HomeMy WebLinkAboutDepartment Head Meetings Minutes 03.22.2011 MINUTES
DEPARTMENT HEAD MEETING
MARCH 22, 2011 3:00 P.M.
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
PRESENT: Mayor Ken Olson Chris Rosenberg Rick Musson
Sam Painter Kurt Markegard Brent Peters
Heidi Jensen Nancy Schmidt Jan Faught
Draft Council Workshop Agenda — March 29., 2011
General items:
• Appointments:
o Laurel Ambulance Service: Darci Waldo, Dave Miller
o Laurel Fire Department: Brandon Rogge, Henry Fox, Jason Molm
o Police Commission
One letter of interest was received for the Police Commission.
o Laurel Airport Authority
Mayor Olson will decide who to appoint to the Laurel Airport Authority.
o Insurance Committee
Mayor Olson will appoint Kurt Markegard, Chuck Rodgers and Tom Nelson to the Insurance
Committee.
o City - County Planning Board
One city appointment is vacant.
o Park Board
There is one vacancy on the Park Board.
Clerk/Treasurer:
• Resolution — Budget amendment for library and fire department
• Resolution — Budget amendment for FAP building
Executive Review:
• Bus Transit Grant — Update and council approval for a public hearing
Heidi will have an update prepared for the council workshop.
• Ordinance — fireworks
Rick suggested changing the time to allow fireworks from 12:30 a.m. to 12:00 midnight. There was
discussion regarding having civil versus criminal infractions in order to have $1,000 fines instead of
$500 fines.
• Council issues:
o Discussion of the school bus route (Emelie Eaton)
Kurt stated that school buses and solid waste trucks are exempt from the code requirement to use the
truck route. There was a lengthy discussion regarding the pros and cons of restricting the bus traffic to
certain areas, reasons the police department would not want to dictate bus routes to the school, the
possibility of a memorandum of understanding with the school district in order for the city to maintain
the streets, the need to request bus route information from the school, and the streets typically used by
Department Head Meeting Minutes of March 22, 2011
the school buses. Sam stated that this is not an ordinance issue, but the city could request information
regarding the school's bus routes.
Other items
Kurt asked that the Little League dugouts be placed on the March 29 council workshop agenda.
Laurel Little League brought the certified plans in today and Gary reviewed and approved the plans.
There was discussion regarding the process, as the council has to accept all capital assets and/or
donations to the city. The dugouts will have to meet codes and the building inspector, safety official
and public works will provide the required inspections. Kurt stated that the Park Board discussed the
dugout at the last meeting, but the plans were not ready at that time. There was further discussion
regarding the need for a process for park improvements valued under $5,000, and safety and public
works will meet to discuss further.
Review of draft council agenda for April 5, 2011
• Public Hearings:
o Budget amendment for library and fire department
o Budget amendment for FAP building
o Ordinance No. 011 -04: An ordinance amending Section 12.32.050 titled "Creation and
establishment of a City Tree Board" and Section 12.32.060 of the Laurel Municipal Code
titled "Term of office" located at Title 12 of the Laurel Municipal Code. (First reading —
03/15/2011)
o Ordinance No. 011 -05: An ordinance amending Section 5.44.030 titled "Exceptions to
provisions" located at Title 5 of the Laurel Municipal Code. (First reading — 03/15/2011)
Mayor Olson stated that the department heads should attend the council workshop if their department is
involved in one of the public hearings.
Department Reports:
Clerk/Treasurer
There was no discussion.
Fire
Brent distributed ISO sheets to some department heads.
Brent will register Kurt for the ISO training on April 23r
The county fire plan will be available soon and Brent will give Sam a copy to review.
Brent will attend fire rescue training in Texas from April 1 to 8
The Sherriffs Department changed out some light bars recently, so Brent will pick up some used light
bars tomorrow.
Brent stated that the fire department's shed belongs to the Fire Company.
There was discussion regarding fire extinguisher training for the library and other departments and the
use of cold fire products. Brent will schedule dates for the training.
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Department Head Meeting Minutes of March 22, 2011
Brent asked Kurt, Chris and Heidi to review the ISO information. The class is on April 23 and the
city's ISO evaluation is scheduled on May 24
There was discussion regarding the barricade located on West 5 Street and 3r Avenue and the water
valve sticking up in the street at 7 Street and 3 or 4 Avenues.
Ambulance
Jan will be gone from April 3 to April 15
Library
There was no discussion.
Police Department
Rick will have foot surgery on April 7 have his foot in a cast for six weeks, and will return to work as
soon as possible.
Rick mentioned that Senator Baucus will arrive at 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday to talk about Federal
funding for law enforcement. The event will take place in front of the police department or in the
council chambers, depending on the weather.
City Planner
• Medical marijuana
Heidi stated that there have been no applicants for medical marijuana businesses.
Safety
• Safety Program update
Chris saw Joe Wolf at a training session on Monday. Joe informed Chris that the State does not have
copies of the information and requests for extensions that the city sent to Dan Toney. Chris will take
pictures of everything that was done to address OSHA's safety concerns last fall and send them to
Helena. The fan has been installed in the FAP and the magnetic switch should be installed soon.
Public Works Department
• Neptune water meters
The city and Neptune will meet on Thursday at 11:00 a.m.
Dispatch was notified about a sinkhole at West 5 Street and 3 Avenue.
Kurt stated that the windows for city hall have been ordered and will be available in four to five weeks.
They will remain historically true, with vinyl on the inside and bronze on the outside. Since the block
windows in the planner's office are high energy efficiency, they will not be replaced.
Kurt mentioned that the DEQ is becoming stringent on health and human safety issues. With every
sewer backup call, the city must advise the homeowner regarding how to clean up a sewer backup in a
basement. The city needs to prepare the information and have MMIA review it prior to giving it to
customers.
Kurt stated that he would be willing to discuss any concerns about the Insurance Committee at any time.
City Attorney
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Department Head Meeting Minutes of March 22, 2011
Sam is working on the lease for the baseball park.
The attorneys are working on the Personnel Implementation and Instruction Guide and will work on the
Personnel Policy Manual to remove references to the Personnel Committee. Kurt stated that the
Personnel Committee is also referenced in the union contracts.
Mayor Olson
There was no discussion.
Other
There was discussion regarding the fire, court and ambulance sheds at the FAP. The police department
has requested to move the ambulance's shed to the city shop area. Kurt talked to Jean Kerr about
leaving the court's shed at the city shop, instead of moving it to city hall.
Jan asked for an update regarding the city cell phones. Kurt explained that the new cell phones will be
sent out in April and the old city cell phones will go dead on May 16 All contacts need to be
transferred to the new AT &T phone prior to May 16 Kurt will forward the email of explanation to
everyone that has a city phone. There was further discussion regarding the $13.99 plans, which provide
pooled minutes allowing 105 minutes per user. Since the city did not have enough minutes, Alltel
arbitrarily increased the Planning and Fire Department's plans to $49.99 to provide 2,000 minutes.
AT &T will honor the government contract until it expires and will then enter negotiations with the State
for a new contract.
Kurt would like to add phones for the WTP and WWTP as a safety measure for the employees that
work alone.
There was discussion regarding some legislative issues, including OSHA regulations and classification
of cities for fire protection.
Kurt stated that the snowplow truck and the backhoe will be parked in front of city hall next Tuesday
from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. so the council can view the new equipment.
The meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Allen
Council Secretary
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