Newsletter-Late-Week

The City of McCall will join a task force formed to evaluate proposals that would make state endowment lands around Payette Lake part of the Payette National Forest.Last week the McCall City Council accepted an invitation to join the group, which is being assembled by United Payette, a local advocacy group focused on preserving public land around Payette Lake.Council member Julie Thrower was appointed to the task force by fellow council members during last Thursday’s meeting.“I definitely would be interested,” said Thrower, who has an environmental law practice in McCall.

First responders will practice a “mass casualty” event on Tuesday in Downtown McCall, simulating a multiple vehicle accident that would stretch the limits of local hospitals and EMS services.“We want to make sure the community is aware of this training exercise, as it may appear to be a real event, but it is for training purposes only,” St.

Volunteer work, donations, and other “outside the box” efforts could improve decrepit dirt roads in New Meadows, a newly formed committee said this week.The group, called the Streets and Roads Committee, held its first meeting on Tuesday night to brainstorm low-cost ways to improve city streets that are dusty in the summer and plagued by potholes in the winter.“We have a community of lots of experienced people in building roads and maintaining them,” said Josh Carr, a New Meadows City Council member who suggested forming the committee.

Residential properties in Valley County have seen a steady increase in property tax bills, while most commercial properties have paid less and less over the past five years.“We have seen a shift in property tax to residential properties because residential values have increased at a rate faster than commercial properties,” said Valley County Treasurer Johanna Defoort.Over the past five years, residential property values have increased by about 193% on average, from $4.1B to $10.7B in total value countywide.