HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990 State of the City AddressCity of Chubbuck
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
STATE OF THE CITY
JANUARY 9, 1990
Office of the mayor
A new decade begins. This marks the mayors third decade with
the city of Chubbuck. I eagerly look forward to the next four
and anticipate these four could possibly be the most important
that I have served. Many changes are going to occur that will
effect our life style especially in the environmental area.
And the cost to we citizens is not going to be cheap. I am very
concerned with the attitude "corporate" America has taken to
small town America. I cannot understand their continual need
to consolidate into the large cities. Cities where air quality
is poor, even worse than ours, water is generally in limited
supply, land fills are bulging and it requires an hour to drive
to and from work. Crime is rampant and the work force is not
nearly of the quality we have in "rural" America. And more than
anything else I am concerned with the utter disregard that these
corporations seem to have with their employees. Faithful men
and women who have been with them for many years and discard them
as if they were merely a machine, worn out, that can be relegated
to the trash pile. Complete disregard for families and community
relations. There are corporations that are in every way a
monopoly and should be carefully regulated by Public Commissions.
This past year has been a good year for our city. We continue
to remain in'a good financial position. Sometimes I wonder how
we do it but we have actually improved this past year in our
cash on hand at the end of 1989. This has been accomplished by
all departments cutting back and getting along with the status
quo. I am concerned when our allowed tax increase, 50, will not
allow the city to give employees a 3% increase in wages without
cutting back somewhere else. So, even though we have done a good
job of managing, we are going backwards in our general fund in
�ct o eAubbud
y
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
2 CITIES 1990
CZ=Z>
Office of the mayor
our ability to maintain the services we are required to provide.
Let us discuss about the city in general. Our police have placed
all or nearly all of their records on the computer. Detective Sgt
Birch has given many hours of his time to accomplish this computer
program and provide our city with one of the finest tuned computer
programs in police work anywhere. Lt. Webb continues the program
with crime prevention and working with our youth. Our relationship
with the three schools in our area, Chubbuck, Ellis and Tyhee is
good. And we strive each day to improve that relationship. We are
at present interested in applications to the Chubbuck Police
Explorer Post. Any high school student is eligible and should
contact Lt. Webb. Our detective work load continues to increase.
It seems there is no end to their work. Officers on patrol have
performed extremely well. We have extremely well qualified
personel in the police department from secretary Karen Anderson to
each officer. We continue to receive good comments from citizens
about our police department. (Read letter) We have just yesterday
participated in one of the largest busts of a drug wring in the
state of Idaho. Some 16 individuals have been taken into custody
in Chubbuck and Pocatello. We have worked this bust in conjunction
with all the law enforcement agencies in the area. Both cities,
the county, state, federal and other groups were involved. We
cspecially thank Mrs. Bielby, principle of Chubbuck Elementary
school and the officials of school district 25 for the complete
co- operation they have given during this investigation. This
operation was carried out in the most professional manner and
is a credit to the leadership and training in our police department.
The police have done their job - -now the eyes of the community are
on the court system and the judges as to their response.
eit y o lNubbliel
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
C ZD
3 STATE OF CITY 1990
Office of the mayor
Staff sgt Phelps should be recognized for the safety program
he is responsible for. We again have received a large refund
from the State Workmans Compensation Insurance fund in the
amount of $16,500. I am recommending that a good portion of
this refund be given to our employees. They are the individuals
responsible for the fine safety record we continue to maintain.
Sgt Phelps should also be noted for his record in ordinance
enforcement. Yes, we miss some, but we have come along way
with Phelps in this area. Our city looks better in many areas
and we are going to continue to be aware of many other areas
where improvements are needed. We have before our council
tonight an appeal of a Land Use Commission decision which
directly effects the Quality of living in a neighborhood in
our city. And not only does the decision we render tonight
effect only that one neighborhood, it effects the Quality of
life in our entire community. We must address this this in a
positive manner. I am extremely concerned with the appearance
of Yellowstone avenue withing the city of Chubbuck and especially
north of the interstate highway. We at the city have worked in
many ways to improve this area. We clean snow off sidewalks,
sweep gravel of sidewalks, secure work release personel from
the Bannock county sheriff to cut weeds all along the street
and generally have attempted to keep this area looking good. We
continue to have problems. Some, not all, property owners seem
to have little concern for the appearance of their properties.
We have warned, we have forced you with court orders to comply
and we shall continue to do so. We are going to be far less
patient in the future than we have been in the past. I am asking
all Yellowstone property owners to attend a meeting at city hall
tuesday January 16 at 7pm where we can sit together and discuss
ways to improve the appearance of this street.
eity a eAubbud
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
C ZZZD
4 STATE OF THE CITY 1990
Office of the mayor
A "911" emergency response system has been placed in operation
in Bannock county. This system represents the latest in the
state of the art for this type of communication. It provides
virtually immediate response in an emergency situation within
the county. If you are able to lift your phone and dial "911"
withing 2 seconds after the operator has answered, the computer
has located your address and phone number. This is all you need
do to receive assistance. However if you can talk - -give the
operator all the information that is requested. The information
you provide will be transmitted to the emergency vehicle which
is in transit to your location.
Our fire department continues to provide a better service. This
past year under the direction of Chief Cary Campbell and super-
vision of councilman Dwain Kinghorn, we have greatly increased
our ability to provide fire prevention in our city and the county
area we contract to cover. We have added four additional units
to our fleet - -two pumper trucks, one four wheel drive unit and a
4000 gal tank truck. Our firemen training program continues to
improve and increases our ability to efficiently respond to any
emergency fire situation. I cannot stress enough the need for
training. The method of fighting a fire is continually changing.
Safety for all involved and the liability the city has, increases
the need for a positive training program and the need for all
firemen to respond to training in a positive manner. There is
nothing so constant as change. Time does not stand still and to
be better prepared is the constant challenge to everyone and
expecially those people involved in emergency response departments.
Councilman Kinghorn is to be commended for the hours of time he
has given to the department. And too, he is to be commended and
thanked again for his willingness to serve this past 16 months.
There aren't many Dwain Kinghorns in the world. You have made
�4t a O?Aubbucl
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
5 STATE OF CITY 1990 CZD
Office of the mayor
our community a safer and better place for each of us. I thank
you again for your dedication. Fire chief Campbell also is to
be commended for the dedication he has to the fire department.
He spends many extra hours, so many we do not count them nor does
he ask any consideration, studying latest directives and mandates
that directly effect our fire department. I thank our firemen
for your dedication and their response to training to better prepare
them for the mandated regulations that continue to come to us. It
takes hours of these men's time to train and answer fire calls. I
thank each of you for your dedication. With few exceptions, this
group responds in an extremely positive manner.
We have started a program to micro - film all city records. This
will take a bit of time to accomplish but will create space that
is sorely needed for other utilization.
In the first paragraph of the message I mentioned many changes in
environmental control coming to us. We are continually receiving
state and federal guidelines that are going to change some of our
procedure. These regulations are going to cost you and I a great
amount of money in the future. We are rightly mandated to have
absolutely pure water and we continually sample our water to ensure
to the best of our ability that this is done. We have done this
for years. However it is possible that we too will be required
to chlorinate all our water supply. I do not like this but there
is no way to not do so it appears. Our garbage landfills have
been mandated to further clean up and the cost to you and I could
again be very high. There are several pieces of proposed legis-
lation being introduced into the Idaho legislature to assist the
counties with this problem. I am certain that air quality is going
to be greatly improved in the next few years. If we mandate to
have "pure" water how then can we expect any less of the air we
breathe.
�Jt y a 6Aubbucl
5160 Yellowstone Avenue
Chubbuck, Idaho 83202
(208) 237 -2400
CZZD
6 STATE OF CITY 1990
Office of the mayor
The city of Pocatello has a new administration. Two new council
members and a new mayor. I have met with Mayor Angstadt on several
occasions, privately and in groups. I find in my estimation that
he is going to be a positive influence in the future of Pocatello.
I feel we are going to have a good positive working realationship
with the new administration and eagerly look forward to working
with them in resolving problems and issues of common concern. I
wish Mayor Angstadt all the success possible.
We have discussed many items. All pertinent to our city and the
future of our community. Each issue I have touched upon effects
the quality of life we enjoy and hope to enjoy in the future. I
seek the support of the people of our city to continue the positive
attitude they have toward their city, the manner in which we decorated
our homes for the Christmas season is certainly indicitive of the
pride we have in our community. I also want to again thank all the
employees of the city. Without your support we could not accomplish
the task that is ours. The community Chubbuck thanks each of you.
Council assignments:
Roy Quick - - - - - -- Police Roy has been extremely responsive in
assisting the police. Thanks
David Landon - -- - Parks & Recreation. I have to commend Dave for
the positive attitude he has taken in
his work with the baseball program. Again
hours of extra work and only a well deserved
"thanks" Dave.
Steve England -- - Fire Department
Dean Wood -- - - - - - I assign to Dean the responsibility of making Chubbuck
Days 1990, our Centennial celebration, the biggest and
best we have had. We all will assist.
Each will rotate on a 3 month schedule in sitting with the Land
Use Commission.
Again, my thanks to each of you. Mayor Cotant