City of Kuna hires two new city attorneys

The city of Kuna has a new city attorney — two city attorneys, actually.
Kuna City Council members last week approved a contract to hire lawyers Richard A. Johnson and Richard T. Roats to serve as city attorneys. They will be paid $100,000 per year.
They replace city attorney Randy Grove, who resigned last month, citing conflicts with his role in the formation and execution of the local improvement district. That issue appears headed for a lawsuit, and Grove said he would find it difficult to serve as counsel to the city and as a witness in the matter. His last day was Nov. 6.
Grove’s salary was $93,540, but health benefits pushed the cost to the city well over $100,000. A $100,000 contract without health benefits actually saves the city money, according to Kuna Mayor Scott Dowdy.
Dowdy said he received inquiries from a number of candidates interested in the position. Dowdy said that he, city engineer Gordon Law and city planning director Steve Hasson interviewed three of the candidates, and all three agreed independently that Johnson and Roats were the top candidates.

You can read the rest of this, including the backgrounds on Roats and Johnson, in my Editor's Notebook in this week's Kuna Melba News.

Glad that the goofy season is over

Now that the goofy (election) season is over, let me share with you a few more words of wisdom I plan to share with my boys:
“After a while, everyone will stop listening to the guard dog that is constantly barking.”
“The man who sees everything in black and white apparently lacks gray matter.”
“People who have all the answers are usually making up the questions.”
“If you seem to be getting into a fight with everyone you come across, ask yourself, ‘What’s the common denominator?’”

Also in this week's Editor's Notebook in the Kuna Melba News, you'll learn the back story behind the big American flag in Sandstone Plaza. But you have to buy the newspaper to get it. No free lunches.

City of Kuna backs off powerline ban

It looks like the city of Kuna is backing down from Idaho Power in its dispute over the placement of power lines along Meridian Road and Kuna-Mora Road.
City planning director Steve Hasson tells me that he sent an email to City Council members on Monday letting them know that he’s removing the language in a text amendment to an overlay district ordinance that would ban any new utility structures within 660 feet of the highways.
I applaud the city for making an effort to try to make the city look nice, but I think this is a wise retreat. Idaho Power was holding up a franchise fee agreement that could bring in $100,000 in new revenue to the cash-strapped city budget. Plus, it seemed to me that the city was going a little overboard on keeping power lines out of the Meridian Road corridor.

You can read more of this in my Editor's Notebook in this week's Kuna Melba News. I'm also writing about an Urban Land Institute study in Kuna, the Kuna Chamber of Commerce's economic development committee and an update on the city park ballfields.

On fighting and conflicts of interest in the city of Kuna

As we enter the final couple of weeks of this Kuna City Council campaign, I want to implore our readers to make an informed decision, and I ask all Kuna residents to quit our seemingly obsessive compulsion for silly rumor-mongering and inaccurate perpetuations of tired myths.
We’ve had a couple of council candidates of late start leveling accusations of conflicts of interest on the current council and we had one candidate who, as far as I know hasn’t been to a single council meeting, tell the Boise paper that he’s tired of seeing all this fighting on the council.
I write this not as a defense or an endorsement of the sitting incumbents. To the contrary, there are plenty of issues that an informed, intelligent candidate can raise as a legitimate campaign platform: the handling of the local improvement district and the $27 million bill for the wastewater treatment plant, the $324,000 gaffe in last year’s budget, the elimination of funding in this year’s budget for the Zone, the Boys & Girls Club, the Chamber of Commerce.
But this insistent issue of conflicts of interest simply doesn’t hold much water.

If you want to read the rest of this editorial, you'll have to buy a copy of this week's Kuna Melba News.

We're in the midst of the goofy season

The Kuna City Council race is starting to get weird and heated. With 10 candidates running for two seats, it shouldn’t come as much surprise. In 15 years in the newspaper business covering dozens of cities in five states, I can assure you that Kuna is not unique in its penchant for small-town politics and bickering over petty slights.
But I can assure you that it’s never really much fun and it usually adds little to civil debate about issues.
You know that saying that the only two things certain in life are death and taxes? I would like to add another: Fights over campaign signs during an election. From Carlsbad, N.M., to Chardon, Ohio, to San Mateo, Calif., to Greece, N.Y., it’s always the same. Usually it’s about someone stealing someone’s campaign signs. In Kuna at the moment, we have some confusion over where campaign signs are allowed. Apparently, the signs are allowed on public property, but they can’t be in the public right-of-way, which apparently is where some candidates are placing their signs.
Terribly pressing issue that will decide the fate of the universe, right?
One of the candidates, Dave Szplett, wrote an email to all of the candidates saying, “I am amazed that nine people believe that they are qualified to run for city council but can’t even figure out what is public property. Worse, is how can someone break the sign law and still ask for the public’s trust. Maybe the news people will write up something on this obvious issue. Maybe if they cared.”
That spurred another candidate, Corinna Stiles, to respond, “And I’m amazed that a council candidate would be so disrespectful to his peers and make allegations towards people he knows nothing about. Perhaps that’s the issue for the news people.”
For those of you who plan on basing your election decision on road signs, I have noticed another candidate who should be getting your attention: Mr. Blowouts, Sprinkler Blowouts. He even puts his phone number right on his sign.
Speaking of Szplett, I had the hardest time getting a hold of him for our candidate essays. He wouldn’t answer his phone when I called and he wouldn’t return my emails.
Cheryl McCord and Bill Clark, Kuna Farmers Market organizers, had similar problems when they organized Meet the Candidates sessions at the Market. They received responses back from the other nine candidates, all of whom attended, but no response from Dave.
At the insistence of one of our readers, Szplett did finally submit an essay. But here we are again. I’ve asked the candidates to answer a few questions about police services, the LID, etc. Eight responded without any problems. On Oct. 8, I received an email from Szplett’s email account: “The Professor is still elk hunting. Elk season runs through Oct 12th but deer continues until October 20th. Maybe he’ll be here sooner.”
But then I saw him at El Gallo Giro the very next day. Odd. No elk in sight.
The next day, another email: “I am the Professor’s clerk. It appears that he was in Kuna for a short time yesterday. I have a bunch of notes from him. He reports sending out “some” emails. There were lots of them before he started though. Did he get to yours? I hope that he responded to your needs. If you need anything more, he should be back in town late on the 21st. He has jury duty on the 26th though. He never sits idle.”
Although voting is the most basic and pure expression of democracy, I’ll be glad when the goofy season is over.

Ray's in the dog house with the city of Kuna

Ray’s Dog House, on Main Street in downtown Kuna, makes a great hot dog. I’ve also had the pleasure of enjoying their chorizo and their Philly cheesesteak on more than one occasion. Perfect grill marks, onions and peppers grilled to perfection. French fries were an excellent addition to the menu earlier this year.
Unfortunately, it seems that Ray’s Dog House is itself in the dog house with the city of Kuna.
In just the past couple of months, Dog House owner, Ray Carrel, has been kept running from violation to violation issued by the city’s building inspector. Complaints against the Dog House include everything from grease disposal to the width of the gate to the steps into the building to a hood over the grill and fryer operations and apparent issues with the cooler.
My hope is that the city will work with Ray and give him time to address their complaints. And I hope Ray will get done the things he needs to get done so that he can stay open and continue to grow his business. Then on July 15, 2010, the day his temporary business permit expires, that seems like the more proper day to determine the future of Ray’s Dog House in Kuna.

Kuna local improvement district issue coming to a head

Kuna City Council members are scheduled to meet with property owners who are part of the local improvement district that’s funding the new wastewater treatment plant.
Council members will meet in a special meeting with LID members starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at City Hall.
The council scheduled the meeting after getting out of executive session last week. The executive session was held to discuss litigation or potential litigation on two cases, according to city attorney Randy Grove. One case apparently concerns potential litigation over the local improvement district.
Grove said “there is a noticeable rise in the anger and tension” among LID owners as he saw at a meeting a couple of weeks back. That’s certainly understandable.
The ironic thing in all of this is that LID members jumped into the LID four years ago under the assumption that they wouldn’t be able to develop their property at all if they weren’t a part of the LID. But now, landowners who are not in the LID may actually have an easier time developing their property and purchasing sewer connections on an as-needed basis. It seems to me that the LID owners have plenty to be disgruntled about, and the city would do well, however late, to listen to their concerns.

Add a small caveat to the debate over small houses in Kuna

Mic, a general contractor and Kuna business owner, pulled me aside after the meeting to point out something regarding a column I wrote a couple of weeks ago about smaller house sizes in Kuna. I think it’s a good point that’s worth repeating. Mic said that smaller houses, valued at, say, $87,000, don’t pay nearly enough in property taxes to cover provided services. That’s why it behooves the city to require larger house sizes that generally have a higher assessed value, which in turn triggers higher property taxes. With smaller house sizes and not enough property tax to cover provided services, the end result will be higher taxes for everyone.
I pointed out that my column did say that I agree with allowing smaller houses temporarily, as a short-term fix but not a long-term solution. This fiscal year, for example, the city is expecting to collect about $1.4 million in property taxes. Nearly all of that — $1.24 million — goes toward police services. The city relies on building activity for a large chunk of its general fund revenue, which totals $2.8 million this year.
In 2009, smaller houses, which pay the same amount as large houses in building permit fees, have made up the bulk of single-family building permits. Had the city prohibited builders from building these small houses, the city’s coffers would have been considerably smaller. If the city were to disallow small houses in the coming 12 months, the city might see a fraction of building permits pulled. If that were to happen, the city could see its $300,000 in annual building permit revenue decimated. Then, come next year’s budget cycle, the city would be faced with either making hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts or, you guessed it, raising taxes. More likely a combination.
So, as I suggested in my column, the city should allow some smaller houses now to capitalize on the market trend but not let it go on indefinitely.
That said, Mic pointed out that I should have taken it a step further. The city needs to come up with a formula for determining just how many small houses, medium-size houses and large houses are required in order to strike the proper balance, not only for the look and feel of the city but also for the financial impacts they have on the budget.
That’s an excellent suggestion. I would like to see Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council members have a tool like that the next time a developer comes before them requesting smaller houses.

Some life lessons for my two boys

Dear Luke and Robert,
You boys are growing up to be fine young men, and it has been the great joy in my life to have watched you grow up these past few years. While I’m thinking of it — and before you grow up too quickly — I thought I’d share with you some of the life lessons your dad has learned along the way.
My favorite job title: Dad. Not editor, not business owner, not journalist, not newspaperman. My favorite thing to be called is Dad. I never tire of hearing you boys call me Dad. It’s my favorite thing to be. I hope you get a chance to be a dad some day.
Best compliment your wife can give you: You’re a good man. Do things that will make her say that often.
My favorite slogan: Just do it. With acknowledgments to the old Nike advertising campaign, I find this slogan holds up in many job and life situations. There are always a thousand excuses NOT to do something. There were plenty of reasons not to quit my newspaper job to buy a weekly newspaper 2,000 miles away in Idaho. Along the way, I have found that just about every business decision — every life decision, for that matter — you make, there are plenty of reasons to keep you from making a move. Sure, be careful and studious and thoughtful, but at a certain point, after deliberate consideration, Just do it.
To steal another quote, this time from Woody Allen, 80 percent of success is showing up. Although meant as a joke, I have found this to be true in life. And just showing up is often the hardest thing to do. I think about attending every City Council meeting for the past three years. I think about getting up and out the door early in the morning to go to a school board meeting. I think about driving to Rathdrum for a state playoff game. Just show up and find out what happens. In a lot of ways, this one goes back to the Just do it lesson. Just showing up, you’ll find, puts you ahead of most people.
I have more in this week's Editor's Notebook in the Kuna Melba News.

Will it be possible for the city of Kuna to compromise on smaller house sizes?

The city of Kuna should be in for some tough decisions regarding smaller lot sizes and smaller houses.
Right now, the city of Kuna is the hottest real estate game in town, mostly because of the quick sales of some of the smallest houses in the Treasure Valley. At 850 to 1140 square feet, houses in the Silvertip Subdivision, south of town off Luker Road, have been flying off the shelves, something to the tune of about 50 houses built and sold in just the last three or four months.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the new residents of these houses, and they are to be considered a welcome addition to Kuna. One woman I met, a widow who moved back to the Treasure Valley from Florida, was looking for a smaller house and yard to take care of but large enough to hold a lifetime of belongings. The one-story, 1100-square-foot house was perfect and the small town of Kuna reminds her of the town she was born in in Kentucky.
She will be turning her entire back yard into a vegetable and flower garden — no lawn to mow. She’ll have no stairs to climb, but she’ll have enough room for relatives to come stay with her.
In a way, she’s a perfect argument for building smaller houses. She’s a model citizen and she’s part of a growing generation of empty nesters looking to downsize.
However, as I wrote a couple of weeks ago, city planning director Steve Hasson recognizes that we have to avoid becoming the “starter capital of the world.”
I think Hasson has the right idea with allowing some concessions in the short term without making blanket changes to development agreements.
For example, if someone with a 100-house subdivision wants to build smaller houses, let him build one phase of 20 or 30 houses at a smaller square footage but require houses thereafter to be larger.
That way, the city can keep the hot Kuna market going and still protect its future.