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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 09.04.1984Minutes of the City Council of Laurel September 4, 1984 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 Albert Ehrlick at 7:00 p.m., on September 4, 1984. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Lonnie Kellogg Chuck Dickerson Marvin Carter Donald Meyers Mel Krug Rob Harris Fred Feuerbacher,III Bob Gauthier COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: none INVOCATION: Invocation given by Reverend Paul Peterson. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Krug to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of August 21, 1984; as presented, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Carried. CORRESPONDENCE: Received a letter from J. W. Dupuy wanting to know if the City land is for sale at 8th Avenue and 3rd Street and also on 8th Avenue South, south of the Senior Citizen's Center and west of the South School. This was referred to the Land Committee. Mayor Ehrlick received a letter of resignation from Larry S. Peterson, Director of Public Works. Motion by Alderman Meye?.s to accept Larry's resignation, seconded by Alder- man Krug. Motion carried 8--0. CLAIMS: Claims for the month of August were reviewed by the Budget/Finance Committee. Motion by Alderman Gauthier that the claims for the month of August be paid, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Motion carried 8--0. HERBSTFEST PARADE and AMBULANCE STANDBY: Bob Kettenring appeared before the Council to ask permission to have the Herbstfest parade on Saturday, September 22nd. It will follow mainly the same route as prior years. Also asked permission of the City Council to have the Laurel Ambulance as a standby for those two days, the 22nd and 23rd. The Herbstfest Committee was told there is a $20.00 an hour fee. Motion by Alderman Meyers to waive the $20.00 an hour fee and charge $200.00 for the ambulance for the weekend of the Herbstfest if it's agreeable with the ambulance crew, seconded Gauthier "NO" Kellogg "NO" Carter "NO" Motion carried 5--3. by Alderman Krug. The following aldermen voted: Krug "YES" Harris "YES" Dickerson "YES" Meyers "YES" Feuerbacher "YES" Motion by Alderman Dickerson to authorize the Herbstfest Committee to hold a parade on September 22nd at 10:30 a.m., seconded by Alderman Feuerbacher. Motion carried 8--0. PROGRESS REPORT ON THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT: Jim Kaercher appeared before the Council and presented slides and a written report showing the progress of the construction. Construction is about 48% complete. Discussion on dumping sewage at the new wastewater treatment plant. Bob Frank stated we have a problem as far as disposing of septic tank wastes. It was suggested to use land application as an alternative to dumping in the sewer plant. I feel that is not an acceptable alternative for several reasons. page 2 MinUtes of the City Council of Laurel Bob stated we have used the facility in the past under a paid arrangement. In May of 1982 ~ pumped a septic tank for Jim Kaercher; that was the first time I was informed that we weren't going to be able to use the City sewage plant any longer when the new plant was being built. I came to the City and talked with Mr. Peterson. He verbally assured me that there was no reason that the City would not cont±nue to work with the septic tank pumpers. I've checked back a few more times in the last two years. Wednesday night at the meeting was the first time I was informed that arrangement was no longer acceptable. Now, instead of two years to find an alternative, I ha~e 4 months. I called Helena twice: first the Wastewater Quality Bureau and also Solid Waste Land Disposal. The guy at the Quality Bureau says, !'Yes, we want all the disposal put on the land, we don't want it in our sewer plants." The man from the Solid Waste Bureau says, "No way. We are not going to ~pprove land application as 100% alternative." Where do.I go next? The next step, I called Livingston because I heard they had problems there. I asked them if they were having problems and did they shut off septic tank pumpers? They told me, "Yes, they did shut them off." There were 4 reasons: 1 Everything from campgrounds is being dumped[ 2 They have a 4,000 gal. holding tank. They have 7 pumpers that bring in approximately 20 to 25,000 gal. a day. 3 The pumps they had designed for their holding tanks would not pull the sludge out of that tank. 4 They had air lines for agitating the sludge in the holding tanks. When they inspected the airlines were full of cement. Now they are taking the waste to the Park County Landfill, digging a hole, and burying it. Is it fair for the City to use taxpayers' money to build a facility such as this and cut off the rest of us who are still people. We've got a problem. Jim Kaercher stated HKM did not recommend to disallow this. We did an analysis and came up with a capital cost of $50,000 just for the dump station. The City personnel in charge in 1980, when they saw the $50,000 for dump station, stated with Billings just 15 miles away they were not going to continue to handle sludge haulers. One big factor in that decision was in contracting with the State. It was John Sco£ield who was dealing with the City of Laurel at the time. He had contacted Joe Steiner and the decision was made that they would not fund that portion of the plant becaUse Billings had just built a nice big dump station facility. They weren't going to pay twice for it Within a 15-mile radius. In 1980 EPA was in charge of the State's decision and now the State has more control on the decisions. At this time I would ha~e to agree with Bob that he could technically dump at the plant, because the plant is not up to maximum design and could handle the extra material. The thing that I would bring up to the City is your servicing outside the designed limits and you'll reach your maximum capacity of the plant a lot sooner. Bob did address the problems~ you can go to Billings, you can go to land applica- tion. Bob Gauthier stated that the land application is not that probable: 1) If you're going to sell any kind use, you can not sell the livestock. only place you can really use it for to do it certain times of the year. of meat or use it for a type of domestic It creates problems that carry on. The is in dry land application and then you have page More 3 Minutes of the City CounCil of Laurel discussion. Motion by Alderman Feuerbacher to refer this matter back to the Utilities Committee and they contact the State about setting up a meeting about funding and land application, seconded by Alderman Carter. Motion carried 8--0. SEWER RATE INCREASE: RESOLUTION NO. 2103 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 Gauthier that Resolution No. 2103 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. ORDINANCE NO. 781 (SECOND READINGi ZONE CHANGEr HERMAN ADDITION: ORDINANCE NO. 781 (second reading) DESIGNATING RMF ZONE AND CHANGING THE LAUREL ZONING MAP No opponents present. Motion by Alderman Meyers that Ordinance No. 781 (second reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Carter. Upon taking a roll call vote, all aldermen present voted, "YES." Motion carried 8--0. FINAL PLATy HERMAN ADDITION~ AN ADDITION TO THE CITY OF LAUREL: RESOLUTION NO. 2104 A RESOLUTION CONDITIONALLY APPROVING HERMAN ADDITION FIRST FILING AS AN ADDITION TO THE CITY OF LAUREL, MONTANA. Motion by Alderman Carter that Resolution No. 2104 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. RESOLUTION NO. 2105 CHANGING THE BOUNDARIES OF WARD ONE TO INCLUDE CERTAIN TRACT, TRACTS AND PARCELS OF LAND AND DIRECTING CERTI- FICATION OF THE ALTERED BOUNDARIES. Motion by Alderman Carter that Resolution No. 2105 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Krug. Motion carried 8--0. ORDINANCE NO. 782 (SECOND READING) TRAVEL EXPENSE: ORDINANCE NO. 782 (second reading) AMENDING CHAPTER 2.36 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, TRAVEL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT. Motion by Alderman Meyers that Ordinance No. 782 (second reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Krug. Upon taking a roll call vote, all alder- men present voted, "YES." Motion carried 8--0. APPOINTMENT OF TEMPORARY PATROLMAN: Motion by Alderman Carter to accept the Police Commission recommendation to appoint Jim Morrison as temporary patrolman, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Discussion. Bob Mann spoke on behalf of the Union and stated they feel that Jim Morrison is not the most qualified. There are people that have applied that have prior police experience. That is kind of the whole gist of our agreement with the Council on this position. If you go ahead with that, you're going to have problems with the Union. It's completely contrary to what you agreed with us, to my understanding. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Albert stated he had not seen any applications. Alan Crowe told him that someone had applied with police experience, but he was not a veteran. Alan feels that Jim is more experienced. Motion by Alderman Krug to table the motion to appoint Jim Morrison as temporary patrolman, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Motion carried 8--0. COMMITTEE REPORTS: --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of September 4, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Gauthier to authorize Dave to purchase the landfill pickup hoist and chlorinator for the water plant, seconded by Alderman Krug. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Gauthier to enter into the record the Budget/Finance Com- mittee minutes of September 4, 1984, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Motion carried 8--0. --Public Utilities Committee minutes of August 29, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to authorize the Mayor to sign off on the contract for Water Analysis System with HKM, seconded by Alderman Harris. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to accept Sunhaven's water line replacement, seconded ~y Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 7--1 with Alderman Gauthier voting, "NO." Don Meyers talked about the water line on Elm Avenue. Don stated that in one area they have spent $3,000 for the same hole. I feel the Utilities Committee should be checking into replacing that line. The crew keeps putting clamps on and it breaks right next to the clamp. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to accept and enter into the record the Public Utilities Committee minutes of August 29, 1984~ seconded by Alderman Harris. Motion carried 8--0. --Ambulance Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to accept Libby's bid for the used ambulance in the amount of $2,800.00, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Motion carried 8--0. Discussion on when there is only one person on call or none at all. What is the proper procedure? Some firemen said they would drive if only one person were on call. Are we going to allow the firemen to do this? Darrell L. McGillen stated he did it one time on his own, not representing the fire department. The Council better look at the liability factor. I believe they have to have a Chauf~ur's License and EMT card. I do not have those credentials. If the dispatcher calls me out and I accept that, I'm putting the City liable for my actions as running with the Laurel Ambulance. City Attorney to draw up a resolution to call another ambulance service if we don't have attendants on duty. Motion by. Alderman Kellogg to accept and approve the Ambulance Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, seconded by Alderman Carter. Motion carried 8--0. --Park Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Feuerbacher to enter into the record the Park Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. page 5 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel --Street & Alley Committee minutes of special meeting held August 22, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Krug to enter into the record the Street & Alley Committee minutes of special meeting held August 22, 1984, seconded by Alderman Carter. Motion carried 8--0. Street & Alley Committee minutes of August 23, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Discussion on curb and gutter on East Maryland between 1st Avenue and Montana Avenue; Mayor Ehrlick stated when he was on the Street & Alley Committee, when the City brought in that subdivision, they asked those residents to go along with the curb and gutter at that time, and then they were going to crown the road~ these residents refused it. Donald Hoppel saidkat that time the City Engineer, Curtis McKenzie, recommended that we wait and not do anything about a curb and gutter because the County or the State was going to widen this street, improve it, and nobody approached us that I know of. Mayor Ehrlick stated supposedly the contractor came to the Council meeting and said he approached you residents and you alt said it was too costly. Larry Peterson stated that when Donald Noppel received the letter from the City Don came to see him. Larry told him they could probably do that size of job cheaper just by getting together themselves and getting a private contractor. I gave them a preliminary cost estimate and they felt that was something they could swing to get that curb and gutter in on that side of the street. Fred Feuerbacher suggested we contact the State and find out when they plan on improving the road so these people don't go through the expense of curb and gutter and then the State comes in and tears it out. Motion by Alderman Krug to enter into the record the Street & Alley Committee minutes of August 23, 1984, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Motion carried 8--0. --Fire Committee minutes of June il, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Carter to enter into the record the Fire Committee minutes of June 11, 1984, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. Fire Committee minutes of July 9, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Carter to enter into the record the Fire Committee minutes of July 9, 1984, seconded by Alderman Krug. Motion carried 8--0. Fire Committee minutes of August 20, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Carter to enter into the record the Fire Committee minutes of August 20, 1984, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. Alderman Carter presented the following resolution: RESOLUTION NO. 2106 AUTHORIZING FILING OF APPLICATION WITH THE MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM. Motion by Alderman Carter that Resolution No. 2106 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 8--0. --Garbage Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, were presented and reviewed. Discussion on contract for Bomag and Cat. page 6 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Motion by Alderman Meyers to enter into an annual contract with Paul Swenson to service the Bomag and Cat at' $15.00 per hour every 200 hours and a monthly inspection on both units for $30.00 per unit, seconded by Alderman Dickerson. Motion carried 8--0. Don stated to wait and award the digging of the landfill pit at a later date. Motion by Alderman Meyers to enter into the record the Garbage Committee minutes of August 28, 1984, seconded by Alderman Carter. Motion carried 8--0. MAYOR'S COMMENTS: The Mayor appointed Marg%t Tho~ndat-t? _~he Revenue Sharing Handicap Committee. Motion by Alderman Carter to.confirm the Mayor's appointment of Margit Thorndal to the Reven~'e S'haring Handicap Committee, seconded by Alderman Krug. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to authorize the City Clerk to advertise for a Maintenance Director and Director of Public Works, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Motion carried 7--1 with Alderman Gauthier voting, "NO." The Clerk will advertise in t.he Billings Gazet~, Great Falls Tribune, the Missoulian~ and the Laurel Outlook. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Approved by the Mayor and passed by Montana, this 18th day of September, ST: Donald L. Ha~kmann, City Clerk Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk the City Council of the City of Laurel, 1984. Albert Ehrlic~, ~ayo~