This last weekend, Cathy and I once again watched our grandsons for the weekend. We had lots of fun playing games, building boats, playing monster attack, watching movies, setting up their sleeping bags, (which is about a 45-minute adventure), having a picnic, playing in the park, and ending with playing in the water outside. So much fun—and so much exhaustion when they leave.
In City news this week, Southwest District Health sponsored “Walkability Training” a few weeks ago, at the Vendome for Weiser. There was a wide variety of people and organizations attending, including interested citizens, the Fire Department, Weiser Memorial Hospital, City Council members, local business people, the City Street Department, District Health, and a member of Safe Routes to School. It was very interesting training involving not just sidewalk quality, but also what makes walking comfortable, safe, enjoyable, and useful. Some of the ideas presented would require funds that are currently beyond the City’s means for the foreseeable future. Some ideas would be hard to implement given snow plowing logistics in the winter. However, there were some ideas which are fairly high impact and low cost that we will be working with the Street Department to implement. Other ideas would require grant funding that we are checking into. More will be coming out on this later.
Timbra Long, the Librarian, reminded all of us in the Monday morning manager’s meeting that school would be letting out for the summer next week. Already? With that, she wanted everyone to know that the Library has plans for STEM Programs and Reading Programs at the library this summer. It looks like a very fun and very interesting schedule. The sign-up deadline is June 1. So, hurry on in to the library, check out some books, and sign up for a summer of good reading and Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math fun!
Tony Edmondson was appointed as the “newest” Planning and Zoning commissioner at last week’s City Council meeting. The “newest” comment is in jest. Tony has had extensive Planning and Zoning experience, both with the City and County. He will be bringing extensive knowledge, experience, and perspective to the position. Thank for coming aboard, Tony!
I also want to say Thank You to the rest of the Planning and Zoning members—John Jensen, Heather Dryden, Ken Lukehart, Mark Christianson, Jay Edwards, and Clarence Stark. Their work is vital for the planning and development of our community. Planning and Zoning is a time-consuming job, where hard thankless decisions are made. All-in-all this group works to make our community a better place to live—all without compensation. So, Thank You! for volunteering your time, effort, and anguish!
In other matters, Mike Shepherd from the Water Department would like me again remind those who have lawn sprinkler systems, to have the back flows tested for the year. The deadline for having the tests is June 1. If the City has not received certification for the test by that time, we will have no alternative than to begin the process of shutting off water until the back flow test has been performed. As mentioned before, the testing is to ensure that water that has entered a sprinkler system, cannot flow back into the City’s drinking water.
If you would like a list of test providers, please call City Hall at 208-549-1965 and we would be happy to help you!
Well, that’s it for this week. It has been surprising how quickly the weather turned warm. I hope it stays!

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.
I don’t know about you, but I have found myself wanting a little more good weather lately. But, the fact is we still need the rain to fill our reservoirs for this summer. So, I guess I can put off personal desires for a bit longer and appreciate the rain. When I look at the photos of reservoirs in Arizona and California that are at historic lows, I can appreciate the fact that at least we are getting the moisture. Maybe even a little more might do.
On to other matters, the Economic Development Task Force is doing really good work. They are currently taking on the project of putting welcome signs at the entry points to Weiser, both on the north and south sides of Highway 95 as well as the entrance from Annex.
In addition, they are gearing up to work with an organization called Main Street America, a national organization, that promotes the revitalization and economic growth of downtown cores across America. Many Thanks to John Stuart who committed MTE Communications to pay the annual fee to the Main Street organization for the first five years. At this time, the Task Force is diving into the mountains of information from Main Street to seek advice and determine the best course forward. There will be more on this later.
As Mayor, I am so appreciative of this team of people who are so dedicated that they are willing to get together every other week at 7:00 a.m. to work on ways to boost economic growth. For your information this team includes co-chairs Patrick Nauman and Layna Hafer, as well as Superintendent Wade Wilson, Kyla Dickerson, Melanie Hickey, Rick Estes, Sherry Young, John Stuart, Terry Fritts, and Commissioner Lyndon Haines. Thank You for all of your hard work and I look forward to great work to come.
In City news this week, Bill Taylor from the Water Department would like you to know that the City water crew will be out flushing all 283 fire hydrants in town this week. So, be prepared for people working in the streets and for wet roads in places….in addition to the rain. Flushing hydrants may seem like busy work, but it basically performs two functions. The first is to make sure that all of the hydrants are working properly. (A few years ago, one of our neighboring towns to the south had a house fire. It was only when the Fire Department went to attach a line that they realized the hydrant didn’t work. As a result, the house burned.) The second reason is to stir up the water in the line and flush out whatever sediment may have settled in the lines through the year. If you see any discoloration in your tap water, it will probably be due to flushing the hydrants. Simply run your tap for a minute or two until the water becomes clear again. If for some reason it is not clear after a few minutes, call Bill!
Also, Mike Campbell would again like me to let all of you who are planning yard sales, to not staple flyers to utility poles. The exteriors of the poles are treated to keep them from getting insect infestations and also prevent dry rot. The tiny holes created by staples encourages little creatures to crawl in and destroy the poles from the inside out. So, please help keep those poles safe.
Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you have a great one and enjoy the weather, no matter what it may be.

Well, it is budgeting time here at the City. Our fiscal year runs from October 1 of each year through September 30. It may seem early for this process since there are five months left in the fiscal year, but that is not the case.

The various departments actually start looking over their expenses and thinking about what projects they would like to accomplish or equipment they need to purchase in February. Then the department heads sit down individually in the following months with the City Clerk to go over their projections. These figures are then compiled, compared with anticipated income, adjusted, and a draft budget is prepared. This is the stage we are in right now.

From here the 26-page budget will be presented to the City Council in a Special Council Meeting which should take place on May 31. The various department heads each present their portion to the council The council will then review historical budget numbers, the budget, a three-year history of actual income and expenses, and averages, over the next couple of months.

The next step in the process is to publish the proposed budget in the newspaper for two consecutive weeks in August. Then in late August there is a public hearing to get your input for the income and expenses for the coming year.

After the public hearing, final adjustments may be made. Then the budget is formally adopted by the City Council. The City Clerk then presents the budget to the County Clerk no later than the second Monday in September in order for tax assessments to be prepared. Under current Idaho law, the portion of income generated by property taxes cannot increase by more than 3%. This is a safeguard for you, the homeowner, to make sure the City cannot get too carried away with its spending.

Once the budget is adopted, the City cannot spend any more than the amount budgeted without going through the entire process again. So, the City works very hard to make sure it is done right the first time. The budget, once adopted is reviewed each month line-by-line to ensure that income and expenses are within projected ranges.

This is actually a fairly simplified explanation of how the budgeting process works, but I just wanted you to know that a fair amount of thought and effort goes into this process.

In City business this week, Mike Campbell, our Public Works Manager, would like to remind those who are having yard sales to not staple flyers to light or power poles. The poles are treated to keep insects from burrowing in and doing what they do to ruin wood. Putting staples in the poles just extends a welcome mat to invite the little buggers to do their worst. So, please do not staple flyers or anything else to the light or power poles.

Also, Bill Taylor from the Water Department, would like to remind all of you who have automatic sprinklers to have your system backflow tested. The testing is required each spring to certify that water, once it goes into your sprinkler system, does not go back into the City’s water system and end up in the drinking water. If you would like a list of businesses that perform this service, just call City Hall at 208-414-1965.

Also, Ken Anderson of the Recreation Department would like to let anyone interested in working as a lifeguard at the City Pool this summer, to get your application into the City by this Friday, May 6th, at 5:00 p.m.

Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you are getting outside to enjoy your favorite springtime activities!

I hope everyone who looks forward to Easter had a good one last Sunday. With the weird weather last week, it was nice to have this week start with sunshine and warmer temperatures.

There is a lot to discuss this week, so we will move on to business.

Early last month, I spent some time writing about “Walkability” training that would be coming up in April at the Vendome. Well, that training will be taking place next week, Tuesday, April 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and a half day Wednesday, April 27 from 8:30 until noon.

The free training, sponsored by Southwest District Health, will help participants…
o Identify what makes Weiser walkable.
o Experience walking through the senses.
o Advocate for changes in community design.
o Build confidence to lead a walk audit.
o Link walking with health and economic outcomes.
o Find how planning and design policies impact walking.
o Transition from student to teacher.
o Learn about available technical resources.
o Have fun while taking the training.

If you are interested in this subject, please RSVP to Daniel Adams at SWDH. He can be contacted at 208-296-0847 or by email at Daniel.Adams@phd3.idaho.gov. If you are unable to block out a day and a half for the full training, the first half day is the most helpful.

Timbra Long over at the Library, wanted me to let you know that the Library will be showing ANOTHER big name movie this Saturday. This month’s movie is “Peter Rabbit”. So, bring your bunny ears and water bottles to watch the show at 11:00 to 1:00. The Library will even have free popcorn for you!

Police Chief Carl Smith was telling me that the Police Department and Sheriff’s Office will be attending a training session this week in the Vendome on Drug Overdose Prevention and Response. They will be learning about opioids, how to recognize and respond, how to administer Narcan (the most effective counter-measure to an overdose), and a review of the Good Samaritan law. After the training, the two departments will be given a substantial free supply of Narcan.

I want to say “Thank You” to the police officers and deputies for taking this training. It is another way that shows our officers care about the community and are willing to learn more in order to make Weiser a great place to live.

Bill Taylor from your Water Department has asked me to let you know a little bit about the irrigation ditch “system” in Weiser. The system is made up of 18 different irrigation districts or companies. Each has their own ditch rider who is supposed to take care of any issues on their line. These ditch companies are completely separate from the City.

Each year when water is turned into the ditch, there tends to be issues with irrigation lines. The irrigation main lines run through the alleys with feeder lines running from there into the yards of the individual homeowners. The irrigation company is responsible for the mainline, with the homeowner responsible for the feeder line. Since the irrigation line runs through the alley and the City’s water lines run through the streets, if there is water coming up in the alley, it is an irrigation company issue.

The City often gets called when the irrigation lines have issues. However, the issues are the ditch company’s responsibility. If you rely on ditch water for your irrigation needs, please take the time to learn which company services your part of town and who your ditch rider is. The place to start is by asking how you pay for the service and follow the money!

Well, that’s it for this week. Let’s hope there is no more snow!

This last Saturday, the Chamber of Commerce had their somewhat annual Crab Feed fundraiser. Due to Covid this has been the first full blown Crab Feed in three years. And for those who attended, you could tell that the community was ready to get back together for this event. I do not believe I have ever seen a Crab Feed this well attended before. Thank You! and Congratulations! to the Chamber of Commerce for a successful evening. The food was great! I am already looking forward to it next year!

On Monday of this week, I had the unusual opportunity to see what the inside of some of our sewer lines look like. Fortunately, I was able to do this without crawling down into a manhole and getting down on my hands and knees. Instead, the City hires to have a video camera mounted on what resembles a remote control car on steroids designed to go through water and … muck. City has about 6,000 feet of sewer line scoped each year just to check to see if there are any issues or potential issues with our system. If we have an issue come up during the year that we were unaware of, we call the service back to pinpoint the problem in the line so we can concentrate on fixing that spot rather than tearing up the entire line to find the problem. This is just another way that your City employees work to try to stay ahead of problems before they happen.

While on the subject of the sewer lines, I can now say with certainty something that I had only heard before. That is that flushable wipes may flush, but that does not mean they are good for the sanitation system. In places where there was standing water due to the pipes settling over time, the flushable wipes were floating there completely whole. I am told that these can actually plug an eight- inch line or a lift-pumping station. Those that make it to Sanitation Plant have to be removed and sent to the dump. So, with that in mind, for those of you who use “flushable” wipes, please cut out the middleman by putting them directly in the trash.

Something else you might be interested in, if you or anyone you know is looking for a good paying job with benefits, including a great retirement program, please check out the City. There are openings in several of the Departments at this time. We work hard, but we try to be a pleasant bunch to work with. So, if you are interested, come on in or print an application out from our website, at cityofweiser.net.

In City news this week, please be aware that the Electrical Department will be working on the west end of Pioneer Road replacing some poles, so there may be slow downs while they are there.

Also, for those of you who have sprinkler systems, Bill Taylor at the Water Department wants to let you know that we will begin sending out notices for backflow inspections starting next week. The inspections are necessary to make sure that water that has entered the sprinkler system does not flow back into the City’s fresh water system when the sprinklers are turned off. State regulations require that each system be checked annually at the start of irrigation season. Locally, Jeff Fields and Robert Torres provide this service. Jeff’s telephone number is 208-550-0266. Robert’s number is 208-405-6973.

Well, that’s it for this week. Weiser is such a good place to live …. especially when there is crab!