Jean Kriedbring used the public comment period at the Oct. 20 Caldwell City Council meeting to raise transparency and campaign‑finance concerns about an annexation celebration held for Farmway Village.

Kriedbring said the city hosted a Farmway Village annexation party “only for residents of Farmway Village and city employees.” She said the city paid “$4,024 for a food truck, $251.40 for 2 bounce houses, gave away free passes to the city pool, and had the elections office in attendance to register residents to vote.” Kriedbring said she was concerned candidates attended wearing campaign attire and called for clearer guidelines, arguing “The taxpayers should not be paying for their campaigning and abuse of city funds.”

Councilors and the mayor responded that the event was intended to celebrate the first time the city annexed an entire community. The mayor said, “it was a first of its kind. We have never the city has never annexed an entire community before,” and noted the area contains “over fifth over 1,500 residents that live in Farmay Village.” Councilor Dittenburg added that those residents are now registered city voters rather than county voters.

The mayor and other council members said the event was intended as a welcoming celebration for a large annexation and not intended as a campaign event. The council did not take formal action that evening; staff said the matter would be discussed later in the agenda.

Ending: A resident flagged the Farmway Village annexation event as a potential use of city funds for political purposes; city leaders said the event marked the first-time annexation of an entire community of roughly 1,500 residents and said the event’s primary purpose was celebration and voter-registration for newly annexed residents.