Harrison News
Don Heikkila elected Idaho State Grange president
Mr. Heikkila, the recent vice president the state grange, becomes the 17th president in the 104-year history of the Idaho State Grange. Don is a lifelong resident of the Harrison area and has been a grange member for 43 years. His parents were also lifelong members of the grange, Don will serve as state president for the next two years. He will be working with Don Johnson who just completed another term as president, to recruit new members and to strengthen the grange's influence in the state Legislature.
Information about the City of Harrison will be posted here from time to time when I am able to get information. You, as a reader, are invited to email me with any information that you would like to have added to the website. My email address is [email protected].
Another source of information about Harrison is available at The Harrison Current which is a free online newspaper. The editor is Maxine Sullivan. Visit www.harrisoncurrent.com |
2010 Census Says Harrison's
Population is 203 According to the 2010 census, the City of Harrison has a population of 203. That represents a decrease of 25% from the previous population count of 267. That does not seem to be correct. An informal poll of the Harrison residents showed that at least 9 households were never counted. The City has apparently submitted a challenge to the census count figure. At the City Council meeting on November 6, 2012, Wanda Irish, Mayor, stated that she has received a 23 page document from the Census Bureau that she will complete and submit. Challenges must be initi-ated prior to June 2013. It is important for cities to have a correct census count in order to receive the correct amount of appropriations that are distributed to the City from Kootenai County and from the State of Idaho that are based on population. URA Update - 2012
The Urban Renewal Plan has not turned out as well as originally anticipated because the URA has not received any tax increment. What happened? Powderhorn failed to mention that they had no intention of removing the timber exemptions on the annexed land. Without the timber exemptions being removed the City of Harrison will only received about $6,000 in tax revenues per year provided Powder-horn Ranch pays its property taxes. Another unexpected event occured when Powderhorn Ranch and Coeur d'Alene Land Company sued the City of Harrison and the URA claiming that they had not given their permission to be included in the Harrison urban renewal district. |
The Lawyers Get Paid, But the City Doesn't!
Typically a small city like Harrison should have a small budget for legal expense, but in the last two years that budget figure has been quite high. The actual amount spent on legal fees however is much greater than the amount shown in the budget for legal expense. During the Powderhorn Ranch annexation proceedings the attorneys for Harrison - Susan Buxton and Nancy Wolff - racked up huge legal charges. The attorneys said that they could not bill Powderhorn directly because they were on the City's staff. Therefore all of the legal charges were billed to the City. Powderhorn has a reimbursement agreement with the City that obligates them to reimburse the City for all expenses incurred on their behalf. Powderhorn didn't pay! The agreement calls for arbitration in the event that Powderhorn fails to pay it's bills. There has been no arbitration (as of April 2012), no lawsuit against Powderhorn to enforce the reimbursement agreement (again, as of April 2012) - instead the City Council signed an agreement to make monthly payments to Susan Buxton for legal expenses pertaining to the Powderhorn annexation and for expenses for the lawsuit brought against the City by two citizen groups that opposed the annexation. The City's own attorneys are collecting their fees from the City and have only sent a demand letter to Powderhorn Ranch (as of April 2012). Money that should be spent on improving your city is instead going to pay Powderhorn Ranch expenses.
Wouldn't you agree that the public has a right to know what the plan is to collect not only the money that Powderhorn owes for legal fees (about $50,000), but also the money that Powderhorn agreed to pay as part of their Development Agreement ($100,000 already past due + $25,000 per year for 8 years). Unfortunately the City Council and its attorney rely heavily on the provisions of executive sessions to keep this type of information behind closed doors.
Typically a small city like Harrison should have a small budget for legal expense, but in the last two years that budget figure has been quite high. The actual amount spent on legal fees however is much greater than the amount shown in the budget for legal expense. During the Powderhorn Ranch annexation proceedings the attorneys for Harrison - Susan Buxton and Nancy Wolff - racked up huge legal charges. The attorneys said that they could not bill Powderhorn directly because they were on the City's staff. Therefore all of the legal charges were billed to the City. Powderhorn has a reimbursement agreement with the City that obligates them to reimburse the City for all expenses incurred on their behalf. Powderhorn didn't pay! The agreement calls for arbitration in the event that Powderhorn fails to pay it's bills. There has been no arbitration (as of April 2012), no lawsuit against Powderhorn to enforce the reimbursement agreement (again, as of April 2012) - instead the City Council signed an agreement to make monthly payments to Susan Buxton for legal expenses pertaining to the Powderhorn annexation and for expenses for the lawsuit brought against the City by two citizen groups that opposed the annexation. The City's own attorneys are collecting their fees from the City and have only sent a demand letter to Powderhorn Ranch (as of April 2012). Money that should be spent on improving your city is instead going to pay Powderhorn Ranch expenses.
Wouldn't you agree that the public has a right to know what the plan is to collect not only the money that Powderhorn owes for legal fees (about $50,000), but also the money that Powderhorn agreed to pay as part of their Development Agreement ($100,000 already past due + $25,000 per year for 8 years). Unfortunately the City Council and its attorney rely heavily on the provisions of executive sessions to keep this type of information behind closed doors.