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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