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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 09.20.1988Minutes of the City Council of Laurel September 20, 1988 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 Bob Gauthier at 7:04 p.m., on September 20, 1988. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Ervin Wood Donna Kilpatrick Chuck Rodgers L.D. Collins Chuck Dickerson Bob Graham Bruce Teeters Norman Orr COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Alderman Collins. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Collins to approve the minutes of the meeting of September 6, 1988, as presented, seconded by Graham. Motion carried 8--0. regular Alderman CORRESPONDENCE: Received the minutes and activity report for the month of August from the Air Pollution Control Board. Received "High Water", a floodplain management newsletter from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Received a letter from Pearl Laird requesting four parking spaces in the city's parking lot across West First Street from City Hall. CITY CLERK & CITY TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: The City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of August were presented. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick that the City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of August, 1988, be approved, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. STEERING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Cal Cumin introduced Dr. Campbell and Kathryn Kelker who, along with himself, will speak on Economic Development. Dr. Campbell spoke about the whole search conference process. She stated this is a process used throughout the world where communities come together and talk about ways to collaboratively work on economic development for an area. A three day conference was held in Lewistown and it was decided that it needs to be a regional project rather than a city project. Out of this conference, three task groups were formed with those being Tourism, Education and Intergovernmental Relations. Dr. Campbell stated she is on the Steering Committee, which oversees the whole process and also the Tourism Committee. The Steering Committee meets twice a month to discuss concerns such as city/county government, schools and hospitals. The main objective of the Tourism Committee is finding ways to attract tourists to this area. Advances have been made in this area by designating a scenic route in Billings and hopefully, this will encompass a larger area of the region within a few years. Kathryn Kelker spoke on the Educational Task Force. She stated this is a fairly large organization composed of area school districts, two colleges, the Vo-Tech, and private educators with smaller business schools. The purpose of the group is to find ways the educational institutions can enhance economic development. After assessing the Page2 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Council Meeting of September 20, 1988 area, the local truck driving training school is a factor working towards this goal. There is a national shortage of truck drivers and if they could be trained here, it could provide at least 100 jobs a year for this area. Another goal of the task force is to get legislation to allow the university systems to create their own research and development process by keeping grant proceeds. Cal explained the Intergovernmental Relations is a group composed of city administrators and county commissioners who are to come up with five pieces of agreed upon legislation that they can present at the next legislature. The five items agreed upon are; 1) a method to reopen closed plants, 2) lowering personal property taxes in the state, 3) the ability for local people and government to vote a tax upon themselves, 4) letting the schools keep the money they receive from grants so they have the incentive to get more, and 5) try to refine and extend the Capital Companies Act. Cal Cumin stated that if you look at the economic development problems in this area you come to the issue of how to address such problems as getting back our job and tax bases. The Steering Committee needs to be a "think tank" with a certain amount of expertise in the group. Cal stated as an example, Butte-Silver Bow County, a consolidated government which has been a formidable force in the last several legislatures. Cal stated they have organized seven more counties, analyzed their region, taken all their resources and found the market potential and developed business plans for each industry that might go in each of the seven counties and they are ready to go. Cal stated that locally we have Yellowstone County, Billings and Laurel, three different entities, which never seem to get together. He stressed the importance of the Steering Committee because it builds consensus between all the governments involved. Cal stated the underlying purpose of economic development is to create well paying jobs and to generate a taxable valuation in the county. RATIFY UNION CONTRACT: Motion by Alderman Orr to ratify the union contract which will run from July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1990, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 8--0. CURFEW IN CITY PARKS: ORDINANCE NO. 938 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 16.02.020 TO ESTABLISH A CURFEW IN CITY PARKS. Motion by Alderman Dickerson that Ordinance No. 938 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Graham. Joe Bradley explained the ordinance and discussion followed. It was stated the police will need to use discretion and that the main purpose of this ordinance is to give the police the authority to remove transients who sleep in the parks~ Joe advised the Council to change the hours closed to read from 12 p.m. to 6 a.m. so you do not get a lot of requests from people to extend the hours in the summer. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to amend Ordinance No. 938, item #1 to read "all City parks shall be closed from 12 p.m. until 6 a.m. each night", seconded by Alderwoman Kilpatrick. More discussion followed concerning the actual reason for this ordinance and the problems involved. Page3 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Council Meeting of September 20, t988 At this time a vote on the amendment was called for and there being a division of the house, a roil call vote was taken. Alderman Teeters, Collins, Orr and Wood all voted, "YES." Alderman Rodgers, Dickerson, Graham and Alderwoman Kilpatrick all voted, "NO." There being a tie vote, Mayor Gauthier broke the tie by voting "NO." Motion failed 5--4. Motion by Alderman Graham to amend Ordinance No. 938 to coincide with the daylight savings time with closure from 12 - 6 during daylight savings time and 10 - 6 during regular hours. Motion died for lack of a second to the motion. At this time the question was called for on the original motion. A roll call vote was taken and Alderman Wood and Orr voted, "NO." Alderman Graham, Dickerson, Collins, Rodgers, Teeters, and Alderwoman Kilpatrick all voted, "YES." Motion carried 6--2. RENTING PARKING SPACES IN THE CITY PARKING LOT: ORDINANCE NO. 939 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 10.68,030 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE TO SET ASIDE PRIVATE RESERVED PARKING ON A PART OF THE CITY PARKING LOT. Motion by Alderman Dickerson that Ordinance No. 939 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Orr. Discussion followed on how to allocate the parking spaces. Joe Bradley stated the city would need to invite people to apply to see how much interest there is and then design a system to allocate the spaces fairly. Another concern is the possible abuse of the four hour parking and how it will be enforced. This being an ordinance, a roll call vote was voted, "YES" except Alderman Teeters who voted, 7--1. taken. All aldermen "NO." Motion carried SEWER RATE INCREASE: RESOLUTION NO. 2368 BEING A RESOLUTION SPECIFYING A PERMANENT SEWER RATE TO BECOME EFFECTIVE TEN (10) DAYS AFTER BEING FILED WITH MUNICIPAL CLERK AND REVISED RATE SCHEDULE FILED WITH THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION. Motion by Alderman Graham that Resolution No. 2368'be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderwoman Kilpatrick. Discussion followed. The question was called for and all aldermen voted, "YES" except Alderman Wood who voted, "NO." Motion carried 7--1. Page4 Minutes of the City C°uncil of Laurel Council Meeting of September 20, 1988 HOHE OCCUPATIONS: Art Stern, 610 West 13th Street, is requesting a home occupation for Wyomont Exterior Design. This is a home improvement company and he is requesting to use his residence as his business address only. There would be no materials or vehicles used or stored at the residential address. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to approve the home occupation for Art Stern at 610 West 13th Street, seconded by Alderman Rodgers. Motion carried 7--1, with Alderman Collins voting, "NO." COMMITTEE REPORTS: --Board of Adjustment minutes of September 13, 1988, were presented. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to enter the minutes of September, 13, 1988, into the record, Orr. Motion carried 8--0. Board of Adjustment seconded by Alderman --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of September 20, 1988 presented and reviewed. were Discussion followed regarding the Laurel Urban Fire Service Area. A rate schedule was presented that would generate approximately $ 19,075.00 for 1988 and Darrell L. McGillen, Fire Chief, said this falls way short of the $ 30,000.00 projected. He stated this difference lies between the number of structures the Fire Department manually counted (300) and the number of tax codes the County is assessing for (230). Don Gudgell, representing the Fire Service Area, explained the difference came from the county assessing per each property owners tax code, regardless of the number of structures within the tax code. Don said the LUFSA is competing against fees charged in the surrounding areas and by state law, they had to calculate out fair and equitable rates for the services being rendered. The calculated rate was based on the rate per improvement value on the property. Don feels this rate is very compatible with the rates charged in surrounding areas. This item will be on the agenda for the next Council meeting. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter the Budget/Finance Committee minutes of September 20, 1988, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of September 6, 1988 were presented. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to enter the City Council of the Whole minutes of September 6, 1988, into the record, by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 8--0. Committee seconded --City-County Plamning Board minutes of September 9, 1988 were presented. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to enter Board minutes of September 9, 1988, into Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. the City-County Planning the record, seconded by --City License Committee minutes of September 20, and reviewed. 1988 were presented Motion by Alderman Collins to Mousetrap Computers, Inc., seconded carried 8--0. approve a city license for by Alderman Graham. Motion Page5 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Council Meeting of September 20, 1988 Motion by Alderman Graham to table the approval of Weber's Watch Repair licence until the next Council meeting, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the City License minutes of September 20, 1988, into the record, seconded by Graham. Motion carried 8--0. Committee Alderman COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None Bruce Teeters inquired whether there has been any progress in the Ray Fiechtner claim. Joe Bradley stated that the insurance company is making offers to Ray and it is up to him if he accepts them. Jim stated Dennis Sheridan is sending out letters to both Ray and the contractor and Jim stated it should be resolved by the end of this week if everyone agrees. Donna Kilpatrick stated it is important to have a representative from the Police Department present at the Council meetings to answer questions that arise during the meeting. The Mayor stated the Police Chief informed him he would not be able to attend the meeting tonight because of a problem at the police station and the Captain was not able to attend either. The Mayor stated he will make sure there is a representative at the meetings from now on. Garbage Committee meeting will be held September 21st at 5:00 p.m. It was stated that the Ambulance Director should attend the Council meetings and the Mayor was going to contact Chloe to let her know about it. MAYOR'S COMMENTS: The Mayor discussed the proposal for non-union employees. Motion by Alderman Dickerson to approve fully paid health insurance, no salary increase for two years, one personal leave day per fiscal year, and $ 10.00 a month towards other insurance or deferred comp to replace the birthday holiday, effective July 1, 1988, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m. Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk Approved by The Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City Laurel, Montana, this 4th day of October, 1988. of ~EST: