January 20, 2026

City of Townsend

Council Meeting Minutes January 20, 2026

  • Mayor Rauser called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.   Council members in attendance are Vivian Boaz, Nate Brown, JB Howick, Peter Simon, and Angie Wintrow.  Also in attendance are Makenzie Truesdell, Parker Truesdell, Daniel Truesdell, Brandi Truesdell, Kevin Bratcher, Andrew Herrick, Shawn Simon, Eric Crusch, and Kari Williams.  The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.

Public Comment:  Anything not on the agenda, but under the City’s jurisdiction. 

Minutes from January 6, 2026.  Angie made a correction of the date on the minutes to reflect 2026 instead of 2025.  Angie made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected.  JB seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

MaKenzie Truesdell addressed the council and requested a variance on an ordinance in order for her and her sister to have temporary goats within the city limits for a 4-H project.  Several questions were asked by the mayor and council members before making a decision.  JB made a motion to approve the request to allow temporary goats within the city limits for the 4-H project.  Angie seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

Kevin Bratcher, County Attorney gave an annual report of the cases he’s had from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025.  He stated that he has a deputy county attorney, Haransh Singh, who is prosecuting the justice and city court cases.  He described the various cases that come across his desk that include 85 total cases charged, 10 pending cases, and 75 disposed cases.  10 cases were transferred to District Court, including 4 felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs (CPODD).   There were a number of driving offenses, offenses against a person, and city code violations that included an animal at large, a parking violation, and shooting within the city limits.

Current Business:

  • Letter of Support for a “Build Grant” for the County – JB spoke on this because he attended the County Commissioner’s meeting last week.  The amount of the grant is $25,000,000 for the Winston Northwest Project which is for improving/widening the roads from Winston to Helena.  Letters of support are favorable for the grant.  Peter made a motion to authorize a letter of support for the county to pursue the grant.  Vivian seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

Mayor Rauser stated that she also received a request from Al Christopherson to supply a letter of support for the BCDC Trail project, as they are making an application to Fish Wildlife, and Parks Trail Stewardship Program to crack, seal, clean-up and resurface the asphalt trail that is east of town.  JB made a motion to authorize a letter of support as Mayor Rauser deems appropriate.  Peter seconded the motion.  All in favor, motion carried. 

Under Sheriff Wood is also applying for a grant through the Broadwater County Trust Board on behalf of the sheriff’s office and would appreciate a letter of support. The trust board grant supports projects related to recreation within the county.  JB recommended tabling this until the next meeting in order for the council to read the sample letter for support. 

  • Massa Park Agreement – Mayor Rauser provided a draft of the Massa Park Agreement and stated she’d like to send this to the Massa family.  Peter stated that he can see some minor language changes that may be helpful.  He will work with Mayor Rauser so she can then send it to the Massa family to review.
  • City Investment Opportunity – JB asked if there were any opportunities for putting the city’s money to work, gaining interest.  money to provide for various funds, such as the Fire Protection Fund.  Currently the City has an “insured cash sweep” account that makes approximately 2.85 annual percentage yield. Mayor Rauser stated that State Law limits the type of investments that local governments can make. Mayor Rauser will provide additional information regarding state law, STIP investments, risks, and how it affects local government.  JB suggested he’d like to have the investment opportunities information as part of the city’s annual budgetary review. 

Pending/Continuing Business:

  • Ordinance Reviews:  Angie stated that there will be a Title I and II committee meeting Thursday, January 22nd at 4:00 p.m. at City Hall. 
  • Telecommunications Franchise:  Mayor Rauser emailed the company Visionary Communications as directed by the council to decline the company doing any work within the City of Townsend, however, the company did not receive a response.  City attorney, Ed Guza, is still reviewing the Telecommunications Franchise draft ordinance.  JB stated that Peter has to read the document anyway, as a new council member, so he could give his opinion if the document requires a full legal review by the city attorney.  Peter could bring that recommendation to the council, whether a legal review is necessary or not.  Peter agreed and the council also agreed to that approach. 

Public Comment:  (none)

Round Table: 

  • Public Works – Eric spoke on the estimated water pressure increase when the new water tank goes online in August 2026.  It will go from approximately 50 to 55 PSI to between 71 to 77 PSI.  Once the new million-gallon elevated storage tank is in full service, the water pressure, based on future growth, will decrease slightly.  The outside of the tank is done except for painting, but inside work will on the tank will continue.  Well #3 is working, so there are two wells now after having only one well for several weeks.  He stated that there is an interesting problem happening with a garbage.  There are large items being dumped within the city, so they are left to deal with these large items.  Angie suggested putting something on our website and FB page stating that large items are accepted at the transfer station for free, so please do not dump them in the city limits.  Eric stated that there’s a group that’s interested in updating the bathrooms at McCarthy Park.  They will be on the next meeting agenda. 
  • Kari – stated she’s working on the final audit requests so we should see an audit on FY25 prior to March 31st.
  • Mayor Rauser:  

She drafted a press release regarding the increased water pressure.  She will have our engineer, Chris Hayes of RPA, look at this prior to posting it.

She said that she also received an email from Al Christopherson regarding moving the trails committee from their planning process into their doing process, so it’s an invitation to participate.  She will forward it to council. 

North Cherry Condominium Development had a survey done on the trailer park on 5th Street and Walnut and found out there are two trailers that are 1-2 feet into the right of way. City attorney, Ed Guza, drafted an “encroachment” letter that was sent out to the trailer owners.  *

She let council know of several meetings available to attend that she’ll forward to them. 

She will continue pursuing the avenue of getting two separate addresses for the city and rural fire departments.

She’s watching a demo from a company that builds websites on Friday at 1:00 p.m. at City Hall if any council members wants to join her.

She stated that we have an ongoing compliance issue with junk vehicles and car parts that are piling up on a property on the south side of town.  Our compliance officer, John,  has been working with the property owner and renter for several months.  He will compile a summary of the contacts he’s had along with the progress/regress of the situation, and she will show this to the city attorney to make sure our city ordinance pertaining to this matter is followed correctly.

  • Fire Department:

Shawn Simon said that he’s been watching tutorial videos on the ESO program, as there is a national database change on one reporting system to another. He’s trying to learn how to use the new program. He will have other items to report on in the future regarding the new system.   He’s also continuing work on the 501C3 status. 

They had their fireman’s dinner on Sunday.  Andrew Herrick received his tenure pin, the assistant chief received his tenure pin, as well as fire chief, Shawn Simon. 

  • Council

Angie stated that there is a commercial building going in at 203 Broadway with only alley parking. She’s concerned about parking, setbacks, and the process used to receive approval from our city engineer, Jeremy Fadness.  Andrew Herrick from the fire department stated that there could be an issue with an alley entrance, and the fire truck may not fit through there. 

 JB stated that the Fire Committee met and are reviewing a proposed memorandum  of understanding of the mutual assistance agreement between the city fire department and the rural fire district.  They will have something for the council to review and approve by the next meeting. 

Vivian attended the trail committee meeting and also attended a DNRC meeting on the water/well rights.

Peter stated that he’d like to receive some budget training from Mayor Rauser and Kari prior to the beginning the budget process in March.

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

**Next meeting:  February 3, 2026