PRIEST RIVER — The City Council heard project updates, including a delay of Idaho Transportation Department’s paving project along U.S. 2 at the request of Mayor Jeff Connolly.

Connolly said the city is working toward wrapping up sewer projects and repairing leaks near the highway, and it’s beginning to become a more consistent problem. He said the city is repairing around one to two leaks per month and asked ITD to delay the project to avoid a catastrophe. 

“If you start compacting with a vibrating compactor, it’ll turn into a sprinkler system out there,” Connolly said. “It would be a good idea to do it all at one time. Then like I said you can say ‘We’ll see you later in 30 years.’”   

The project was set to begin in summer 2026, however, Connolly did not say to when the project was being delayed. At the meeting, Connolly said he would be examining the city’s revenue to find money for fixing the larger issue and expanding the sidewalks.  

“I will have to work pretty hard to find revenues that help with that, to offset it because it needs to be done,” Connolly said. “Somehow we’re going to have to come up with the money to replace the water mains and sewer mains, that’s the hope.” 

Connolly announced a city representative would be working to determine the cause and solution to the sewer blockage on Bingham Road. He said they will be meeting with the engineer who oversaw the project for further information on the sewer line. 

“Nobody seems to know how it was installed, and different things, so we’re making sure that it was installed up to what it was supposed to be,” Connolly said. “We had five houses with alarms going off because they all have pumps, it was ‘Oh, wow, kind of dramatic for a minute.’” 

At the meeting, incumbent councilors Billy Mullaley and Candy Turner were elected to their seats. The two ran for reelection unopposed and as such, there was no election held in Priest River. The pair will be officially sworn into office in January. 

The Planning and Zoning Administrator Jake Gabell gave the council several updates on his progress toward the city’s comprehensive plan. He said he would be bringing a city-wide code enforcement procedure before the council at its next meeting. 

The Bonner County commissioners are set to rule on Priest River’s area of impact at a land use hearing on Thursday. Gabell said he doesn’t think any city has gotten what it wanted, and said the city was out of time to get it done this year. 

“To revise and go out for another hearing before the end of the year is pretty unlikely,” Gabell said. “I hope the board either just makes modifications or approves them as is, we’ll see how the hearing goes on Thursday.” 

The council additionally denied a request to clear two snow berms by a citizen who said they couldn’t move their RV without it. They also moved to table discussion and action on the Bonner Park West land acquisition because Connolly said he wasn’t making any headway in his conversations with Bonner County. 

The Priest River City Council’s next scheduled meeting is for Dec. 1 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.