SANDPOINT — From continuing work on the city’s wastewater treatment plant to handling an ever-shrinking revenue stream, Mayor Jeremy Grimm sat down with The Daily Bee to discuss his priorities for the new year.  

Entering the latter half of his term as mayor, Grimm said he won’t be running for reelection. He cited the desire to spend more time with his family, the need to provide for his college-aged kids and the intensity required to serve as mayor. 

“It's just too great of a financial sacrifice. I need to eat, pay my bills and my mortgages, just like everyone else,” Grimm said. “It's also a great honor and a great privilege. And I feel like I have, midstream here, successfully addressed the majority of the issues I had hoped to address.” 

Those issues range from passing the $130 million wastewater treatment bond to moving away from a city administrator and standing up a department head focused system. Grimm said the wastewater treatment plant remains his top priority moving forward, hoping to secure federal or state grant funding, not loans. 

In an effort to lower the cost, Grimm said city staff is actively working with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to differently interpret the rules around wastewater plants. He said this new interpretation could allow them to downsize the plant using auxiliary treatment methods. 

Grimm has repeatedly brought up the challenge in finding federal grant funding for the project and said the federal government still has not committed any funds for the project.  

“Priority one is to continue to get funding and work on the regulatory framework of that [project],” Grimm said. “So that project will be ongoing for the rest of my term and will occupy my No. 1 priority this year with staff.” 

Another top issue Grimm hopes to alleviate is the city’s shrinking revenues, which he said is quickly becoming outpaced by rising costs for necessities like health insurance. He said the lack of available revenue limits what the city can do when it comes to things like repairing streets. 

The next step for this issue is the reintroduction of a local option tax, which Grimm said will hopefully be on the May ballot. What the LOT will pay for is yet to be decided, but Grimm said it’s his hope a majority would go toward streets, while the rest would fund community amenities like the SPOT Bus and potentially the wastewater treatment plant. 

“We heard from a lot of folks, ‘Why aren't the tourists and others paying for the upgrade to this plant? Why is it falling just on Sandpoint utility users?’” Grimm said. "I think that would resonate well with the taxpayers and the residents, and if successful, it could avoid our sewer rates going up 100% as they're projected to do.” 

Grimm said the city is also looking into establishing a stormwater utility, which would charge property owners to fund stormwater improvements in the city. Aside from the city’s current issues, Grimm said this is a priority because of the 2030 census, which will increase Sandpoint’s treatment responsibilities. 

“All communities of 10,000 or more in the U.S. have to treat their stormwater before it flows into bodies of water of the U.S.,” Grimm said. “We'll have to do some costly stormwater filtration and treatment at our outlets, so wherever you see pipes stormwater flowing into the river or the lake, we will have to actually treat and filter that water.” 

Downtown and the city’s economy was another focus of Grimm’s, from the ensuing Downtown Revitalization Phase No. 3 project, which he said is the final planned phase, to rezoning efforts. He added he hopes to work with the City Council to develop a strategy to use the Northern Sandpoint Urban Renewal District’s funds. 

After a controversial year behind the dais, which included a walkout of councilors prompted by Grimm’s hiring of William Harrington as the city’s legal counsel, Grimm said he’s hopeful for a good working relationship with the newly formed City Council.

“One of my personal goals for the year is to be a bridge builder,” Grimm said “I hope that the new council members and our composition can work well together, express their passions, their concerns, have robust discussions and at the end of the day, make decisions that are best for the entire community, not just for individual priorities or goals.”