Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Ketchum mulls raising percent-for-art ordinance

Arts commission seeks more money for future projects


By ERIC AVISSAR
Express Staff Writer


    The Ketchum City Council is considering amending its percent-for-art ordinance to increase from 1.33 percent to 5 percent of the portion of money spent on capital improvement projects that is required to go toward local art projects.
    While the council did not approve the amended ordinance during Monday’s meeting, it unanimously passed the first reading of the revisions, and will further discuss ratification during its next meeting on March 17.
    If the amended ordinance is passed, the 5 percent for art will apply to all eligible capital improvement projects under $1 million. The council would use its discretion in determining how much to spend for art on projects costing more than that.
    Under the ordinance, the city can have the percentage of art either go directly toward artwork on the capital improvement project or toward making art elsewhere within the city.
Arts Commission Chair Claudia McCain said that because no eligible projects have been implemented since the ordinance was passed in 2011, no money has gone into the commission. City Administrator Gary Marks said the recession has forced the city to cut funding for many capital improvement projects, but he is optimistic the ordinance can help the commission move forward as the economy recovers.
Ketchum Arts Commission member Trina Peters said the commission is operating on a very tight budget, and wanted to see the percentage rise to improve the output of art projects in the city.
    “A major part of what we have to budget for is the artist’s fees,” Peters said. “We need to cover their fees, not just the construction, so a lot of time, effort and money are going into this.”
    Marks said he initially brought attention to the ordinance because he felt it was too complex in regard to distinguishing which projects it applies to.
    “Statute stipulates that we cannot include utility, water or wastewater projects to the city’s applicable projects under the percent-for-art ordinance,” Marks said. “However, utility projects below ground are exempt, while above ground are not. The ordinance should straight up say all of those projects are exempt.”
    Marks also said the presumption that all water and wastewater projects are built underground is not always correct. As a result, he proposed changes to improve understanding and implementation of the ordinance.
    “This will streamline the entire process,” he said. “It will become more predictable and transparent to the public.”





About Comments

Comments with content that seeks to incite or inflame may be removed.

Comments that are in ALL CAPS may be removed.

Comments that are off-topic or that include profanity or personal attacks, libelous or other inappropriate material may be removed from the site. Entries that are unsigned or contain signatures by someone other than the actual author may be removed. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or any other policies governing this site. Use of this system denotes full acceptance of these conditions. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing, Inc.

You may flag individual comments. You may also report an inappropriate or offensive comment by clicking here.

Flagging Comments: Flagging a comment tells a site administrator that a comment is inappropriate. You can find the flag option by pointing the mouse over the comment and clicking the 'Flag' link.

Flagging a comment is only counted once per person, and you won't need to do it multiple times.

Proper Flagging Guidelines: Every site has a different commenting policy - be sure to review the policy for this site before flagging comments. In general these types of comments should be flagged:

  • Spam
  • Ones violating this site's commenting policy
  • Clearly unrelated
  • Personal attacks on others
Comments should not be flagged for:
  • Disagreeing with the content
  • Being in a dispute with the commenter

Popular Comment Threads



 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.