September 20, 2022
CITY OF TOWNSEND
Public Hearing
City Council Meeting
September 20, 2022
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Evans called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Council members present were Christina Hartmann, Angie Wintrow, Vickie Rauser, Matt West, Ken Urich and Nate Brown. Others present were Deputy Clerk Jenny Barnett, Public Works Supervisor Tim Rauser, Attorney Peter Simon, Jessica Crusch, Debbie Randolph, Tim Ravndal, Keith Hartmann, Jim Burgess and Amber Burgess.
PLEDGE: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all in attendance.
MINUTES: Vickie Rauser made a motion to accept the minutes as written, Angie Wintrow seconded the motion. Motion carried with all members voting in favor.
GUESTS and CORRESPONDANCE: Chris Daly with Urban Forestry City of Helena had an award for Pat Plantenberg but did not show up to the meeting. Sara Baker was on agenda and did not show up for the meeting. Jessica Crusch was present for questions on the WEB Donation Button there is no new information from Jessica. Mayor asked if there was enough information to go forward with it. Vickie said that they were waiting for information on how the sweeps would work and proper accountability of donated funds so they decided to keep it on the agenda until they can speak with Coleen
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Noise Ordinance – Draft Noise Ordinance so the council can read it and decide on any changes that should be made. The mayor said they were going to form a committee. Keith Hartmann was curious as to what started this whole issue. Matt West said that there were residents on 5th and N Pine that was disturbing the peace until all hours of the night by blaring music and doing burnouts. Keith stated that it should be state and county level and that he thinks that the way it is worded it sounds like anyone could be given tickets at any time of day or night. More discussion ensued over the difference between residential and central business and the hours. Matt West stated that the council has only had this for about 2 weeks. The mayor informed Keith that the wording will be gone over and changed to make sense for the city of Townsend. Keith stated that Billing’s noise ordinance is not as strict as this draft ordinance and there is no decibel ratings or noise guaranteed noise levels and would like a provision for business hours. The mayor stated that he would like to have a quiet time. Matt Christina and Ken will be on the committee and Keith Hartmann will be the public voice for the committee. Nate Brown stated that he had spoken with the detention center, and they said that there have only been 9 noise complaints from January 1st thru September 19th. Peter stated that he is willing to help find the right fit for our city residents and businesses. The mayor said that he has had more than 9 complaints that had been made to him personally.
Boundary Relocation: Angie spoke with Jeremy about the relocation, and he said that there is not an issue, it meets all of the requirements. Jeremy does not need to be present. Angie made a motion to accept the boundary relocation as submitted. Christina seconded the motion. Motion carried with all voting in favor.
NEW BUSINESS: School Street Closures – Christina stated that there is a ribbon cutting ceremony on September 27th and is requesting to have N. Pine street from 2nd St to 3rd St closed for 1 hour and would need 4 barricades. The school is also requesting to have Broadway closed from Pine St to Oak St on October 7th for 1 hour for Homecoming and we will figure out how many barricades are needed for homecoming. Vickie made a motion to approve both street closures. Angie seconded the motion. All voted in favor except Christina, and she abstained.
PUBLIC COMMENT/ROUNDTABLE: Debbie Randolph stated that the hospital would like to land a helicopter in the parking lot on September 30th and they are worried about the person living in their trailer on the property. The mayor said we would get someone over there to talk to them about moving their trailer. Ken asked Peter when they were going to have a meeting for the Pool Employee Manual. Peter had emailed the committee and Ken never got the email. After searching through his emails Peter learned that he had accidentally sent the email to his father – in – law who is also named Ken. Peter apologized to Ken for his mistake the committee decided to discuss a time for a meeting after the council meeting.
The mayor stated that there was one person that still needed to be interviewed for the clerk position and asked the committee when they would like to schedule the interview. The interview was scheduled for Monday September 26th from 1-2.
Ken asked if there was anything being done about the weeds in the alleys and who is responsible. The property owner is responsible for taking care of the weeds in the alley and Eric has been working on it all summer.
Christina was wondering about the donations for the swimming pool. Angie and the mayor said that it had been paid that day.
ADJOURN: Vickie moved to adjourn; Ken seconded the motion carried with all council members present voting in favor.