Fruitland board approves tentative budget

By JESSICA KELLER — ARGUS OBSERVER
Wednesday, August 15, 2007 11:39 AM PDT

FRUITLAND — The Fruitland City Council approved its tentative budget for the 2008 fiscal year at Monday night’s regular meeting.

The budget passed 2-1, with Fruitland City Councilman Ken Bishop the only opposing vote. Councilman Ed Pierson was absent.

Bishop disagreed with the decision to include the 3 percent property tax increase.

“I’m going to stand on principle,” he said.

The City Council will have a public hearing at its next meeting, Aug. 27, to accept testimony on the budget.

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Also during the meeting: The City Council approved spending $15,500 from its roadway engineer fund to have city engineers proceed with an update of the city’s transportation plan.

At the July 23 meeting, the council approved a plan for engineers to create an outline for the Master Transportation Plan update. Now the engineers will update the transportation plan with lists of projects in two categories: out-of-date projects and strongly-suggested modifications. City engineer Karen Doherty, Doherty & Associates, said the updated transportation plan for those two categories will include existing right-of-ways, existing roadways, roadway networks and capital improvements that need to be made.

Doherty said that portion of the transportation plan should be completed by Oct. 15. Afterward, the City Council members will consider whether they want engineers to put together a wish list of projects the city would like to have done.

Among police agenda items, Mayor Tom Limbaugh swore in new Fruitland Police Department patrolman Robert Allison, who formerly worked for the Payette Police Department. The council also approved spending $3,500 from the police department’s drug enforcement account to purchase a new drug dog, which will be handled by Allison, who is a certified K-9 officer. Allison was the K-9 officer for Payette but was unable to bring his dog with him when he moved to Fruitland. The council also renewed the school resource officer contract with the Fruitland School District. The Council also approved going out for bid on two ambulances and and two biphasic monitors/defibrillators for the Payette County Paramedics. The paramedic department received three grants for the ambulances and one grant for a monitor/defibrillator.

The two ambulances are expected to cost $144,500 each, plus an additional $7,900 each for cots and radios. Payette County Paramedics received a $130,050 grant from the United States Department of Homeland Security/FEMA for one of the ambulances, with $22,350 to be provided by the ambulance service through the city of Fruitland. The second ambulance will be funded by a $99,000 grant from the Idaho EMS Bureau and $53,400 from Fruitland. A $15,000 grant from Idaho EMS will pay for one of the monitor/defibrillators, with Fruitland making up $1,785 of the difference. Fruitland will front the entire $16,785 cost of the fourth defibrillator.

The City Council also held off on making a decision on a final plat decision on Remington Hills subdivision until it receives advice from the city’s attorney. The approval process hit a snag when the owner of an adjacent subdivision, Kevin Griffiths, claimed a road, Lattig Drive, borders the Remington Hills subdivision on the west.

According to Griffiths’ attorney, if the council approved the final plat, it would create double-frontage lots, which are not allowed in Fruitland. Double-frontage lots are pieces of property that have public streets on the front and the rear of the land. The developers maintained, however, they researched the issue and they don’t believe Lattig Drive is contiguous because there is an unrecorded 30-foot gap between the road and the Remington Hills subdivision. The council postponed making a decision until the city’s attorney could advise city officials what the possible ramifications for the city could be if they approved the final plat and a lawsuit ensued.