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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 11.16.1982Minutes of the City Council of Laurel November 16, 1982 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 7:03 p.m., on November 16, 1982. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Lonnie Kellogg Susan Carter Marvin Carter Rob Harris Duane Behm Bob Gauthier Donald Meyers COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Bill Brennan INVOCATION: Invocation given by Reverend Holt. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Harris to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 3, 1982, as presented, seconded by Alderman Marvin Carter. Carried. CORRESPONDENCE: Received a letter from William J. Bernhardt regarding drainage from a pasture into a storm ditch. This letter was referred to the Public Utilities Committee. Received a letter addressed to Larry S. Peterson, Director of Public Works, from Cenex regarding the Laurel storm sewer outfall ditch. Since the subject matter is related to the above letter it was referred~to the Public Utilities Committee also. Received a letter from John.Mac Martin informing the Council that he has resigned from Cumin Associates to accept a position with Congressman Ron Marlenee in Washington, D.C. Received a letter from Western World Insurance Company, Inc.~ regarding the denial of a wage claim made by Judge Walter Menello. Received the activity report for October from the Air Pollution Control Board. Received a memorandum from William A. Johnstone of Dorsey & Whitney law firm regarding the change from bearer or "coupon" bonds to registered bonds effective January 1, 198B. Received a letter of resignation from City Judge, Walt Menello, effective February l, 1983. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to accept Walt Menello's resignation, seconded by Alderman Meyers. Carried. Received a letter of resignation from Police Chief, Mike Bloom, effective January 2, 1983, to accept the position of Under Sheriff of Yellowstone County. Motion'by Alderman Kellogg to accept Mike Bloom's resignation, seconded by Alderman Behm. Carried. Received a letter from the City Clerk requesting.permission to dispose of the following records, pursuant to 7-5-4124, M.C.A., as follows: all claims prior to 1977 all warrants prior to 1977 all Treasurer's general receipts and receipt books prior to 1977 all bank statements prior to 1977 all purchase orders prior to 1977 ali cancelled bonds and coupons prior to 1977 all e~uipment and construction bids prior to 1977 Motion by Alderwoman Sue Carter to grant permission to dispose of the records as requested, seconded by Alderman Harris. After a discussion the motion carried. page 2 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel A suggestion was made that a letter be written to Mike Bloom, Walt Menello and John Mac Martin thanking them for their past service. CITY CLERK'S AND CITY TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: City Clerk's and City Treasurer's Financial Statements for the month of October were presented for review and approval. Motion by Alderman Kellogg that the City Clerk's and City T~easurer's Financial Statements be approved as presented, seconded by Alderman Marvin Carter. Carried. DARRYL CARPENTER - TRUCK ROUTE AND PARKING: I am here to discuss and propose some alternatives to the truck regulations for the City of Laurel. About six weeks ago my driver was cited for parking a transport on the City's streets. As it comes out, the City's regulations allow twenty feet for a truck to park on the streets. I took the matter to Judge Menello after I first talked to the Chief of Police, who gave me the regulations informing me that twenty feet was the regulation. After discussing this with Mr. Menello, he said that I should come to the City Council to propose an alternate or a change to that regulation. The other one is an alternate to the existing truck routes in the City of Laurel. There was discussion regarding the current truck routes and a proposal to include First Street fPom 4th Avenue to Colorado Avenue. The reason for this is that it creates quite a safety hazard when you're asking a semi-tractor and trailer to cross over into an on-coming lane to get the room necessary to make the turn to get into one or the other eievators~(H~geman or Eastlick). It not only creates a hazard for the truck operator, but also for the other vehicle. In making a right hand turn it also creates a very bad blind spot. This is the main reason that I propose using First Street East and West, starting at 4th Avenue West to Colorado Avenue. For the reason of entering those elevator areas and scales, as a safety factor to possibly avoid damage to trucks or other vehicles. First Street is a nice wide intersection. If you start at 4th Avenue on the west end, it offers an opportunity to make a reason- ably good left hand turn to enter 4th Avenue and at the junction of 4th Avenue and First Street there also is a good wide intersection. When you open truck traffic onto lanes of traffic such as that route is, it not only expedites the amount of time necessary to get that truck in and out of town, but it also re- duces a safety hazard. When you come back to Second Avenue and cross Main Street again to get into~ for instance, Hageman Elevator~ there again that driver has the opportunity to observe east and west traffic, make a reasonable move at a certain time to cross that street and get into the elevator. As far as I can see it's one of the easiest and a good alternate route being the condition First Street is in right now. I think it is an excellent throughfare and there again with a minimum amount of truck traffic involved, myself I would probably use it more than anyone, to begin with simply because I do haul hay in and out of that area and use the west end of town primarily as my entrance to and from the eleva- tor. So my proposal is to use First Street east and west from 4th Avenue to Colo- rado Avenue as a portion of the truck route. The primary truck route that I would be interested in myself would be 4th Avenue to 2nd Avenue in the areas of Eastlick's and Hageman's elevators. Discussion. Mr. Carpenter talked about the truck parking regulations. page 3 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Laurel regulations state that no truck wili be parked on City streets over the twenty foot maximum. What I propose is to alter or change the regulations to include that an operator be allowed to park unladen trucks and trailer units in front of their residences as long as it doesn't obstruct anybody elses driveway, etc. You could limit it to 65 ft., that's what the Interstate Commerce Commission does, or you may just allow the tractor unit alone to be parked in front of an indi-' vidual's residenee. It will give the operator an opportunity to secure his equipment, a place to plug it in if necessary during winter months so that he can start it easier, and to do regular maintenance on it. This was referred to the Street and Alley Committee. GREG CARTER: I am just in here to see if I can squeeze a little bit more money, because on September 2, 1982, I was given a notice which states that on September 26, 1982, I would start earning a new rate of $7.37, from $4.01. It doesn't say anything besides transferring from summer help to regular crew. I didn't get in a reguiar crew because of veteran's.preference. I figure that I still should have gotten the $7.37 instead of the $4.0t, because'I Was past.my 90-day limit, then they went to my 120-day limit, and I still went over that. I went through getting hired and fired twice and I was just wondering if I could get the $7.B7. Don Meyers asked Greg if he had another piece of paper that says you weren't going to get it, and Greg said, ,No." this to the Budget/Finance Committee with Joe Bradley The Mayor referred sitting in on it. Discussion. ORDINANCE NO. 720 (Second reading) FLOOD PLAIN REGULATIONS Motion by Alderman Meyers that Ordinance No. 720 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Upon taking a roll call vote all aldermen present voted,."Yes." RESOLUTION NO. 1949 APPOINTING THE YELLOWSTONE COUNTY FLOOD PLAIN ADMINISTRATOR TO BE FLOOD PLAIN ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE CITY OF LAUREL. Motion by Alderman Kellogg that Resolution No. 1949 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Gauthier. Carried. RESOLUTION NO. 1950 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH YELLOWSTONE COUNTY TO PROVIDE FOR ADMINISTRATION OF FLOOD PLAIN REGULATIONS. Motion by Alderman Meyers that Resolution No. 1950 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Carried. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Police Committee The minutes of November 11, 1982, were presented. Marvin Carter questioned the lack of a quorum~ but due to the urgency of the matter, a meeting was held. page Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Discussion regarding appointing more aldermen to the Police, Fire and Ambulance Committees. At the present time the committees only have one alderman each. Motion by Alderman Marvin Carter to accept and approve the Police Committee minutes of November 11, 1982, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Carried. License Committee The minutes of November 9, 1982, Were presented. Disoussion regarding changes to the licensing ordinance, raising the beer, wine and liquor license fee in July, 1983~ and not raising City business licenses until 1984. Discussion regarding appointing one more alderman to this committee. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to accept and approve the License Committee minutes of November 9, 1982, and the city licenses, seconded by Alderman Marvin Carter. After discussion of Betty Beydler D.B.A. BeCo Custom Draperies and Winifred Evans D.B.A. Congressional Typewriter Repair, the motion passed.. Budget/Finance Committee The minutes of November 3, 1982, were presented and reviewed. Purchase of fans and insulation for the City Shop was discussed. We have sufficient money in the budget for the fans, but not for the insulation. The estimated cost of the insulation is between $4,500 and $4,800. Motion by Alderman. Kellogg to accept and approve the Budget/Finance Committee minutes of November '3, 19B2', seconded by Alderman Behm. Carried. A Budget/Finance Committee meeting was scheduled for November 17, 1982, at 4:30 p.m., to discuss the insulation for the Water Plant. Insurance Committee The minutes of November 9, 1982, were presented and reviewed. Discussion regarding health insurance coverage for City employees. Motion by Alderman Gauthier to accept and approve the Insurance Committee minutes of November 9, 1982, and to authorize the City Clerk to sign the waiver of coverage for mental illness, alcoholism and drug addiction, seconded by Alder- man Kellogg. Carried. Garbage Committee Marvin Carter reported that the new garbage truck is about 4 weeks away from being delivered from Texas to Johnson Ford, which will then go to Pakmor. The other packer from Pakmor is 2 weeks away from taking our truck in to be redone. Larry has put out some feelers on the gruncher and other parts that we are going to sell. The minimum bid is $5,000 for the gruncher. Sealed bids are being requested on these items. Discussion regarding using the money from the sale of the above mentioned items in putting up a building for the equipment at ~he landfill. It was reported that this is not in the current budget, but the money could be used in next year's budget and spent sometime after July 1, 1983. Mr. Carter mentioned that Dave Powers was in the hospital with major surgery. Marvin Carter requested that the Mayor proclaim Community Education Week for the City of Laurel and surrounding communities. This is a new thing the page 5 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel school has taken on during the past two years and has been a very successful program. Governor Schwinden has proclaimed the week and I would just like to fall in line. Motion by Alderman ~a?~e.r that the.Mayor proclaim Community Education Week for the City of Laurel (November 15--19}, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Carried. Mayor Ehrliok While we are on garbage, I had a oall from Loren Miller, and he says Jim Straw and Dick Belke are going to get ahold of you (Marvin Carter) to see if they can haul their garbage to our dump grounds and see if they can come to some type of agreement for payment. So I will turn it over to you when they call again. Code Books Lonnie Keilogg -- Back in May~ I believe, we authorized the City to make' up copies of the code books. Nas that been done? It was reported that Pat Johnson has brought several books up to date. LDS Curb & Sidewalk Dave Michael reported that there are a few minor things to correct, but the sidewalk is complete around the church. Marvin Carter questioned why someone didn't go up and take that "park" sign out of the middle of the sidewalk. There was discussion regarding this being a hazard and it was suggested that the sign be moved. Sewer Rate Increase Marvin Carter asked if we shouldn't have more discussion regarding item No. 5 on the agenda ~ wastewater samples and the sewer rate increase (HKM was not present tonight). Mr. Carter said that he didn't agree with the structure and there had better be some clearing up before coming up here to a meeting asking for a motion to approve it. HKM is on the agenda for the December 7th meeting, and there will be more discussion regarding this at that time. City Police Judge Joe Bradley-- I thought I should mention something about replacing the judge come January. He did offer to take his replacement through the paces, but we should plan on picking a replacement at least two weeks before he leaves. It's the Council that replaces him, so if you want to advertise for it or whatever you want to do, probably should think about getting it done. Discussion. Motion by Alderman Marvin Carter to advertise in the Billings Gazette and Laurel Outlook for a City Judge, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Carried. It was suggested that the City Attorney and City Clerk prepare the adver- tisement. Murray Park Duane Behm -- I got a call the other day and there are some people up around Murray Park who were wondering if before next spring if it would be possible to get the patrol in there and blade that park down a little smoother. One guy even offered to cut some of the grass with ~is own mower if it were a little bit smoother. Discussion. This was referred to the Park & Recreation Committee. Don Meyers reported that he has not met with the scuba divers yet. page 6 Minutes of the CitY Council of Laurel Conflict of Interest ~ Nepotism Rob Harris - We had a deal tonight that came up on the agenda concerning Greg Carter and Citylemployment. I don't know if anything has ever been brought up before the Council about this, but my own feelings I think there can seriously be a conflict of interest when we have a City employee, whether it be a City Councilman or someone else working with the City, hiring someone who is a relative. Mayor Ehrlick mentioned that we have a law to this effect that it isn't OK to do this -- called nepotism. Joe Bradley reported that you can hire relatives of Council members, but that Council member can't have anything to do with the hiring. Discussion. It was mentioned that possibly the City should have a policy on hiring of relatives and really def±ning nepotism. More discussion regarding hiring of college students who are relatives of Councilmen or other City employees. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 9:36 p.m.~!~ ' -~~!~~~ Donald L. Hackmann,'~-~-~ Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, this 7th day of December, 1982. Albert Ehrlick, Mayor ATTEST: