May 20,2019

Boys & Girls Club
We are losing some really great people in our community in the Sorenson Family (Matt and Olivia). They announced this week that they are taking advantage of a career opportunity and moving on, but they are really great examples of the difference people can make in a community. We aren’t just losing an executive director for the Boys and Girls Club, but a marketing and foundation manager for the hospital, soccer coaches, a College Board member, and much more. They have truly made a difference in this community. I’m happy for them and a little sad for us, but they have left our community better than they found it.

Disc Golf Tournament
The disc golf course design tournament took place on Saturday at Beck Park.

Housing
We received another Housing Incentive Program application this week from someone wanting to take advantage of the incentive.

Trail Grant
I spent a lot of my first half of the week working on grant writing. The second part of the week got a little busier with managing the splash park project. I’ve received a lot of community letters of support.

Splash Park
We put together a budget for the Splash Park. I met with two recreation district board members on Friday at the park and went over the plan with them. The operation cost for the month of June will be no more than $7,000. I’m asking that the council pick up that cost on Tuesday to make a smooth transition with the Recreation district. We had estimated $9,000 but JACOBS dialed in on the chemical numbers to bring it down to $7,000. Our grand opening is on May 30, 2019.

Airport
The runway closure scheduled for last Wednesday was postponed. The closure will allow the State to complete their crack seal program at the airport.
A local Ontario Cub Scout group, through the Just Serve organization, volunteered time cleaning the dirt runway and painting barriers.
All parts of the wheel lines are now at the airport awaiting assembly. The mover engines have both been started and run. 

​Public Works
The tree project on East Idaho continues. Tree wells for the iron gates and planting sites were formed and are ready for concrete.  
Staff is also focused on landscaping activities, which are nearly complete, at the Ontario Splash Park. Staff worked on excavating a trench at the police gun range to provide power to the trailer on location.

Water
We are meeting next week to go over the SRCI water contract.

Wastewater
Odor issues at the wastewater plant are diminishing, we have increased pond aeration and expect treatment to improve and smells to abate soon.

Parks and Cemetery
The City Engineer is overseeing work on the East Idaho Tree Project, Ontario Splash Park, South Oregon Project, SRCI water/wastewater contracts, Transportation Growth Management Plan, Water Master Plan, and Treasure Valley Connector Project. There is a lot going on!

Fire & Rescue
The Snake River Fire Chiefs met in Fruitland this week and finalized the agreements for this summer with the BLM and Nation Forests.

The firefighters annual pancake breakfast was well attended and no one left hungry. This Saturday, our staff joined firefighters from all over the nation filling boots for MDA.

Police
Officer Cutler and Brockett and Chief Cooper worked together with the manager of Starbucks and participated in the 2nd annual Coffee with a Cop program on Monday.

Patrol has been very busy with City operations. From Monday to Thursday evening, 139 cases have been generated.
Chief Cooper met with representatives from a company that provides an investigative tool in a variety of ways which include: tracking capabilities, incarceration notifications, vehicle plate identification, etc. The Chief is working with the representatives on a cost differential from our current tool. This is a great example of employees constantly living out our value of efficiency.  

Community & Economic Development

We have reviewed building permit applications over the past two weeks. We issued 17 permits. We have also been processing six land use actions over the past few weeks. We held public hearings in front of the planning commission on two that will be in front of the City Council for public hearings on Tuesday.
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We are keeping very busy with all of the building/development applications and construction occurring. The City took in over $60,000 in permit fees last month alone.

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