Speeches and Water and BUDGET HEARING DATES!

This week in Moscow was jam-packed with activity, and we don’t have much time to go through it! Hold on for the ride as we speed through the goings-on with the mayor, county, and city these past few days!

Read the full transcript of the video below:

How’s it going y’all? Aiden Anderson here with the Moscow Minutes. We’ve had a packed week here in our fair city, and while I hope we can get through it in short order, I’m gonna ask you to bear with me. Let’s get started.

On Wednesday, the Mayor of Moscow, Art Bettge, gave what was his last State of the City address — because as he announced during the address — he will not be seeking reelection as mayor this November. Beyond that, the Mayor highlighted a number of construction projects that the city is taking on, as well as updates related to two new noteworthy businesses coming to town, namely a Chick-Fil-a and a Home Depot. This is a real brief overview, but if we get the chance, we’ll do a deeper dive into the State of the City Address at future date.

Let’s move on to the county! One of the big decisions the commissioners made this week was the approval of an Idaho Community Development Block Grant for the Princeton-Hampton Sewer District. The county applied for the grant on behalf of the sewer district in order for them to better develop their wastewater infrastructure. The request that was approved this week was in the amount of $61,967. If this goes through, the county should be looking for updates related to the sewer district’s infrastructure projects to ensure that the grant is being used well.

Latah County park visitors may soon pay increased user fees based on a discussion the commissioners had with the head of the county parks and rec department. While these fees haven’t been increased in many years, it seems like the county is interested in seeing that happen this year, including the addition of a $25 surcharge fee. That being said, while the commissioners and staff discussed the fee increases this week, it is likely that a public hearing will be required for the new fees to actually be approved. In that case, there will be notice given by the county for the date of the hearing itself to allow for public input on the fee increases in question, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on that.

The commissioners also held their regular monthly meeting with the department heads and elected officials this week. Highlights from that meeting include ongoing discussions between the county treasurer and Avista utilities related to a tax dispute, and meetings between the local fire chiefs, rural city leadership and the head of disaster services to make plans for the coming fire season.

Now it’s time for the Moscow City Council. Tyler Palmer of city staff kicked off the meeting with an explanation of a Regional Water Sustainability Funding contract with the Idaho Water Resource Board. This is a contract related to the city’s ongoing efforts to develop an alternative water supply in addition to our aquifer. One such alternative as developed by the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee (PBAC), would be diverting water from the Clearwater River up to Moscow.

The Idaho Water Resource Board is looking to grant the city of Moscow funding to study the feasibility of the Clearwater alternative in the amount of $182,500. Palmer fielded questions from council about specific future project steps, stakeholder engagement, and progress reports before turning the decision over to them. The contract was then approved unanimously by the Moscow city council.

We’ve got more money talk on the agenda, as the very next thing the council discussed was increases to their own salaries. City Administrator Bill Belknap outlined the proposed changes, which stem from adjustments in the consumer price index and need to be officiated via city ordinance. For the mayor’s salary, the proposed change was from $2,396.96 a month to $2,567.60 a month. For the city councilors, the proposed change was from $831.03 a month to $890.19 a month. The councilors stressed, each in their own way, that none of them do this job for the money, before approving these increases 5-1, with Hailey Lewis being the only dissenting vote.

Mark your calendars for this one, folks. As the last item on the agenda, the city council set the date for the annual city budget hearing. That date is scheduled to be August 4th 2025. This is quite possibly the most important decision the city makes every year, so I’d highly recommend that you make a priority yourself. We’ll have more details on the budget in the coming months.

That’s all I got for you this week. There’s a lot of different moving parts to local government, but hopefully this sort of thing helps you better navigate it as a citizen. 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!