A Quick Report on Quick Meetings!

Not every week in Moscow is chock-full of business! In this report, we go over the latest from the city and the county — however brief the meetings were! Also, look to this weekend for an interesting event headed our way!

Read the full transcript of the video below:

One of the benefits of being into local politics is that sometimes you get a quiet week.

How’s it going y’all? Aiden Anderson here with the Moscow Minutes. Like I said, it should be a pretty quick report today, so let’s get started.

The Moscow City Council had a roughly half-hour long meeting this week. They first heard public comment from the State President and the communications director for the LDS church, thanking the city for the work that they do, offering their services to the community, and asking the council to contact them if any opportunities for their help arise. This was followed by the annual report from the Planning and Zoning commission, in which they reviewed the ordinances they worked on this past year, including ordinances related to self-storage facilities and buffer yards.

The only action item on the table was a public hearing for the vacation of a turnaround easement on Slonaker Drive. Paul Hendrix, who lives at the address which underlies the easement, requested that this easement be vacated. A developer in the area was initially required to construct a turnaround in this location due to fire code, and thus needed a turnaround easement. As the road has since been extended due to the Woodbury subdivision, the turnaround was no longer needed, and has since been deconstructed.

This is an example of the city tying up loose ends in the wake of a completed construction project, but they still have to abide by state requirements when it comes to procedure. Thus the public hearing was held, and hearing no commentary from the public, it was then closed. The council voted to approve the easement vacation unanimously.

The county commissioners seemed to have a pretty quiet week as well. A highlight from their meetings was a discussion with county staff about office space. It seems that the auditor’s office has requested additional office space for its staff, and this is putting it in conflict with staff that works with the district court.

As Judge Megan Marshall explained, certain members of court staff have requirements when it comes to office space, due to the need for privacy and confidentiality in case-related conversations. The proposed office space changes would seemingly not allow for these privacy needs, and thus would not work for the court staff. The commissioners will be continuing this conversation going forward, but it’s a bit of an insight into the office politics of our local political bodies.

That’s all I’ve got on the meetings this week, but those aren’t the only things going on. This weekend, our state representatives will be present in the Moscow Chamber of Commerce for a Legislative Coffee, where they will answer questions from constituents and provide updates on the current legislative session. If you’ve got time Saturday morning, I’d encourage you to attend. And hey, at least there’ll be coffee.

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!