The Two-Week Ahead: Driggs Wastewater Funding and the Runway Conversation
A scheduled power outage, Driggs wastewater funding and a runway conversation anchor the two weeks ahead, with a June 16 council vote and the June 24 state funding list.
DRIGGS — The next two weeks build toward June 24, when the state is set to lock in the financing for the Driggs wastewater plant and Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport holds a public conversation about a runway closure tangled up with a burst pipe. Before then, the county commission takes up its FY27 budget in a special meeting, and the Teton Rock Gym's deadline to leave the Driggs Recreation Center arrives. The stretch opens Tuesday, June 16, when the city council takes up the 60% design for the plant the same day it meets with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tuesday, June 16 — Driggs takes up the wastewater design
The council meets at 6 p.m. The 60% design returns as Action Item 5.c, with public comment accepted, on the same day the city meets with EPA, the meeting the council waited for when it tabled the design June 2. After Victor lost the land it had under contract for a plant of its own, DEQ rescinded Driggs's single-city design in May, finding it too small for Victor's flows. The council picks June 16 as the deadline between rebuilding small, which works only if Victor commits to disconnecting, and building for both cities. A federal consent decree requires the rebuild, which Driggs is financing without a bond election.
The rest of the agenda runs long: updated housing-income procedures, the tabled 175 Front Street water-rights waiver, community-service funding requests, and a discussion of the Grand Targhee expansion's final environmental review, with an objection window open to mid-July. The meeting closes in executive session.
Tuesday, June 16 — Victor P&Z on the Teton Valley Resort annexation
The Victor Planning & Zoning Commission meets at 7 p.m. on a 12.19-acre annexation request from Teton Valley Resort LLC at 1513 Abigale Lane, which seeks a Park and Recreation designation. The date is off the commission's usual third-Thursday cadence.
Wednesday June 17
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) continues its work on our co-owned substation at Targhee, which is the substation directly south of the Driggs courthouse. BPA & Fall River Electric crews have a planned power outage scheduled for early Wednesday morning, June 17th, from midnight to approximately 4 a.m. This will impact ALL members in the Driggs, Tetonia, Felt, & Alta. This will NOT impact the Victor area.
Members who have questions or concerns about this late-night/early-morning outage can call Fall River at 800.632.5726 during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 17 — county commissioners on FY27 budget changes
Update: The special budget meeting was canceled without announcement.
The Teton County Commission holds a special meeting at 10:30 a.m. in the Commissioners' Meeting Room to address FY27 budget changes, listed as a discussion item rather than an action item. The packet, posted June 12, carries a draft clerk expense budget, a budget summary, a personnel request, and a list of remaining cash uses. The meeting is set to close in executive session. It falls off the board's regular fourth Monday schedule, ahead of its next meeting on June 22.
Around Saturday, June 20 — the Rock Gym's deadline
The Teton Rock Gym's 30-day vacate notice at the Driggs Recreation Center runs out around June 20, the deadline the council set when it voted 3-1 on May 21 to terminate the gym's lease. What fills the space and whether the gym's earlier threat to sue materializes remain unresolved.
Two events fall in the same stretch: Music on Main opens its season in Victor on Thursday, June 18, with Built to Spill, and the EAA hosts a free Young Eagles flight day for kids at Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport on Saturday, June 20.
Monday and Tuesday, June 22-23 — county meetings and Tetonia's food court
The Teton County Commission is back on its regular fourth-Monday schedule on Monday, June 22, at 9 a.m., and the county Planning & Zoning Commission and an LDC workshop follow on Tuesday, June 23, at 5 p.m. The county has aimed to hold its delayed Land Development Code public hearing in late June; whether it lands on the June 23 agenda depends on the notice requirements, and no hearing has been noticed yet.
The Tetonia City Council meets Tuesday, June 23, at 6 p.m., where the formal food-truck-court ordinance could return. The council tabled it on June 9, citing uncertainty about whether the property owner still wants the change after the council approved the use category in concept on May 12. The Teton 401 school board is also set for a SWOT analysis work session on June 23.
Wednesday, June 24 — the runway, the budget list, the Victor council
Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport holds a community conversation on its Runway Shift Project at 4 p.m. at the airport. The session was scheduled before a burst water pipe beneath the asphalt forced the runway to a shortened usable length of 3,850 feet this month; the project's larger construction phase will close the runway.
The same day, Idaho's Board of Environmental Quality is expected to adopt the final FY2027 Clean Water State Revolving Fund list, which would lock the structure of the $25 million Driggs wastewater package: $6.34 million in principal forgiveness and an $18.66 million loan at 2.5% over 30 years. Driggs ranked first on the draft list.
The Victor City Council meets at 6 p.m. for its regular fourth-Wednesday session.
Calendar
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Tue, Jun 16, 6 p.m. | Driggs City Council, WWTP 60% design (action item), housing procedures, Grand Targhee discussion |
| Tue, Jun 16 | Driggs–EPA meeting (venue not public) |
| Tue, Jun 16, 7 p.m. | Victor P&Z, Teton Valley Resort LLC annexation |
| Thu, Jun 18 | Music on Main opens, Victor (Built to Spill) |
| Sat, Jun 20 | Teton Rock Gym vacate deadline; EAA Young Eagles Day, Driggs-Reed airport |
| Mon, Jun 22, 9 a.m. | Teton County BOCC, regular meeting |
| Tue, Jun 23, 5 p.m. | Teton County P&Z and LDC workshop |
| Tue, Jun 23, 6 p.m. | Tetonia City Council, possible food-truck ordinance |
| Tue, Jun 23 | Teton 401 board SWOT session |
| Wed, Jun 24, 4 p.m. | Driggs-Reed Runway Shift community conversation |
| Wed, Jun 24 | Idaho BEQ, final FY2027 Clean Water SRF list (expected) |
| Wed, Jun 24, 6 p.m. | Victor City Council, regular session |
What We're Watching
Whichever way the council moves on the 60% design, the Driggs wastewater funding comes into focus June 24, when the state's Board of Environmental Quality adopts the final list that fixes the city's $25 million package. On the recall front, Victor Mayor Will Frohlich did not resign within the five business days Idaho Code §34-1707 gave him to step down and stop the recall, so the question heads to a special election, barring a resignation over the summer.
What to watch: Whether the BEQ's June 24 adoption locks in the Driggs wastewater financing as the draft list laid it out.