Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Minutes 08.18.1998 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE August 18, 1998 6:30 P.M. Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Chuck Rodgers Dirk Kroll Gary Temple Ken Olson Miles Walton Gay Easton Norman Orr Bill Staudinger Bud Johnson OTHERS PRESENT: V. Joe Leckie Larry McCann Mike Zuhoski Don Hackmann Cai Cumin Bill Staudinger has received complaints about people leaving tree branches in the boulevard after trimming their trees. Dirk Kroll has received complaints about cars at 7th Avenue and 12th Street. Mike Zuhoski said that the Police Department is taking care of the problem. Miles Walton invited everyone to attend the annual LVFD Chicken and Corn Feed in the park next to the Fire Hail on Saturday, August 22nd. Cai Cumin commented on a draft proposal that he received last week from the Montana Department of Transportation about the CTEP program. Patricia Saindon, the Administrator of the Transportation Planning Division, has decided to revamp the administrative rules because of all the complaints about the administration of the CTEP grants. The County Commissioners and several other cities have responded to it and he would like the City of Laurel to do so, too. Cal does not believe that this proposal will work. We have a six-year program that we are about 70 percent into right now. We have not started on South Pond and have not used the rest of our funds, and Ms. Saindon is proposing that they come up with a new administrative program on the new funding. The new program would divide the state up into five districts, each one competing for funds within their district. No project would be smaller than $100,000. Small projects would be aggregated and one sponsor would be responsible for all of them. Cal does not approve of this change. The City of Great Falls critiqued it and wants to leave the program as it is currently, especially the distribution of funds based on population. Cai is encouraging communities and counties to oppose the proposal and request to continue with the present program. He distributed a copy of a letter he drafted to Ms. Saindon and asked the council to write a similar letter to her, to Alec Hanson and to other communities. Larry McCann distributed a map highlighting the locations of the newly installed water line, the 480 feet of six-inch line installed last week, and the sixteen waterline breaks since July 20, 1998. The 480 feet of six-inch line cost about $20,000. There were five breaks on Yellowstone Avenue and the water was shut offon the whole south side. Now the main feed for the south side is on Fourth Street where they replaced 48 feet of pipe. People on the south side are upset because they have been without water twice for long periods of time. Larry wants to replace a bad valve, test the water and get the system on line so that a smaller section can be shut off if there are more water leaks. The water project is two weeks behind with 73 days to finish. The contractor is currently working at the comer of Fourth Avenue and First South and having a difficult time getting around the corner. Since the state is considering delaying the overlay on First Avenue South, the contractor will have to pave the ditches. The contractor had proposed to give the asphalt contract back to us and get by with a one-inch overlay on Fifth Avenue and Railroad Street, but Morrison-Malerle said that will not be enough to handle the truck traffic on those streets. Larry said that we will not accept the contractor's proposal. The log cabin project will be put out for bid on August 26th. By permission only, a local contractor will be putting some cement at the South Pond project to provide some fill. Don Hackmann mentioned that we received two registration forms for the Montana League of Cities and Towns conference scheduled for October 7th , 8th , and 9th at West Yellowstone. September 15th iS the deadline to register. Jim Stevens reported that the Fire Department had 36 calls in July and 15 calls so far this month. Dirk mentioned that the LVFD was represented at the Montana State Fair last week. Mike Zuhoski reported that Officer Jason Wells would be going to the Academy this Sunday, August 23rd for eleven weeks. The meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Secretary