City offers plan for long-range improvements

A new fire truck and substation, an expansion of the library, even a water slide for the city pool, are all part of the long-range Capital Improvements Plan the city has put together, projecting growth needs out to Fiscal Year 2008.

A public hearing will be held Nov. 24, just prior to the regular city council meeting, to seek public input on the city's plan.

The plan looks at projects that already are funded or which will require funding, and is both a long-range plan and a "wish list," for each of the city departments.

The city's first capital improvements plan was created in 1997 and looked ahead to 2003. "It was time to regroup and do another," said city treasurer Leanna Taylor. Part of the driving force behind the plan was the need to adjust impact fees to match needs. Impact fees are assessed to developers of projects to help pay for city improvements required by additional growth. It is required if the city intends to change its impact fees, Taylor said, "and obviously is a great planning tool."

City officials spent most of the last year working on the plan.

"The better we plan, the better we're able to do things," Taylor said.

She said that public input on the plan was critical. "The council really wants input back from the public, so we'll know what the public's highest priorities are, and department heads want to know if their priorities are the same as the public."

Copies of the plan are available at city hall, the library, parks and recreation and on the city's website at ci.mountain-home.id.us.

All items listed in FY04 funding have been approved as part of this year's city budget. The remaining items "aren't set in stone," Taylor said, and some may require special funding, such as a voter-approved bond issue, to accomplish.

Parks and Recreation

The plan shows "a significant effort to get city park properties compliant with the sidewalk, curb and gutter improvements" the city requires of landowners, totalling about $80,000 in improvements for this fiscal year (a fiscal year begins in October of each year).

At Legacy Park, the city will begin the first phase of a $100,000 skateboard area. "People are always talking about doing things for youth, but adults don't always put in the things that kids use," said Taylor. The huge success of the small skateboard pad in Richard Aguirre Park lead the city to decide to greatly expand such facilities for kids.

The plan also calls for $150,000 this year and next for bleachers and backstops and infield areas at Optimist Park and a major expansion of parking areas there in FY06-08.

In FY05 the city plans to starting to set aside money for a new cook shack in Carl Miller Park, with construction set for FY07.

The city will continue this year and next to improve the highly popular spray ground area at the city pool, adding a number of "toys," such as spray guns, and then, in FY05 and 06 put aside $100,000 for construction in FY06 or 07 of a water slide at the city pool.

The city also plans to expand facilities next year by adding classrooms at the Parks and Recreation building.

Public Safety

Adding new patrol vehicles and improving communications, equipment and infrastructure account for most of the plans for improvements in the police department, with a $96,000 police substation on the west side of town projected for FY06.

A new kennel, costing about $80,000, would be built in FY07, to improve conditions at the animal shelter.

The fire department will see a new substation on the west side of town built in this fiscal year, costing a little over $80,000, a three-year project to fund and build a $70,000 fire training facility will begin this year, and next year the city will begin setting aside $50,000 a year for the next four years to purchase a new fire truck.

In FY08 the city envisions building a $200,000 fire substation in the industrial park, and acquiring a $300,000 fire truck.

Public buildings

"Our public facilities are well used, but running short on space," the capital improvements plan declares, noting that Mountain Home offers "almost every service a city can offer. While many Idaho towns don't have an airport, a cemetery, city-owned streets or a golf course, Mountain Home provides all of these amenities to our citizens and more. This creates higher demand on administration and maintenance. Plus, it makes for a lot of squeaky wheels needing oil."

The plan calls for two major projects, a $350,000-plus expansion of city hall, which would be funded and built over a three-year period between FY06 and FY08, and a million-dollar expansion of the city library, scheduled for FY05.

The library expansion, which would involve expanding the collection area and improving technology, would probably require a bond issue be approved by the voters.

Economic revitalization

Although the city can do very little directly in terms of improving the economy and revitalizing areas such as the downtown core, it can make infrastructure and beautification improvements that help convince new businesses to locate in the area.

The plan notes that "the city council has made a commitment to invest in improving as much as it can in the downtown core, particularly regarding beautification of rights of way. However, the buildings and businesses are privately owned. To achieve success the investment and commitment must be a partnership, with the city improving those things in its control, and the private business doing as much as time and economic conditions allow."

The plan calls for improving curbs and gutters and next year calls for a $50,000 expenditure to put in parking at the underpass right of way.

It also projects spending $40,000 to put up an electronic reader board at the visitor's center by FY06.

Transportation

With 75 miles of city streets (the rest are owned by the state), the city is planning a number of major road improvement projects, with over $300,000 of work scheduled this year alone. The plan notes that "in an effort to make the best use of limited funds, the city is dedicating dollars in all directions, hoping to meet targeted objectives over time....some of those dollars have been dedicated to chip seal overlay projects, which help conserve limited funds. Street reconstruction projects are at least four times more expensive than performing overlay projects on streets that have some useful life left. However, there are locations where only reconstruction will suffice...."

With most funding from state and federal sources, the city is planning a major reconstruction on East 8th North Street next year that will cost nearly $1 million, about $150,000 a year in pavement rehabilitation work, and is setting aside money for South 5th West Street, which is described as being in "high use and worsening condition."

Wastewater

The city maintains 55 miles of sewer pipes and averages a daily wastewater discharge of 1.5 million gallons.

The city intends on spending over $4 million in the next two years to upgrade the city sewer system. Modern piping can last up to 100 years, but the old pipe system used materials that barely had 50 years of life and "there are a lot of pipes that are already past due for replacement," the plan notes.

Water

The city can supply up to 11 million gallons of treated water per day to city residents, but the plan notes that "leaking and broken water mains are a serious problem," both in terms of water contamination and their damage to city streets. A $2 million DEQ loan this year will help the city make a number of major improvements and repairs to the water system, and the city will spend $200,000 to upgrade well number 14. It projects spending $650,000 in FY07 for additional new wells and improvements.

Technology

The city intends to become highly computerized, spending an average of about $100,000 a year over the next two years to upgrade old equipment, and acquire new equipment and software that will improve management, accounting, and general tracking of city department operations. Some of the upgrades are required by federal law for cities the size of Mountain Home.