Chubbuck voters say no to evaluating city merger, new library

CHUBBUCK, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Chubbuckians are passionate about Chubbuck, and they made that clear in Tuesday's election.

The question of whether to combine the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck has been posed for years. This time, Bannock County asked only if residents were interested in exploring the idea further.

“In Chubbuck, no huge surprise, there’s less appetite. We expected that,” said Ryan Satterfield, the Vice Chair for the One City Exploratory Committee.

While 53 percent of voters said no to the idea, a quick glance at the precincts showed Pocatello voters are more open to exploring the idea than their Chubbuck neighbors.

The entire county, including residents in cities like McCammon and Lava Hot Springs, responded to the question. The committee will now delve into the votes and determine which areas of the county are in favor or not in favor.

Then, the committee will decide if there's enough support to evaluate the benefits and costs of merging the two cities.

“If the answer is yes, for example some of those conversations would be, do we try and do some type of study, is there enough support there to do that, how will this study be funded,” Satterfield said.

And if there's not enough support, Satterfield said the committee will dissolve and the idea will die out.

Another idea Chubbuckians shot down Tuesday night was the proposed $12 million bond for a new library.

The Portneuf District Library asked property owners again if they would support a bond, and for the second time, they were denied.

“We were showing a 70% approval rate, so to not hear all the negative feedback and have it fail that badly was really a shock to us,” said Holly Jackson, the director of the library.

In the past 20 years, the library has outgrown the original space and has had dreams of building a new locations. For now, those dreams are dashed.

“Right now, we’re taking a step back from that. We might look at a bond again in several years, but at the moment, we’re trying to figure out what services and collections we can cut back in order to fit in the current space,” Jackson said.

The library said they'll try to find ways to provide the same level of service as normal.