PRIEST RIVER — West Bonner School District Library requested their permit fee of $7,557.75 be waived at the June 15 council meeting, however, the city denied the request due to lack of funds and concern of financial compensation expectations for other public agencies in the future.

Councilmember Candy Turner, who made the motion to deny the request, pointed to the uncertainty of other budget items as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to support her stance.

“I realize that their bids for what they were asking for came in awful high, a lot higher than what’s expected, but I just don’t want to touch the impact fee because we don’t know what all it’s going to entail down the road,” Turner said. “Everything I am reading about what’s going to happen with our budget next year. I don’t see us getting a whole lot of state funding.”

Mayor Jim Martin said the council could waive the entire bill, which was split into three payments — $3,328.19 for contract work, $1,880.56 for the city’s portion and $2,348 for the transportation impact fees. He said the council has worked with other government entities in the past to waive the city’s portion, but he advised against it.

Property negotiations was another big agenda item, where Priest River City Council approved the appraisal and purchase of three properties, which were needed in order to suffice a new project. These purchases include a small corner of land on Highway 2 and Forth street.

“The survey evidently shows that a portion of the sidewalk is actually on their property, Martin said. “It is very small, it is like six inches or eight inches or something and that would be the piece that they are saying we would have to purchase.”

The other two properties include about 75 percent of the car wash lot, Martin said, and a piece along the Frontier Building. The total for the property evaluation was $17,500.

Along with city property negotiations, approval of Tom and Marcie Renfro’s application to subdivide their 1.15-acre parcel into two parcels, one at 19,985 square feet and the other 30,0623 square feet, was unanimously approved during the June 15 public hearing. No residents spoke in favor or against the proposal. The property is located on Mick N Ern Drive.

Following the public hearing on the Renfro’s planning and zoning application, city council members discussed two properties recently purchased, the waterfront and an adjacent parcel of land, where residents have proposed putting in a storage facility to take advantage of the town’s new ordinance that allows a caretaker in the apartment. The owners have been in close contact with council since the fall and have supplied a full engineer plan. They are in the building permit stage. Construction on the property cannot begin until they finish the building permit application.

The city is also interested in annexing a large parcel of land across Highway 57, west of Huckleberry Lane. Mayor Jim Martin said the land will be divided into four lots of five acres or greater. Plans on land utility are expected to be finalized by early August.

Priest River City Council unanimously approved a street improvement project proposal that requested $68,328 out of the city’s $110,000 annual budget specifically allocated to improve streets. The money will be used by Road Products Inc. to repair areas such as West Jefferson Ave. from Highway 57 to 11th St. and the torn up road by the Lift Station.

Bronze level sponsorship was also approved for The Priest River Chamber of Commerce’s Timber Days.

“Timber Days would be the one that I would feel most comfortable sponsoring just because that is a historical event in the community, not that the Fourth of July isn’t, but it’s an evening event with a focus on people of Bonner County,” Martin said.

The city council approved $500 for the sponsorship.