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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole Minutes 04.21.1998 MINUTES CITY COUNCIL COMEVIITTEE OF THE WHOLE April 21, 1998 6:30 p.m. Council Chambers M3E~.MB ERS PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: Chairman Chuck Rodgers GaD' Temple Gay' Easton Dirk Kroll William Staudinger Ken Olson Norman Orr Bud Johnson V. Joe Leckie Jim Stevens LaiTy McCann Alan Hovious Don Hac 'kmann Cai Cumin Bill Staudinger reminded us that the month of May would be the "Bright and Beautiful" cleanup for the City of Laurel. The Mayor said that Larry McCaun and ,amdy Loebe are setting it up. Ken Olson said that Miles would be late but will arrive for the 7:00 meeting, Since Ken Olson and Miles Walton cannot be at the Park Meeting scheduled for the 23fa, it has been rescheduled for May 7th at 4:30 p.m. The Fourth of July Committee Meeting will be held after that at about 5:00 p.m. This change will be made on the Agenda. Bud Jolmson presented and reviewed a water project progress report from Double-Tree. Our application to SRF has been approved and they committed for the whole amount. We are working towards a June 1*t opening of the loan. Their application to the Federal EPA should be in place well within the time period so that our loan would be funded and we would be able to make disbursements to the contractor if file bid is approved. The bid opening is slated for May 4th. If ail goes well, it is anticipated that award of the bids could be given at the May 5~' Council Meeting. Larry gave a report on the reservoir project. It is necessary, to do some extra work that was not in the original part of the contract. It will be covered by contingency, but the costs were not available. Along with that reservoir project, it will need to be cleaned. To be done properS, it needs to be filled with a million gallons of water and drained. To get the million gallons of water out, a culvert needs to be built across Valley Drive. This is a project that the City will undertake in the next few days. People will have to fred alternative ways to get to Valley Drive. Larry also encouraged all the Council members and everyone else to be at Firemen's Park on the 25th at 9:00 a.m. for Clean-Up Day. Dirk Kroll brought up a question about the asphalt plant. He said that there are some concerns about some tanks being put in and whether or not there is enough protection in case one of them break. Larry agreed fluat there is a lot of concern on tile South side. They have yet to do what they told us they would do two years ago. They still need to build the berm up another ~A inch all the way around that property. Alan Hovious reported that they have met with some representatives from the Montana Highway Patrol, file County Sheriff's Office, and the Traffic Engineer from Billings to talk about how to deal with the traffic for file Fourth of July. They are working on some reasonable ideas to deal with the heavy n'affie flow during the holiday. They are trying to get some commitments from the County Sheriff's Office and Laurel Reserves to help with the extra park patrol. They said they gave us same help last year, but we do not remember seeing anyone. We want to get a real solid commitment roi' theh' help this year. ?dan announced a community meeting on the 29th at the High School Auditorium. It will be an informational meeting regarding erecting a youth center in Laurel. We want to see how much support we can get fi.om the community. He met with someone fi.om the Community Crime Prevention Council to get some ideas of some grants for which we might be eligible. This center could be used for more than just a youth center or crime prevention. Alan requested that all the council members attend this informational meeting on Wednesday, April 29th. Jinl Stevens introduced Fkefighter Jim Peters to the Council. Joe Leckie said that he is glad to be back. Mayor Rodgers referred to the article that four engineers put in the Billings Gazette regarding the public hearing on whether we had the fight to go in and berm up the river and give ourselves some water. He asked the Councilmen if they would be willing to ~rite a letter of support on behalf of the CiD' and every resident out there that what we did was a necessi~' to do. We were almost out of water, and the majority of us agree that within a day or two we would have been without water. The3' are saying that we went way beyond our actions, but we tried it their way twice, and the th/rd time we did it our way. We do have water. Mayor Rodgers reported that he did talk to Montana Power. He told Alan that they would be getting with him about the light situation around the ball park for the Fourfl~ of July. They would have to mm offthe lights individually and that may be a safety factor. Meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Cindy Allen Secretary