May 6, 2025

City of Townsend

Minutes May 6, 2025

CALL TO ORDER:  Mayor Rauser called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.  Council members in attendance were Angie Wintrow, Nate Brown, JB Howick, Vivian Boaz, and Doug Sitton.  Also in attendance were Kay Murray, Liz Wishman, Sheree Beauchamp and her husband, Todd Rolfs, Dean Nygaard, Debi Randolph, John Stenzel, Eric Crusch, and Kari Williams.                                                                                                                                                    PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:  The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.. 

  • Public Comment:  (none)
  • Minutes April 15, 2025: Vivian moved to approve the minutes from April 15, 2025. Doug seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried.
  • Minutes April 29, 2025:  Angie moved to approve the minutes from April 29, 2025. Vivian seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

GUESTS: 

  • Big Sky Big Leadership Group:  Liz Wishman spoke on behalf of the group and stated they’d like to expand their improvements to include the basketball courts as well as the tennis courts in McCarthy Park.  Liz stated that they’d like to make it ADA accessible and safe for the kids.  This will include painting the courts, putting new backboards, new hoops, and netting.  She said that they have received a trust board grant of $30,000 and there is also other grant money that may come in.  JB asked if the plan has been seen by the mayor or Eric in public works yet.  Liz stated that she’s visited with Eric to get ideas and she’s here to get the initial approval from the council to move forward.  JB asked if there’s a more detailed plan of how the group will carry out the improvements.  Eric stated that the group has done their homework on what they have to do.  Liz stated that they are also looking for a cover for the tennis courts to keep them from weathering during the winter months.  Liz stated that the group is asking to call this project the McCarthy Park Upgrade instead of just the tennis courts upgrade.  Liz said they are also looking at insulating and heating the bathrooms there, making the park usable for longer periods of time. Their goal is to have work completed in June.  Mayor Rauser stated that the ask is for the expansion of the Big Sky Big Leadership’s initial ask to include upgrades to McCarthy Park. Doug stated that the Rotary is going to vote on donating $7500 to this project as well.  Mayor Rauser read the questions from the group that were asked of the City regarding the project.  Funds to contribute, maintenance of the courts after the project is  complete, signage on the fence, and the project name change.  During public comment, Dean Nygaard asked about the warranty on the proposed material.  Liz stated that she’d ask about the paint warranty.  Vivian moved to approve the request to expand the Tennis Court Upgrade to the McCarthy Park Upgrade.  Doug seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried.
  • Farmer’s Market:  Sheree Beauchamp spoke on behalf of the group. She stated that they’d like to expand their market to include Saturdays on the first and third Saturday of the month beginning May 17th.  The request is to close North Cedar Street from Broadway to the alley.  JB asked about the liability insurance waiver signed by the vendors.  Sheree stated that it’s a form that she has the vendors sign for the year, so if someone comes back to the vendor for a food issue, the vendor is responsible and not the Farmer’s Market.  She said she works with Megan, the county sanitarian each year and gives her a list of the vendor’s names who are selling food items.  She also stated that they have liability coverage through the county.  Discussion was held and various other locations to host Saturday Farmer’s Market were brought to the table.  One of the locations is the vacant lot that is owned by the County on the corner of North Oak and Broadway and another possible location is Memorial Park on Broadway.  If Memorial Park would work,  there would not be a need for a Street Closure Request.  Sheree stated that this would be a comparable location for them.  Mayor Rauser stated that we’ll keep the Street Closure Request on file for future use if necessary.  Todd Rolfs stated that he thinks that having the Farmer’s Market on Saturday’s is a great idea, since a lot of people cannot get to the Farmer’s Market during the week. 
  • Kay Murray:  Kay stated that she’d like to place a memorial bench in honor of her late husband, Henry Murray in Heritage Park.  Mayor Rauser stated that typically anything that goes into City parks will have to work with our Public Works Department.  She’d like to place it near the playground so parents  can watch their kids play.  Eric agreed that it would be a great place.  Angie moved to approve the request to place a memorial bench in Heritage Park.  Vivian seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried.
  • Dean Nygaard with the American Legion:  Dean is requesting a street closure on Broadway from Pine St to Walnut St on May 17th from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for a memorial walk to honor deceased veteran, Roland Heaton.  Vivian moved to approve the Street Closure Request.  Angie seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. Dean is also requesting a street closure on Broadway from Pine Street to Cherry Street  on May 26th from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for Memorial Day festivities in Memorial Park on Broadway.  JB moved to approve the request.  Angie seconded the motion.   All in favor, motion carried. 
  • Growth Policy Resolution 2025-R04:  Mayor Rauser read the Resolution to adopt the Townsend Growth Policy Update.  Angie made a motion to accept and approve the Resolution 2025-R04.  Nate seconded the motion.  All in favor motion carried. 
  • City Dog Kennel Upgrade:  City animal control and compliance officer spoke on this.  He’s researched costs on various updates to the City’s dog kennel.  The bid total is $10,853.86.  The budget was approved for $20,000 for FY2025, so this is coming in significantly less.  Vivian moved to approve the bid for remodel of the City Dog Kennel.  Nate seconded the motion.  All in favor, Motion carried. 
  • Street Project Update:  Angie stated that she and Eric met with RPA Engineers and  that she signed the Notice to Proceed on behalf of the City for Mockel Precast & Excavating Company to proceed.  Angie stated there are a few new sections that need asphalt removed and paved. Those areas are east of Bob’s grocery store, 408 S Cedar, South Cedar and G Street, 411 S Walnut, and 206 S Oak.  That additional cost has not been determined yet.  Mayor Rauser stated that depending on the timing of the work being done, the costs may come out of next year’s budget.  They will be working through July. 
  • Budget Amendments:  Kari stated that we’ll need to complete Budget Amendments on three different funds.  Fire Protection Fund, ARPA, and Sewer.  The amendments will be presented to the council in more detail at the next meeting on May 20th. 
  • Claims:  JB made a motion to approve the April 2025 Claims.  Doug seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

PENDING BUSINNESS:

  • Revised Fireworks Ordinance Draft- Mayor Rauser stated that she will get the drafts to the council members to review. 
  • Ordinance Review- Angie stated that it’s slowly coming along. 
  • Events Committee-Angie stated that they met  with the Farmer’s Market group and had a great discussion.  She said they need to have another meeting and then should be able to bring it to council. 
  • Telecommunications Franchise Committee:  Angie stated that she still needs to get ahold of Peter to see what research he has done. Discussion was held on some lines that could be fiber optic cables that are buried in concrete in the alley behind The Mint. 
  • Garbage Cans on Broadway-Eric stated that he had to purchase several cans to replace some cans on Broadway just from winter wear and weather.  Additional discussion was held regarding the frustrations of people dumping their trash into residential and business dumpsters.  A lot of times the items being dumped are not considered to be household garbage and are harmful to the garbage trucks.
  • Sewer Ordinance-no updated

ROUND TABLE:

Public Comment:                                                                                                                                  Mayor/Council:  Mayor Rauser thanked Angie for filling in for her while she was out of town this week.  Angie asked about the lights being on all night at the tennis courts.  Eric stated that if we ask Northwestern Energy to turn them off, they will remove them. They don’t want to turn them on and off all of the time.  Angie said that the lights are not even pointing down at the courts, so maybe we need to put some money aside to get those fixed or replaced. JB stated that he’s received several questions about the mound of dirt near the Fairgrounds. Angie stated that they are re-constructing the runway at the airport and making room for additional hanger space.       

Mayor Rauser reminded everyone that our next budget meeting is May 20th at 5:30 p.m.

Public Works: –

Clerk:  –     

Angie asked if anyone is taking pictures of the water project, as this is town history taking place right now.  Eric stated that there have been a lot of pictures taken.                                                                                                                                                                    

ADJOURN:  Nate made a motion to  adjourn the meeting.  JB seconded  the motion.   All in  favor, motion carried.   

Next meeting:  May 20, 2025