Rec Dept and other issues at Soda City Council
The City Council met for a regular meeting on April 2. President Hart joined the meeting remotely.
Recreation Department
For many people, the biggest recent news from the city is the change at the top of City Recreation. Nikki Hansen, who led the rec department over most of the last year, is no longer serving in that capacity. As the appointment of a new director moves forward, the mayor, who is responsible for the management of city employees, indicated that the city was interested in hearing from members of the public on their thoughts, concerns, and advice regarding the city’s recreation department.
A number of speakers addressed the council at length during the meeting, and raised a number of issues related to purpose, scope, and administration of the recreation department. The split between the city’s rec league sports and traveling/all-star sports teams was the primary topic of discussion, and it was clear from the time devoted to the discussion that there was not an easy, immediate solution.
A community-wide meeting was seen as an important step on the process of reorganizing the rec department, but no date for such a meeting has been set at this time.
Members of City Council expressed their support for the program, and their recognition of its vital place within the community, especially as it relates to the city’s young athletes.
Because the issue is complex and there were many voices involved in the meeting’s discussion, the Enterprise is working on a separate piece covering the topic in more detail than would be possible here. More information is being sought, and will be made available at that time.
Eric Hobson
Caribou County Emergency Services Director Eric Hobson spoke to the council about the All-Hazard Mitigation Plan. The project was started about 3 years ago, with the input of the county and cities within. It is a federal requirement to apply for disaster funds, as well as different grant projects.
A resolution to support the AHMP was adopted.
Rodeo Club sponsorship
Aubrey Holsten spoke to the council on behalf of D 8 Rodeo Team. She was seeking sponsorship from the city. The sponsorships supports a number of items, as on recording. $250 to support club.
Shade Cover
Alana Burns of the Friends of the Park updated the city to announce that the shade cover frame is done on the small swingset, and the rest will be done soon. The cover will be put on when the weather is better.
Hispanic Access Grant
A project to create trails around the city had been delayed as a result of federal grant freeze, but those involved have been called back from furlough. They are looking at projects with a projection of what the city could spend in the next 90 days. City Engineer Alan Skinner will start on bids for civil work for sand hauling and vegetation stripping. The bulk of the money is in the cost of trees.
Main Street
Questions about some of the paving issues on the Main Street project were raised. There are some areas of paving that have experienced issues since the completion of the project, and the extent to which they might have been caught by the engineers on the project were raised.
It was stressed that the contractors were aware of the issues, and would be addressing them as part of the warranty on the construction.
Engineer Skinner stated that “We are going to get a penetrometer to see if the depth/density/etc was produced according to spec. That will give us data as far as the repair.” He explained that the process of testing for density occurs as a series of random samples, as were the compaction tests. Given a variable underlying surface, some areas of potential problems would be missed through such sampling.
Engineer Skinner stressed that the contractor is aware of the issues and working to remedy the situation as soon as possible. “It’s going to be 13 degrees tonight. This isn’t the right weather. He will be fixing everything. The contractor is on notice. He wants to get it done, and he will get it done.”
Councilmember Carpenter added, “Having firsthand knowledge of Main Street, a lot of that is that there was a ton of groundwater. When there’s water down below, it’ll bridge for awhile, and sometime pass compaction, but eventually you will get some settling. The nice thing is that we require a warranty on the work, so it’s on them.” There is a two year warranty on the work. “This is a good continuing discussion about what we can oversee, what the contractor does, etc. I think there’s an opportunity as a Council to have an after action meeting to see what we can do to improve the process moving forward. I think that’s wise. Let’s figure out as much as we can. There are going to be hiccups, but let’s try to minimize them in the future.”
Resolutions
2025-4—Fixed Assets. Approved
2025-5—Residency Req. Approved
Councilman Rod Worthington publicly thanked Clerk Haderlie and her staff for their work on preparing the resolutions.
Department Heads Report
Hope Hansen
Director Hansen reported that “everything’s pretty quiet at the library.”
The library is working on getting bids for electrical work. There are not enough outlets in the building for increased electrical demand, mostly due to technology charging, and they would like to invest in more.
Hansen reported that Golf night “went really well,” and the Friends bought a new 3-D printer. “We just really appreciate the community supporting us so that we can give back to the community,” she said.
Cejay Golightly
Chief Golightly wanted to recognize Officer Phelps, who has been working on the fentanyl grant to bring education to students in the area. He is meeting with the High School on May 5 as part of the grant funding.
Councilmember (and Thirkill principal) Rod Worthington asked the officers whether they should have Narcan for the school. Narcan is a quick-acting overdose treatment for opioids, and can save lives by preventing overdose while EMS is en route. Although there have not been any incidents of students experiencing such issues, it was stressed that it’s better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.
Birka is the name of the 1 year old K-9, which will be in Soda by April 14, and then it will be post certified with the handler.
Currently there is a policing policy in the dept. A policing policy will be avail to officers in their vehicles. It comes from ICRMP and deals with vehicle pursuits and other issues.
The Chief had a meeting to get ideas about what options for leasing vehicles will cost. 3 are coming to end of lease in May 2026. His proposal is to extend two of the leases for longer, up to 7 years. The residual value would be dropped, except for the Yukon. The two extensions have 33K and 37K miles on them. They put on about 12-13K a year. The department uses Durangos, which are about the same price point as Explorers.
A decision by the end of the month would be ideal.
Dan Squires
As a result of the recent daycare closure, Creative Center has put an alarm system in, so they could up occupancy to handle some of the need.
Wastewater Plant calls are out for the installation of the clarifiers, and Squires is waiting for quotes.
The camera for the sewer will be here soon. If the weather is good, the department is going to use it soon, and do some training with it.
Justin Hansen
Hansen reported on some power problems out at the airport. Two of the hangars are out of power, and the infrastructure needs to be improved. “That’s going to be a very large expense,” Hansen said. The contract with the city says that the city will provide power to the airport. Hansen anticipates other hangars having the same problems down the road. “Do we continue to fix as it goes, or is it something that we budget and do it so we get it right? It’s going to continue to happen,” he said.
Equipment purchased for the skate park was put up on Wednesday, and is in use now.
No 5 at the hydroplant is still being looked at.
Road scholars are done, and they will be presented at the next City Council meeting.
Hansen reported on Kelly Park’s ongoing problem with keeping it green with “trash water.” Rather than sending one guy who spends the entire summer digging out sprinkler heads and cleaning them out, Hansen would like to pursue other options. “We’ve out a filtration system on that line, it just doesn’t work,” he said. “The problem is once you shut those sprinkler heads off, the material sucks back into the system.”
Hansen’s solution is to “keep everything above ground, and make it more efficient.” Councilmember Ryan Carpenter has some advice about filters, and will go to check and see if that might be an easier option before jumping into a whole new solution.
The geyser right now is having an issue where there is a continuous 6 foot stream. It still goes off at the right time. “I don’t even know what that entails, but there’s a guy coming next week. I’m not going tearing into something like that without an idea what to do. It’s about 5 five feet tall for 52 minutes, and 40 feet tall for 8 minutes.”
Hansen noted an issue with Direct Communication digging up yards. What is the city’s recourse? He was advised to continue to document any incidents. People don’t know who is digging up their yard sometimes, and it has been Direct Comm rather than the city.
Code Update
Working on updating codes. These are about new construction and repairs, and follow on from the experience with the utility upgrades on Main Street, which many business owners were not happy with the charges from.
Attorney Tom Smith noted that some language was potentially ambiguous to some, regarding “whose responsible for repair and maintenance of the water lines/sewer lines.” He would be happy to work with someone to clarify that language. “It’s always a good idea to go through city code and revise it and make it simpler.” The mayor and the staff will work on the language, although many felt it was already clear.
State Park Letter
The council stated that it would like to communicate the community support for the project of making Enders a State Park to the state P and R department. The concept of collecting letters of support from community members and those of us who live here was suggested. “I’ve gotten six or eight so far, and anticipate more,” Councilmember Paul Gritton stated. He presented a letter for the council to sign. A meeting in two weeks will happen with the state PR director. Council Pres Hart drafted the letter. A motion to support the letter was approved.
