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"With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed. Molding opinion is greater than laws." Abe Lincoln
Allen Bump Fact Findings
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
May 12, 2026
This group is too green to be making recommendations at this time. Some thought we already have a golf pro, city council has not approved anything! Link below of May 4, 2026 meeting for your review.As you can see it appears that someone is pushing for a city employee golf pro and city owned and operate the golf pro shop. (Mayor Rich Sykes writes the agendas) City should not be in the retail business and what was wrong with how things were ran by TJ? (Hybrid)City has been in control for almost two years and look at how it has been ran. City already paying someone $60,000 a year to run course and a pro on top of that, is someone losing their job? Also in documents are the financials that were handed out at the meeting.Mayor Rich Sykes also buying golf equipment for pro shop with his spending limit of $5,000 (does not need council approval) also outside of golf budget, funds taken from Idaho Power Grant! City council has not approved any of this.Please plan to attend tonight’s city council meeting.
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
May 12, 2026
This group is too green to be making recommendations at this time. Some thought we already have a golf pro, city council has not approved anything! Link below of May 4, 2026 meeting for your review.As you can see it appears that someone is pushing for a city employee golf pro and city owned and operate the golf pro shop. (Mayor Rich Sykes writes the agendas) City should not be in the retail business and what was wrong with how things were ran by TJ? (Hybrid)City has been in control for almost two years and look at how it has been ran. City already paying someone $60,000 a year to run course and a pro on top of that, is someone losing their job? Also in documents are the financials that were handed out at the meeting.Mayor Rich Sykes also buying golf equipment for pro shop with his spending limit of $5,000 (does not need council approval) also outside of golf budget, funds taken from Idaho Power Grant! City council has not approved any of this.Please plan to attend tonight’s city council meeting.
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
Beginnings of the Golf Advisory Committee
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
May 12, 2026
This group is too green to be making recommendations at this time. Some thought we already have a golf pro, city council has not approved anything! Link below of May 4, 2026 meeting for your review.As you can see it appears that someone is pushing for a city employee golf pro and city owned and operate the golf pro shop. (Mayor Rich Sykes writes the agendas) City should not be in the retail business and what was wrong with how things were ran by TJ? (Hybrid)City has been in control for almost two years and look at how it has been ran. City already paying someone $60,000 a year to run course and a pro on top of that, is someone losing their job? Also in documents are the financials that were handed out at the meeting.Mayor Rich Sykes also buying golf equipment for pro shop with his spending limit of $5,000 (does not need council approval) also outside of golf budget, funds taken from Idaho Power Grant! City council has not approved any of this.Please plan to attend tonight’s city council meeting.
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
June 3, 2026
On May 12, 2026 council members exposed a check from Idaho Power Company to city of Mountain Home in the amount of $1,050,000.00 (copy below) due to Bennett power station. Mayor determined to put into general admin budget, which mayor controls. Then paid for $4,900.06 of golf equipment for golf course prior to city council approval of bill run. Mayors needs before city of Mountain Home, IE WASTEWATER! Why has mayor not mentioned these funds to citizens of Mountain Home?Council asked that golf equipment be returned (link below of meeting, starts at 40:44 for full discussion. Bill run approved except the $4,900.06, city council has not approved how golf course is to be operated.Meeting of May26, 2026 a council member asked for update on Wilson golf equipment, mayor stated can not return, Wilson’s not in the business of taking clubs but giving clubs. LADIES AND GENTLEMAN…THAT IS A LIE! See invoices below. Is this what Mayor Rich Sykes thinks transparency is?Special meeting tonight at 5pm, agenda item: Discussion regarding Wilson golf equipment, this meeting called by a city council member.
GOLF ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND REINSTATE RESOLUTION 20-2025R
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY GAP REPORT WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
April l27, 2026 City council asked that the position for golf advisory committee be posted on city website and city said they would by the 9th of April. Instead Mayor Rich Sykes put his decision in the city council packet for the April 14th city council meeting (attached photo) nothing posted for citizens to apply. As you can see council removed the golf concessionaire due to contract with city. Council approved the rest but last Thursday the 23rd the first advisory committee meeting it was exposed that one individual lives in Boise and another is a city employee at the golf course. Mayor Rich Sykes should have been transparent to the council and citizens of Mountain Home. If you watched the video of the meeting, you would see how mayor Sykes and councilman Harjo controlled it, when councilman Sanders is the liaison to the committee. Mayor got up and sat in audience for awhile before leaving. Link below to meeting.Both mayor and Harjo voted against the golf advisory committee, now wanting to control it. Look what’s happened to the golf course with mayor/city control! Plus where is public involvement as councilman McCarthy has requested?City council agenda for April 28th has an action item: in regards to reinstate resolution 20-2025R to reinstate the planning and zoning commission to serve in the capacity of the (DIFAC) development impact fee committee. Who has mayor Sykes and councilman Harjo got to change their vote? Mayor would not bring this back up unless it was going to go through. Just like with the military liaison contract, mayor brought it back up and councilman Harjo changed his vote to make it a tie of which mayor broke tie to continue the contract for military liaison. Is this not a conflict of interest, to persuade a vote? We will see what happens tomorrow night!https://youtu.be/h9vb6p_8oN8
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY GAP REPORT WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
MAYOR RICH SYKES CALLED OUT AND EXPOSED AT LAST TWO COUNCIL MEETINGS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY GAP REPORT WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
April 23, 2026
Photos are from presentation at City Council April 14, 2026 by Dale King. Link below starts at 47:00 min.Mountain Home has the workforce, the cost structure and the location-but lacks the infrastructure and site inventory to compete along with water and wastewater issues.Chobani yogurt by passed us due to water and wastewater issues which food industries use, they decided on Twin Falls ID instead.MHAFB and Micron asking for housing but we need industries to support water, wastewater, edu’s for level of growth.Mayor Rich Sykes asked Brock Cherry former Community Development Director to only focus on housing developments not industries which we need to support infrastructure.Mayor stated that night that his priority is the future of Mountain Home but residential taxes are carrying the load.Where and what happened to the impact fees that have been collected? New growth is what should pay for infrastructure, not the tax payers.Mayor Sykes has done nothing with wastewater for the twelve years he has been in office, even with all the money that has been paid to Keller & Associates for advice on what needs to be done. More on that with my next post.Eric Orr, chairman of Mountain Home Irrigation District also spoke that night and gave update Lil Camas is dry and tunnels need work. But mayor unwilling to work with County to help get water into the aquifer and Lil Camas.But keep building those housing developments of which certain individuals are making money off of. We need more grocery stores, veterinary’s and entertainment!
Golf Course
Lid # 2 Fiber
MAYORS EMAIL
April 12, 2026
WHEN CONTROL/MICROMANAGINGBECOMES A MESS IN THE CITY OF MOUNTAIN HOME ID
.Major individual behind the golf course fiasco is Mayor Rich Sykes then golf course superintendent and an ex councilman.TJ Gomez is pulling out of Desert Canyon Golf Course all together.Mayor paid a consultant $22,000 to be told that the pro was running the course fine. Pressured the golf pro who was the heartbeat of the entire operation all because Mayor wanted control, now states there are issues since under City/Mayors control. Which it’s going to cost the tax payers to fix it.City thinks they can hire a golf pro at $30 an hour, less then who is currently running golf course into the ground.City council requesting return of the golf course advisory board of which Mayor Sykes is trying to control the placement, which he was the one that ended the board in the first place.Ex councilwoman mentioned city clerk’s figures were wrong in first workshop which was not recorded by city.Mayor has also stated new golf carts getting damaged while no one is being held accountable.Below are comments from citizens to a survey that councilman McCarthy conducted and presented at the last city council workshop on the 3rd of April.TJ Gomez did a lot for the golf/school community and we are now losing him and his family as citizens of Mountain Home.City posted last week on facebook that they do not bully or discriminate?????Mayor should have left the golf course alone, it was doing fine with no complaints.
MAYORS EMAIL
Lid # 2 Fiber
MAYORS EMAIL
In the City Council packet from March 24th, below is an email Mayor Rich Sykes sent to the City Council, Public Works Director Chris Curtis, City Clerk Tif Belt, and Airport Manager Thomas Hoegg. It was in Tuesday’s city council packet. This email is attacking a citizen of Mountain Home, ID.I went up to Mr. Thompson Tuesday night and asked if he gets the packet and he replied no so I handed him a copy of mayors email. He spoke during the three minute recognizing persons in the audience of what he thought of the email. Link of meeting below. Mayor was MIA but his cohorts were present (not including city council).During action item #4 discussion with airport manager Tom Hoegg about frequency concerns a city council member mentioned how inappropriate this email was.Mayor Rich Sykes is not a leader, what he is doing is polarizing the citizens of Mountain Home ID, while he sits back and watches the turmoil.Email in question was addressed to city council, so mayors email to city council would be considered a conflict of interest declaration, an attempt in persuading a decision.I also included emails from Mr Thompson, Tom Mahoney and AJ Lewis all part of city packet.If issues with this are not addressed it could cause more lawsuits against the city.
Lid # 2 Fiber
Lid # 2 Fiber
Proposed Water/Wastewater Increase
March 23, 2026
Here we go again, ex-councilman Brennan on June 24, 2025 tabled LID#2 indefinitely until LID#1 completed, gets paid back and shows to be successful, all city council agreed. Now on February 10, 2026 Mayor Rich Sykes put LID#2 on agenda (photo below). Sykes said was tabled prior to see how payments were for LID#1, this is INCORRECT! There are also still homeowners with yard damage, some homeowners have fixed damage themselves due to city taking to long to correct and city has refused to reimburse them. Most are ones who did not opt-in.
Same night February 10, 2026 councilman McCarthy presented a spreadsheet showing expenditures far outweighing revenue from 1/1/24 thru 12/1/25 for LID#1 (photo below). Large revenue on August 1, 2025 is loan to pay the bond, as of December 1, 2025 bond not paid?
Is Mayor Rich Sykes trying to rush LID#2 so when Railroad Park Project completed, city doing in-kind work will start on LID#2? There are no ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to start LID#2.
At end of last city council meeting March 10, 2026 Mayor Rich Sykes stated he is not a man of debt but it appears that is not the same as being Mayor for how much debt he has put the city of Mountain Home in and continues to do so.
See below special city council meeting scheduled for April 3, 2026 at 9:30am for City Fiber Optic Utility. Next one is to be a public workshop with public input.
Proposed Water/Wastewater Increase
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
Proposed Water/Wastewater Increase
March 5, 2026
Important correction and statement on city’s transparency.
Citizens of Mountain Home have become aware that inaccurate information regarding the proposed water and wastewater rate increase is circulating from a flyer in homeowners city’s utility bill from the desk of Mayor Rich Sykes (March 2026 newsletter) city of Mountain Home (photo below).
The truth, three council members DENIED not tabled the proposed water and wastewater increase. Main reason was funds from these utilities are being used towards the railroad park project just like what happened with fiber Lid#1. All while we are having issues with our water and wastewater.
Charts below also show how much has been spent from these utilities to Keller & Associates in the last two years. Mayor has done nothing that Keller has suggested needs to be done of which millions have been spent with Keller in the last ten years.
Also a chart below of the in-kind work being done for fourteen days in February 2026 showing city employees salaries and city equipment from streets, water and wastewater enterprise funds for railroad park project.
Thank you city council for bring these issues to the citizens attention. This is true transparency and collaboration. Keller & Associates and public workshops need to be implemented before going forward.
DIFAC Development Impact Fee Advisory Committee
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
February 16, 2026
Mayor Rich Sykes terminated the former DIFAC appointments on September 23, 2025 due to them getting close to exposing him and the city. Councilwoman Wirkkala voted against this. Councilman McCarthy use to be on that committee. City and mayor refused/ignored public records and meetings with Keller & associates that were requested by McCarthy.
McCarthy helped tackle challenges critical to our community’s future: street and road improvements, wastewater infrastructure, EMS impact fees with, county and city’s capital improvement plan (CIP).
Mayor Rich Sykes placed DIFAC on the current planning & zoning committee as of December 16, 2025 which they have no experience, which in turn they are starting all over with DIFAC.
Last P&Z meeting January 20, 2026 commissioner Cristina Drake stated as an industry professional with knowledge (realtor) my concern would be entry level builders to potential cut corners because they have to pay all these impact fees and potentially having high end builders just completely walk away because their higher finishes are going to cost extra and on top of that they have higher fees. (Builders have commented they will pay the fees).
Thank goodness P&Z chairman Kristopher Wallaert stated lowering impact fees then taxes will go up putting the burden of new growth on the citizens of Mountain Home instead of burden being on the developers because they are the ones causing the problem within the city.
GROWTH SHOULD PAY FOR GROWTH!
We need individuals with experience in these positions.
P&Z use to meet twice a month, changed to once a month then DIFAC placed on them by mayor Rich Sykes.
Councilman McCarthy emailed mayor February 6, 2026 to request an agenda item be added to the upcoming February 10th city council agenda to terminate resolution #20-2025R for purpose of removing DIFAC duties from P&Z commission and re-establishing the DIFAC as an independent body (see photo below). What does the mayor do but place an action item acknowledging and cure an inadvertent Open Meeting Law violation that occurred on February 6, 2026 (photo below). Mayors way to avoid city council from voting on this and delaying it. It did get removed from the agenda that night and city attorney Paul Fritz explained there was no violation (mayor writes the agenda).
Special meeting with P&Z and city council to be held February 24, 2026.
Same question today as has been brought up before, where are all the funds that have been collected for impact fees from all the commercial/developments that have been built?
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
RESOLUTION #19-2026R RESIDENTIAL IRRIGATION AND CITY SELLING OUR WATER
June 6, 2026
As some have already seen the below resolution from this weeks city council packet.Besides this only being for residential properties, city continues to operate watering city parks, golf course, building a splash pad at railroad park, maintain city pool and new housing projects.Additionally city has been selling our water. Notice the many water tankers hooking up to hydrants around town? The below invoices show what has been taken from Legacy Park in two months 273,000 gallons of water for solar farm on other side of I84 for dust suppressant. New invoice coming 6/15/26.Our Mayor Rich Sykes has also refused to work with county on the Mountain Home declining plateau aquifer!This resolution needs to include the entire city, not just residential and stop selling our water!