The Mayor’s Corner 06/17/2020

Mayor Randy Hibberd

Personal Responsibility is Now the Key.
Wow! That was quite a storm last Saturday. I planned on mowing the lawn that morning, but it was not to be. This was a minor inconvenience. Other places in town were not so fortunate, as there were tree limbs down and flooding in town due to the storm drain system being overwhelmed. The Electrical Dept. and Waste Water Dept. put in overtime over the weekend dealing with these issues. The Waste Water Dept. is going around town this week to make sure there are no blockages. Your City employees want to ensure that everything is done that can be done to prevent future flooding. However, mother nature has a nasty habit of laying waste the best laid plans. (Remember the snow in ’16-’17?)
In other news, many of you probably saw the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases over the weekend. Unfortunately, this is primarily from an outbreak in one of our elder-care facilities. Early last week, there were two cases. After further testing last Thursday, there were an additional 6 people who tested positive. Each of these individuals has been isolated. The District Health office will be testing weekly until there are no new cases. Please keep these people in your thoughts and, for those of you who are so inclined, your prayers. COVID-19 is an ugly, nasty, too often fatal disease that no one deserves to contract.
Just over a month ago, we had had only one case of COVID-19 in the county/city. At that time, it appeared we might skate through this virus with little impact. Since then, a major employer in town has had to shut down temporarily and is still not quite up to full capacity. Other employers also had to take action to prevent spread in their facilities. There are now 55 cases as of Saturday evening and the numbers continue rise. Washington County/Weiser has the 6th highest per-capita infection rate in the State. We are far from immune and far from over this.
As we move into the last stage of re-opening, we are coming to the point where Personal Responsibility is the only way to reduce the amount and rate of spread for this virus. Just want to remind everyone that this Personal Responsibility takes the form of maintaining distances, wearing a mask in public places, washing your hands, etc. I do not see people willing to stay at home again, or businesses willing or able to shut down– so keeping the spread under control is now up to each of us individually.
Another item in the news that would affect Idaho cities is a proposed property tax relief plan funded by the CARES Act. The short version of the proposal is if cities will reduce property taxes by the amount paid for police and firefighter wages for a set period of time, the State of Idaho would reimburse those expenses plus 3%. However, like most things, the benefits and pitfalls are in the details. The proposal leaves a number of questions unanswered. Depending on the answers to some of those questions, the proposal could actually be detrimental to the City’s finances both now and in the future. So, rather than jumping on this, the City is waiting to find the answers first. We will then put numbers to the proposal, project the effects, and seek the City Council’s decision. There will be more information on this in upcoming articles.
In other news, the swimming pool is no longer restricted to 50 people. The pool will also be open three evenings a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6:00 to 8:00, with Monday being Family Night. In addition, we will return to $1 Wednesday starting this week. Hope you enjoy the pool!
Thanks for reading this week’s report. Weiser really is a great place to live!