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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 06.26.2007 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP JUNE 26, 2007 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Kan Olson at 6:30 p.m. on June 26, 2007. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: _x_ Emelie Eaton _x_ Kate Hart _x_ Gay Easton _x_ Vonda Hotchkiss __ Doug Poehls _x_ Mark Mace _x_ Chuck Dickerson _x_ Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Sam Painter Mary Embleton Steve Klotz Rick Musson Jan Faught Chad Hanson Darlene Tussing Brett Rutherford Stuart Gilbertson Chris Hilliard Bob Canning Public Input (three-minute limit): Citizens may address the Council regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speakingunderPubliclnputislimitedtothreeminute~ Whileallcommentsarewelcome, theCouncilwillnottakeaction on any item not on the agendcL There was no public input. Ambulance Reserve Apoointment: · Jennifer Tmppe Ambulance Director Jan Faught requested the appointment of Jennifer Tmppe as a reserve attendant for the Laurel Ambulance Service. Jennifer, an EMT with AMIL is from New Hampshire and wants to volunteer her services in Laurel. Jan will introduce Jennifer at the council meeting next week. Brett Rutherford, Election Judge Coordinator: · Mail ballots for November 6~ elections Brett Rutherford gave a PowerPoint presentation promoting mail ballots for the November election. The benefits of a mail ballot election over a polling place election include: much higher voter turnout; elimination of polling place problems; voter satisfaction is increased; ensures higher level of oversight; allows the voter more time to make more informed decisions; removes some of the pressure of late registration fi.om the election process; the cost is equal to or less than a polling place election; and many other cities currently conduct mail ballot elections. Brett explained the mail ballot process. The voter receives their ballot in the mail approximately two weeks before Election Day. The voter fills out the ballot in the privacy and comfort of their home, office or other place of their choosing. The voter places their completed ballot in the secrecy envelope provided. The voter places the secrecy envelope in the ballot return envelope. The voter Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2007 reads the Voter's Statement on the back of the ballot return envelope. If the voter can certify that everything in the Voter's Statement is tree, they sign the envelope. The voter returns the ballot to their County Elections Office by mail, in person, or by dropping it offat an Official Ballot Dropsite. An elections worker scans the barcode, which is unique to each voter, on the back of the ballot return envelope. This helps each county track which voters have returned their ballots. An elections worker who is trained in signature matching compares the signature on the hack of the ballot return envelope with the signature on the voter's registration card. Iftha signatures do not match, the voter is notified and asked to contact their County Elections Official. In order to maintain the secrecy of each ballot, an official elections board, composed of mixed political party membership, removes and separates the secrecy envelopes from the ballot return envelopes. In the second stage of the process, a separate elections board removes and separates the ballots from the secrecy envelopes. This occurs on Election Day. An official elections board inspects the ballots to ensure that they are machine- readable. The ballots are tallied. If the city is interested in conducting a vote by mail election, the Election Department advises the city to start slow and small with local elections; do not pay postage for ballot return envelopes as that would be like paying for transportation to get voters to the poll; ballots are not "forwardable"; all ballots must be in by 8:00 p.m. on election night and postmarks do not count. In the November 2006 election, over 37 percent of voter turnout was by absentee voting, which indicates that vote by mail will increase voter turnout. Montana Law 13-19-104 MCA allows Municipal Elections to be mn by mail ballot. Brett stated that the city council would need to make a decision soon in order for the Election Department to prepare and order supplies for the November election. Mayor Olson thanked Brett for his presentation. Darlene Tussing: · Presentation on the trail systems Darlene Tussing gave a PowerPoint presentation on the State of the Trails in the Billings Community. She explained the various locations of completed trails, proposed trails, funding for the trail system and the vision for the future. Mayor Olson thanked Darlene for the informative presentation. Discussion regarding Ordinance No. 007-05: Ordinance for Laurel Cable Communications (Second reading postponed to July 3, 2007). Mayor Oison stated that the city's attorney and representatives of Cable Montana would meet on Wednesday to discuss the proposed cable communications ordinance. Mayor Oison introduced Stuart Gilbertson, the owner of Cable Montana, who introduced Chris Hilliard and Bob Canning. Discussion regardin~ System Development Fees - Elena Subdivision Mayor Olson requested that the council allow the staff to review the issue further to make a recommendation to the council. The item will be on the July l0th council workshop agenda. Public Works Department: · Resolution- Great West Engineering, Task Order No. 1 2 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2007 Steve Klotz explained the resolutiom with Great West Engineering, which allows the city to enter into engineering services for Task Orders No. 2 end 3. Task Order No. 2 is the forming of the SID with the State Maintenance Department project on West Main. The sidewalks and the approaches are the city's portion of the project. The State's portion of the project will be the milling and overlay. Task Order No. 3 is for the Southeast 4th Street business area, and may be two SlD's. It includes a stormwater system in Washington Avenue and Southeast 4th and will extend to the south a little and to the north on First Avenue South in order to include the entire commercial area on the south side. Some leveling and milling and an overlay on Southeast 4th will also be done. Chad Hanson, from Great West Engineering, attended the meeting to answer questions. Mayor Olson stated that Task Order No. 1 was included in the original contract and Task Orders No. 2 and 3 are being presented at this meeting. Task Order No. 2, for West Main Street between Third Avenue and Eighth Avenue, is the SID for the curb, gutter and sidewalk portion of the project. The work will be completed before MDT does the mill and fill on the project. The city is still trying to fund the cost of the portion of the project from First Avenue to Third Avenue. When funding is available, the State plans to do a mill and fill and a center turn lane going east on East Main and that project includes milling and an overlay underneath the underpass and south down South First. Mayor Olson explained that Task Order No. 3 is for stormwater in the South Laurel Business District between Railroad Street and South 4~ Street and between South First Avenue and Washington Avenue and a portion west of South First Street to the ditch. This would pick up storm drainage from Curt's Saloon, the Locomotive, the strip mall, Taco John's, Town Pump, Fichtner Chevrolet and Laurel Ford. The entire commercial district would be included. It would help to mitigate some overflowing and discharge at the Italian Drain. Construction is projected for the spring of 2008. A surface reconditioning and overlay will be done on Southeast Fourth Street, which is the only portion identified at this point for street work. The goal is to get the storm sewer installed in South First Avenue ahead of the MDT project. The resolutions will be on the July 3~a council agenda. Police Department: · Resolution - Interlocal Agreement for Montana Law Enforcement Testing Consortium Chief Musson explained the development of the Interlocal Agreement. The purpose of the agreement is for the operation and financing of a joint recruitment testing program to identi~ qualified candidates for the participating cities and counties. Copies of the Interlocal Agreement and the Consortium By-Laws were attached to the draft resolution for the council's review. The resolution will be on the July 3~a council agenda. Executive review: · Resolution - Fire District allocation to the Capital Projects Fund Mayor Olson explained the recommendation for a resolution that reflects the 15 percent allocation to the Capital Projects Fund to support future funding for equipment for the Fire Department. The resolution will be on the July 3a council agenda. Council Issues: 3 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2007 · City's written plan regarding annexation (Council Member Eaton) Mayor Oison stated that the Annexation Plan from the City of Billings was distributed to the council. The City of Laurel does not have an annexation policy. Mayor Olson suggested that the council review the document, which will be on the July 10t~ council workshop agenda. · Status of the city's website (Council Member Eaton) Steve Klotz stated that the library employees have agreed to do the data entry on the city's website. The city's webpage is currently a skeleton since several departments have not created their pages and links. Jim Huertas, a new city police officer, has experience in webpage design and is willing to assist the city. Steve, Jim Huertas, and Peg Arnold will meet with Zee Creative on Friday, June 294, to discuss the status of the website and to determine how the city can maintain the website as per the agreement. The city's website address is: www.laurel, mt.~ov. There was discussion regarding needed corrections to the webpage, the use of interactive forms, and posting of the council minutes. · Policy & procedure for remodel projects (Council Member Poehis) Mayor Oison stated that staff discussed the issue at today's department head meeting. Staff determined that it has the ability to address remodel projects and recommended that no policy is needed. · Airport Authority issues (Council Member Poehls) Mayor Olson stated that the city needs to get a copy of the Airport Authority By-Laws. The issue will be on the July 10th council workshop agenda. · Update on city planner position (Council Member Dickerson) Mayor Olson stated that the interview committee met today to set the criteria to rate the qualifications of the applicants. The committee consists of Steve Klotz, Mary Embleton, Cheryll Lund, David Oberly, Candi Beandry, and Mayor Olson. Four applications have been received for the city planner position. The committee will meet again on July 17u' to begin the selection phase oftbe process. The planning services agreement with the City of Billings has been extended until the City of Laurel hires a planner. Other items Mayor Olson stated that Dr. Ken Weaver and Judy Mathre sent a drat~ charter for the City of Laurel. Copies were distributed for the council's review and the item will be on the July 10~h council workshop agenda~ Mayor Oison explained that Shawna Gratwohl, DJ's Restaurant, has requested an Alive After Five event hosted by the Laurel Chamber of Commerce on July 20th. The outdoor event will mn from 3:00 to 10:00 p.m., will include the serving of alcoholic beverages and food, and a bluegrass band will provide music from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. The applicant has requested street closure on Montana Avenue between East First Street and Main Street for the event. The request was submitted on a city form and the mayor can approve the request. There was discussion regarding the event. The event would be monitored by the city's police as a representative of the Police Protective Association. Rick explained his request to the mayor and the Emergency Services Committee to consider using the Police Protective Association (LPPA) to run extra patrol and duty. Billings, Yellowstone County, and other departments do this. The LPPA would contract for the services of an officer during a special event instead of running the finances through the clerk/treasurer's office. Rick feels strongly that at 4 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2007 least one officer, depending on the size of the crowd, is needed to patrol special events where alcohol is involved. Mayor Olson stated that this decision would be presented to the applicant. Review ofdratt council agenda for July 3, 2007 A resolution regarding mail in ballots will be added to the council agenda. Attendance at the July 3, 2007 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements Copies of Ordinance No. 005-03, which addresses reimbursements to qualified subdivision developers, was distribmed to the council. As discussed earlier in the meeting, staff will review the issue and present a recoaimendation at the July 10ta council workshop. Mark Mace stated that the Building Committee for the Laurel Revitalization League met last week. The committee isolated seven properties, including the Asphalt Plant, the elevator, Watts Storage, Trading Post, white antique building, grain tanks by Hardee's and the Furniture Store Warehouse, which need repair. At the meeting, Ken Miller mentioned an incident last fall when Dr. Jody Crowl was painting her building and was run offthe parking lot property and had to stop painting the side of the building. The wall is still unfinished. Mark asked if legal counsel could determine if the property owner has rights to access the private property in order to complete painting the building. The property owner has not asked the city to do so, but Mark would like the city to help with this issue. Mayor Olson stated that the city would try to find a resolve to the issue. Mayor Olson stated that the city previously authorized an expenditure of $3,000 for a downtown economic development survey. On July 11th and 12th, Big Sky Economic Development Authority (BSEDA) will have six individuals at the Laurel library to complete a survey of citizens' input of how to address the downtown area. Pamphlets will be distributed at various locations throughout the city and Doug Poehls will pass out pamphlets during the parade on the 4t~ of July. There was discussion regarding the painting project of the underpass last weekend. Many individuals participated in the project, end the work was greatly appreciated. Mayor Olson will extend thanks to the chairman of the committee, and he encouraged the council to do so, too. The council workshop adjourned at 8:47 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Council Secretary NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda iten~ 5