Minutes 07/20/2009

  MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE TOWN OF COLUMBUS,

COLUMBUS, MONTANA HELD JULY 20, 2009 AT 7:30 P.M.

 The meeting was called to order with the Pledge with Mayor Woltermann presiding. Council persons present were Gary Anderson, Patty Sundberg, Terry Nystul, Jon Brown, Paul Edwards and Harold Houghton. Officers present were Fire Chief Cowger, DPW Holten, Attorney Howard and Clerk Barndt.

Irmgard Houghton, Betty Ann Roan, Dave Armstrong, Cliff Brophy.

The Mayor asked Council if they had reviewed the minutes of the 7/6/09 meeting and were there any additions, deletions or corrections? Nystul moved to approve the minutes as written, seconded by Houghton, roll call; all-yes.

The Mayor asked for approval of the delinquent shut off list after proper notice. Sundberg moved to approve the request, seconded by Nystul, roll call; all-yes.

Petitions and Communications

The first item was a request from Bev McCurry to reassign the lease for Kym’s Coffee to Alecia Noble. Sale of this business is pending approval of this request and is scheduled for the end of July. The Mayor asked what paperwork was necessary? Doug stated that he would need the name and address of the prospective owner. Bev said that she would make sure that got to Ron.

Nystul moved to approve the request to reassign the lease to Alecia Noble per Attorney Howard’s written assignment, seconded by Sundberg, roll call; all-yes.

The next item was a presentation by Sheriff Brophy, Betty Ann Roan and Dave Armstrong. They were here to speak on behalf of the Alternatives program in Stillwater County and request financial assistance from the Town. Brophy began with a history of the program and its benefits. He stated that "not everyone should go to jail" and Alternatives supports that thought. Originally Stillwater County had put up the funding to get it started. Changing financial times and changes in rules by the Supreme Court have caused some finances to be lost.

Betty Ann Roan, Deputy Administrator, presented additional information of the programs available to the users of their service. She passed out her business card and a pamphlet outlining Alternative’s services. She thanked Sgt. Timm, Chief Cowger and DPW Holten for their assistance in providing supervision for Alternatives clients. She stated that the clients are required to pay a portion of their costs for the program. Some of the client requirements are that they get a job, keep clean and sober. They are supervised and tested regularly.

Dave Armstrong explained how funding was obtained for the program. He passed out a simple budget form for review. He stated that a change in the Mental Health Center participation had caused revenues to decline and they were trying to find ways to continue to provide services. He requested that the Town participate in the program in the amount of $7500.00. He said that Alternatives provides 28% of it services to the Town of Columbus and would get 18.5% from the Town. Edwards said that he would like to hear from Chief Pronovost before any decision is made. The Mayor thanked all for their presentation and said that budget time is here and they would take the request under advisement.

Reports of Officers

There were no questions for Rich.

There was no Police report.

DPW Holten talked about the pending sidewalk, curb & gutter project on Pike Ave. and reminded Council that there could be a potential conflict with the "Farmers Market" which uses the Park on Thursdays and he suggested that the Market might be relocated to Heritage Park if a conflict results. The Mayor could see no negative to using Heritage Park.

Dennis introduced Tom Erskine, Interstate Engineering, who gave a brief overview of the projects they have been working on for the Town.

He stated that the Heritage Well project is about 40% complete and he finds no major changes or problems.

The Carr/Annin/307 Sewer Project contracts have been signed and a Notice to Proceed is pending. COP Construction would like to wait a couple of weeks so they can finish some other projects before they start.

The Water Tank Project is being advertised and would start about October when the need for irrigation subsides. The tank will be out of service during this project.

The Water Tank Erosion and Security Fence is in design.

The Pratten Street Storm Drain is in design and is about 60% complete.

With the signing of the 9th Street Lighting Task Order, Interstate will proceed with the grant application for LED lighting. The current estimate to install lights is about $72,000 plus engineering. It has been suggested that this project become a Town wide light district so all will be assessed a smaller portion for these lights. Council wants to see how the grant process goes.

The last item was again the Pike Ave. sidewalk, curb & gutter project. Tom stated that the Town had received about $44,000 in State ARRA funds but the bid had come in at $62.764.00. There had been previous discussion about rebidding the project since the bid was over the $50,000 threshold. Tom and Dennis recommended rebidding the project. It will put the project back about thirty days. Nystul moved to reject the bid from Stillwater Excavating and re-advertise, seconded by Sundberg, roll call; all-yes.

The Mayor asked Erskine what was being done to the water tank and how old was it? Erskine said that the tank would be repaired and repainted inside and out and safety hatches would be updated. Dennis said the tank was built in 1974.

There were no questions for Doug.

Ron stated he had been trying for about two years to get all parties together on this 9th St. Light Project. He had to deal with several people at Northwestern Energy before he found someone who knew what to do. Then NWE had to work with MDOT on specifications. It wasn’t until Interstate Engineering got involved that we actually got cost figures. Everyone was disappointed to hear that MDOT did not have any funding for these lights, even though it is their "access".

Committee Reports

Dennis added that water is flowing from the Cemetery Irrigation Project and Jeff Limburg is in the process of installing automated controls this week. Portions complete are all of the North Addition, the West half of the Old Part. Plans to extend the main lines to the remainder of the Old Part and East Addition are in progress. They are able to water the East end with the "Big Squirt" at this time without dragging piping.

The next item was the Airport Fence. The Mayor stated that it was supposed to begin a couple of weeks ago but there have been some short delays. Frontier Fence will begin soon at no additional cost to the Town and will complete the wetland area when the ground freezes.

Unfinished Business

Council discussed the Alley Petition that had been presented and thought that it should be corrected and resubmitted. Dennis stated that there are several utilities and both alleys and did not recommend abandoning any of them. He suggested that a partial closure may be considered. Edwards said that he saw all of the paint and knew what it meant. Council asked him to take the Petition back to its author and correct the language and get signatures again. This will be kept on the agenda.

The 9th Light grant had been discussed.

New Business

The Pike Street issue had already been handled. Dennis added that he had thought that his crew might removed the old curb, gutter and sidewalk to save some money but Stillwater’s bid didn’t make a difference for that.

Comments.

Sundberg stated that a couple of people had commented about the Pool Building and were excited that something might happen, but were then disappointed when costs were discovered. She hoped that we could have gotten some stimulus money for that project. Dennis said that he still had a couple of places to apply for funding. He added that the Town now has about half of the funding. Nystul said that he had heard nothing from his letters.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

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GARY WOLTERMANN, MAYOR

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RONALD D. BARNDT, CLERK-TREASURER