiko Waechtler came to discuss his building permit of replacing a lean-to by his house. There was some question on the County’s regulation if it is tore down then no longer grandfathered in but the footprint has to be the exact same. He raised the roof to match the pitch of the rest of the house to eliminate snow drifts and only the roof line has changed from the original design. The council agreed he should have a $50.00 permit fee.
- If a new dwelling goes up and in the same footprint, it can be asked to move back because the old building was grandfathered in. If an act of God, such as snow, collapses a building, then it can be rebuilt within a timeframe.
- DeLoy Kunz is rebuilding a shed that fell down with the snow and is adding another side with extra storage. It matches what was already there but is extending about 15 feet and he owns all of the property. The council agreed he should have a permit fee of $150.00.
- Steve Waechtler is applying for a permit to replace his roof this summer, his fee will be $150.00.
- Tee Steadman commented that his building permit he already received, he will be needing a water and sewer hookup for his building sometime this summer.
- Council approved all permits presented.
Police Report: Deputy Sheriff Wes Barnhill came before the council and presented a report for April and said they issued two citations. They hauled a hitchhiker across county lines. Some of the calls in his report include Nounan also. They are still investigating the drag racers lighting up the county.
Councilor Marty Nate discussed the approach at the post office and the crew got an estimate for $6132 for asphalt. She is applying for a grant but regardless feels like it needs to be replaced because it’s our responsibility since it’s in our right of way. The cement bid was $5200 and is cheaper and is easier to replace if needed to work on utilities along there. It was pointed out we probably won’t get a grant if we pay for it beforehand and fix it. The guys will work on getting another bid for the cement from a couple places. She also said she’s looking into a walking trail next to the cemetery to circle over to the Nounan road. Tee said that is a right of way for trailing cattle still. She wondered if it were more accessible if more would use it and will keep looking into grants for asphalt walk ways.
The Mayor had questions about the Twin Creeks budget and what the money is spent for. Marty responded there is a budget of $12,000 and $7,500 is already committed for the fireworks and that leaves her just around $4,000 left to spend and dinner costs about $2,000. There will be food trucks for lunch available and the Waechtler’s offered to make breakfast again. They will have some bounce houses and a mechanical bull for fun entertainment. The Mayor asked how necessary the fireworks really are and everyone told him everyone looks forward to it and especially as this year is the 250th Anniversary of America, it needs to happen. The Mayor asked Lynette to email an invoice to Andrea at Simplot to help pay for the fireworks and Tee said he would work with the school and fire department to get the approvals.
Maintenance Report: Shane Clark gave their report for the month of April and stated that he and Hadley have been working at the cemetery and getting it ready for the Memorial Day Holiday. They replaced a valve on the water line up there and put up the map for the cemetery. They’ve been to the spring a couple of times and put up the school zone sign. The State Highway Department is going to work on the approach to the Post Office and Shane will get another estimate for the concrete there. He and Hadley attended a workshop by DEQ with the regions muncipalities and learned of some changes with sampling coming down. He got the backhoe repaired this month and cattle guards are being installed at the cemetery. They did some DigLine locates and need to service a buried valve. They gathered some materials to build the barricades for Twin Creeks and delivered some delinquent notices to past due citizens. He provided some numbers for the readings at the spring for flow this time of year and said we can look at the mountains and see that we are in a drought this year and water is going to be scarce. He thinks we need to have a plan for this summer to ration water because there is hardly any water coming down and the levels haven’t moved at all for over 3 months. He said we should be prepared and have a plan for watering because it will get expensive really fast if we have to run the generator and use the backup well for water. Councilor Tee Steadman said this is why we need to focus on our infrastructure and really look at requiring installation of a sprinkler system on new homes.
Office Report: There are 20 delinquent water and sewer accounts for the month of April. Lynette also reported that she completed the Consumer Confidence Report for the water department that has to be reported annually and has been posted. She also said she spoke with both wards about doing the MayDay and no one was interested this year, maybe it’s something we look at in the future again but probably missed the boat for this year. The new Visa’s from Ireland Bank have been received. She reached out to the Insurance to ask about Vehicle Insurance and who can operate the vehicles. She was told all councilors can use vehicles but must be for only City operations and anytime a councilor or employee gets in their personal vehicles to do City business they are covered also. She also reminded everyone of the Impact Area Hearing on Tuesday, May 26th for anyone that can attend. Elections will be held on the 19th in this office and so the office will be closed for regular business on that day. She told the Council of new council training with Association of Idaho Cities is held on June 10-12th and is very beneficial to attend if available. She has also been in touch with Gary and Matt Regen for the Financial Statements and Audits getting wrapped up for the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and they are continually working on them and hope to be ready soon.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Marty Nate for the council to approve checks and vouchers for the month of April 2026 in the amount of $19,907.91 in the general fund, $43,359.54 in the water fund, and $58,754.81 in the sewer fund, with all funds totaling $122,022.26. Councilor Jordan Rasmussen seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
The chair entertained a motion from Councilor Tee Steadman that council adjourns from the May 2026 council meeting at 9:55 pm. Councilor Jordan Rasmussen seconded the motion. All were in favor and the motion carried the council.
Respectfully submitted,
Lynette Smith,
City Clerk-Treasurer