KUNA, Idaho — The City of Kuna has a new space for public meetings, one that city leaders say will better accommodate growth and encourage more community participation.
The new council chambers are located right across the parking lot from City Hall and can hold up to 260 people — more than triple the capacity of the previous meeting room, which allowed a maximum of 71 people.
“So if we had anything really big, we had people standing out in the hallways and I don’t think that’s a good way to run a public hearing,” Kuna Mayor Joe Stear said.
WATCH | See inside the new building and hear from Mayor Stear
Stear said the city outgrew its old meeting space and needed an upgrade.
“The amount of places that we had for community meetings, really there’s very few and so this can help provide that,” Stear said.
The project cost about $2.2 million to build. Stear said the funding came from growth-related revenue and new building permits.
“The citizens that live in the city of Kuna, unless you moved here recently, you didn’t have to help pay for this,” Stear said.
The new building includes greatly expanded seating, larger desks for city officials, a conference room, kitchenette, new bathrooms and office space.
Neighborhood Reporter Brady Caskey talked to neighbors around town, many said they were unaware of the project or do not regularly attend City Council meetings. Stear said he hopes the new venue will help change that.
“We just want everybody to feel welcome here, more participation in public meetings is always appreciated,” Stear said.
The city also plans to make the new chambers available for HOA meetings and other community gatherings.
Meanwhile, the old meeting room inside City Hall will be converted into Kuna’s first DMV branch. City leaders hope to open it sometime next year.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
