Friday, February 26, 2010

City Council Meets Tuesday, March 2 at 5:30 pm

The Jerome City Council meets this Tuesday, March 2 at 5:30 pm at the City Council Chambers located at 100 E Avenue A. Below is the agenda for the evening. If you have any questions or comments on the agenda, please use the comment function below. As always, the public is invited to all council meetings and encouraged to ask questions, make comments, and participate in this meetings. For any questions, please call 208-324-8189. The agenda:

Call to Order – 5:30 PM.
Call to Order – 5:30 PM.
Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
Consent Agenda
The consent calendar consists of items that are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted in the form of one motion. Any item can be removed from the consent calendar and heard in its regular order at the request of any council member or the mayor.

1. Approve the minutes from the February 16, 2010 regular meeting and February 25, 2010 special town hall meeting. MinutesBinder.pdf

Citizen Correspondence, Issues & Reports
Proclamations
2. Proclamation Girl Scout Week ProcGirlScouts.pdf

City Council Discussion & Possible Action Items
3. Approve the solicitation of sand and gravel bids and setting the date for bid opening April 15, 2010 – Public Works 2010 Sand Gravel Req.pdf
4. Approve the placement of a guard rail on North Tiger Drive at a cost of $800 – Public Works Guard Rail Req.pdf
5. Approval to purchase a Hawk Beacon crosswalk system for North Lincoln and 10th Street at a cost of $51,300 – Public Works Hawk System.pdf
6. Approval to hire two new full time employees – Public Works PWstaff.pdf
7. Approve Commercial Park Use Application of U.S. Census Bureau – Admin CensusBureauParkUse.pdf
8. Approve a contract with Sunrise Engineering to design the improvements for 8th Avenue West from Date to Fir Streets at a cost not to exceed $24,718.00 – Engineering W8thSunriseBinder1.pdf

Council Reports
City Administrative Report
Department Head Reports
Adjourn

Monday, February 22, 2010

TOWN HALL MEETING: February 25, 7:00 pm

TOWN HALL MEETING: February 25, 7:00 pm at the City Council Chambers. At this meeting, the public is invited to share their vision for the future of Jerome. Topics to be discussed will be: Downtown, Parks, Shopping, Growth, Recreation, Skatepark, Facilities, Streets, Neighborhoods, Transportation, and Community.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

City Offices Closed February 19, 2010

All City offices will be closed tomorrow, February 19, for the annual citywide employee meeting which will be held at the Hilex Poly facility. City offices will resume regular hours on Monday.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Q&A between a Concerned Citizen and Mayor John Shine

Question from a Concerned Citizen:

I have been following the comments made about story in the Times news on January 28 2010 “Resident's letter irks Jerome Council” as well as the comments made by Jerome fireman and their spouses. I find it interesting that the majority of the letters supporting the city council’s actions are coming from those that benefit from their dissection. I recognize that it is difficult to see the forest for the trees but try. The point of the letter has nothing to do with the fire department. Let me say that again, the point of the letter has nothing to do with the fire department. It has everything to do with government spending our tax dollars frivolously. That is to say that they had other options that they did or would not look at, this would have been the responsible thing to do. The second problem comes in to play when the city council under the direction of the mayor fails to respond to a citizen concern in a respectful and professional manner. Our elected officials need to be reminded from time to time that they work for us. We have a responsibility as citizens to keep or elected officials in check and if they fail us it is our responsibility to replace them.
The fact that our city fathers are so cavalier when they decided to spend $3360 so frivolously screams of being irresponsible and leads one to believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg. You fire fighters out there may understand this analogy better, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. If the city fathers learn nothing more from this disaster they need to learn this: 1, treat citizens with respect even if you disagree with what they have to say. 2, all complaints have some fraction of truth and you need to look at them as an opportunity to look at how you are doing business and determine if you can do better.
I would personally like to ask the Jerome city council to step back and reconsider their decision to spend $3360 with a private contractor at this time in our economic history. I would also ask the council if they have forgot that they just asked us to pay more for our water and they also just increased our property taxes. If you are not going to be responsible with our money we are not going to be as likely to in trust you with the awesome responsibility of looking after the affairs of the city.


Response to the Letter from Mayor John Shine:

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the City Council’s decision to relieve firefighters of their lawn and snow removal maintenance duties. This issue has received a lot of attention with many people sharing their opinions in public forums, many of which are based on misinformation and an incomplete knowledge of the facts of the case. Unfortunately, no one has taken time to ask the Mayor, the City Council, the Fire Chief or the City Administrator directly for an explanation which we all would be very happy to give. Our explanation is given further on, but first I would like to point out that participation in the affairs of the city means more than airing opinions publicly. A largely overlooked area of citizen responsibility includes but is not limited to getting informed and participating in public meetings. The Mayor and City Council have supported the implementation of many new communications strategies to accomplish the goal of getting the public more informed about City operations through Facebook, the City blog and the City e-newsletter and mailings. On behalf of the City Council, we invite you to come to our meetings and get more involved. There are several boards and commissions where interested citizens can also serve to make a difference in Jerome.

As for the Fire Department, and this issue is all about our Fire Department, many people may not realize the many challenges our little but growing department has faced over the last three years since our long-time Fire Chief, Jim Auclaire, retired. With several turnovers in Fire Chiefs and Deputy Fire Chiefs the department has not received the continuity of management to keep the direction of the department on a steady course. With every change in management priorities shifted leaving our firefighters with no clear objectives or goals. This has been a very difficult time for the department, and I am relieved to say that time is behind us now. Fire Chief Mike Hatfield was hired in August 2009 to bring order, discipline, training and so much more back to the Jerome City Fire Department. Also, since Chief Hatfield joined the department we have hired four new firefighters with monies from federal grant funding, filled two openings with new firefighters, created two Captain positions and are attempting to restore our badly depleted ranks of on-call volunteers. With the overwhelming task of bringing all staff in the department up to Firefighter Level 1 and Level 2 standards, there is little time to afford for non-critical firefighting functions like lawn care and snow removal. It is with this objective in mind, that the Fire Department will recover from the difficulties of the past and set out to achieve a higher degree of training, professionalism and leadership in the fire service for the citizens of Jerome. Perhaps, there will be a justification for Jerome City Firefighters to resume their grounds-keeping duties at some future date once their Firehouse is in order and all have met the required training standards. Please rest assured that we did not make this decision without exploring numerous alternatives before selecting a solution to this problem that would be in the best interest of the taxpayers.

As Mayor, I would like to make one more observation about the level of public participation. It strikes me as interesting and a little bit odd how some are so quick to criticize an expenditure of what amounts to less than 0.02% of the budget and yet do not even question or bother to inform themselves on the other 99.98% of where and how their public monies are being spent. Please know that I take the responsibility for the welfare of the City and how its funds are spent very seriously. The City has nothing to hide and in fact, we have just published a new budget summary to help make the city’s finances more transparent to the public. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, we are always happy to hear them. The City of Jerome will always be better for the concerns and interests that citizens put into the public process. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve as Mayor for the citizens of Jerome.

Sincerely,
Mayor John Shine

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Fire Safety in Manufactured Homes


Manufactured Home fires occur fast and can be deadly. Due to design and construction of a manufactured home, the entire contents of a home can be destroyed in a very short time creating a nearly impossible situation for successful escape. Increase your chances of survival by taking the following precautions.

Electrical Safety
According the National Fire Protection Association, electrical distribution equipment is the number-one cause of manufactured home fires. From a fire prevention perspective, please minimize the use of extension cords and make a habit of unplugging unused electrical appliances. Additionally, should you have electrical work done on your home assure that a licensed electrical contractor does the work.

HUD
Additionally, the National Fire Protection Association recommends that if you are in the market to purchase or rent a manufactured home, select a home built after 1976 that bears the HUD label certifying compliance with nationally recognized safety standards.

Smoke Detectors
Check your smoke detectors regularly. The national reminder for this is when your change your clock change your smoke detector battery. Never remove or disable a malfunction smoke detector until it can be replaced or repaired with a fresh battery.
There should be a smoke alarm is every bedroom and common hallway leading to bedrooms.

Kitchen Safety
Have a fire extinguisher available in the kitchen area. Grease fires and fires caused by unattended cooking are common, and a fire extinguisher is the most reliable means of suppressing the fire.

Heating and Air Conditioning Units
Have your heaters and air conditioners check before each season of use. If you are using widow mounted air conditioners, be aware that these units can easily overload the circuits of your home. Assure that the power supply is adequate and made to handle the power demands of large electrical appliances.

Smoking
If you have smokers in your home or you smoke, make sure that adequate ashtrays are available and emptied regularly. Additionally, if small children visit your home keep lighters and matches out of reach.


If you would like more information on Manufactured Home Safety, The National Fire Protection Association, HUD and your local fire department have considerable material on this subject. Please stay fire safe and practice fire safety everyday.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

A Citizen's Question and the answer from the City admin

This question was emailed to the Ben Marchant, the City Administrator with his response following. If you have any follow-up questions or concerns, please leave comment below or email bmarchant@ci.jerome.id.us.

Question from a Concerned Citizen:

What are you planning to do to correct the mess on Fillmore and I streets due to the failure of the chip sealing project last fall.

While I appreciate the effort, it is worse than merely a waste of money - the roads are now a real mess and something needs to be done to correct it.

What happened and what are you planning to do about them?

Thank you


The response from the City Adminstrator:

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Thank you for sharing your concern. You bring up a valid point and I am sure many others share your concern. This is a troubling issue that the City is well aware of. Unfortunately the City is not alone as the County has been troubled with the same issue this year. We have determined that the reason for the failure is the dust content of the chips that were used. The dirty chips failed to adequately bind to the oil, so that even though the subsurface chip seal and oil application is intact, the surface chips have worn off.

In order to prevent the “streaking” that has occurred as a result of using dirty chips in the future, the City is refining its specifications for future bidding procedures. By that I mean, we will specify the maximum dust content in the chips to be purchased so that we may pass over any unqualified bids. Since the subsurface chip seal is intact, there is little the City can do to restore the surface chips without incurring unreasonable costs. Please be assured that we are doing everything we can to make sure we get the quality materials we need to provide quality streets maintenance to our residents.

Cordially,

Ben Marchant

Benjamin Marchant
City Administrator
City of Jerome
208-324-8189

Monday, February 1, 2010

February Newsletter Now Available!

The February issue of the City's e-Newsletter is now available online at our website: www.ci.jerome.id.us. Click on the "Newsletter" link and choose the February file. If you would like to automatically receive the newsletter each month, send an email to enews@ci.jerome.id.us.