July 10, 2023
CITY OF TOWNSEND
City Council Meeting Minutes
July 10, 2023
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Evans called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Council members present were Vicki Rauser, Angie Wintrow, Nate Brown, Matt West, Ken Urich and Christina Hartmann. Other attendees include Kari Williams, Paul Rauser, Tim Pool, Nancy Marks, and Nick Rauser.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
MINUTES: Vickie Rauser made a motion to approve the minutes of the 6-20-2023 minutes. Angie seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
City-County Airport Lease Agreement: Vickie moved to approve the city county lease agreement. Christina seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried. Mayor Evans will run the signed lease agreement to the county tomorrow.
Pool: New pool management to introduce themselves. Bryan Barkhurst is the new pool manager and spoke regarding the operations of the pool; parents have been dropping off their kids without any contact information. They are going to start requiring that the parents/grandparents leave a phone number in case the pool closes early due to inclement weather. (The city will check with their insurance regarding the liability of the age requirements/limits of kids being released after the pool closes) He also stated he’d like to see the mural on the wall of the pool re-painted. He said that “Meth” is the only thing that kids see, and they come in asking, “what’s meth?” A discussion was held regarding the mural, and Bryan was instructed to talk to Tim Rauser, his supervisor. Vickie said that at the very minimum, doing something different with the mural would be appropriate since it’s old and faded. Amanda Hazlett is a water safety instructor and reported that 187 kids signed up for swim lessons so far. Madison Bauman is the pool supervisor and said she’s impressed with the number of kids for swim lessons and open swim. She said that there’s also lap swimming and water aerobics on the schedule this year. One of the other issues brought up about the pool is the pool cover. Bryan stated that the pool cover is disintegrating in the water causing the water to be cloudy, so they have not been putting the pool cover on. The council is concerned about the amount of heat that the pool is losing at night without the cover being on.
Nancy Marks from MT 43 News reported that she’s had 52 issues now. Nancy has filed a sworn statement of circulation with the city, so she would appreciate the city’s business and any legal ads. This will be effective Monday, July 17th. On a separate note, she reported that a truck has been sitting on a street near the high school. It has 3 flat tires and it’s full of garbage. It’s been sitting there since February, and she’d appreciate the city handling that.
The Commercial Bar (John Fuchs) and the Rodeo Board has requested a street closure for the annual street dance Friday and Saturday nights from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and the Rodeo Parade on Sunday morning from . Matt West made a motion to give permission for the street closure for the rodeo street dance, and for the street closure for the annual Rodeo Parade. Nate seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
Denning, Downey & Associates: Audit Book for review. The council was requested to vote on opening an additional account with Opportunity Bank in order to receive full insurance on their securities. The account will place money into an insured cash sweep account at Opportunity Bank and the signers on the account will be Mayor Evans, Council President, Vickie Rauser, and City Clerk, Kari Williams. Matt made a motion to open the account with the signers stated, Vickie seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
Montana Coal Endowment Award notification.
BaRSAA & Gas Tax funds for FY2024
Growth Policy application has been submitted.
DNRC Renewable Resource Grant awarded for the city’s water project.
Letter from Peter Simon, City Attorney, stating he’d like to either consider a limited contract with the reduced duties at the city or tender is resignation with the city. Peter was not present, so this will be tabled until the next meeting.
Round Table:
Angie: On 6/22 she attended the broadband board meeting. She recommended that the city should have a representative attend the meetings to stay informed. The next meeting will be on July 29th at 4:00. Vickie requested that this topic be put on the agenda at our next meeting. Angie also stated that the Lion’s Club and Rotary have paid for the lifeguards’ certification tests.
Nate: —
Kenny:–
Matt: If Tim goes through with the maintenance issue of staining the benches around town, the city should just pay for the stain. Tim needs to come and visit with the council. He stated that he’s received five complaints about the weeds on South Harrison.
Vickie: –
Nick Rauser spoke about various criminal activity in Townsend and how busy things are in the jail. He also requested a contract between the Law Enforcement and the City that would give a 3% increase each year. That will be looked at once the contract is written and tabled until then.
Ken made a motion to pay the June claims; Nate seconded the motion. All in favor, motion carried.
Tim Pool brought in a letter regarding a change in the sign on Broadway; The purpose of the letter is to ask Valley Bank, the owner of the lot next to the city, permission to have the sign on their lot. This will be put on the Agenda for August 1st.
Adjournment: Ken made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Nate seconded the motion; all in favor, motion carried.
Next meeting and Public Hearing on the City’s Budget is August 1, 2023