Council president lays out 2025 priorities for Boise, emphasizing housing, public safety and fire staffing

Council President Nash presented a proposed set of Boise City Council priorities for 2025 and invited an open conversation with council members and staff to turn the presentation into a staff memo for collaboration with the mayor's office.

Nash said housing is the council’s top priority and described an "all‑of‑the‑above" approach that combines market‑rate supply, subsidies and public‑private partnerships. “We have to have housing at every price point,” Nash said, and recommended regular reporting so council can monitor progress and keep a running pulse on demand and supply.

On staffing and council operations, Nash said the council recently hired a full‑time policy adviser, Emily Allen, and proposed evaluating whether the council should have access to council‑specific legal advice in certain cases; he said any such change should be revenue neutral to the council office budget. Nash also praised council contingency uses from the prior year and signaled the council will bring a more detailed contingency proposal during budget development.

The council discussed public‑safety priorities in detail. Council member Halliburton said the council approved about $100,000 to start the Boise youth roadmap; a contractor has been hired to catalog existing youth services, gather youth input and identify gaps, with the intention of returning a plan for council adoption by the end of the year.

Council members reiterated that behavioral health response teams are a priority. Nash and Halliburton noted that three behavioral health teams are approved but not fully staffed; members asked staff to monitor call types and missed opportunities to understand whether more than three teams would be necessary to provide coverage at all hours.

Nash raised concerns about digital‑crime and special‑victims staffing. He said Boise Police Department has nine detectives in the special victims unit but only one detective assigned to Internet crimes against children; BPD managers told council that several full‑time investigators could be kept busy on internet crimes work. Nash recommended exploring both sworn and civilian technical hires to increase digital‑forensics capacity.

Fire and emergency services priorities included completion of Fire Station 13 (funded in the recent budget), continuing work toward a timeline for city‑wide four‑person staffing at stations and exploring an electric vehicle pilot for the fire fleet. Council member Corliss highlighted a hydrant coverage gap in West Boise (roughly Victory to Fairview and 5 Mile to Cole), noting retrofit water mains and hydrants are costly and that Station 14 also houses hazmat capability; council asked staff to coordinate with water provider Veolia.

Council members also emphasized recruitment and workforce diversity for police and fire (noting a persistent gap in female firefighter representation), continued investment in mental‑health support for first responders, and training and professional development. Nash said these priorities will be refined into memos and budget proposals for detailed review in the months ahead.