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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 10.01.1996Minutes of the City Council of Laurel October 1, 1996 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 Chuck Rodgets at 7:00 p.m., on October l, 1996. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Gay Easton Bud Johnson Norman Orr Miles Walton Ron Marshall Dirk Kroll Donna Kilpatrick William Staudinger COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Alderwoman Kilpatrick. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the minutes of the regular of September 17, 1996, as presented, seconded by Alderwoman Kilpatrick. carried 8--0. meeting Motion CORRESPONDENCE: Received a copy of Resolution No. 96-96 from Yellowstone County, rescinding Resolution No. 96-72 regarding fire restrictions. Received a copy of an application for transfer for an on-premise beer-wine license to the Lucky Lil's Casino of Laurel. Received a notice of a workshop regarding Montana Voluntary Clean-up and Redevelopment Act. CLAIMS: Claims for the month of September were reviewed by the Budget/Finance Committee and recommended that they be paid. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to $381,540.31 for the month of September, carried 8--0. approve the seconded by claims in the amount of Alderman Easton. Motion STEVE COSNER - LAUREL STUDY COMMISSION: Steve stated that the Study Commission will continue to review the charter with the council tonight. He stressed the importance of self-governing powers. The City of Laurel will have all the powers not prohibited by the state. The city will gain power and authority. The committee feels this is a good time for the city to vote for self-governing powers. If the proposal for the charter does not pass at this time, there is a three year waiting period to propose it again. Three years will be close to the census and then the city may be looking at being a second class city. Steve informed the council that in November the people of Laurel will be voting on two charters, one from the Laurel Study Commission and the other charter is from the Yellowstone County Study Commission. Yellowstone County is also proposing self-governing powers including some major changes in their charter. Laurel is proposing self-governing powers with no changes. Alderman Walton asked Steve if he felt having both charters on the same ballot would have a good affect or be detrimental to the city charter? Steve did not feel it would affect the city charter. They will be separate items to vote on. Joe Bradley felt differently and said that two charters may be too confusing. There is a tendency for people whodo not know what they are voting on to vote "no". If the people are not informed and see two charters, then they may vote against both of them. The Laurel Study Commission is hoping people will not be confused by the two. Joe Bradley reviewed Article III for the Mayor, Chief Executive Officer and Article IV for the Treasurer, Financial Officer. The charter may be amended only as prescribed by law. This means an election would have to be held to amend the charter. The effective date for the charter will be January 1, 1997, if it passes in November. The Study Commission will continue in existence, but there won't be much of a transition. City employees and elected or appointed officials will not lose employment. Existing elected officials may continue in office until the end of the term for which they were Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 2 Council Meeting of October 1, 1996 All ordinances, resolutions, and rules of the city will remain in effect until they have been reviewed, revised or repealed by the council. This should be done in order to provide for compliance and consistency with this charter and law, by no later than January 1, 1998. The charter is on the ballot for November 5, 1996. Only city residents will vote on this charter. Joe stressed the idea for the charter is to get self-government powers. If the charter does not pass, it cannot be voted on again for three years which will be the fall of 1999. Then there will be the 2000 census coming up and by 2001 the city may be forced to become a second class city rather than elect to retain their third class status. A second class city brings some changes in what the city is required to do, such as to the fire department having to have a different structure. If the city becomes a second class city, it would be nice to have the flexibility of self-governing powers to deal with the changes that will have to be made. This will depend on the censorship. A third class city is 5000 or less and a second class city is 5000 or more. If a city is between 5000 and 7500 they can specifically elect to retain third class status. This is what Laurel has done every census. Joe stated this charter does not raise any taxes. It limits the city to exactly what we have now with no change prior to the vote of the people. The Study Commission could have combined an election for a higher mill levy with the vote for the charter, but learned in all their meetings that there wasn't a need for that. Most people are satisfied with the way the city is run. Everything is the same in the charter because the Study Commission didn't want any changes that would make people vote against self-governing powers. Joe commented that people may question why the Study Commission wrote a charter if self-governing powers could have been gotten under the cities current Commission-Mayor Plan? Joe stated that under the Commission-Mayor Plan there would have been no tax limit. The purpose of the charter is to get a tax limitation on the mill levy and still get self-governing powers. The mill levy for the City of Laurel shall be limited, except with the prior approval of a majority of the electors of the city voting. Joe announced that the Study Commission will speak to any organizations, pamphlet regarding their final report will be in the Outlook this week. A PUBLIC HEARING - SEWER RATE INCREASE: Dave Michael distributed information to the council members regarding the sewer rate increase. Public Hearing: No Comments. Motion by Alderman Marshall to the close public hearing, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. RESOLUTION NO. R96-46 A RESOLUTION RAISING CITY SEWER RATES AND CHARGES SO AS TO INCREASE TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUES NOT TO EXCEED 13% Motion by Alderman Easton that Resolution No. R96-46 be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Kroll. Dave commented that in the sewer rate increase there has been a change in the system development fee that is set by ordinance. At the next council meeting there will be an updated ordinance prepared to correspond with the sewer rate increase. A vote was taken on the motion. Motion carried 8--0. AMENDING THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, ZONING: ORDINANCE NO. 096-5 (second reading) AMENDING TITLE 17 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE~ ZONING Public Hearing: No Comments. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to close the public hearing, seconded by Alderman Walton. Motion carried 8--0. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 3 Council Meeting of October 1, 1996 CHANGE COUNCIL MEETING DUE TO STATE GENERAL ELECTION: Motion by Alderman Orr to change the council meeting from Tuesday, November 5th to Wednesday, November 6th, due to the State General Election being a holiday, seconded by Alderman Johnson. Alderman Marshall commented that the right to vote is a privilege and not a duty. He objects to the holiday for the State General Election even though it is a law. He feels public employees can work on election day, like everyone else does and still vote. He stated this is his opinion. A vote was taken on the motion. Motion carried 6--2 with Alderman Marshall and Alderman Johnson voting "NO". COMMITTEE REPORTS: --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of September 17, reviewed. 1996 were presented and Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter minutes of September 17, 1996, into the record, Motion carried 8--0. the Budget/Finance seconded by Alderman Committee Johnson. --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of September 17, 1996 were presented. Motion by Alderman Marshall to Whole minutes of September 17, 1996, Motion carried 8--0. enter the City Council Committee of the into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. --Laurel AirD0rt Authority minutes of August 27, 1996 were presented. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter the Laurel Airport Authority minutes of August 27, 1996, into the record, seconded by Alderman Staudinger. Motion carried 8--0. --Park Committee minutes of September 26, 1996 were presented and reviewed. Mike Atkinson, Chief of Police, stated the Superintendent of Laurel Schools called him and said the parking in Thomson Park, on the south side of East Eighth Street, across from the high school is a problem. There are school kids parking in the lot, congregating in groups, and smoking. They are not visible to police officers and cannot be seen by school officials because of school buses that are parking on the north side of East Eighth Street. Joe Leckie stated that the area could be designated as no parking during certain times of the day. Alderman Walton stated the Park Committee discussed the issue and questioned that if the area is made a no parking area, where would the kids go next? It was felt that the problem would be moved but not solved. The superintendent did not attend the Park Committee meeting, so the committee did not know the whole situation. He is still welcome to attend a Park Committee meeting. Mike commented that he agrees with the superintendent. He said drug schools stress that if kids are congregating and cannot be arrested, then move them. The kids will be inconvenienced by being moved and soon they will leave. Alderman Easton mentioned the problem the school has is that they don't have the supervision of the kids after they leave the school property and go into the city park. The school knows the kids are congregating in the parking lot of the city park~ but cannot see them and therefore, cannot stop them to enforce the rules when they approach the school property with cigarettes. Alderman Walton is concerned with moving the kids and the problem. If the kids chose to congregate on someone's front lawn, will that homeowner have as much pull with the council when they complain, as the school does? Alderman Kroll mentioned that if the kids move further into the park, such as to the shelter, they might damage park property. It was suggested that the city put a patrolman or reserve officer in the area each morning, noon, and after school to enforce the law of minors with tobacco. After a couple Of weeks, the kids will discontinue to congregate or move themselves. Motion by Alderwoman KilDatrick to enter the Park Committee minutes of Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 4 Council Meeting of October 1, 1996 --Street & Alley/Garbage Committee minutes of September 24, 1996 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Easton to enter the Street & Alley/Garbage Committee minutes of September 24, 1996, into the record, seconded by Alderman Johnson. Alderman Marshall stated there is dissatisfaction among the residents pertaining to SID 110. There is concern regarding the grade and the way it is laid out. Some homes are in a valley and some are sitting on a mountain. The residents feel they didn't get what they expected. He asked Jim if the side could have been dug out or something else have been done better? Jim spoke to the engineer and one of the controlling factors was the bridge. There are standards that the engineers,must work with as far as coming off the bridge, which limits the level of how f~ that curb can go down. A flat area is needed coming off the bridge on the south side gradually working down to a reasonable elevation. There is no way this could be addressed with the first two or three homes. In order to have a legal and proper road grade, it had to come off at a higher elevation. Jim stated the majority of homes should be fine when it is landscaped, In new projects, a curb tends to stand out until landscaping is done. Jim explained that the subdivision is an older one and has had graveled streets for years. Homes were built with no design for street, curb, and gutter. This is another reason the city should always consider the requirement of curb, gutter and asphalt for new subdivisions prior to construction, so these type of things don't happen. Alderman Marshall asked Jim why is this contrary to South Woodland where it is fine to build homes now and put in the curb, gutter and asphalt at a later date? Jim stated they are requiring curb, gutter, and sidewalk before moving into the house. When they get the building permit, the curb and gutter must be constructed. The grade is established with the curb and gutter. The asphalt will come later. First Baptist Church Alderman Kroll asked Jim if the church had started to pave the parking lot before they came to the committee meeting? Jim stated they did, however, they stopped when he contacted them and then they came to the committee meeting. The construction they are doing is now acceptable with the committee and attached to the committee minutes, is a letter they signed that they agree to install a drainage system if deemed necessary by the City of Laurel. Alderman Kroll questioned the discussion that the church needed a drainage system, however, now the letter reads that they don't need it? Jim stated the committee agreed the church could go ahead without drainage collection at this time, however, if a problem develops, the church must install an underground collection system and drain the area to the 8th Avenue storm sewer. If a surface runoff problem develops, including drainage across the sidewalk, drainage problems in the alley, or washing of rocks into the street, the drainage collection must be installed. One of Jim's requirements for the church was to look into the cost of a drainage system, so in case it was required, they would know what to be prepared for. A vote was taken on the motion to enter the Street & Alley/Garbage Committee minutes into the record. Motion carried 8--0. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Alderwoman Kilpatrick stated that South School would like permission to participate in Red Ribbon Week beginning October 28, Park. the council's 1996 in South Motion by Alderwoman KilDatrick to allow South Ribbon Week beginning October 28, 1996 in South Marshall. Motion carried 8--0. School to participate in Red Park, seconded by Alderman MAYOR'S COMMENTS: Mayor Rodgers announced that Aldermen Staudinger, Orr, and Marshall have been working on committee changes. He will then distribute a new committee list. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 5 Council Meeting of October 1, 1996 Alderman Easton stated that Jack Galusha has moved to Billings and would like to be removed from the Ambulance Committee. He has served on the committee for a long time. Mayor Rodgers thanked Dave Michael for all the work he did on the sewer rate study. There being no further business to come meeting was adjourned at 8:13 p.m. before the council at this time, Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk the Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, this 15th day of October, 1996. Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk