[Vision2020] First meeting of Moscow's new council hits sour note

[Area Man (Dan C)]

First meeting of Moscow's new council hits sour note

By DAVID JOHNSON
of the Tribune

MOSCOW -- So much for political niceties. After more than an hour of
gracious words and the swearing in of a new mayor and city councilors
here Tuesday night, something akin to a political food fight broke out. 

Then, at the end of the night, the table got reset as if nothing had
happened. 

New councilor John Weber said the situation had failed the "smell test"
and he felt "railroaded." 

Bob Stout, another new member of the council, said he was "perplexed and
offended" by Weber's words. 

Incumbent councilor Linda Pall called the scene "really unfortunate." 

And former Mayor Marshall Comstock, who'd just wished new Mayor Nancy
Chaney well and presented her with a new gavel, fumed. He compared what
transpired to a "slap in the face" to him, the former council, city
staff and other officials. 

What happened was newly-elected councilor Aaron Ament waited until the
swearing-in ceremonies had ended to unceremoniously make a motion to
place a moratorium on conditional-use permit applications for all
educational institutions and commercial schools in the downtown business
sector. 
"I hate to have to spring this on the council," Ament said. 

The motion passed 4-3 after Chaney, overseeing her first business as
mayor, cast the deciding vote. 

Meanwhile, attorney Greg Dickison, who represents New St. Andrews
College in downtown Moscow, shook his head in amazement. 

"This was absolutely all about New St. Andrews," Dickison told the
Lewiston Tribune. "If New St. Andrews wasn't located downtown, this
never would have come up. It's the only entity affected by what they've
just done." 

Then the council tabled the issue, only to come back two hours later to
reconsider Ament's motion with Chaney this time turning everything
around by casting the deciding vote against the moratorium. 

There has been a running zoning debate here about whether New St.
Andrews, a liberal arts faith-based institution with about 150 students,
should have been allowed to locate downtown adjacent to Friendship
Square. The old council, by allowing for conditional-use permits, left
the door opened for New St. Andrews to remain. 

But a moratorium on permits might have made the college's future less
clear. In the end, Chaney said she switched her vote because she wasn't
comfortable with imposing a moratorium without first giving a 15-day
notice for a public hearing on the issue. The six city council members
stuck with their original votes -- Ament, Stout and John Dickinson
favored the measure, while Weber, Pall and Bill Lambert were opposed. 

Many political observers have said the November election signaled a
swing back to the political left in city government here. Weber and
Lambert, at the time, said they feared they were the only conservatives
left. But Pall, standing by the old council's actions on conditional-use
permits as sound, sided with the two, thus putting Chaney in the middle.


Ament said the moratorium was necessary so council members could further
discuss the ramifications of issuing conditional-use permits to
educational institutions. He said the downtown business sector should be
reserved for business and that issues, like parking, were important to
the public. 
"If there is any peril, it's moving forward with a flawed ordinance,"
Ament said. 

But Pall said the previous council discussed the issue diligently, took
public comment and made a sound decision. She called Ament's move a
"wrong-headed motion" that had instantly and unnecessarily placed the
new council at odds. 

Chaney and the council members are scheduled to go on a retreat Sunday
and Monday to, as Pall described it, deal "with how to become a team." 
------ 
Johnson may be contacted at deveryone at potlatch.com