Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 10.04.1994Minutes of the City Council of Laurel October 4, 1994 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Laurel., Montana, was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Charles Rodgers at 7:00 p.m., on October 4, 1994. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: John Minch Albert Ehrlick Lonnie Kellogg Donna Kilpatrick Gay Easton Chuck Dickerson Ron Marshall Bob Graham COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Reverend Peterson. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 20, 1994, as presented, seconded by Alderman Ehrlick. Motion carried 8--0. CORRESPONDENCE: Received a letter from the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Waste Management Division, regarding jet fodder pumping and the seeding of High Point City Park. The state considers these two complaints closed. Received a letter from Yvonne Morrisey protesting Judge Herman's raise. Received the annual report from the Yellowstone City-County Health Departmen~ for fiscal year 1993-94. CLAIMS: Claims for the month of September were reviewed by the Budget/Finance Committee and recommended that they be paid. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to approve all claims in the amount of $236,091.70 for the month of September, 1994, seconded by Alderman Minch'. Motion carried 8--0. ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING HOME OCCUPATION FEE: Cal Cumin explained there are only a few home occupations that are allowed under city code. The majority of the applications, 95%, are from people who come up with an idea to make money out of their home. Residential zones are for residency and one man's home occupation can spell trouble for his neighbor. The Planning Board spends a lot of time reviewing applications for home occupations. They are not supported by the Laurel Comprehensive Planning which the city council adopted. This states that commercial activities go into commercial districts. The Planning Board proposes changing the home occupation request form. Cal stated it is never filled out properly because on the bottom of the form, there is a paragraph that asks the applicant to list their neighbors. The Planning Board is changing the form so that the applicant is required to list the name, address~ and telephone number of all residents who live within 100 feet of their property line. The applicant also has to contact each neighbor and indicate whether the person supports or opposes the home occupation and the neighbor has to sign it. The Planning Board is also requiring that a $ 25.00 fee be attached to the application when it is submitted to the city. The fee will help cover the cost of administering the program. If the form is not properly filled out~ it is grounds for denial of the form. Discussion followed regarding the fees involved in getting a home occupation which are a business license, fire inspection fee and the home occupation fee. Cal feels that if a person is starting a business, $ 100.00 is not much to get you through the city process. It was stated that the downtown businesses incur more fees and higher taxes and the home occupations are in competition with them. Cal said the Planning Board recommends that the form be adopted, the fee be attached and they request that the money from the fees go into the Planning Board's budget. Joe Leckie suggested that the fee be established by resolution instead of by Minutes of the City Council of Page 2 Council Meeting of October 4, 1994 Laurel Don Hackmann supported what Joe was saying because each time a change is made to an ordinance, it is expensive to make the change in our ordinance book. Motion by Alderman Graham to direct Joe Leckie to draft an ordinance for a home occupation fee and to adopt the fee by resolution~ seconded by Alderman Ehrlick. Motion carried 8--0. ORDINANCE VACATING STREETS & ALLEYS: Cal. stated that the council previously talked about charging for the vacating of streets and alleys and directed the Planning Board to come up with some kind of proposal for council's consideration. The Planning Board recommended that when a vacation involves a piece of land that is larger than the normal street or alley right-of-way, the city will charge a fee for it and the fee will be determined by a Montana real estate appraisal licensed appraiser or by two licensed Montana real estate brokers who are familiar with Laurel and the prices. The council would have no say in the price, it would be determined by the appraiser. Lonnie stated he has always been opposed to giving land away and the council turned down the last request, which was an alley. Regardless of the size, Lonnie feels we should be charging for it. It doesn't matter whether or not the land actually cost the city money, there are costs involved in police and fire protection and weed control. He feels the city should benefit from it and receive compensation for it. The Mayor stated that Joe Leckie has done some research into this and found tha6 if it is public right-of-way, the city cannot sell it. Joe said the logic is that the city received public right-of-way from the adjacent property owners and the city is limited in what it can do in the right-of-way. It can construct streets, sidewalks, alleys and control certain things that happen in the right-of-way. Joe needs to find out if the city can transfer it's interest in the public right-of-way to some other entity. This is different than the city owning property outright, with a deed. The city doesn't own public right-of-way by deed, rather because the right-of-way was dedicated to the city. If the city owns it by deed, we can sell it. If we own a public right-of-way, Joe needs to check and see if we can sell or transfer the right-of-way interest or if we can just eliminate our public interest, whereby the property would revert back to the adjacent property owners. In regard to a question, Cai Cumin said this would probably be determined more by case law than anything else. Seldom would it be the adjacent property owners who actually put the property up in the first place. How the city actually obtained the land would be taken into consideration too. The council asked the Planning Board for a recommendation and Cai stated that it is just a recommendation. It was suggested that no decision be made until more information can be obtained. Joe said he should have a legal opinion within a couple of weeks and it can be brought before the council at that time. COMMITTEE REPORTS: --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of September 20, 1994 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter minutes of September 20, 1994, into the record, Motion carried 8--0. the Budget/Finance Committee seconded by Alderman Easton. --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of September 20, 1994 were presented. Motion by Alderman Marshall to Whole minutes of September 20, 1994, Graham. Motion carried 8--0. enter the City Council Committee of the into the record, seconded by Alderman COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Bob Graham stated there will be a Garbage Committee meeting on Tuesday, October llth at 5:00 p.m. Page 3 Council Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Meeting of October 4, 1994 in. He was very disappointed that he wasn't here when the comments were made. One thing Mr. Herman mentioned was that a certain alderman was often late to the council meetings and to committee meetings he is involved in. Chuck said he was disappointed that none of the council members found it appropriate, at that time~ to mention to Mr. Herman that he came before the council in June stating that he had a conflict due to his work schedule and he was unable to meet the time elements of the meetings. Chuck said the temporary schedule he was on has now become a permanent schedule. He will be working Monday through Thursday until 7:00 p.m. Chuck asked the council to make a decision regarding whether or not they want him to continue as an alderman or if he should turn in his resignation. He said he cannot serve on the council with the other aldermen if he cannot have their support. The Mayor said this is a decision that needs to be made by Chuck and not the council, since he was elected by the people in his Ward. The Mayor said the council cannot adjust it's schedule around Chuck's working hours. The permission Chuck asked for was on a temporary basis and at the time~ Chuck said that if his work schedule continued and it interfered with meetings~ he would have to withdraw. Chuck Dickerson said he will make a decision on this at the next council meeting. Albert Ehrlick asked permission to leave the state October 7th - 20th. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to grant Albert Ehrlick permission to leave the state, seconded by Alderman Marshall. Motion carried 8--0. Jlm Flisrand stated he received a letter from Morrison & Maierle, requesting another meeting with the Steering Committee on the water treatment plant to review the agreement for engineering services. Once the meeting date has been set, Jim will inform the council members. The Mayor mentioned that the Steering Committee members are as follows: Bob Graham Gay Easton Jon Rutt Dave Michael Albert Ehrlick John Berg Jim Flisrand Chuck Rodgers The Mayor welcomed Jim Flisrand aboard and stated he has been working hard the past two weeks. Donna also welcomed Jim back to the city. MAYOR'S COMMENTS: The Mayor thanked members of the Fire Department for the work they did on the heating system at the FAP. We were quoted a price of $ 1,600.00 to fix it and these men fixed it for around $ 100.00~ thereby saving the city $ 1,500.00. The Mayor thanked Bob Graham and gon Marshall. for running the council meeting last time. There being no further business to come before the council at this time, meeting was adjourned at 7:36 p.m. Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk the Approved by the Mayor and passed Montana, this 18th day of Ogtober, ATTEST: Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk by the City Council of the city of Laurel, 1994.