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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Minutes 04.20.1999 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE April 20, 1999 6:30 P.M. Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Chuck Rodgers Dirk Kroll Ken Olson (6:45 p.m.) Gay Easton Bill Staudinger Gary Temple Norman Orr Bud Johnson OTHERS PRESENT: V. Joe Leckie Larry McCarm Mary Embleton Don Hackmann Rick Musson Jim Stevens Cal Cumin Dirk Kroll asked the council to remember those involved in the school shooting incident in Littleton, Colorado, in the silent prayer at the beginning of the council meeting. Bud Johnson mentioned that the Drag and Alcohol Task Force met last week and another meeting is scheduled next week. The school is providing the resources necessao' to build a web page that will identify the local resources that are available. Gary Temple said that Laurel citizens need to exercise more caution when driving on streets where the paving crew is working, and he asked the Laurel Outlook to inform the public of the problem. Gary extended sympathy to the family of Doug Manning. Mayor Rodgers explained that one public hearing could be held for the thirteen ordinances on the agenda. Jim Stevens reported that the Fire Department has responded to 48 calls so far this year. Rick Musson informed the council that two policemen will graduate from the Police Academy on April 30th. Rick spoke about the shooting in Colorado, and he mentioned that the Yellowstone County SWAT Team trains and prepares for such incidents. Larry McCann said the Water Plant Project is nearing completion. They have been going through the computer side of the project for a couple weeks. He reached a resolution on the change order for the tank coating. It was unacceptable because of the leaking in the wall between the tanks and the pump room. The total cost to coat the entire tank is $10,000, and the contractor and the city negotiated and each agreed to pay half. Larry mentioned that he is working on another change order to monitor the levels in both sides of the tank separately. This would make it possible to empty one side of the tank for cleaning and maintenance purposes and have the computer operate off the other side of the tank. The sed basins are still on the old system. Larry is considering having these put on the computer so that everything is tied together and operation is easier. There was a request for a ten-day extension of time, but that was denied. Dick Grover agreed that the request should be denied. Because of the seven-day cure time required for the tank coatings, both tanks will not be online until May 7th. Larry will not charge any liquidated damages because of this delay. Larry said that the South Pond Project is basically on hold after the vandalism on the equipment that the Lions Club had borrowed. The truck quotes for a ½ ton pickup truck have been received. Fichtner Chevrolet bid $15,485.67; Archie Cochrane Ford bid $13,664.50; Laurel Ford bid $14,111.00; and Montana Dodge bid $14,540.00. The truck will be purchased from Archie Cochrane Ford, the low bidder. The meeting with the Department of Transportation is scheduled for Wednesday, April 21st. Bruce Barrett will not be at the meeting, but Myron Wilson, project engineer for the project in the City of Laurel, Will be there to discuss some of our problems. Larry plans to schedule Bruce Barrett at a future council meeting. On Thursday, April 22ha, Larry will meet with Tom Fox and Boris Kersack regarding the possibility of a private/public partnership for a composting program. Fox Lumber pays a large amount of money for us to haul away their sawdust and the City of Laurel pays a lot to dispose of our sludge. The City of Billings is also interested in participating in this type of program to dispose of their sludge. Jerry Thomas from Big Sky Economic Development will also attend this meeting. Larry mentioned that JTL is concerned that Laurel residents are not paying attention to their barricades while work is being done on First Avenue. Gary Temple said that he did not feel that the vandalism at South Pond was done as a threat against the project, but rather as a threat against the contractor or the owner of the truck. The truck was damaged, but no damage was done to any part of the project. Larry agreed that whoever ran the trackhoe knew how to do it. Williams Trucking owned the truck and loaned it to the Lions Club to use during this project. Cai Cumin reported that the Log Cabin Project has been approved for pre-construction. A resolution on the agenda would authorize the Mayor and City Clerk-Treasurer to sign a modification to the CTEP General Project Development and Construction Agreement for the .South Pond Landscaping. The county rearranged the fees on the Canyon Creek Project and submitted it to the state. This should help to get an architect for the project. Cai said that the two billboards that the council questioned recently were erected illegally. The attorney for the billboard company called Cai and asked about the requirements for special review. Cai said that, unfortunately, there has been a request for five more billboards in that same area. Gary Temple commented that that is not always unfortunate, but that is only Cal's viewpoint. Cai said that he was the one speaking. Mary Embleton informed the council that the city applied for a COPS in School Grant last week. This is a $125,000 grant and no match is required. If the grant were awarded, it would pay for the salary and benefits for an additional officer for three years. A decision should be received about the grant by the end of May. Mary said that budgets are on track, but there is more work to do. Mary will be attending the Clerk's Institute the remainder of this week. She hopes to bring back some creative ideas on how to deal with the legislative issues. Mary received notification that the Department of Commerce will hold their annual Legislative Update, coupled with a Budget Workshop, on June l0th in Billings. Mayor Rodgers thanked Mary and the staff for their work in applying for the COPS Grant. Jean Kerr and Bernie Hedricks attended the pre-council meeting. Jean distributed a handout to the council regarding a block grant for $6,576.00 that is available from the Montana Department of Justice. Bernie stated that the Laurel City Court has been assigning youth that commit crimes to Alternatives in Billings to complete their community service. Most of the offenses are for Minors in Possession. There were 50 MIP's in 1997, 106 in 1998, and 46 in the first three months of 1999. A youth is usually referred to Alternatives, where they pay $15.00. The offender is then assigned to a community service program site in Laurel, but there is very little supervision. According to the City Judge, many of the youth are referred back as "non-compliant." This creates a problem for the City Court, the youth, the parents, and the community service site. The court costs are increased because the court must hold a costly and time-consuming "show cause heating." The community gets the impression that little is being done to hold youth accountable for their community service work. It is believed that closer supervision of the youth would solve some of the problems. The project has two goals. The first one is to hold youth accountable for their community service work in a more timely fashion. The second goal is to create a positive working relationship between youthful offenders and members of the community via the Corp Link staff. Steve Nelson told Bernie that a Corp Link position is valued at about $20,000 per year. He will provide us a Corp Link position for $5,000. We would receive 1,720 hours through contracted services and a portion of the grant would also provide for a Community Service Coordinator. Bernie further explained the advantages of using Corp Link. He mentioned the six objectives of the project. The objectives are: to decrease the time it takes to refer a youth to an agency that will get him involved in completing his community service; to reduce the number of non-compliance reports for youth who are referred for community service; to reduce the amount of paperwork that goes through the City Court office due to non~ compliance of youth for community service; to increase more community projects in Laurel by mid-year; to involve more community leaders in working with community youth supervision; to identify additional community service work sites and community projects. Joe Leckie explained that this item could be considered if a three-fourths majority passed a motion to add it to the agenda. The meeting adjourned at 6:57 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen City Council Secretary