The City of Tarkio Board of Aldermen met Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at Tarkio City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was conducted at 6:00 p.m. City Clerk Danielle Kephart did roll call: Mayor Jeff Agnew and Councilmen Scott Walker, Jeff Olson, Scott Poppa, and James Navin were all present. Visitors in attendance were: City of Tarkio employees – Street Superintendent Jamie Quimby, Building Inspector Jesse Payne, Chief Tyson Gibbons, and Officer Tyler Dorrel; and citizens Vicky Rogers and Mike Klosek, Sr.

Mayor Agnew asked for the approval of the September 10 regular meeting minutes and special meeting minutes from September 11 and September 17 as distributed. Walker made a motion to approve the minutes as distributed and the motion was seconded and approved.

There were no additions, deletions or continuances to the agenda.

Vicky Rogers thanked the council for their work and for listening to the citizens complaints and doing what they can to help see that those complaints are followed-up on and fixed if needed.

Next month’s meeting is November 12, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. The Boy Scouts will be attending that meeting.

Mike Klosek, Sr. presented Klosek’s LLC Trash Service solid waste proposal to the council, as the current contract was only for one year. Klosek’s propose a three-year contract, with the current rate of $22.50 ($20.00 service fee plus $2.50 to Tarkio Board of Public Works for billing and mailing) for 2026, with an increase of $1.00 in 2027 to $23.50, and another $1.00 in 2028 to $24.50. The council would like to have time to discuss this further and would like to table this topic until the November 12 meeting.

Mayor Agnew asked for the council’s approval on the sidewalk enhancement program. This program will be available for citizens to be considered for reimbursement for repairs made on their sidewalks that run adjacent to the street. This program requires citizens to inform City Hall and bring in a cost estimate before the work is started. If approved, the city will reimburse the home owner for up to $1,000.00 of the cost for the repairs. Walker made a motion to approve the sidewalk program. The motion was seconded and approved. Information on this program can be found at City Hall and Clerk Kephart will also send to the paper so that an ad can be ran to inform the community.

Mike Klosek, Sr. turned in a request for reimbursement for a sidewalk he had repaired. Since the sidewalk work had been completed before the new policy was in place, the council stated they would have to reimburse him at the old rate of $200.00 for his sidewalk. Walker made a motion to approve the reimbursement and the motion was seconded and approved.

Mayor Agnew asked for the approval of Danny Martin as the city delegate to the Wholesale Water Commission Board and Vicky Rogers as the alternate. A motion, second, and four ayes approved the appointments.

Clerk Madron spoke to the council about some changes to council meetings for 2026. March and November’s meetings will need to be moved to the third Wednesday of the month due to other meetings and holidays. A reminder will be sent out closer to those dates.

Department Reports

Jeff Olson, City Buildings – The ramp at the Tarkio Community Building was removed due to someone falling off of it at an event. The south door on the parking lot side of the building has been made wheelchair accessible. The council discussed budgeting for putting in a concrete ramp next year.

Scott Walker, Volunteer Fire Department – There was nothing to report.

Scott Poppa, Parks & Pool – All water lines and toilets in the park bathrooms have been winterized. The park truck is in the shop for some repairs. Clerk Madron will be contacting Jeff Simons at Pro Track and Tennis to set up an in-person meeting to go over the bid that the city received to repair the tennis court.

James Navin, Jr., City Streets – Quimby’s report:

• RV Park – This property is still being used by traveling workers. Meek and Sons were there this month to work on slow sewer drainage. There were a lot of tree roots plus other items that are not meant to be put down a sewer. Letters were posted on each camper asking campers to please only put human waste and toilet paper down the sewer.

• Flag Hardware – Quimby needs to know if the council has made a decision about any changes to where flags are displayed on Main. He gave the option of placing banners on all light poles from 6th to 10th, but has not heard back. He would like to make arrangements to get these installed.

• Ash Street Project – The project has been poured and will be opened to traffic in the near future.

• Dumping At Brush Pile – The brush pile is getting very full. Quimby is trying to wait until at least some of the fall leaves are dumped before burning.

• Liberty Gas – The area in North 8th Street that was cut for a gas repair still has not been repaired. Quimby has contacted Tim Eckstien with Liberty Gas and he asked for a number of someone that does that kind of work here so he forwarded a couple of numbers to him.

• Speed Sign – The speed control sign was placed on the west end of McNary Street to try to slow traffic going west towards the college and TAC.

• Friendship Day – The street crew assisted with preparing for this event and with post event clean-up.

• New Skid Steer – This piece of equipment has arrived and is being used.

Mayor Agnew, Gould Peterson Municipal Airport – The city did receive the ARPA reimbursement in the amount of $19,211.00.

Chris Niles, Animal Control – There was nothing to report.

Chief Gibbons, Police Department – The police department has had several new cases this past month. They will be working on their Holidays with Heroes fundraiser soon.

Clerk Kephart, City Financials. There was nothing to report.

Walker made a motion to enter into executive session per Chapter 610.021 Section 3 hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting a particular employee, etc. The motion was seconded and approved. Following discussion, Poppa made a motion to close executive session per Chapter 610.021 Section 3. The motion was seconded and approved.

The meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m. The next regular Tarkio Board of Aldermen meeting will be held Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at Tarkio City Hall.