Group questions city’s street work decisions

A Pocatello group is putting Mayor Brian Blad and the City Council in the hot seat for proposed street work outside city limits.

Blad asserts he only goes with what the City Council decides.

“They are the legislative body of the city and I work for them,” said Blad. “If they want one direction to go to, that is where I’m going to go.”

That’s why he took issue with a letter by the Taxpayers for Honest Government, or T4HG, that was sent to local media. The letter criticizes the city’s decision-making regarding road work, asking why the city would consider doing projects for Chubbuck and the state in their current financial situation.

While Blad says the state hasn’t approached the city, Chubbuck has. According to the Pocatello City Council agenda, Chubbuck would pay for Pocatello’s service. The project for Whitaker Road will be brought up at this week’s council meeting.

“As I understand it, we would be doing the milling and that’s it, because no other local company has a milling machine. The city does,” Blad said.

Another issue in the letter is the Bengal Paws. The city will be paving over some in the future. The letter criticizes Blad’s intention to replace them for nearly $19,000.

“That has already been passed by the City Council in the street department budget,” Blad said. “However, because of the controversy that this group has created from before, I have put that on the City Council agenda.”

The letter also condemned the recent cuts to Pocatello Regional Transit. Blad said it wasn’t done arbitrarily.

A member of the T4HG was reached for comment, but he said the group didn’t want to comment on their allegations. They said they send out information once it’s verified, and to inform the public and media of what’s going on.