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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Minutes 06.21.1994MINUTES CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE JUNE 21, 1994 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman- Chuck Rodgers Ron Marshall Chuck Dickerson Albert Ehrlick Gay Easton John Minch Donna Kilpatrick Bob Graham Lonnie Kellogg OTHERS PRESENT: V. Joe Leckie Vicki Metzger Dave Michael Don Hackmann John Rosenberg Cal Cumin Chuck Dickerson said that his place of employment has decided to work 4 ten hour days (8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) Monday through Thursday, beginning around the 1st of July. This is going to be on a trial basis for about 3 months. During that time he will not be able to attend the Council of the Whole meeting and committee meetings, and will be late for council meetings. Bob Graham reported that he has had several complaints on the road to the golf course at West 9th Street and 12th Avenue. They have something there for skateboarders and now they are dismantling a car in the street. They have a rack up and the motor lifted out, and oil and transmission fluid has leaked out onto the street. Bob turned this into the Police department. John Rosenberg said that Officer Musson went up there and gave him a 24-hour notice to clean it up. Albert Ehrlick was concerned about the way the drain pipe at the IGA parking lot was done. He thought there could be problems in the future if they should decide to install sidewalks. Chuck Rodgers said that Jim Worthington was handling this, but he is out of town for awhile. Donna Kilpatrick has had several complaints about the dip at 4th Avenue and 3rd Street. The water drainage is now causing a problem at the next corner. This appears to be a long range problem that needs to be addressed, directing the water from the north to other areas. Donna has had several complaints about the business where the Haus of Realty was. Most people thought that it was residential and they are very upset that it went retail. She had heard that he was also going to refinish furniture there. Vicki will look into this. . Chuck Rodgers said that he has been by there at least 8 times during the last 2 weeks and he has not seen any activity at all. I . Donna said that she goes by there just about every day and she has not seen any activity either. It was mentioned that there were 2 public hearings on this business. Cal Cumin said that they were allowed to sell things there, but not to refinish furniture. This was council action about a year ago when they extended the commercial nature at this location. Gay Easton said that last week he visited with a state forester regarding a tree program. He also talked about all of the ash trees that are diseased and dying in the laurel area. He will try to get an expert in here to see what is wrong with these trees. There is a tree planting program for $5,000 to $10,000 grants that require matching funds, which could be in-kind services. South Pond would be a good area to start such a program. He will put together a plan and present it to the Council and Park Board in July. Dave Michael said the pool needs more patching. Thomson Pools is working on it and hopefully it will open in a few days. Vicki brought up a problem that contractors that the City hire do not have city licenses. She has contacted them and they get pretty upset finding out about the requirement after they get the bid or are hired. We need to be more careful in the future, because the local contractors complain also when other contractors do not have a license. Don reported that the preliminary budget will be presented to the Council on July 19th. Normally the Council gets this document earlier but this year the County Commissioners are trying to decide if they should add 1/2`6 to the vehicle licenses. If they do Laurel will receive about $48,400. The Budget/Finance Committee would like to get that into the preliminary budget and add back in some expenditures that were cut, and also to add back to the reserves which were used to balance the 1994-95 budget. The Budget/Finance Committee will meet on July 7th instead of on July 5th to review the claims for June. This will give a couple more days to get invoices processed for the end of our fiscal year. Along with that a special council meeting will be necessary at 5:00 p.m. on July 7th to approve the claims. Tonight the audit bid will be awarded to Steve Cosner, CPA, who was the only bidder for the 1993-94 audit. The state required that anyone auditing government entities must be on a roster. Steve is on a temporary roster at the present time. Steve is also being audited and he won't know if he is on the permanent roster until 40 after the audit. Don suggested awarding the bid to Steve Cosner, contingent upon him being placed on the states permanent roster. Bids were supposed to be awarded tonight for street materials and petroleum products, however the advertisements never got published in the newspaper. The bids which we received were not opened and have been placed in the vault. All bidders have been notified and if they want them back they are suppose to contact us. The bids will be advertised June 22nd and 29th and bid openings will be held at the July 5th council meeting. Don reported that he attended the Montana League of Cities and Towns District 11 meeting which was held in Billings on June 14th. Apparently CI 66 and CI 67 both made the November ballot. Discussion regarding local government review. The City can levy up to 1 mill for the study commissions expenses, however this may fall under 1-105. The League has requested an Attorney General's opinion. Don referred to the City-County Planning Board minutes of February 10th for information on Laurel Airport Zoning and Special Review Procedures. There is a public hearing tonight on these items. The City-County Planning Board minutes of June 9th include a letter from Cal Cumin to Gene Barsness regarding mobile/modular homes. • Joe Leckie reported that he was asked to write a letter to the state regarding used chips picked up from our streets. Joe checked with Ken Haag, Director of Public Works for the City of Billings, to see what they are doing. As far as he knew there wasn't anything wrong with using used chips as long as they don't come in contact with any water source. Billings has been using them in alleys and sanding. So it appears the state has once again singled us out. Joe said that in his opinion, lets go ahead and use them until they say something. Chuck said that if the state objects, maybe they should pick up all of their millings along the interstate highway. The State has also been dumping garbage at the construction site near King Avenue in Billings. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Don Hackmann City Clerk