City turns off new water source

BONNERS FERRY — After comments from multiple residents about water quality issues, City Administrator Lisa Ailport gave the Bonners Ferry city ccouncil an update on the results of testing of the well water recently added to the supply.

Ailport told the council at its Tuesday night meeting that she hadn’t had time to consult with the city engineer about the report, but it did confirm the expected results of high levels of calcium in the well water.

She went on to say that “last Thursday we directed our water superintendent to go back to Myrtle Creek,” so 100% of the city’s water supply should now be coming from that source but it would “take about a week for that water to make its way throughout the entire system.”

Ailport said that at this point they would only use the well “if it’s absolutely necessary,” but stressed that a solution must be found because an augmented water supply is still an Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requirement.

Council member Ron Smith asked if this meant that there was a possibility that they “could not correct the problem with the well.” Ailport declined to answer, saying she doesn’t have enough information at this time to provide an education response due to the absence of the city engineer and the need for further discussion with him as well as the council and water superintendent.

Smith went on to say that he spoke with a resident who had to spend $112 to replace water heater elements as a result of the calcium in the new water supply. He questioned whether residents could file a claim against the city in these situations.

Andrakay Pluid, city attorney, was present via Zoom and confirmed that residents could theoretically file a tort claim through the clerk's office, but didn’t specify if the city would be liable or pay these kinds of claims.

The council, Rick Alonzo, Ron Smith, Adam Arthur and Valerie Thompson, as well as Mayor Richard Staples agreed to table the discussion until the city engineer could help elaborate on the issue and possible solutions.

There was also discussion about a possible wage audit. The city does not currently have a wage scale for jobs based on qualifications, experience and term of service. Hiring wages seem to be somewhat arbitrary, described as a “whimsical fluctuation” by Mayor Staples, rather than a standard.

Ailport expressed concern that the city needed to decide what their ultimate goal was in conducting a wage audit, saying that if, for example, the audit showed that the city’s wages were far below prevailing wages, would they be prepared to make increases?

She pointed out that it was “becoming increasingly more difficult to find qualified people to fit some of our jobs,” partly due to wages and that there was a resistance to post jobs for higher starting wages than current employees might be earning, adding that it has also been getting harder to retain employees as they leave for higher wages elsewhere.

Ailport recommended contracting out the wage audit so as to avoid any possible appearance of bias.

The council agreed that there should be a wage audit and that it should be conducted by an impartial third party but ultimately decided to table the discussion until the next budget year as funding for an independent contractor was not available in the current budget.

The council also furthered the discussion from the last meeting about the migration of the current email system to Office 365. Ailport presented a breakdown of funding sources from various city departments. The council reviewed the information and voted to approve the Office 365 migration.