HomeMy Public PortalAbout1-City Mngr Department Report - Jan 2019Monthly Department Report – City Manager
Memo
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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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
Monthly Department Report – City Manager
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.
4. 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.
5. 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.