The State of the City in 2026

This past week, Mayor Hailey Lewis delivered her first State of the City Address! Let’s take a look at what she talked about!

Read the full transcript of the video below:

Folks, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Let’s check out the State of the City!

How’s it going y’all? Aiden Anderson here with the Moscow Minutes. Every year, the mayor of Moscow delivers a State of the City address to give the citizens of Moscow an overview of the city’s current projects, challenges and trajectory. With this being Mayor Hailey Lewis’ first year in office, this was also her first go at giving the State of the City address.

The mayor opened her speech by thanking the Moscow Chamber of Commerce for hosting and by acknowledging the former mayors Bill Lambert and Art Bettge, who were in the audience. She also introduced the city council and emphasized good, strong relationships between the various branches of local city government, as well as the staff who work to provide services to all the people of Moscow.

Mayor Lewis began the meat of her speech with an overview on growth. Idaho continues to be a rapidly growing state, and the city of Moscow is no exception, with the city’s base population and the University of Idaho both continuing to expand steadily. As such, issues such as housing, employment opportunities, and the like remain key priorities for the future, with SEL’s announcement about a new upcoming facility being an example of good news on that front.

Speaking of housing, that subject was the first of the many different categories which Mayor Lewis went through for the next part of her speech. I’ll be going through some highlights here, but I would encourage you to watch the full speech if you want to hear all the details.

As regards housing, the mayor indicated that 93 multi-family and 53 single-family homes were built in the last year. The city needs more housing, and Mayor Lewis indicated something of a “we’ll take what we can get” approach in her speech, while also encouraging the citizens to speak up when it comes to the regulations and specifications of what they’d like to see built, and how.

Next, the Mayor spoke about city accomplishments when it comes to maintenance and water. She acknowledged the ongoing efforts to obtain funding for improvements to D Street, and praised the various water conservation programs the city has going on.

For Police, Mayor Lewis highlighted that meth and fentanyl seizures have increased 200% in the past year, and that the city is working on obtaining a second drug dog to assist. She also explained that conversations about government bonds regarding law enforcement are soon coming up, and while they are not fun conversations to have, they are necessary for the sorts of hard decisions the city has to make.

2026 marks the 50th season for the Moscow Farmer’s Market, and Mayor Lewis expressed her hopes that our farmer’s market would win #1 in the region this year. She ended this part of the speech by acknowledging the work done by the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department.

When it comes to challenges the city is looking to face, Mayor Lewis remarked that things remain similar to previous years. The city of Moscow takes in fewer property taxes than might be expected to for its size because so much of the property in the city is tax exempt, such as that owned by the University of Idaho. As such, the city has to budget around that in order to provide their services. Speaking of budgets, the Mayor mentioned a question that she’s been receiving a lot, which is “Why is the city of Moscow’s budget the same size as Coeur d’Alene’s budget?” Let’s turn to her for the answer.

In short, it’s not a matter of the budget actually being bigger, so much as it is a difference in accounting practices. I’m sure we’ll examine this in more detail when budget season looms into view.

Mayor Lewis then talked about the current Idaho legislative landscape, which she does not seem to be a fan of, broadly speaking. Her concerns mostly have to do with watching legislation that will, intentionally or not, negatively impact the city’s ability to provide services to its citizens. With the claim that “the people closest to the problem have the best solutions,” she advocated strongly for local control, disliking the state getting involved in telling cities what they can or can’t do, and citing some proposed building and zoning regulations as examples.

The city always makes a list of strategic priorities each year, and Mayor Lewis next gave the audience an update on all of those. To start, the emergency radio system project is complete, with the last of the system tests and full changeovers coming soon. The city shop is expected to be completed in the fall, and calls for public art are going out for the shop and the police station.

As regards the East City Park stage, Mayor Lewis expressed excitement for getting the project underway. She expressed similar excitement when it came to partnering with the Moscow School District on the new school project on West Palouse River Drive.

When it comes to finding an alternative water supply, the mayor explained that a feasibility study is being done on one of the proposed options involving the Clearwater River. This study is expected to complete by the end of the year, at which point further action can be taken.

When it comes to questions and feedback about public communication, the mayor pointed citizens towards the city’s website, where one can sign up for email notifications about meetings, hearings, and events. She also clarified the availability of public comment at city meetings, as well as listing out the city’s various social media platforms as places for input and communication.

Mayor Lewis concluded by saying that many of the challenges which Moscow faces are similar to those being faced by other cities in Idaho, and that she is confident that the city and its staff will be able to navigate them.

With the speech done, Mayor Lewis answered a few questions from the audience. In these, she gave an update on SMART transit, some points of clarity on the water study and storm water regulations, and talked about how state law interacts with city law, before concluding her time at the podium altogether.

So what thoughts do I have on the State of the City? As far as the actual speech goes as well the issues at hand, it’s a tough thing to evaluate. A lot of the real meat of the city issues Mayor Lewis was discussing can be found in the details, and those details can be both very complex and very boring for folks. Anyone who’s sat through a city council meeting can testify to the fact that they are not the most thrilling of experiences most of the time. At the same time, trying to simplify these issues too much for the sake of interest results in miscommunication, which is not something I think the city or the mayor wishes to do.

The State of the City thus can walk a fine line between those two extremes, and a good compromise often leaves everyone dissatisfied. That said, I think the overview which Mayor Lewis provided is a perfect springboard for anyone interested in diving deeper into any one of these topics — and if you’re a citizen in Moscow who cares about your community, you should be interested.

There’s more that could be said, but for now let me just encourage you to stay engaged and get involved, because that is what will make a difference in the end. 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. We’ll see you next time.