APPROVED MINUTES
The City Council held Meeting #1494 on Monday, May 21, 2018 in Council Chamber at City Hall.
Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Brent Teske.
Present were Ms. Williams, Ms. Smith, Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Beach, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Dufficy City Clerk/Treasurer Audray McCollum and City Administrator Jim Hammons.
Mr. Roy Yoder offered the prayer.
Approval of minutes from Council Meeting #1491 held on April 2nd, 2018.
Ms. Smith Made A Motion to approve meeting #1491.
Mr. Williams Second.
Mr. Dufficy recuse, all other Council members voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED:
Approval of minutes from Council Meeting #1492 held on April 16th, 2018
Mr. Zimmerman Made A Motion to approve Meeting #1492.
Ms. Williams Second.
Mr. Dufficy recuse, all other Council member vote FOR:
MOTION PASSED
Approval of minutes from special meeting for Preliminary Engineering Report Water held on May 7th, 2018.
Ms. Smith Made A Motion to approve the special meeting held on May 7th, 2018 for PER.
Mr. Zimmerman Second.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Approval of minutes from special meeting for Preliminary Engineering Report Water held on May 9th, 2018.
Mr. Zimmerman Made A Motion to approve the special meeting held on May 9th, 2018 for PER.
Mr. Beach Second.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Announcements:
Mayor Teske announced a ceremony at the cemetery and at the Veterans Memorial on Monday, Memorial Day. He mentioned a parade on Saturday and a BBQ cooking contest at Riverfront park.
Committee Reports:
Cemetery/Parks: None
Fire: None
Police: Chief Kessel had stats for the month of April. There were 217 calls, 17 arrests, 35 citations, and 8 crashes. He mentions the new officer Cody Dewitt was doing well. Chief Kessel said the department executed 2 search warrants for drugs recovering methamphetamine in both. The Chief said the City has a new animal control officer who is not a sworn Deputy. There was some discussion by the council on the crashes that occurred in April.
Ordinances: Ms. Smith said the committee will meet again on the 29th of May, and they should have a draft of the Chicken Ordinance for review.
Lights/Streets/Sidewalks: Mr. Beach said they have a been looking into the trash cans on Mineral and should have something for the next meeting.
Building: None.
Water/Sewer: Mr. Zimmerman told the Council that he and Mr. Beach met with some folks regarding a back up in their sewer that was potentially a City issue, after discussing it more it seemed more likely the home owners plumbing.
Personnel: None.
Budget: Ms. Williams said she needed to have a meeting to start the new budget. She was going to get together with the committee to set up a date and time.
Finance: Ms. McCollum mentions she had balanced for February.
City Administrators Report: Mr. Hammons said the plans for the Nevada sewer were submitted to DEQ for approval. He mentioned the Fire Wise project was moving forward.
Mr. Hammons said there was some vandalism at the splash pad at Fireman’s Park. The concrete was broken on the edges of the pad.
KRDC: Mr. Zimmerman said their meeting was postponed and rescheduled for June 3.
City/County Health Board: Mr. Thornton said the landfill will be taking E-Waste until August. The Public Health Dept. is doing mental health first aid classes for people in alcohol crisis.
There was discussion on what happens after August to the E-Waste program. It was grant funded and Mr. Thornton said he is not sure what will happen to the program.
Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items:
DC Orr. 1117 Nevada spoke about the EPA looking into his property. He asked EPA if the position statement provided by the Health Board protected him legally from liability in the ROD. He said the EPA can’t tell him that the statement can protect him legally. He said every property owner in the Super Fund site will have future liability and the position means nothing. He property being sold are not disclosing liability. He said this will drive down property values. He said the Council is not doing anything about the issue. He has told them in the past they needed to do something. He urged the Council to get with the Health Board to correct this issue.
There was more discussion from the Council regarding the future liability and if there was anything more they could do other that writing letters or passing resolutions.
New Business:
Vince Brown, Libby Volunteer Ambulance to discuss the future of LVA’s financial and personnel issues.
Mayor Teske said Mr. Brown had to reschedule for a later meeting.
Approve funding for the Fireman’s Park bathroom from Community Development Fund (2959) Ms. Williams discussed the changes in the cost of the new bathroom. She talked about an itemized list and added an optional water fountain. Other items were the transportation cost and the Montana state design drawings cost. The Council would like Mr. Hammons to call and find out why the state charges for the design and drawings cost. The Council mentioned there was a $15,000 donation from Rotary towards the bathroom.
Ms. Smith Made A Motion to move forward with the purchase of the bathroom for Fireman’s Park.
Mr. Zimmerman Second.
Public Comment:
DC Orr, 1117 Nevada, said he doesn’t have a photo of the bathroom but he has installed vault bathrooms for the State and Forest Service. He said you having to rush on this when you haven’t planned for it. He said in the past, when someone says we have to hurry, it ends up costing more money. He said he could make a few phone calls and save several thousands of dollars.
Allan Olsen, 33692 Hwy 2 commented that if we are in violation of the bathroom at the park are we not in violation of the bathroom at the Campground? Mr. Hammons responded that the other bathroom is connected to the sanitary sewer.
There was more discussion by the Council on the bathroom and the features that were included. Ms. Smith did say that the new bathroom has been discussed for a long time and was not just brought up.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED:
Approve Ordinance 1916. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Libby Montana amending certain chapters of title 10-vehicles and traffic. Second reading.
Mayor Teske read the new language in the amended ordinance. There was some discussion on the second reading. There was an issue with the second reading not being the same as the first reading. Mayor Teske said the second reading must be identical to the first reading. More discussion was brought up on changes to the ordinance. Mayor Teske said the ordinance had to be redrafted and tabled until the next meeting.
Approve five renewal business licenses received:
Ms. Williams Made A Motion to approve the renewal of the five-business license received.
Mr. Zimmerman Second.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Approve all new business licenses received:
• A helping Hand-675 E 5th St. Libby MT. Personal care, run errands, housekeeping, and MD appointments.
• Glenn Johnson-802 W. Balsam Ave. Commercial /Residential development remodeling,
renovation and maintenance.
Mr. Zimmerman Made A Motion to approve all new business licenses received.
Ms. Smith Second.
There was some discussion on the Glenn Johnson business licenses, regarding the location. The business licenses will be tabled until next meeting.
Council voted on the remain business licenses.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED:
Unfinished Business:
1) Libby Web Site Re-Design.
Ms. Williams commented on the progress of the web site design. Nate Condron is working on the draft site for review. There was Council discussion on the cost of the web site redesign.
2) Council Rules and Procedures.
Ms. Williams said she wanted to make sure the new Council member had the latest version to date. She had some question on replacing a Council member. There was discussion by the Council regarding the section on back ground checks, the letter of interest and resumes. Ms. Williams wants to have the project wrapped up by the end of June.
Public Comment:
DC Orr, 1117 Nevada, said the back-ground checks should be done, he said we want people with character on the Council.
3) Transparency Week June 3-8.
Ms. Smith said she put a few ideas together that Mr. Taylor and she came up with, since they really did not have a committee to work on it. She felt one of the biggest things to improve transparency is the new web site, including the agenda, an improved calendar, signup to get emails on meetings and times, financial information. There was a discussion on how the meeting would be setup on June 4th.
Public Comment:
Allen Olsen, 33692 Hwy 2 asked if we charged for FOIA requests. The Mayor said it takes time to put this information together. There was more discussion on charging people for the information.
DC Orr, 1117 Nevada, commented that the City Attorney did not have to be involved to release of public information. Mr. Orr said the transparency week was part of the settlement in October, and that the Council knew they were having the transparency in June. Mr. Orr said the Council should have put together a committee in October and invited the public. Mr. Orr stated he has talked to people in the community and they want transparency. There was more discussion on how the settlement lead to the transparency week.
General Comments from the Council:
Mr. Dufficy brought up how we charge for City Business Licenses. He was questioning why a small business pays the same as a large business. He said other places where he lived would charge a flat fee and then a percentage of sales. Mayor Teske said it has always been a flat fee.
Ms. Williams said she updated the committee list. There was discussion by the Council on the terms the member served. She asked where we were on the Fluoride in the water. Mayor Teske said he has not heard any more about the issue. Ms. Williams said she found some old minutes and information regarding the fee schedule, and she also contacted Darrin Coldwell at the County for a copy of their policy. Ms. Williams talked about software that could be used to copy all the Cities records and store them for easy access. She would like to research more into this for the City. She has set up a demonstration for this on Thursday, May 31th.
Adjournment:
Ms. Williams Made A Motion to adjourn the meeting.
Ms. Smith Second.
All voted FOR:
MOTION PASSED.
Meeting adjourned at 8:18 pm.
_______________________
Mayor; Brent Teske
__________________________________
Attest; Clerk/Treasurer Audray J. McCollum
Transcribed by Jim Hammons.