Payette fire station plan shot down
Meanwhile, abatement district for Payette County gains a green light
By Jessica Keller
Argus Observer
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 11:18 AM PST
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| Pauline Derryberry (left) leaves the Payette City Council chambers, followed by her husband Don Derryberry and other voters, after voting in the 2007 Payette city elections, while another voter approaches the door to cast her vote. Payette voters did not approve an effort to fuel construction of a new fire station. However, voters did approve a measure to create an abatement district in Payette County. |
Payette - The Payette Fire Department suffered a setback in Tuesday’s election when the $2.2 million bond for a new 16,000-square-foot fire station failed by a slim margin.
However, voters approved a $1.2 million bond for a new wastewater treatment plant clarifier.
The fire station bond measure needed to receive a supermajority or 67 percent approval to pass, but received 60 percent instead.
Of the votes, 646 were in favor of the fire station proposal, while 440 were opposed.
The wastewater clarifier, on the other hand, easily met the 50 percent majority it needed, receiving 718 votes in favor and 363 opposed. The wastewater clarifier bond, however, will not affect Payette taxpayers’ utility rates, as the last rate increase issued included the cost for the clarifier and the land acquisition involved.
The fire station bond would have affected Payette residents’ property taxes.
Payette Mayor Doug Henderson, who received the news shortly before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said city officials will go out and talk to Payette residents to learn why more were not in support of the fire station bond and figure out what needs to be done to gain their approval.
“We’ll do it again in May,” Henderson said.
Payette Fire Chief Jeff Sands said Tuesday night he was disappointed, but was encouraged so many people turned out to vote and that 60 percent were in favor of the bond.
Sands, like Henderson, said the next step is to learn the reasons why the city fell 7 percent short in this bond election, although Sands said it’s hard to gain a supermajority the first time around.
“We’ll sure be looking at where we shortfalled it,” Sands said, adding adjustments will be made where possible. “Rest assured, we’ll be ‘Johnny-on-the-spot’ with the next page.”
Sands said the city still needs a new fire station, but meanwhile, the Payette Fire Department will answer calls as usual.
“Our service to the community ain’t going to change just because of this vote,” he said.
Sands said he was very excited about the council election results because the three council members elected or re-elected have positive ideas and thoughts about the fire department’s needs.
For the City Council, Payette voters re-elected incumbents Jeff Williams and Mark Heleker and newcomer Les Cochran, former Payette police chief. Incumbent Vallery Klitch lost out, as did challenger Matt Keith.
Of the candidates, Cochran received the most votes with 810; incumbent Heleker received 647 votes; incumbent Williams received 601 votes; Keith took in 570; and Klitch received 389 votes.
In other Payette County elections, Payette County voters approved an abatement district measure by a little more than 100 votes, with 971 in favor, for almost 53 percent, and 866 opposed. Unlike the Payette fire station bond, the abatement district measure only required a simple majority to pass. The abatement district will form a taxing district for the majority of Payette County, excluding the area that was annexed into the Gem County abatement district.
In the New Plymouth mayoral race, Joe Cook was elected New Plymouth’s new mayor with 161 votes, narrowly edging out current City Councilman Ben Esplin, who garnered 149 votes.
City Council incumbent Erik Cline retained his seat, receiving 192 votes, while Jeannette Mayer picked up the second council seat with 171 votes. Cline and Mayer were the easy winners in the council race. Among the other candidates, Brian Roal received 86 votes; Eileen Balcer gathered 84 votes; and Chuck Nay garnered 83 votes.
In the uncontested Fruitland council races, Ken Bishop and Ed Pierson retained their seats with 263 and 262 votes respectively.
