Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 12.01.1992Minutes of the City Council of Laurel December 1, 1992 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Montana, was held in the Council Chambers and called to order Charles Rodgers at 7:00 p.m., on December 1, 1992. by Mayor COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Norman Orr Albert Ehrlick L.D. Collins Gay Easton Lonnie Kellogg Bob Graham Ron Marshall Donna Kilpatrick COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Alderman Collins. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 17, 1992, as presented, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. CORRESPONDENCE: Received a letter from Samuel L. Stokke, D.D.S. gutter improvements on First Avenue South. regarding curb and Jim Worthington stated he met with Dr. Stokke today and the information in the letter was second hand comments from some time ago. Jim explained that the city engineering department was directed to design this and prepare a proposal for financing this project. At this time nothing has been done but Dr. Stokke, along with all the other property owners, will be contacted when this gets under way. Jim said he was very satisfied with this. Received a memo regarding a Government (CLG) program Resolution. meeting to discuss the Certified Local and the Interlocal Agreement/Joint The Mayor stated that there is a party interested in being appointed to serve on this board and it will be brought up under appointments later in the meeting. CLAIMS: Claims for the month of November were reviewed by the Budget/Finance Committee and recommended that they be paid. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to amount of $ 226,401.65 for the month of Alderman Collins. Motion carried 8--0. approve all claims in the November, 1992, seconded by PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION: The Mayor presented Brad Wilder with a Certificate of Appreciation for his 20 years of service to the Volunteer Fire Department. Chuck thanked Brad and said it has been a pleasure to serve with him. Mike Penne also received a Certificate of Appreciation for his 20 years of service on the Police Reserve. Chuck said he has done an outstanding job and he is the first individual to have served this long on the reserves. Mike Penne thanked the council and those people he has served with and stated that the department has come a long way since he first started. RESOLUTION FOR PROPOSED GARBAGE RATE INCREASE: Bob Graham stated that the Garbage Committee still needs more information before they can make a recommendation to the Council regarding a rate increase. This will be postponed until the January 5th council meeting. SALE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS: This item was postponed until the next council meeting on December 15, 1992. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 2 Council Meeting of December 1, 1992 COMMITTEE REPORTS: --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of November 17, were presented. 1992 Motion by Alderman Orr to enter the City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of November 17, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Graham. Motion carried 8--0. Ron Marshall commented on an item in the minutes regarding the police car bid. The city has checked into getting a patrol car through the state's package bid but Mike informed our local dealers of the package and invited them to bid if they felt they could be competitive. Fichtner Chevrolet in Laurel bid on the car but they were $ 1,254.00 over the state bid and it did not include the cage between the front and rear seats and the fuel bypass system. Mike said the cage alone could run $ 300.00 to $ 600.00. Motion by Alderman Marshall to order a police car under the state's bid from Bozeman Ford, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --Garbage Committee minutes of November 23, reviewed. 1992 were presented and Motion by Alderman Graham to enter the Garbage Committee of November 23, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Motion carried 8--0. minutes Ehrlick. The minutes were reviewed and Bob Graham explained the difference between a transfer site and a container site. The transfer site would involve a building where all the garbage is dumped, sorted and hauled to the appropriate disposal area. With a container site, there may or may not be a building and residents would continue to haul extra garbage to the large containers north of town. The garbage that is picked up in the garbage trucks would be hauled directly to the Billings landfill. Due to the great expense involved in developing a transfer site, the committee recommended that the city stay with the container site. Motion by Alderman Collins to accept the committee's recommendation to develop a container site, seconded by Alderman Graham. In response to a question, Bob said that the container site itself would not require a building, but the committee has discussed the possibility of putting a scale in at some future date to weigh and charge vehicles that dump. If a scale is ever installed, a small building would be required to house the scale. With the daily pickup and delivery of garbage to Billings, Bob said the city will need a backup truck and we are looking at a used truck that the City of Billings has. Ron Marshall commented that the city has to look at the long range future of staying in the garbage business, We will continue to buy and wear out trucks. Ron said the city did receive a proposal from BFI who is a legitimate, profit making organization. Ron said he is still not convinced that the city should stay in the garbage business. Donna Kilpatrick said she is convinced that if BFI would come in and raise the rates. She said they order to make a profit. took over~ they would have to in Bob said BFI gave the city a five year contract which included a rate increase every year, but Bob said that was not the reason BFI was turned down. The city is also looking at raising the rates to cover expenses. Bob said some of the things that were considered were whether or not we would continue to receive the same level of service that we do now and the fact that three or four city workers would have to be laid off. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 3 Council Meeting of December 1, 1992 Bob said BFI did present a good proposal and gave us a lot of good ideas. They even offered to hire the employees that would be laid off but at a much lower salary. The Mayor said he supports the committee's recommendation. BFI has opened our eyes to some of our problems and the committee is working very hard to alleviate them but it is going to require a rate increase. At this time a vote was taken on the motion to develop a container site. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Graham to accept the committee' s recommendation that the city continue to operate the container site and not go with BFI, seconded by Alderman Ehrlick. Motion carried 8--0. --Garbage Committee minutes of November 30, reviewed. 1992 were presented and Motion by Alderman Graham to enter the Garbage Committee minutes of November 30, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --Laurel Airport Authority minutes presented. of October 27, 1992 were Motion by Alderman Kellogg to enter the Laurel Airport minutes of October 27, 1992, into the record, seconded by Ehrlick. Motion carried 8--0. Authority Alderman Joe Bradley commented on the last paragraph of the minutes. These minutes are dated October 27th and since this time Joe said he has met with Airport Authority and FFA representatives three times. Joe also called the council's attention to a portion of the last sentence which reads, "...we must assume that this is his normal way of handling City business." Joe said the council understands, don't you, that the Airport Authority is a separate governmental entity that is as far removed from the Laurel City Council as it is from the Billings City Council. What they do is not city business. --Safety Committee minutes of November 20, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to enter the Safety Committee minutes of November 20, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --Street and Alley Committee minutes of November 19, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Albert reported that trains are blocking the south side of town. Joe said this is a periodic problem that the city has had for years. After we get complaints about it happening, the city sends the railroad a letter and the situation gets better for awhile but then it gradually slips back. Joe said the council has looked into the possibility of prohibiting them from blocking all three intersections and as far as he can recall, the city did not have a whole lot of power from stopping this type of thing from happening. Joe suggested that we contact both Montana Rail Link and Burlington Northern regarding this again. Darrell said the Fire Department has been fighting this problem for years. The main problem is with the trains coming in from the south. They are suppose to stop south of the river and wait but the crew becomes impatient and "sneaks" into the yards. They actually do not have to stop until they get to Rapid Tire and by this time they have both intersections blocked. At one time, officer Morrison gave a citation to the engineer of the train and it'went to our local court and the ticket was thrown out. Motion by Alderman Ehrlick to enter the Street and Alley Committee minutes of November 19. 1992. in~n ~h~ ~_ ~nH~H hv Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 4 Council Meeting of December 1, 1992 COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Sue Strand asked whether Cenex has been contacted regarding the blocking of the railroad crossings. Chuck said we will try and contact Cenex and see if we can contact BN and Montana Rail Link jointly. A gentleman in the audience said that if the problem is with the trains from the south who are on Burlington Northern lines, why not contact their main offices in Fort Worth, Texas instead of going to Montana Rail Link. Safety is a main concern with BN and they are very concerned with their image so it might not hurt to contact someone who could have the power to do something about it, Mike Atkinson stated that he reserved the council chambers on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. for a training class. Jim Worthington commented that the proposed snow removal and snow plowing plan for the city was published in the Outlook last week and there is a large drawing in the council chambers for anyone who is interested. APPOINTMENTS: The Mayor appointed Kent Harris as a representative to the Certified Local Government Program, Yellowstone Historic Preservation Board. Motion by Alderman Collins to accept the Mayor's appointment of Kent Harris as a representative to the Certified Local Government Program, Yellowstone Historic Preservation Board, seconded by Alderman Marshall. Motion carried 8--0. MAYOR'S COMMENTS: The Mayor stated Cliff Forstner, 518 East Maryland, requested permission to shoot rockets in the park. The rockets are hobby type rockets that are electrically fired. They may have a flame but it is contained within the rocket. It was stated that this is generally done in Thomson Park because they like a large area in which to retrieve their rocket. Joe said the only thing the city has is prohibiting the firing or use of firecrackers, rockets, torpedoes, Roman candles or other fireworks or substances designed for pyrotechnic display or demonstration. Joe said he doesn't feel the hobby rockets fall in this category so we would not prohibit them. The question was asked whether we would be liable if someone sustained property damage because of one of these rockets. Joe said someone could sue us but he feels they would have a tough time finding us liable. It was the consensus of the council that there is no problem with allowing this. If a problem should ever arise~ the matter can be brought up again for consideration. This was referred to the Parks Committee for further discussion and to make a recommendation. There being no further business to come before the council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, this 15th day of December, 1992. ATTEST: Charles Rod~rs, M~or