The Girl Scouts Stop By City Hall

Just because there was an election this past week doesn’t mean that the Moscow City Council stops conducting business. We dive into their meeting this past week, which included a visit from the Girl Scouts, a Tree Commission presentation, and a few policy updates.

Read the full transcript of the video below:

How’s it going y’all? Aiden Anderson here with the Moscow Minutes. Yes, Election Day was this week, and I had a great time walking all over town checking in on the Moscow watch parties. That being said, an election taking place doesn’t stop the city council from having business to conduct. Let’s go through it.

Firstly, like you saw at the beginning, the pledge of allegiance at this meeting was led by a troop of Girl Scouts, something which they do every year in conjunction with the UN’s Day of the Girl. 

Ellis Eifert followed this up with the annual report from the Moscow Tree Commission. He summarized the past year of Tree Commission activities, which included Arbor Day tree plantings, the annual seedling giveaway, and their consistent focus on educating citizens about the Moscow Community Forest. This was followed by Amanda Argona presenting the awards from the Moscow Farmers Market Costume Contest.

We had a public hearing next. Mike Ray presented an ordinance amending Moscow City Code Title 4 Chapter 6 regarding landscape buffet yard requirements. These requirements haven’t been updated in sometime, and the update is meant to provide flexibility in the application of standards in actual developments as well as fix the existing standards for minor errors and clearer communication.

There is also the addition of a section to the code which considers adjacent uses, like the buffer yard between the Lightcast building and the surrounding residential area. With no input from the public having been given at the hearing, the council deliberated briefly before approving the ordinance unanimously.

Bill Belknap then presented a city financial policy update. This policy is regularly reviewed to ensure compliance with state code and GFOA best practices. The update makes references to the current city financial structure, including new funds that the city has created, and eliminates old funds that no longer exist. This was also approved unanimously by the council.

The thrilling conclusion of the night came in the form of an amendment to the city’s procurement and purchasing policy. Bill Belknap again presented the policy, which was created in 2023 to better detail purchasing obligations, limits, and requirements for city employees. After a review of the policy over the past year, two new sections were to be added in this amendment.

These sections focused on food purchase policies for emergency events, team building activities, and city meetings with some level of significant time investment, as well as policies related to donations or sponsorships that city staff may receive. The main point of deliberation from the council came from Drew Davis about whether a table featured in the amendment allowed for a review of purchases and contracts over the course of the year, since this policy allows for purchases without direct city council oversight. When this conversation concluded, the council approved the policy unanimously.

That’s all I have for you this week. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who helped out at the polls this past week, and another big shout out for everyone who participated in this year’s election. However, politics does not stop when the polls close, and that’s as true for the City of Moscow as it is everywhere else.

If you really care about being an engaged citizen, there’s a lot to pay attention to when it comes to the city and the county as well. I’ll be sure to help make paying attention that much easier for you. As always, we’ll have the relevant links posted with this video, and if you have any questions, please reach out. I’m Aiden Anderson with the Moscow Minutes. See you next time!