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Council approves watershed license renewal with Pend Oreille Peddlers after staff correct contract totals
Summary
The council approved a renewal of a watershed license agreement with the volunteer group Pend Oreille Peddlers after staff clarified a multi-year accounting discrepancy; the corrected total reflects prior annual allocations plus special mitigation funds and brings the four-year total to $107,200 (funds already budgeted or previously authorized).
The Sandpoint City Council on June 4 approved a renewal of a watershed license agreement (city agreement A-235100-1) with the volunteer trail-maintenance group Pend Oreille Peddlers (POP) after staff identified and corrected a clerical discrepancy in the contract total.
Staff described the agreement’s financial history: the city has provided $10,000 annually for trail maintenance and reimbursement since 2015. A $2,200 donation that was not expended for a watershed-recreation master plan was reallocated to POP in fiscal year 2022–23. A later amendment intended to include a $75,000 mitigation allocation in fiscal year 2023–24 had been recorded without adding the already-budgeted $10,000 for that same year, creating a total discrepancy in publicly posted materials.
"Going back a little bit ... we realized the discrepancy actually happened last May when the addition of 75 did not take into account the 10,000 that was already budgeted for," the city’s planning/finance staff said during the presentation. After recalculation, staff told council that the total authorized reimbursement over the multi-year period is $107,200 (comprised of prior $10,000 annual allocations, a $2,200 carryover donation, $75,000 for erosion mitigation and the current year’s $10,000 allocation).
The item originally had been removed from the consent calendar at a councilor’s request for clarification. After staff explained the clerical issue — and said the corrected total did not represent a new appropriation but rather an accurate accounting of previously authorized amounts — Councilor Gix moved to approve the resolution and Council President Deb Ruhl seconded. The item passed on a roll-call vote.
Councilors thanked staff and POP representatives for their work to maintain trails and for clarifying the contract totals. Staff said payments to POP are reimbursable upon presentation of eligible maintenance expenses and that the organization’s maintenance activity is subject to the agreement’s terms.
Council did not appropriate new city funds at the June 4 meeting; staff said the amounts approved reflect prior allocations or funds already in the budget and that reimbursement is contingent on submitted expenses.
