POCATELLO — Mayor Brian Blad’s practice of sending city paving crews or equipment to other cities — including McCammon, Victor, Driggs and American Falls — without approval by the Pocatello City Council has come to a halt, according to council members.
“It never came before the council and we never knew anything about it,” Councilman Steve Brown said about city crews being authorized by Mayor Blad to do work in other communities. “At this point, I don’t think there will be any more.”
“We’ve had some discussion about this and it won’t happen again,” said Councilman Gary Moore. “I was as surprised to see it on the news as anyone else.”
Idaho law does allow cities to enter into agreements to do public works for each other, but such action requires approval by respective city councils.
Idaho Statute 40-708 states: “By mutual cooperative written agreements, or in the event of emergencies or other unusual circumstances where the financial or general welfare of the people is concerned, two (2) or more units of government may, upon a showing of cause declared and entered upon the minutes of an official meeting ... share jointly the costs of the maintenance, construction or development of highways and bridges in any state, county, district or city system.”
Mayor Blad apparently authorized city crews and equipment to engage in work this spring and summer outside of Pocatello without such agreements.
“Our office was never asked to prepare an inter-governmental agreement to bring to the council for approval,” said Pocatello City Attorney Dean Tranmer.
Tranmer said such agreements generally spell out the responsibilities of both parties, including the payment of costs.
Brown said the Pocatello Council is still waiting for specific information on any reimbursements paid to Pocatello for the expenses of paving projects in other communities and wear and tear on equipment.
“We have the responsibility to taxpayers,” Brown said about the council determining if the city has been paid.
Moore shared he same sentiments.
“There’s just not much for us to gain by doing this,” Moore said about work done in other cities. “I just don’t see the upside to the city.”
Mayor Blad has told reporters that he was simply allowing Pocatello to be a “good neighbor” when he authorized the recent out-of-town paving projects and it also was something done before he became mayor in 2008. Attempts to reach Blad were unsuccessful Friday.
Rumors have been circulated that Blad’s policy of sending crews out of town on jobs led to the resignation of former Pocatello Streets Superintendent Randy Ghezzi, but Ghezzi said that is not true in a telephone conversation with the Journal on Friday. He said he left Pocatello to become operations director in Scottsdale, Ariz., because it was an opportunity for advancement.
“I loved my job here (in Pocatello), but you have to go someplace else to make a little more money,” Ghezzi said. “I’ve always wanted to manage a much larger city.”
Ghezzi has been working in Scottsdale with a population of 220,000 for three weeks since leaving his Pocatello job on July 3.
Ghezzi said it was his understanding that Pocatello crews doing jobs in other cities was a common practice in the past. He had worked in the Gate City for five years.
“We always have concerns when we work outside of town, but you do what you’re told to do,” he said.
Ghezzi also said he didn’t want to get involved in the “political football” that has surfaced regarding city crews working out of town.
Former Pocatello Mayor Roger Chase said using city street crews outside of the city was never a common practice during his eight years as mayor. He said the city did cooperate with Bannock County on some paving work on a couple of occasions and the council approved allowing Blackfoot to use Pocatello equipment to strip asphalt one time in exchange for Blackfoot repairing the equipment so it was useable.
“They serviced it and got it ready for us to sell,” Chase said. “We had an agreement with the council and they compensated us for it.”
The former mayor said the Pocatello council shied away from these mutual agreements for things like street work because of the potential negative impact on private contractors.
Chase said on one other occasion, Pocatello loaned Chubbuck some garbage trucks when that city was going through a transition involving garbage service and needed to remove trash for health reasons.
“It (working for other cities) was not something that went on all the time,” Chase said.