BOISE, Idaho — It was standing room only in the Boise City Council chambers Tuesday night as dozens of people weighed in on the proposed library and stadium projects.
The City Council heard hours of public testimony on the projects before deciding unanimously not to adopt ordinances that would have put the projects directly to a public vote.
Council members made the decision after raising concerns over potential legal issues with the current language of the ordinances put forth by a citizens' petition.
“These ordinances are clearly unconstitutional in my mind and I’ve reviewed these and reviewed these,” council member Scot Ludwig said.
Those concerns are backed by advice from both Boise's city attorney and the Ada County Clerk, who said the city could face a legal challenge with the ordinances as written.
Earlier in the meeting, Council member Elaine Clegg proposed that the city's legal staff consider alternative ordinances, which would better withstand any legal challenges. The Council ultimately voted unanimously to approve Clegg's proposal.
"They asked staff to use that language to draft special election ballot language that honors the desire for a vote but does not violate their oaths of office," city spokesman Mike Journee said after the meeting. "We will pursue that as another potential solution in parallel with the initiative ballot measure."
According to Journee, the alternative ordinances are just drafts at this point but the Council is hoping they could be a starting point for a more constitutional solution.
Last month, the citizens group Boise Working Together gathered more than 7,000 signatures on each project to try and get the projects on the November ballot.
The majority of people who testified on Tuesday were in favor of letting the ordinances go to a vote and wanted the council to adopt them.
“This hearing is about fixing an eclipse of public participation,” said one person.
“It does need to go to a vote, whether it’s a vote on voting or not, both ultimately need to be voted on in their substance I think,” said another.
Ultimately, Boise Working Together said it just wants a solution that gets the people a vote and a voice in the projects.
“This is a situation that should never have been allowed to happen," said Boise Working Together spokesman David Klinger. "It has much less to do with a library or ballpark and much more to do with the way the public’s business is being done.”
With the Council deciding not to adopt the ordinances, the initiative process moves forward as-is, meaning the initiatives would be on November ballots and would be a vote to have a vote.
If this "vote on whether to vote" passes, it would require subsequent votes before either project could proceed.
If the Council had adopted the ordinances Tuesday night, the projects themselves would have gone straight to a "Yes" or "No" vote in November.