Friday, April 29, 2011

May 2011 e-Newsletter Now Available for Download!

New! The May 2011 e-Newsletter is now available by clicking the link below! In this issue, the City discusses its Strategic Priorities, Jerome's 2010 crime statistics are published, and we launch Operation Facelift for renovating Jerome's downtown. To read these and other articles, please click the link below:

Monday, April 25, 2011

Capital Infrastructure in the City of Jerome

The mayor's message in April:

Last month we received the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau concerning the population of Jerome. As of April 1, 2010, the City of Jerome's population had grown to 10,890 inhabitants. This is a 40% increase over the 2000 Census count of 7,780 for the city. We attribute this growth to the success the City has had in attracting many new businesses and hundreds of jobs to the local economy in that time. And this growth was only possible because we have the infrastructure to maintain it, which has a direct impact on the city budget. There are three pillars to the city budget: operating supplies, personnel, and capital infrastructure. This month it is my intent to explain how infrastructure impacts the budget so that you can better understand the policy and priorities that determine how your tax dollars are spent in the City of Jerome.

Capital infrastructure makes up 40.14% of the budget (7.35% of it is for debt service payments). Infrastructure investments are very expensive and not very attractive to consider. Although it costs a lot up front, over time these projects can save the City millions of dollars. Infrastructure includes all city land and building facilities, the entire road system, the entire water distribution system, the entire sewer system, and the entire fleet of City vehicles and heavy equipment for Police, Fire, Public Works and Water Works Departments.

Just like when you buy a new car or truck, the initial cost is large, but then it becomes very affordable to run and maintain for a long time. Conversely, the older it gets, the more it costs to maintain and the less it performs the way it is supposed to. Sooner or later you are faced with the need to either completely rebuild what you have or replace it altogether. Today the City of Jerome finds itself in the unenviable position of having very old and deteriorated infrastructure that costs a lot to maintain. In fact, in certain areas, the City cannot even keep up on basic maintenance because it is in a constant state of crisis just trying to "put out fires" that crop up throughout the system. This is especially true of the water system, but also affects roads, sewers and buildings that the City is also trying to maintain.

So what can the City do about all this? The policy options are: 1) Status quo; throw more money, personnel, and resources at maintaining the existing systems as they are. 2) Invest in new infrastructure to replace broken, inadequate and obsolete portions of the systems and get back to a basic maintenance schedule. 3) Reduce services to match available resources, requiring the city to abandon certain performance standards based criteria that could impact public health, the quality and level of public safety, transportation, and other basic services. Those are the three choices facing your elected officials. In my opinion, option #2 is inevitible and option #3 is distressing to consider. What do you think? I welcome your thoughts and ideas on this important issue to our community. The City Council will be meeting next month for its annual strategic planning retreat to address how we are going to deal with these critical issues in the coming year.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Council Agenda: April 19, 2011

Call to Order – 5:30 PM.

Roll Call

Pledge of Allegiance

Amendments to the Agenda

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 of the April 5, 2011 regular meeting and April 14, 2011 special meeting

2. Officer’s reports – Fire, Building, Library, Law Enforcement, & Treasurer’s Quarterly

3. Claims

Employee Recognition

  1. Mayor to recognize Officer Jim Baker as Employee of the Quarter

Citizen Correspondence, Issues & Reports

  1. Rosa Paiz and Wendy Florence to discuss parking on Alder and Main Street.
  2. Deborah Gabardi and Patty Clark from the Crisis Center of Magic Valley to request program support

City Council Discussion & Possible Action Items

  1. PSI to discuss single stream recycle program Les Reitz – Ben Marchant
  2. Approve the purchase of a John Deere XUV 825i for weed spraying and fertilizer application in the Parks and Streets for the amount of $10,076.41 – Walt Appell

Council Reports

City Administrative Report

Adjourn

Friday, April 1, 2011

Regular Meeting of the City Council: April 7, 2011 at 5:30 p.m.

Call to Order – 5:30 PM.

Roll Call

Pledge of Allegiance

Public Hearings

  1. For consideration of an amendment to the budget for the fiscal period October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011

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.

A. Approve the minutes of the March 15, 2011 regular meeting; March 14, 2011, March 29, 2011, and March 31, 2011 special meetings

Citizen Correspondence, Issues & Reports

  1. Deborah Gabardi and Patty Clark from the Crisis Center of Magic Valley to request program support

Proclamations

  1. Declaring April 28th as Arbor Day

Ordinances – New Business

  1. Bill No. 566, Ordinance No. 1082, amending Ordinance 1075, the appropriations ordinance for FY 2010-11 – Introduction, suspension of rules, adoption – Ross Hyatt

Resolutions – New Business

  1. Resolution No. 7-11 – amend the City of Jerome Compensation Plan – Monica Harrison

City Council Discussion & Possible Action Items

  1. PSI to discuss single stream recycle program Les Reitz – Ben Marchant
  2. Approval to purchase 2 Panasonic CF-31 Rugged computers and docking stations for the patrol vehicles for a total cost of $9,764 – Kathy Markus
  3. Approval to purchase two workstations and five notebook computers for a total of $13,929 – Kathy Markus
  4. Authorize the City Treasurer to transfer restricted cash for operating and capital reserve to pooled cash to offset the negative operating cash balance as of the end of February 2011 – Ross Hyatt
  5. Approve waiver of building permit application and fees to place training trailer at fire training grounds – Chief Hatfield
  6. Authorization for the Jerome City Fire Department to assume responsibility for managing the Magic Valley Emergency Response Team (MVERT) – Chief Hatfield

Council Reports

City Administrative Report

Department Head Reports

Adjourn