Council to meet June 20 in recognition of Juneteenth

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Proceedings of the Sandpoint City Council will be on Thursday, June 20 — a departure from the usual Wednesday meeting date, due to recognition of the Juneteenth federal holiday each year on June 19. 

Juneteenth observes the date on June 19, 1865 when officials ordered the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation for the final time — in Texas — marking a day of independence for enslaved Black Americans in the former Confederacy.

The City Council will convene first at 4 p.m. at the City Hall council chambers (1123 Lake St.) to conduct a work session on the Comprehensive Plan.

Photo by Ben Olson.

Specifically, council and staff will review proposed edits to Chapters 6-12 of the updated draft of the plan, which is expected to be the final work session on the document before it goes before the City Council for a public hearing followed by adoption at a later date.

Public comment will not be taken during the work session, though residents can watch the proceedings live via Zoom at sandpointidaho.gov or in person in the council chambers at City Hall.

Find the draft version of the Comp Plan at: 

bit.ly/3OaBXxH. 

The council will reconvene at 5:30 p.m. for its regular meeting, with an agenda including a presentation from Steve Gill, of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and Ponderay Mayor Steve Geiger on the Blackrock smelter brownfields cleanup, located on the shoreline at the northern end of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail.

Remediation of the site of historic mining pollution is a critical component of the Front Yard Project, which the city of Ponderay is pursuing to connect the community to the waterfront and the Bay Trail. Construction and cleanup is slated to take place from the late summer/fall of 2024 to spring 2025.

Other items on the agenda include amending the services agreement with Logan Simpson Design for work on the Comp Plan update, a resolution for the award of an Idaho Gem Grant to the city for the Travers skatepark expansion and a second change order to the agreement with Dreamland Skateparks for the project.

Councilors will consider whether to extend the Logan Simpson contract through July 31 and increase the maximum “not-to-exceed amount” by $3,000, for a total of $138,600, “which will cover the costs of implanting the final edits and prepare the Comp Plan for its public hearing and adoption,” according to the agenda packet. 

The city’s contract with Logan Simpson dates back to 2019, when it began working on the update to the Comp Plan — a process that was interrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Idaho Gem Grant award amounts to $50,000, which city staff recommends the council accept and put toward the $72,000 project of installing LED lighting at the ongoing Phase 2 expansion of the Travers Skatepark.

The remaining funds needed for the lighting project would be covered by community fundraising efforts led by the Bonner County Skatepark Association, which is also applying for an additional grant that will be put toward the overall expansion project, according to the city staff report.

Another agenda item addresses the Travers Skatepark project, asking councilors to approve a second change order with Dreamland Skateparks — which is developing the site — asking for an additional $12,731 in order to deal with “unforeseen challenges with the existing soil,” according to the staff report.

“The contractor was unable to realize proper compaction and as advised by the geotechnical engineers, they are required to remove and replace the existing soil with a fill material and structural fabric that will support the load of the concrete skatepark and reduce any potential future cracking,” officials wrote in the agenda packet.

The original contract totalled $300,000 with a change order for an additional $52,000 from BCSA and $48,000 from the City’s Capital Improvement Fund. That brought the project to $400,000. If approved, the second change order would bring costs to $412,731.

The skatepark isn’t the only component of the wide-ranging Travers Park overhaul to see change orders related to rising costs. 

Council approved the contract bid for the playground and splashpad to be located near the skatepark and James E. Russell Sports Center at its June 5 meeting, awarding the work to Ginno Construction — which is already building the Russell Center — for $881,000.

Community Planning and Development Director Jason Welker noted $328,000 are already “encumbered” for the playground/splashpad project, which has so far exceeded its budget by about $86,000. The solution has been to reallocate about $250,000 from other projects and parts of the budget to compensate.

“We determined that fully funding the playground improvement, [and] the skatepark this year, were more important than resurfacing tennis courts,” Welker said, adding that the city was also moving funds away from a dog park and kayak launch projects to complete the playground.

“There’s always unknowns; there’s always change orders,” he said, going on to state that the original contingency cost planning for the project was insufficient.

“We ended up with no contingency funds,” he said. “We’re also facing the realities of construction costs today.”

Welker said that economic conditions in the construction industry demand that contingency funds cover between 10% and 12% of any given project, rather than the 5-6% that had been considered sufficient in the past.

In response to Councilor Kyle Schreiber, who raised questions critical of the budgeting, Mayor Jeremy Grimm referred to the previous city administration — which initiated the project — when he said, “We didn’t pick this location; we’re just trying to push this over the finish line. … I pray that there are no unknowns.”

Grimm also said that it was his decision to forego the dog park and kayak launch projects in favor of funding the playground.

Councilor Pam Duquette also expressed frustration with the overall Travers Park redevelopment project, which drew vigorous protests at its groundbreaking last year, saying, “You have designed beyond funds for this project and I don’t believe it’s fiscally responsible.”

To that, Welker said that failing to deliver the projects that the city promised its citizens using their tax dollars would be irresponsible, illustrating the point by adding that the previous administration had budgeted $60,000 for dog park designs for a project that likely would have topped $2 million, resulting in “more fuzzy watercolors” produced by a consulting firm to be contemplated by residents.

Fiscal responsibility also includes “giving the taxpayers their money back in the form of public goods,” Welker said.

View the full council agenda and supporting materials at the city’s new online information portal at sandpoint-id.municodemeetings.com.

Recordings of Sandpoint City Council meetings are posted to the city’s YouTube channel, and meetings can be viewed live on Zoom at the city’s website. 

As of the beginning of June, comments are no longer accepted via Zoom. Submit comments in writing by emailing [email protected] or delivering to City Hall at 1123 Lake St.

Public comment is also accepted in person at council meetings, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Contact the city clerk with questions or requests for special accommodations, either by email or calling 208-263-3310. 

The city makes listening devices available in chambers.