HomeMy Public PortalAbout2021.09.09 Regular Meeting Minutes
MINUTES
McCall City Council
Regular Meeting
McCall City Hall -- Legion Hall
VIA TEAMS Virtual
September 9, 2021
Call to Order and Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
Approve the Agenda
Consent Agenda
Public Comment
Chamber
Department Reports
Presentation
Business Agenda
Adjournment
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Giles called the regular meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 5:30 p.m.
Mayor Giles, Council Member Callan, Council Member Maciaszek, Council Member
Nelson, and Council Member Nielsen all answered roll call.
City staff members present were Anette Spickard, City Manager; Bill Nichols, City Attorney;
BessieJo Wagner, City Clerk; Erin Greaves, Communications Manager; Linda Stokes, City
Treasurer; Michelle Groenevelt, Community Development Director; Kurt Wolf, Parks and
Recreation Director; Rick Stein, Airport Manager; Eric McCormick, Golf Course Superintendent;
Meg Lojek, Library Director; Justin Williams, Police Chief; Vlatko Jovanov, Network
Administrator; Dallas Palmer, Police Lieutenant
Also, in attendance were Dave Petty, Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, and Amber
Green, Chief Operating Officer, and Dr. Kinney, Head of Emergency Room Services, for St Luke’s
McCall
Mayor Giles led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
APPROVE THE AGENDA
Council Member Nielsen moved to approve the agenda as submitted. Council Member
Callan seconded the motion. In a voice vote all members voted aye, and the motion carried.
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CONSENT AGENDA
Staff recommended approval of the following ACTION ITEMS. All matters which are listed
within the consent section of the agenda have been distributed to each member of the McCall City
Council for reading and study. Items listed are considered routine by the Council and were enacted
with one motion.
1. Payroll Report for period ending August 20, 2021
2. Warrant Register – GL
3. Warrant Register – Vendor
4. Accept the Minutes of the following Committees
a. Airport Advisory Committee – July 7, 2021
b. Housing Advisory Committee – June 14, 2021
c. Housing Advisory Committee – July 19, 2021
d. McCall Redevelopment Agency – March 9, 2021
e. Public Art Advisory Committee – July 26, 2021
f. Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee – July 21, 2021
g. Planning and Zoning Commission – June 1, 2021
h. Planning and Zoning Commission – July 6, 2021
5. AB 21-223 City Licenses Report to Council Per McCall City Code: Per McCall City Code
Title 4 Chapter 9, the City Council has determined the City Clerk shall be delegated the
authority to process and grant or deny all alcoholic beverage license applications, other than
certain circumstances involving catering permits, which the City Clerk shall review the
application for catering permit for completeness and forward said application to the Police
Chief. The Police Chief upon receipt of the application shall make a recommendation to the
City Clerk to approve or deny the application. Whenever the City Clerk shall determine that
an application for alcoholic beverage license transfer or renewal is complete, the City Clerk
shall approve or deny such application. All decisions of the City Clerk shall be reported to the
City Council at the next regularly scheduled City Council meeting after such decision. The
City Clerk is also responsible for all processing of business, taxi, snow removal, pawnbroker,
child daycare licenses, vendor permits, and public event applications. Action: Council to
review the License report.
6. AB 21-226 Request for Approval of a new Hangar 427 ground lease for Lori MacNichol
and Chris Berge: Over the past months staff has been working with Ms. Lori MacNichol to
find a suitable location to construct a hangar. A location has been determined, and Ms.
MacNichol has requested a ground lease. Ms. MacNichol, owner of Mountain Canyon Flying,
is first on the Hangar Waiting List. Ms. MacNichol will go through all applicable permitting
processes prior to construction. The 2020 Airport Rates and Charges resolution sets the lease
rate at $0.3127 per square foot per annum. A CPI adjustment will occur on October 1, 2021
and will be invoiced at the newly calculated rate. The proposed lease consists of 22,758 square
feet of property. At the current rate, the annual lease payment is $7,116.43. This lease payment
will increase slightly after the CPI adjustment. The purchaser has been provided with a copy
of the current lease, current Airport Rules and Regulations, and Airport Minimum Standards.
The City Clerk will record the document and keep a copy for the City’s records. Staff has
requested a $200 transaction fee and the lease has been reviewed by the City Attorney. The
Airport Advisory Committee has reviewed the request and recommends that the City Council
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approve the lease to construct a new hangar. Action: Approve the new Hangar 427 ground
lease for Lori MacNichol and Chris Berge and authorize the Mayor to sign all relevant
documents.
7. AB 21-227 Request for Approval of a new Hangar 543 Lease for Mike Weiss and
terminate the existing Hangar Lease of the Ray Glass Jr. 1995 Trust: A request has been
made by the Ray Glass Jr. 1995 Trust to cancel the existing Hangar 543 ground lease and
execute a new lease for Mike Weiss. The 2020 Airport Rates and Charges resolution sets the
lease rate at $0.3127 per square foot per annum. A CPI adjustment will occur on October 1,
2021 and will be invoiced at the newly calculated rate. The existing lease consists of 1,512
square feet of property. At the current rate, the annual lease payment is $461.90. This lease
payment will increase slightly after the CPI adjustment. The purchaser has been provided with
a copy of the current lease, current Airport Rules and Regulations, and Airport Minimum
Standards. The City Clerk will record the document and keep a copy for the City’s records.
Staff has requested a $200 transaction fee and the lease has been reviewed by the City Attorney.
Action: Approve the new Hangar 543 Lease for Mike Weiss and terminate the existing Hangar
Lease of the Ray Glass Jr. 1995 Trust and authorize the Mayor to sign all relevant documents.
Council Member Callan moved to approve the Consent Agenda as amended to remove AB
21-225 Request for Approval the GFL Holdings (360° Ranch Development) Avigation
Easement and move AB 21-226 Request for Approval of a new Hangar 427 ground lease for
Lori MacNichol and Chris Berge to the Business Agenda. Council Member Nielsen seconded
the motion. In a roll call vote Council Member Callan, Council Member Nielsen, Mayor
Giles, Council Member Maciaszek, and Council Member Nelson all voted aye, and the
motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Giles called for public comment at 5:35 p.m.
There were no written comments received and no in person comments.
Hearing no comments, Mayor Giles closed the comment period.
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
Chamber of Commerce Report
Lindsey Harris, Director of the McCall Area Chamber of Commerce was available for questions
or comments from the Council. Council Member Nelson commented on the message of kindness
the Chamber was promoting. He also had some questions regarding the covid taskforce, if there
had been any progress regarding divisiveness among the public or among the members of the
Chamber. Ms. Harris responded that the divisiveness is related to how citizens perceive Covid-19
and the hope of the kindness and respect concept will assist with mending the community.
Meanwhile the task force will continue with messaging for social distancing and wearing masks
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Council Member Nelson commended the Chamber of Commerce for being focused on more than
just economics.
Monthly Department Reports
Council Member Nelson expressed his appreciation of receiving thorough reports from the
Department Heads. Council Member Callan wanted to know if the airport keeps track or count the
number of planes coming into the airport. The Airport Manager responded that information is not
tracked. Council Member Maciaszek commented that he appreciates all the work City staff had
been doing.
AB 21-224 Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee Annual Accomplishment Report
Dave Petty Chair of the Parks and Recreation (PAR) Advisory Committee presented council with
the Committee’s annual accomplishment report. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee
is established pursuant to Idaho Code 50-210 to advise and make recommendations to the McCall
City Council on matters pertaining to the operations, management and programming of the McCall
Parks and Recreation Department. The Committee consists of seven voting members serving
rotating three-year terms. Mr. Petty expressed his appreciation of Staff and acknowledged the
challenges of trying to provide recreation services that are safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. He
complemented the efforts put into the outdoor ice rink and the torch lite walk at the Golf Course.
He commented that he did not think that there is any way to capture the dollar value of what Parks
and Rec does for this community. Including the “dirty” jobs like picking up beer cans the night
after Fourth of July, these things just seem to happen without many people acknowledging who
and how they get done. He thanked Council for approving the funding for the development of the
Parks Master Plan and the relocation of the Parks maintenance shop. He commented on the
development of Brown Park and the asset it will be once completed as well as the anticipated
improvements coming to the shoreline of the lake north of the Marina.
Council Member Nelson commented on the positive impacts on both health and economically that
Parks have on the community and the quality of life. Council Member Nielsen looks forward to
having a meeting with the PAR Committee to kick off the Master Planning Process. Parks and
Recreation Director Kurt Wolf stated that the PAR Committee had requested that input from
Council for the Master Plan process on priorities and things they’ve heard from the community,
so he will be working with Community Development as well to set up a work session with Council.
PRESENTATIONS
AB 21-229 Presentation by St. Luke’s McCall on Current Hospital System Capacity, Patient
Medical Services Availability, and COVID-19
Amber Green, Chief Operating Officer, and Dr. Kinney, Head of Emergency Room Services, for
St Luke’s McCall provided Council with an update on local conditions related to COVID-19
outbreaks in our area and the hospital system’s capacity for provision of medical services to the
community. The purpose of the update is to provide situational awareness to the Council and the
community.
Amber Green, Chief Operating Officer at St. Luke’s McCall, gave the Council the following
information. She stated that the data she will share is St. Luke’s McCall Data only. She cannot
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speak to the testing data received from Albertsons or RiteAid. She stated that there was a surge in
testing last month with 1014 tests in August, the highest month since pandemic started, and that
trend is continuing into September. Of the 1014 test completed on August, 142 were positive
equaling a 14% positivity rate. For the first eight days of September there have been 365 tests and
65 of those were positive equaling an 18% positivity rate. She stated that St. Luke’s now can break
down the data by zipcode and know the specific McCall numbers. With such a large number of
tourists being tested they have had numerous requests to break down how many of those are in
McCall. She reiterated that whether those being tested and ultimately testing positive are residents
or tourist, they are still in the community and the virus is here. She stated that as far as transmission
of the virus goes it is irrelevant whether they are residents or not. She explained that of 65 positive
tests, 54 were in the service area of Valley County, Adams County, and into Riggins, and 34 were
in McCall. The Delta variant is the dominant strain throughout Idaho and is also true for McCall.
She then talked about Hospital capacity stating that St. Luke’s McCall does not have a critical care
unit and has a very small Emergency Department, Many patients are transferred to other facilities
if those other facilities are not full. She stated that throughout the St. Luke’s system, they are
operating above capacity. Every St. Luke’s facility is cancelling all elective procedures to open
additional units. Also, capacity is dependent on staffing, there is a staffing shortage nationwide, in
Boise and in McCall. Currently in McCall, 13 of 15 beds are occupied and one is a Covid positive
patient.
Dr. Kinney, Head of Emergency Room Services, then shared that there have been some surges
over the past 18 months and this one is the big surge. He stated that they are transporting many of
the sickest patients to other facilities. Most of the patients with Covid are unvaccinated or partially
vaccinated. There have been very few breakthrough cases and of the breakthrough cases, none
have been hospitalized. He stated that system wide the vast majority of the hospitalizations are
unvaccinated, about 90-93%. The death rate is higher than before. He stated with this wave they
are seeing a lot of kids; however, children are not getting as sick as adults, but the Delta variant is
more virulent among children. Nationwide as well as locally we are seeing an all-time high for
children in the hospital for Covid. One 11 year-old on ventilation now and some pregnant women
on vents.
Ms. Green then shared some hospitalization data from across the St. Luke’s system stating that
there are 233 cases of Covid patients hospitalized compared to early in summer there were only
20-25; 38% of all inpatients are Covid patients, 95% are unvaccinated. There are 63 total patients
in the ICU, and 45 of those are Covid patients equaling 71%. Of those Covid patients, 98% are
unvaccinated. There are 3 pediatric cases, 2 of which are in the ICU. She stated that shows why
they are functioning above capacity. St. Luke’s is currently diverting all patients from outside the
St. Luke’s organization. Patients from McCall have been transferred as far as Twin Falls as there
has not been room in Boise. She also reiterated that with the staffing issues everywhere, nurses
from McCall will be re-deployed to the valley to assist. Currently, across the St. Luke’s system,
they are 96% compliant with the vaccine requirement.
Council Member Callan asked out of the 54 local cases in the first eight days how many of those
were children under the age of 17. Ms. Green responded stating there were 11. Council Member
Callan asked how many were in August. Ms. Green thought there were about 22.
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Police Chief Williams asked how capacity is determined, is it based on staffing levels of what you
have available to provide care or is that a physical location. Ms. Green responded stating that it's
determined by both. Most of their clinical units down in the valley were at capacity and full which
is why the decision to shut down some of the elective surgeries. That then gave them the ability to
open more space in those units to take those patients. The same has been done in McCall, they
have 15 patient beds in the McCall hospital, but they have five additional beds pre and post-op for
surgery. She stated that these beds are not ideal but in the event of emergency they will fill them
and attempt to staff them.
Council Member Nelson asked about their projection over the coming weeks. Ms. Green stated
that they are not yet at their peak. They are anticipating to the peak at the beginning to middle of
October. City Manager Spickard asked what triggers a crisis standard of care, is that done by
central district health region or is it done by hospital system. Ms. Green replied that it is made by
the state health department, and it is based on the stretching or the inability to continue to care for
patients with the resources available.
Chief Williams stated that the CDC site shows Valley Co projection going down, what is St. Luke’s
McCall using as their projection? Ms. Green responded that St. Luke’s McCall has their own data
model that comes from state and CDH epidemiologist data. St. Luke’s McCall can share their
information with Chief Williams. A CDC Valley County projection is likely inaccurate because
it’s such a small data set. It is better to use regional data.
Council Member Nelson commented that after listening to the information, at what point is the
Council asked to take action? He stated that he is not saying a mandatory mask mandate or
anything else, but what are the range of interventions that a city might take.
City Manager Spickard stated that after Chief Williams update at the end of the meeting the
Council may choose to give direction to staff.
BUSINESS AGENDA
AB 21-228 Request to Approve Re-allocation of Local Option Tax Dollars for the McCall
Area Chamber of Commerce
Lindsey Harris presented the following request. Due to the pandemic, Local Option Tax Funds
received by the McCall Area Chamber of Commerce were not able to be spent on Winter Carnival
Fireworks as approved by Council. The Chamber is requesting to reallocate some of those funds.
She proposed that in honor of everyone’s hard work and to show some community love, the
Chamber would love to throw an outdoor celebration to honor and thank the community the last
weekend in October. They picked this weekend to coincide with the Mill Whistle event that would
kick-off the festivities on Thursday, Oct. 28th. They would host a community concert at The
Ponderosa Center’s terrace venue on Friday, October 29th to provide free music, tokens of
appreciation, and food. Additionally, on Saturday, Oct. 30th, another community organization is
making plans to host a drive-in movie and Sunday, Oct. 31st (Halloween) will be Trunk or Treat
to round out a fabulous weekend for all. They plan to brand this as a FREE, family-friendly
community celebration weekend, come rain or shine, for all of us to celebrate everyone’s hard
work and recognize the efforts of our town. Ms. Harris did recognize that with the rise of Covid-
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19 cases this event may not happen and asked for the ability to delay the event for up to a year if
needed.
Council Member Nielsen moved to approve the request from the McCall Area Chamber of
Commerce to re-allocate Local Option Tax funds of $5500 toward a Family-Friendly
Community Celebration Event and authorize the Mayor to sign all necessary documents;
and, if for public health reasons the event needs to be delayed, an extension of 12 months is
granted. Council Member Callan seconded the motion. In a roll call vote Council Member
Nielsen, Council Member Callan, Mayor Giles, Council Member Maciaszek, and Council
Member Nelson all voted aye, and the motion carried.
AB 21-226 Request for Approval of a new Hangar 427 ground lease for Lori MacNichol and
Chris Berge:
Over the past months staff has been working with Ms. Lori MacNichol to find a suitable location
to construct a hangar. A location has been determined, and Ms. MacNichol has requested a ground
lease. Ms. MacNichol, owner of Mountain Canyon Flying, is first on the Hangar Waiting List. Ms.
MacNichol will go through all applicable permitting processes prior to construction. The 2020
Airport Rates and Charges resolution sets the lease rate at $0.3127 per square foot per annum. A
CPI adjustment will occur on October 1, 2021 and will be invoiced at the newly calculated rate.
The proposed lease consists of 22,758 square feet of property. At the current rate, the annual lease
payment is $7,116.43. This lease payment will increase slightly after the CPI adjustment. The
purchaser has been provided with a copy of the current lease, current Airport Rules and
Regulations, and Airport Minimum Standards. The City Clerk will record the document and keep
a copy for the City’s records. Staff has requested a $200 transaction fee and the lease has been
reviewed by the City Attorney. The Airport Advisory Committee has reviewed the request and
recommends that the City Council approve the lease to construct a new hangar.
Council Member Nielsen had asked that this item be moved from the Consent Agenda to the
Business Agenda as this is the first proposed development in the new zone at the Airport. He
wanted to make sure that the newer Council Members were aware of the new area for development
at the airport since the process has been in the works for several years. Airport Manager Rick Stein
gave a brief summary regarding the undeveloped area on the airport and that there will be a more
defined plan in the Airport Master Plan. He explained that with this large hangar, Hangar 427, the
lessee has agreed to build part of the taxiway that is planned for 3-4 years in the future.
It was also explained that there is a long hangar waiting list for people interested in buying or
building hangars and Lori MacNichol is on the top of that list. Mr. Stein also explained that the
FAA has been consulted with regarding the hangar size and location and the entire infield
development area. Although the Airport Master plan has not been officially approved, the FAA
has agreed with this development. It was clarified that the Hangar owners were responsible for
hookups to utilities such as sewer, water, and electric. There was some discussion regarding the
size of future hangars, taxiways and FAA required safety areas,
Council Member Nielsen moved to approve the new Hangar 427 ground lease for Lori
MacNichol and Chris Berge and authorize the Mayor to sign all relevant documents. Council
Member Maciaszek seconded the motion. In a roll call vote Council Member Nielsen, Council
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Member Maciaszek, Council Member Callan, Mayor Giles and Council Member Nelson all
voted aye, and the motion carried.
Covid-19 Update and Review of Mask Metrics Status
Police Chief Williams gave the following update to Council. Currently the state of Idaho is still in
stage four. The weekly cases in Valley County are currently 40 and is still in a high transmission
area with more than 307 cases per 100,000. The state and the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
lo want it to be less than 100 per 100,00. Valley County has a 20% positivity rate for testing. For
the mask mandate metric set earlier by Council, it needs to be below five percent. He stated that
he will break down the statistics a little differently than what was previously stated by Amber
Green, Chief Operating Officer at St. Luke’s McCall. According to St. Luke’s website, 70 of the
ICU patients are Covid-19 related so within the St. Luke’s system 70% of all patients in the ICU
are Covid related illnesses and are responsible for 36% of all hospitalizations statewide. That is up
from 28 % two weeks ago. From the State’s Covid-19 website the metric for a crisis situation is
50 or less available ICU beds and less than 50 available ventilators. Currently there are only 10
ICU beds available according to the state website, and 521 available ventilators. The last two
weeks there has been quite an increase in the number of ICU patients that are being admitted for
Covid related illnesses. Note that this metric does not distinguish between Covid patients and other
illnesses only the total number of available ICU beds.
Chief Williams explained that he pulls his data from the CDC website. The numbers he has shared
has always been for Valley County total. This week in Valley County there have been 40 cases.
The CDC is forecasting looking one week ahead that Valley County will be at 41 cases, in two
weeks at 30 cases, three weeks at 37 cases, and in a month at 38 cases.
Currently for the State of Idaho there were 5,350 cases in one week, it is anticipated to go to up
each week as follows 7,800 cases, then 8,600 cases per week and then by week four they project
that Idaho will have 9,300 cases in one week. With data and information changing quickly,
protocols and recommendations are changing as well. He stated that beginning next week, for all
City Facilities and City Vehicles, masks will be required. Face-to-face meetings will be
discouraged and no drop ins, only appointments to meet with City Staff. All internal meeting will
be virtual, this does not include Council and Committee meetings that still need to abide by the
open meeting’s law. Staff will be encouraged to telework when possible. He stated that there is
much divisiveness within the community of those that are pro-vaccination and those that are
antivaccination as well as those that are pro-mask and those that are anti masks.
There was some council discussion regarding exploring vaccination incentives, providing support
for employees and families and the health care workers. What can the City offer to employees and
the public to help incentivize vaccinations? Could the City use some of the Covid expense funds
to educate and vaccinate.
Council Member Maciaszek likes and education campaign, and city council meetings should have
hybrid choice for attendance with Teams. He was not interested in going with a mandate of any
kind. Council Member Callan had no direction to staff beyond current protocols, and to keep up
the education effort. Council Member Nelson was interested in vaccination efforts. He wants to
understand what actions the city can take, understand what businesses need, and how to explore
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vaccinated too. He wants to take care of city employees and preserve city services. Mayor Giles
had no additional comments
The overall consensus was that it is a community effort to get through these difficult times.
Upcoming Meetings Schedule Discussion
Council discussed upcoming meetings.
ADJOURNMENT
Without further business, Mayor Giles adjourned the meeting at 7:45 p.m.
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