January 16, 2024
City of Townsend
City Council Meeting January 16, 2024
Call to Order: Mayor Rauser called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Council members present were Angie Wintrow, Nate Brown, JB Howick, Vivian Boaz, and Valerie Baraza. Doug Sitton was absent. Also present were Shawn Simon, Andrew Herrick, Cliff Wrobetz, Nancy Marks, Eric Crusch, and Kari Williams.
Minutes from 1.2.24: Angie made a motion to approve the minutes from January 2nd meeting. JB seconded the motion; All in favor, motion carried.
Committee’s & Board Appointments: Since we have a new mayor and new council members, Vickie wanted to make sure to assign council members to the various committees and boards. The 1. Parks/Pool: Nate Valerie, JB; 2. Streets: Nate Valerie, JB; 3. Water: Angie, Vivian, Valerie; 4. Water Court: Vivian, JB, Angie; 5. Sewer: Valerie, Vivian, Angie; 6. Garbage: Vivian, Nate, Doug; 7. Fire: Valerie & JB; 8. Airport: Angie; 9. Law Enforcement: Vivian, Doug, Angie; 10. Planning: Angie, Valerie, JB; 11. MBAC: Vickie; 12. BC/Rec/Trust: Vivian; 13. Weeds: JB, Nate, Doug; 14. Board of Adjustments: Angie, Valerie, JB.
City Fire: Mayor Rauser wanted to give a shout out and a thank you to our Volunteer Fire Department for the quick response to the house fire in town. And also, to Eric Crusch for supplying sand and making sure the fire crew had everything they needed.
ACO/CO Hiring Committee: We received two applications for the position. The hiring committee Vickie, Eric, Kari, Nate & Vivian will be interviewing the applicants this week.
Water Rates: The preliminary engineering reports indicate that the water rates will need to increase by $59.40 by the time the water system improvements project is completed. Vickie would like to see 3-4 incremental increases rather than just one big one. She would like the water committee to have a report ready by the next meeting, and the reason for that is both the County and School District will be starting their budgeting process, and they are two of our biggest customers. As we accumulate funds, the funds will be used to pay back bonds, and accumulate reserves for future repairs and replacements. The Water Committee will meet January 29th at 2:00 p.m.
Pool Committee: Vickie stated that we need a pool manager for this year. If we don’t have a manager, we won’t be able to open the pool. Angie made a motion to advertise for a pool manager, Vivian seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. The City Clerk will advertise for the position this week.
City Hall Paining Quote: There are two quotes in the council packets. Valerie made a motion to accept the quote for Busy Bee Services to paint the inside of City Hall; Angie seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
Montana Community Reinvestment Plan Act/Planning Grant Program: JB reported on this. JB stated that this is an opportunity, and we are not alone in feeling rushed to get this done. The deadline is February 9, 2024. This is a grant for the purpose of creating a plan to deal with housing in general, specifically affordable housing in our community. The city can get a grant and the county can get a grant. Some of the decisions we need to make are exactly how we will use the grant money. There is a 20% match with half of that in kind. And there’s a $3000 buy in for up to a $30,000 grant. It’s a convenient way of accomplishing a number of tasks for affordable housing. The grant could be used to create a housing plan for the city if we wish to go that route. Vivian stated that we do need to address affordable housing in Townsend. JB s stated that some of the council members should get together and discuss what the money could be used for within the affordable housing topic. Angie said that using the money to re-structure zoning is a larger undertaking than the $30,000 would allow. Angie suggested that some of the council members should meet and decide what we could use for the grant money and come up with a concrete plan to present to the council at the next meeting, February 9th. Angie, JB, and Doug will meet Thursday and Friday.
2024 Local Government Review: Every ten years local government in the state of Montana vote on if they’d like to have a study commission created to review the form of local government and have the study review commission recommend a different form of local government. This will be put on the ballot. If the answer is no, we’re done. If the answer is yes, Vickie stated that we need to put together a budget, a committee with a minimum of three members, and set a time frame. March 11 is the deadline for the governing bodies to call for the review. June 4th is the primary election, and there are a number of deadline dates that follow before the commission can go to work. JB asked if the public knows what we are talking about. Vickie stated that the City of Townsend has a Mayor/Council form of government. The City of Helena has a city manager form of government; Our county has county commissioners. Other cities have different forms of government. JB stated that this is important because things change. Every ten years, the public has the right to input on how they want things to change. Vickie said that we would create a separate levy for this study, if it’s voted to proceed.
Guests/Correspondence: Hannah Rauser did not show up to talk about setting up the ice rink; Valerie made a motion to allow the mayor to authorize the ice rink being set up; Angie seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
Email from Jeremy Fadness of WWC Engineering regarding the Growth Policy update. There will be a Public Hearing for the Planning Board on February 8th.
A letter from Barry Damschen stated that he’s completing inspections for Steve Erban on the North Cherry Annexation, however the city will continue to do inspections to make sure they are following the city’s standards.
Railway: Big Sky Passenger Authority—Vickie received an email with an update and will forward that to all council members.
Kari: There are bank statements, a budget to actual report, billing adjustments, and payroll information for the council to view.
Eric: Inspection from DNRC, and the city passed. They did ask the city to document more, and Eric is happy to follow how Tim did things in the past. Garbage truck report—the new truck is running again, and the old truck is needing to be re-worked. JB asked what the risk is that we need Tri-County to help us out again. Eric brought a quote to get the old truck fixed. The council will have to defer the quote for approval until the next meeting. Eric has had a lot of call outs lately. Vickie thanked Eric, Lee, and Paul for their help with everything that’s been going on, especially in this cold weather.
Round Table:
Shawn Simon talked about the house fire in Townsend. He stated that two hydrants were not draining. They were there from 6-midnight, and they were able to save a lot of pets from the house. One of the fireman packs failed. Shawn stated that they need to get new packs. Fourteen packs that re new/used from 2012 will cost $7200.
Vivian-
JB-
Valerie-
Nate-
Angie-
Vickie-
Adjournment: Nate made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Valerie seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.