APPROVED
The City Council held meeting # 1505 on Monday, November 5, 2018, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Teske.
Present were Mrs. Williams, Ms. Smith, Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Beach, Mr. Dufficy, Mr. Taylor, City Administrator Jim Hammons, City Clerk Audray McCollum and City Attorney Dean Chisolm.
Mr. Zimmerman Made a Motion to approve the minutes from meeting #1504 held on October 15, 2018.
Mr. Beach Second.
Williams, Smith, Zimmerman, Beach, Dufficy, Taylor voted FOR.
MOTION PASSED.
Announcements: Mayor Teske asked everyone to vote in tomorrow’s election. Teske read a Thank You letter from Tom Wood regarding the sidewalk project at St. Joseph’s and thanked the city crew and Corky Pape for a job well done. Teske invited the public to participate in Veterans Day activities.
Committee Reports:
City Administrator: Mr. Hammons said the Flower Creek project was complete, slash piles will be burnt next fall. Hammons said the leaf pick up went well; the city will pick up additional leaf’s Nov 8 and 9th.
Fire: There were 5 calls for the month of October 2 in the city and 3 rural.
Police: Chief Kessel reported there were 273 calls for service. 19 citations were issued ,15 arrests, 2 DUI arrest and 1 search warrant for drugs. Kessel said all the new vehicles are in and are in the process of transferring equipment. The vehicles should be on the road by the end of the month. Sargent Shorts last day will be December 7, and the City is currently looking for his replacement.
Council Comments followed:
Resolutions/Ordinances: The Ordinance committee met on October 16th to begin reviewing the recommended zoning changes. The next meeting will be November 13 at 6:15 pm.
Lights/Streets/Sidewalks: The streets committee met and discussed some alley issue.
Building: None.
Water/Sewer: None
Cemetery/Parks: None.
Finance: Tuesday, November 13th Denning and Downey will be on site to do FY 18-year-end.
KRDC: Meeting November 15.
City-County Board of Heath: Meeting November 14th.
Public Comment on Non- Agenda Items: None
New Business:
Council Approval for the National League of Cities Service Line Warranty.
Mr. Zimmerman said the committee met and discussed the service plan.
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to accept the Nation League of Cities Service Line Warranty Program.
Mr. Dufficy SECOND.
Council discussion followed:
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Council Approval for the yearly membership ($75.00) for the Libby Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Teske said he went through the past minutes and could not find where the council had approved the Chamber membership. Teske would like to do an annual review and participation for the membership.
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to approve the yearly membership to the Libby Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Beach SECOND.
Council discussion followed.
Public Comment:
Amber Pacheco Holm, board member Libby Chamber of Commerce, said “it was great the hear the positive feedback. The city and the Chamber are a very important partnership to promote and support our community. The board has worked hard to revitalize the Chamber and are actively engaging and promoting tourism and relocation to Libby.” Holms said it is important that the City and Chamber are community leaders together. The Chamber would like to help the City inform the community for upcoming events.
Bruce Vincent thanked the city for the relationship between the Chamber and City.
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Council Approval to reopen the alley on the 1100 block of Montana located between Spruce and Larch St.
Council was presented with a plot map and photo. Mr. Beach said the street committee met and said the alley was not abandoned and is an official alley of the City of Libby. Mr. Beach went over the pictures and plot map with the council.
Mr. Beach said the committee suggests issuing letters to the residents stating this is city property and an existing alley. Beach said the city would have to prune some trees and reestablish the alley. In the current state, utility companies cannot go north to south to maintain lines.
This was brought to the council by an adjacent property owner.
Council discussion followed:
Council discussed whether these alley issues could be handled by the City Administrator or if they needed to come to the council. Council decided they would be handled on a case by case bases on advice from the city administrator.
Ms. Smith MADE A MOTION to affirm the existence of the alley on the 1100 block of Montana Ave. as identified in the retracements of the particular survey 3732 and direct staff to make contact with the landowners and further rehabilitate the alley.
Mr. Beach SECOND.
Public Comment:
Scott Thompson,182 Riverview,said “in the past, a lot of agreements were made with a handshake, and property owners may be under the understanding that they own the property. To have someone say you don’t own that property ,they might become contentious. The wise thing to do is look at the survey and to verify what you are doing is legal. Council needs to be transparent. Council needs to look at the safety of the property for emergency services accessing the property.”
Teske said the committee did take these factors into consideration and this will improve the access for emergency services.
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Council approval of all new business licenses received to date.
• Top Mop.
• Stytches Consignment and Thrift store.
• Axiom Northwest Construction.
Mr. Dufficy MADE A MOTION to approve all new business licenses.
Ms. Smith SECOND.
Council Discussion:
Mrs. Williams asked if Stytches Consignment needed a business license because it was an online business?
Mayor Teske said the ordinance did not clarify an online business and this needs to be addressed.
Ms. Smith AMENDED THE MOTION to withdraw Stytches Consignment and Thrift Store.
Mr. Beach clarified “the reason the license was withdrawn was that of location, if the business was located within the city, a license would be required.”
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Council Approval for all Claims and Payroll for October 2018.
Mr. Zimmerman MADE A MOTION to accept the claims and payroll for October 2018.
Ms. Smith SECOND.
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Libby Web Site Re-Design:
Mrs. Williams said, “the committee is back in contact with Nate and reviewing what needs to happen to move forward.” Currently, Nate is transferring minutes to Word Press; this will make searching the minutes more user-friendly. Williams does not have a timeline for the completion of the project; it is an ongoing process and very time-consuming.
Council Rules and Procedure:
Mrs. Williams said the Council Rules and Procedures had been complete until the 2 items within appointing board members and commissions had been identified. Mr. Chisholm and Mrs. Williams are working on the wording.
General Comments from the Council:
Ms. Smith said “there was a lot of chatter about the planning board minutes and she recognized they were not on the cities website. However, that does not mean they were not available, and the city has not received any request for minutes until recently.” Smith said, “the city held off on posting the minutes until the new website was done.” Smith said “the website is not the sole source for information for the city. You can contact the city and ask for items at any time.”
Smith encouraged folks that are not familiar with planning boards or fearful of their role to look at other communities that have a planning board and function very well. The State Department of Commerce has a lot of resources available to the public on the role of planning boards. Smith stated, “Planning Boards play a critical role in governing bodies to have a citizen advisory board.”
Smith asked Mr. Hammons if there was an update on the Way Finding signs. Hammons is waiting to hear back from the state; he has sent them numerous emails regarding permitting.
Mrs. Williams said there would be a trails meeting tomorrow night at the Venture at 7 pm. Mrs. Williams would like to have council pick a representative to attend these meetings.
Mr. Beach said these meetings are very important, and a representative can only give you their viewpoint. Beach said council needs to attend these as a group as often as they can.
Mrs. Williams agreed she just wants to make sure that someone always attends.
Adjournment:
Mr. Dufficy MADE a MOTION to adjourn the meeting.
Mr. Zimmerman SECOND.
Williams, Zimmerman, Beach, Taylor, Dufficy voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
The meeting ADJOURNED at 7:57 pm.
__________________ Attest; ______________________
Mayor
Brent Teske Audray J. McCollum, City Clerk/Treasurer