Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAboutCM Department Report - Jan 2019Memo / To: City Council From: Anette Spickard, City Manager Date: February 7, 2019 Re: Monthly Department Report – January 2019 January was a busy month for the City Manager department. Public Outreach: Our Communications Manager put together the January 7th special Council meeting for public comment on the Midas Gold Community Agreement at the North Fork Lodge and advertised it. It was well attended with over 100 audience members. Feedback from the attendees, many of whom also attended the three-part Lecture Series on the mine project, was positive and appreciative of the City’s effort to engage the public on this topic. Erin also worked with the Chamber of Commerce, several of our departments, and Banyans restaurant on Winter Carnival events, marketing, and promoting public awareness of safely moving around in a snow/ice environment. She assisted our Golf Superintendent in preparing our Spring marketing plan for the McCall Golf Course. Council Annual Retreat: The City Clerk, Communications Manager and I put together a full day retreat for the Council on January 18. Staff greatly appreciated the dialogue with Council regarding how best we can support the Council this next year. Based on that feedback, staff will start “live-streaming” Council meetings, develop a “Council Forecast/Community Bulletin Board” concept to highlight upcoming issues so we can engage the community earlier on topics coming before the Council, and work with the advisory committees and boards on new member recruitment/interview processes. We will invite the Council to attend work sessions of the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission regarding the Development Code update. Idaho Department of Lands – Endowment Land Lease Update: The City and County have received multiple complaints from citizens concerned about the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) lease of lakefront land in the Impact Area adjacent to Tamarack Bay Condos, called The Grove LLC. A letter from IDL explaining their position on the matter was provided to Council in my December report. Since that time, City planning staff have asked the County Prosecutor to review and determine the County’s position on the matter and whether further action should be taken by the City staff who provide planning and code enforcement in the Impact Area on the County’s behalf. We are awaiting that determination. In the meantime, the State Land Board will take public comment on the lease at their February 19, 2019 meeting in Boise. A member of the County’s P&Z Commission plans to attend. On February 7, I received a copy of the letter that IDL has provided to all complainants. A copy is attached to this memo for you. The IDL Area Manager for McCall, Scott Corkill, and I will have our first quarterly meeting in March. McCall Donnelly School District Strategic Plan Committee: I participated on this committee at the invitation of Superintendent Foudy. The District surveyed the community regarding interests and priorities for the school board of trustees to consider in formulating their next 5-year strategic plan. The District received over 600 responses. The District also surveyed students in 8th – 12th grades, and a summary of the data and a recommendation from the committee will be presented to the school board of trustees on February 11th. The results I found interesting from the City perspective are that almost half of the respondents moved to the community because of the school district’s reputation and that almost 70% stayed here because of their experience with the district. 75% of the respondents stated that lack of affordable housing was a major issue for district employees and the community overall, but there was concern about the board of trustees raising taxes to allocate school district funds toward resolving the issue. There was support for adding career/technical education courses to the district curriculum. When the final report and recommendations are made available on February 11, I will forward a copy to the Council and will update you on the trustee’s direction regarding the housing issues. Even if they do not create a specific budget priority for employee housing, I believe they will still be interested in partnering with us and others in the community to address the issue in other ways as it is a recruitment and retention issue for them. Human Resources Update: All staff are in the process of writing and receiving annual employee evaluations. The City Manager has provided her self-evaluation to the Human Resource Manager for the Council’s review. An Executive Session will be scheduled with the Council to discuss the City Manager’s annual evaluation.