Council discusses disbanding traffic, safety committee

BONNERS FERRY —- The City Council tabled a decision to disband the city’s Traffic and Safety Committee at its April 19 meeting.

Currently there are four openings on the committee and Bonners Ferry Police Chief Brian Zimmerman said the committee has not met in two years due to COVID-19 and because many committee members are older.

“[Committee members] are not particularly opinionated on anything regarding traffic issues, and take recommendations from law enforcement and street crews,” Zimmerman said.

He recommended the city continue to use law enforcement and street crews who deal with the traffic on a regular basis instead of people who have less experience.

The duties of the traffic and safety committee is to review the impact impacts on the city’s transportation system, which includes signal installation, commercial and industrial developments and pedestrian and bicycle safety. The committee reviews these and other items which come to the attention of the staff or community related to traffic safety and make recommendations to staff and city council.

City Administrator and City Planner Lisa Ailport that another layer of public involvement is important, but can be more cumbersome. Historically when there are traffic and safety studies, the committee has not been part of the recommendation process.

Councilwoman Valeria Thompson asked if the committee was more involved and makes recommendations for grant funding.

Zimmerman told the council that the committee doesn’t meet until issues arise.

“I just wanted to make sure that if we did have a committee that they were actually meeting and that we asked them to complete a specific task,” Thompson said.

Ailport said part of the duties of the committee is covered by the Planning and Zoning Commission. As a result, it gets a little muddy on how city staff is supposed to give feedback to the developers or builders as it affects transportation systems.

She said that at present the committee slows down the process.

“I don't want to discourage public involvement, because I think it's a key part of the success of staff and ensuring that we're giving the citizens the city they want,” Ailport said. “But there's always a balance between bringing on more voices to a process that maybe is slowing things down versus already streamlining certain things so that they happen in accordance with our policies and our land use laws.”

If the council opts to keep the committee, Zimmerman said there are “a lot of hurdles” right now. He said the committee is supposed to meet quarterly but if there's nothing on the agenda, there is no reason to meet. His recommendation would be to only meet when there is an issue to discuss.