Pulling a Consent Agenda Item in Driggs

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council put Councilmember Sarah Johnston's request to pull one item off its Oct. 6 consent agenda to a vote, and the motion failed 2–2. Under a state law in effect since July 2025, a single member's request removes the item without a vote. Later that night the city attorney told the council she was right, and the council pulled the item for a separate vote.

A consent agenda is a group of items a council approves in one vote. The Oct. 6 bundle held minutes from three earlier meetings, the city's claims list and a statement of decision for Altitude Business Park. The agenda listed the bundle as item 3, with this note: "Adoption by unanimous consent, or any item may be separated from the Consent Agenda for separate consideration at the request of any member." Johnston asked to pull the statement of decision.

"You have to make a motion to do so," she was told. "I'm not sure that it needs to be a motion," Johnston said, and moved to remove the item anyway. "My understanding is that I do not need a reason to remove something such as that," she said.

Mayor August Christensen was absent, and Council President Allison Michalski ran the meeting. The motion to remove the item failed 2–2. With the mayor out, there was no tiebreaking vote.

City Attorney Sam Angell then asked Johnston "what your basis is for not needing a motion to remove something from a consent agenda." She answered, "House Bill 172." Angell asked to "bump the consent agenda to later on in the meeting so that I can look into that real quick," adding that he had "never been hit with that question before." Michalski moved it to later in the meeting, ahead of mayor and council updates.

When the council returned to it, Angell told the members Johnston was "absolutely correct."

"Idaho Code was amended last year. I had not caught that, so thank you for bringing that to my attention," he said. "All she has to do is mention that ... and then pull it out and we deal with it separately."

The council approved the minutes and claims, then took up the Altitude Business Park statement of decision on its own. Michalski called for discussion, then said, "Hearing none, call the vote." The statement passed 3–0, with Johnston abstaining. She did not say at any point in the meeting why she had wanted it pulled.

What the law requires

House Bill 172 passed the Legislature in 2025 without a vote against it, 67-0 in the House and 34-0 in the Senate. The governor signed it March 10, 2025, and it took effect July 1, 2025. It added two sentences to Idaho Code § 74-204, the section of the open meetings law that governs agendas. Before the bill, that section did not mention consent agendas.

Johnston read both sentences aloud during mayor and council updates. The first keeps ordinances, fee resolutions and items that need more than a simple majority off the bundle. The second says that if any member asks for an item to be pulled, "such item or items shall, prior to the vote on the consent agenda, be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate action for discussion and vote."

Driggs Catches Up to the Consent Agenda Law

What the law requires

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