indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Please call the roll.
Councilperson Aksman.
Here.
Larson.
Here.
French.
Here.
Prouder.
Here.
All right.
In your packets, the agenda for today's meeting,
I'd entertain a motion to adopt.
So moved.
Seconded.
OK.
Motion made seconded.
Any discussion, questions?
Movement.
And I don't feel we need to.
OK.
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
OK.
Also in your packet are the minutes from the October 8
meeting.
I would entertain a motion to approve.
I would move that we approve the minutes from the October 8
meeting.
I second.
OK.
Very good, Seth.
Thank you.
Motion made and seconded.
Is there any discussion?
Additions, deletions, corrections?
OK.
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Motion carries.
All right, at this time, we have four bids for our Fifth
Avenue project.
So what we're going to do, if you look at the agenda here,
which just says to open the bids, then further down,
bid award under 13 committees and reports,
we will then select.
So what I'm going to do is open these, pass them around.
John is going to take them and kind of give them the once
over, and then he'll come back.
And if we have to, I don't want you to be rushed.
I want you to go through it.
So if we have to knock out some other business,
I mean, we'll do it.
But so I'll just, I think these are in order.
17, did they all come in on the 17th or one on Friday?
OK.
OK, we have a bid received October 17, 2024 at 10.45
AM from Century Companies, Inc.
OK, um, I want to get this into the, just want
to look for the big ticket items here.
OK, so it looks like they're bid.
I'm not going to go through it.
We'll have John go through it.
I'm just going to say what the bid is.
It looks like the price based on completion date at the end
of 2025 construction season, $466,820.
And that's broken down into 13 line items,
and that will be public information
if anyone wants to look at that.
So I'm just going to double check that there's nothing else
I want to get on the record, since I couldn't cheat
and open these in advance.
OK, lots of stuff there.
OK, so if you guys want to take a look at that
or just give it to John, whatever.
OK, next bid received October 17, 2024, 105 PM,
Warth Nass Fault, LLC out of Billings.
OK, looks like all the usual propaganda in here.
OK, again, it looks like they have 13 line items.
OK, $377,112 is their quote or bid, excuse me.
And I'm just going to go through the pages.
OK, so I guess I didn't have to put it back in there.
And then received 10, 17, 2024, 3 PM,
hard drives, construction, ink, out of Billings.
OK, they have, again, 15 line items.
$374 is the bid, and everything else is the same.
OK, and our final bid received 10, 18, 2024, at 10.47 AM,
from Bishop, Inc. out of Malta.
OK, looks like everything's the same, 13 line items all broken down.
$484,200, again, that would be the bid from Bishop, Inc. out of Malta.
Our fourth and final bid.
OK, so Brian, another one coming in.
I'll give you guys just a moment to bruise that.
And I guess I'll make a note while you're reviewing them.
On the century's bid was conditioned on that completion date.
I did check with Sonya and Morgan on that completion date.
We originally had, I believe, the end of June 30.
They asked if they could push it back to the end of the 2025 construction season.
So I checked with these guys.
They were fine with that, so I did let the other contractors know that as well.
Yeah, I think after conversation we felt that would hopefully help with the competitiveness of the bids,
not force somebody to slam something in or adjust the potential schedule.
So, that dates to the end of October, right?
Is it the end of September or end of October?
So, they asked end of October.
I told them that it was September, but basically just the end of the 2025 season.
OK.
So, I guess in my opinion it's not like we're sitting here waiting for them.
And charging time, something shut down or things like that.
So, as long as they get in and get it done and don't tear it up and say hey.
Yeah, then leave it until Halloween.
Well, I'm sick of that street.
I have worked with them personally.
I'm not going to speak for the council here.
I have worked with the apparently before, which is hard drives.
They're a reputable firm.
OK.
Yeah, I'm a little surprised the 25% difference there in some of them.
So, my big thing is we've kind of just patched this project year after year after year.
That's why we finally decided to just hire an engineer and, you know,
learning that there's some goofy stuff going on underneath.
I don't want any shortcuts taken on this because we're only going to spend four to five hundred thousand bucks once.
And you guys would have an on-site guy, maybe not the whole project, but an inspector of sorts.
So, when we put together our scope together, we did not do on-site inspection for under the fifty thousand.
We can sure add that in or do a contract amendment for that if you like.
OK.
Well, that might be something.
Because that was one of those things we didn't know when it was going to be,
what availability was going to be in things like that.
Yeah.
And typically on a street job like that, we don't, typically don't full-time.
Yeah.
What will they think? Milestone divisions?
I just, my thing is, is I would, in my hand, you know, somebody who's not the contractor and not the city,
to actually verify what's down there they get started.
Sure.
You know, and I won't be there because this is where we're starting to build that knowledge for a rate.
You know, because Steve will eventually be the guy who,
our kids, our grandkids, come and talk about what.
What do they do there?
So, yeah, give you guys a couple more minutes to review that,
and then we will, I see there is some public here, so we'll hit public comment here shortly.
Yeah, I'm sure it's just a difference where they can get their materials from.
So, how did you get materials from?
Some was in insurance.
Yeah.
And was almost $2,000 off on his estimate, what it was going to cost for that.
Yeah.
All right, thanks John.
Okay, so we opened the bids for the 5th Avenue Street project,
and this time we will open it up for public comment.
I see Kashia's here, and I know she does have some comment from the public.
So, Kashia, I'll let you speak.
Okay, well, thank you all for being here and doing what you're doing.
I'm happy to be a part of this community.
And, Morgan, specifically, you want me to talk about the specifics for...
I'm a grant writer, everyone, I'll be introducing myself.
I think you all know that.
Okay, so a couple things.
It's my understanding that you guys have a splash pad coming up.
Correct?
Okay, so I went ahead and I only have four of these things here.
And you met with Kim already, right?
Yes, I got the splash pads.
Okay, so you can use this whenever it opens up.
This is for you guys.
There's four of them.
You guys can share or what have you.
You don't have to read it right now, but it is just good for your records to...
excuse the crinkles there, to have it.
So the application for the grants that you guys approved $150,000 towards
actually was due at the end of August, so we missed that deadline.
It also requires a 50% match for that project, which the bill does currently at $500,000.
That being said, this is a perfect example of how I'm not just a grant writer.
My job involves in that particular application, which again you can use and submit.
There's a three-page form that needs to be submitted for the pre-application of the splash pad,
just so that everybody knows the steps that are involved.
There's a couple other ones, an environmental study,
which all you have to do is call them Montana Historic Society
and make sure there's nobody buried there and it's all clear.
But this is a perfect example of how I'm not just a grant writer.
It involves a lot of research and development, communication, networking, project planning.
It's a lot more than just writing grants.
So I know that there's some big needs for the city.
The ones that I'm aware of are a new fire hall, a place that can house our fire trucks,
as well as our streets and our roads and our emergency response infrastructure.
So when I was preparing for this meeting, I was asked to kind of look at what kind of a time frame this would take.
Now, when we're preparing for a federal grant, there's grants in three different forms.
So it comes in state funding, nonprofit funding or private funding, and then federal funding.
Now federal funding generally takes a team of four to six people preparing consistently and also reporting and delivering that.
Now, I have a unique skill set and I can do a lot of things.
And so it really is hard to say how much time I would need to pursue federal funding.
Now that being said, there are other opportunities for resources for our fire prevention
and there's a lot of other things like DNRC and there's too many to name right now.
And each one of those opportunities involves a phone call, an email, a follow up, a deep dive into research, etc.
And so I have been up to this point moving faster than I should have.
And so I really want to just communicate, say I'm here, I have a unique skill set.
I'd love to support you guys however I can.
And it's hard for me to say it's going to be 40 hours a week or X amount of time.
Realistically, I have the maximum that I could put in this space because of my other opportunities and responsibilities is 20 hours a week towards funding.
And I would look at all the different kinds of funding.
But as we look to pursue the one I'm most excited about.
So we're talking about FEMA for fire department and then there's a pay your firefighters program as well through the Department of Defense, DOD, which is pretty great.
But these are big long grants.
And it's not just the writing, it's the following up to maintaining the reporting, the projects that are involved, managing those projects, etc.
Am I capable of doing that?
Yeah, I'm really good at getting things done.
But also I want to move at everyone else's pace and I do not want to find myself in the same situation I was in yesterday at the principal's office.
So to say, as far as moving without being commissioned to first or putting energy into a place that's not going to be fruitful, I don't like to start anything, I can't finish.
It just has to do with who I am.
And so this is me putting the ball in your court and saying, I'm happy to serve this team.
And whether that's for five hours or 20 hours or how much that is, I'm open.
Is that pretty much covered?
Does anybody have questions for me?
How do you usually charge for your services then?
A percentage of the award or hourly or how do you do it?
So when we're talking about federal grants, it is the ones that we're talking about.
It's illegal for me to take commission on the back end.
So we're talking about an hourly fee.
The thing is, is that I have my own business and so it's a freelance or so I have my own overhead involved with that.
So it's not the same like you don't have to pay me retirement or those things, but it does make that number bigger to compensate that.
And I don't even want to bring up a number because I would like to...
This is something that I want to just, with my heart, I would do for free, right?
That's just who I am.
I also have some really other opportunities that are knocking at my door and I only have so much time in a day.
And so I would like to put that in your court and let you guys decide if and how you want to proceed.
So I guess I'll jump in now.
So Kashi and I had a conversation about this and I wanted her to come and speak under public comment instead of putting this on the agenda
because we've set aside a little bit of money for part-time office position.
I had an idea and I'm going to let the council make the final decision was we have that money there.
Is the council interested in paying for grant writer?
Something we've talked about.
The county and city have talked about for several years.
I don't know for how long.
Anyway, do we now put our money where our mouth is?
And I know for a fact I've said in a meeting that you might have to pay somebody a little bit before you start seeing the results.
Because you got it synced up with grant cycles and so on and so forth.
So knowing that this would be a cost to the city,
my intent is to put this on the agenda next meeting.
Give the council the next two weeks to maybe meet with Kashi, meet with me, ask questions, come up with questions.
And just because it's potentially going to be on the agenda for next meeting doesn't mean we make a decision.
We can punt it.
I mean, there's no need to make a knee-jerk reaction.
We need to do our due diligence with taxpayers' funds.
But I know there are some opportunities coming up.
The one thing, this SS4A, I think that's a pretty big deal.
I'm not sure.
I just learned about it.
I still don't know enough about it to speak intelligently on it.
But it looks lucrative.
It's through the Department of Transportation.
Absolutely.
Can I public comment on this?
Sure.
Okay, so it's amazing.
SS4A grant, I learned about it from a woman named Jackie Mines who called me back from the 9-1-1 federal response team.
It's amazing.
That's never happened in my world of federal grant pursuit.
And she now, we e-mail back and forth at least twice a week.
And we're already engaging in that conversation.
So this is an opportunity.
It's called a discretionary fund.
So what it means is we get to come up with our own solutions and spend the money unique for our area to solve our problems with a goal of safe streets and roads for all.
And a goal that says we're going to minimize fatalities on the road and deaths and how we're going to do that.
And it includes everything from vehicles, streets, sidewalks, utilities that need upgraded for safety reasons, etc.
It is massive and the sky is the limit.
The first round of funding, they will release the NOFO, which is Notice of Funding Opportunity, in March.
Now, there's a lot of work to do between now and March to get our ducks in a row.
Then they right now have 647, this was at the end, before the 24-stock cycle.
So it's going to grow a rollover funding that's just for the action development plan.
So they're expecting for the action development plan and ask between $100,000 and $10 million just for the development of the plan.
Now, they're going to go for this so that it's a three stages and we can apply to stage one and two at the same time.
So action plan is the first one, second one is demonstration, okay?
Then third is implementation. They are working on a crunch time because there's all this money and it hasn't been spent.
So they are motivated to spend it and they're planning on granting 100% of all requests for action plan development, which is amazing.
It could be transformational for all of us, bring really great jobs and secure the foundation and infrastructure for the next 100 years.
So it's exciting to me. I don't really get excited about flashbacks, I'll do it, but I get really excited about this, right?
This is one solution, right? And it involves everybody. The action plan creation is unique to your area because they understand, especially at rural frontier places like us, we have 1.1 people per square mile.
That puts us 20% higher than the whole rest of the nation when they're looking at federal scoring because we have preference by 20% because we are a remote frontier, which is defined as 3 people per square mile or less.
So this is, I mean, that makes me really excited and I can spend as little amount of time on it or as much.
And the wonderful thing about this action plan is once we get approved for the development of our action plan, that means we can build our team of grant writers that we need internally to be able to just implement all of these moving pieces, right?
So, again, we're talking about funding a year and a half from now coming in. Is it huge? Absolutely. Is it legit? Absolutely.
Jackie works with Brian. Brian is responsible for giving away this $4 billion by the end of the year, 2026.
Jackie works with Mission Critical Partners, which is all about her expertise and the team that she comes with are the people who are going to show up and do towers and all of the best technology stuff that I'm going to learn about, but I don't know.
So that part is exciting.
So that's all, I mean, that's all I have. Like I said, I kind of wanted the council to hear this, digest it.
I think it's a big step that we're now actually talking about hiring a grant writer. We've talked about it, now one fell into our lap, we can hire her.
Well, and I think, you know, I feel I've always said it is, you know, as a council, we do have the fiduciary responsibility to the city to find any available free money we can, right?
Because any money that's coming in free is less money out of the taxpayers' wallet. So, just my two cents.
Yeah, no, I agree. You know, we beat the dead horse with our tax-based funding of, you know, our state land problem. You know, you have the hunters come to town and they do leave some money in town.
I disagree with everybody who says they come here and don't contribute. They do. They gas up every single day. They do buy some beer. They do buy some groceries. You know, it's money.
You know, it's not hundreds of thousands of dollars of money that we need, but, and it doesn't offset our 26 or 22, whatever it is, percent of state lands that we have when we should only have 7 to 10.
23.9.
It's neither beer nor air. So, anyway, again, thank you, Kashia, if you don't have any final questions or anything.
So, thanks for coming in. Yeah, we'll put this on the agenda. Like I said, if the council's fine with it for the next meeting and then we'll discuss it.
So, you know, kind of everybody has a little bit of homework here. So, and if you don't want to talk to me, talk to Sonia, Steve, you know, our department heads.
So, yeah, okay. Also, I just want you to have my contact information if you need it, or has it.
Feel free to reach out to me and I'd love to hear what your concerns are and how I can help support the overall leadership in our community.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, seeing there's no more public, Steve, public works comment.
Report.
Well, we got done with all cleanup, but we've decided to leave the green cans out for a couple more weeks because people are falling on about what we use and such.
So, they'll probably be out till the end of October and then we'll pick them and put them back.
Truck is going to Williston on Friday to get the cab control replaced on it.
So, Colin and I will drive it down there. I'll drive it back and then they'll let us know when it's done, I guess.
Otherwise, business as usual, we had a fire hydrant to hit in front of Cromwells.
Again.
However, it didn't break. It just twisted and they don't know why it didn't break.
So, I got the Kennedy guy coming up next week and he's going to take a look at it.
And because I didn't replace any of the parts inside of it, I just rotated it back around, took it apart, and he's confused on why it didn't break.
So, he wants to take a look at it and see if we should replace the parts inside of it or not.
So, is that going to cost us?
No, this guy doesn't know. This is the sales rep for Kennedy.
Okay.
They don't cause for it.
Everything's safe because I don't know if a police report was ever done.
No, it wasn't.
So, this guy, he'll come up here. He comes up here anyways.
Okay.
Basically, Northwest Pike pays him to come up here because they're sell Kennedy hybrids.
So, they still operate in Cromwells?
Yeah.
So, when I got there, it was turned 90 degrees, facing straight south.
And I couldn't turn it at all, operating that.
So, I unbolted it and took the top off and turned it back around, put it all back together, and it worked just like it was new again.
So, he doesn't know if maybe it might have twisted out of the shoe down there, or twisted the top off a little.
So, the Cromwells is going to give me a video.
He said he got it back into position. He didn't say it worked.
But, yeah, I ran it and everything, but he might take it apart again to see if maybe we should replace the parts or not.
Did they hit it or did they just skype it?
No, they hit it. The guy's vehicle is, it stocked him.
And then he went into Cromwells and told, well, it's not leaking.
So, it's not a wet hyzer.
I'm like, it's not like it is in the movie.
Yeah, there's no geyser.
That's not how they work.
What?
It's not the movies.
So, and then I'm meeting with Greg Kasig and Kristen from Great West Engineering today to work on the wastewater P.E.R.
Wastewater or whatever it is.
And the fence is in around the pivot with the wider gate.
Yeah, the gate, you can drive anything through.
I don't know how you're going to get to that gate, but once you get to that gate, you can drive through it.
So, yeah, any issues with our neighbor during the process?
No, good.
He was informed beforehand, so.
Okay.
So, yeah, we did get a little bit of moisture.
Are we going to try to hit some of the gravel streets or alleys?
Yeah.
Kind of one last shot here.
It's very late today, so.
Okay.
Okay.
I know the alley behind Seth's house, have we done anything with that yet?
No, we also put some concrete in there.
Okay.
Last week, I think it was.
Yeah, I don't know what it was.
So, but I noticed it here last week.
Yeah, I think it was last week.
Since the last meeting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then I think you ran the Harley right down it too, then?
Yeah.
We ran the Harley right down 2nd Avenue too, because it's so hard to blade because there was asphalt put on it for millions in the middle of it.
So, if you blade that and you catch that with your blade, it chunks it all up.
So, we ran the Harley right up and down the sides of it around that asphalt.
So, it seemed to smooth the bumps out of it.
So.
Steve, do you know who owns the house by the water tower with that branch hanging right against the alley?
Which way from the water tower?
It'd be the northeast corner.
That big poplar.
There's a branch up there that's literally going to come off any time.
Except the guy next to Brian Becker's house.
That little house on the corner has got a couple of these.
The gray one.
This is the one where the fence came down during the wind.
Oh, Canada.
Tara Thomas.
Okay.
Tara Thomas owns it.
I just know it's, at some point, some windstorm is going to knock that into somebody.
We can't go on property and cut it.
Well, I know we can't do it, but if we can notify him.
It's Tara Thomas' house.
You would think the realtor would have noticed it.
When they looked at the fence.
Funny we're talking about this.
The conversation with dead trees slash vegetation and what not kind of going on.
Okay.
Is that it for public works?
I think so.
Okay.
Steve, might as well just piece the ball here.
We've got no name.
What do you got on there for permits?
We've got 305 C Street.
That must be the house Donahue house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can't prove the tiny house going there, but this is the water and sewer adapter.
Okay.
So that's, I guess, we don't do many of those.
Is that something that runs through council?
It's not.
I mean, it meets all the qualifications and everything.
The water sewer permits need you.
But eventually we need you.
Up it?
Up our water and sewer adapter.
Yeah.
We can add a zero and still be less than.
Yeah.
Especially if they penetrate to street.
Do we require a bond or anything for that?
They have to be bonded to dig in the street.
But I mean as the homeowner to replace the street.
Using the contractor.
Yeah.
The contractor.
Yeah.
Call or isn't it pretty low?
It's pretty minimal.
2000 dollars.
Well, so, yeah.
Dig Marlene and L and L construction are bonded to dig in the street.
Anybody else digs to the street?
They usually come in and put like a $2,000 check in here.
And then they dig and then afterwards they get it back.
Yeah.
And then if they dig in the asshole, when we repair the asshole, we do charge the homeowner
for the house.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's pretty cheap for water sewer taps.
Yeah.
Do you tap them Steve?
No.
Library tapped it.
Library tapped it.
Okay.
We do tap the tap of the device here.
We can't do it.
But those are AC water mains over there.
So they do charge the homeowner for the asshole repair after work.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
They do charge the homeowner over there.
So they hammer drill it.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then the next one is 203 Second Street.
That's the foresight.
Oh, yeah.
That's version.
Okay.
And we, is it up already?
Yeah, it is.
Okay.
It's not even on the property lines.
Okay.
So at this time I had to entertain a motion to approve the permit for 305 C Street with
the water and sewer tap and the permit at 203 Second Street.
How long have we approved both permits?
No seconders.
Okay.
Motion made seconded any discussion that wasn't already had.
Okay.
Hearing none.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Okay.
And then.
So we've got that conditionally sewer air B and B.
And it has to have to go through the zoning commission and they passed it already.
They're providing a 24 hour contact and she did get back to the city and provided it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've been right at 24 hour contact.
So face of it and now it's here for approval.
And it's still under, we still only have like maybe like five of them.
Okay.
I was just going to ask, what are we up to?
Because I thought we were close to like eight or nine.
Well, we lost some of them though.
Like Aubrey Summer's house didn't redo it.
Farvers did not redo theirs.
I thought there was another one that stopped too.
But yeah.
So we're, we only gained one and we lost at least two.
Okay.
So we're up to, this will be five.
This is a five or six.
Legal ones.
Yeah.
Sorry.
Okay.
I would entertain a motion to approve the conditional use permit at 505 Oyster.
I'll move.
Second.
Okay.
Motion made seconded to approve the conditional use permit at 505 Oystreet to become an error
BNB.
Is there any discussion?
Okay.
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Okay.
Motion carries.
We have no fire chief.
I got.
Okay.
So I talked with Century Siren yesterday about the fire siren.
Okay.
And so since the motor starters put them down below, they're thinking basically either
the motor in the siren itself has went out.
So basically you can buy a, you're supposed to be getting me a quote for a new motor for
siren or a new siren altogether.
Okay.
That's basically what it sounds like.
Okay.
Well, let's hope we can get that quote, you know, for the next meeting so we can, and
then I guess, depending on the cost and everything, I want to bring that info to the county and
see if they want to cost share this project.
You know, it's, it's a dual purpose siren.
Yeah.
Obviously there's more county fires than city, you know, than city, but you know, you know,
it serves both.
It serves both.
I don't, I'm not going to go in there and try to pick a fight and another option might
be they're putting that new tower up by the, they're putting a new tower up by the sheriff's
office.
So that might be an option to put it there.
Because they had discussed replacing that whole years ago or whatever.
That might be an option too to put it on their new tower that they're putting in by the sheriff's
office.
Yeah.
I mean, if that, if the poll meets all the specs and we have access to the top, I mean,
what kind of a poll?
I don't know.
I just know they're supposed to be putting up a radio way ahead of you.
I'd be better coverage depending on, because you don't have all the trees.
Well, they say it's, everybody says it's too tall where it's at anyways.
I honestly, the crazy thing is I don't hear that siren from my house, but I hear the siren
on the water tower.
Because I can hear the siren clear now than I ever did.
Yeah.
Yeah, my son's house is the same way.
I'm not far from the water tower and brother, I can hear them both.
Yeah.
Sometimes we ring it an extra long for certain individuals in town.
What's with certain garages, right?
Yeah.
Just to try to prove a point.
Well, I mean, I guess I'll, I'll investigate that with the county.
I'll either go talk to Clint or I'll just go catch a commissioner and see what they
know.
And, you know, maybe we pay for the siren if they already got a poll there and that,
you know, so it gets moved.
And, but then there's going to be the cost of rewiring it and everything.
I mean, there's still going to be some ongoing.
Yeah.
There'll be a new circuit need to put in for it.
Yeah.
And do they have enough power down there?
Because, you know, that thing.
Do they require some sort of regular maintenance?
Because I'm hearing that that never happened.
Probably.
Yeah.
Like 85 is the number on here.
Yeah.
Part of the problem is nobody has anything that tall or huge.
Yeah.
That's the other problem.
We'd almost have to enter into a contract if someone, if there is a siren maintenance
company.
Yeah.
And that's where I ran.
There's no science maintenance companies around here.
I called a guy, Kohler Communication, who had worked on it before, I guess.
And they don't do that anymore.
They don't.
And they said that most of the people around here use a place out of Seattle, but there's
also a place in Minnesota.
And like this company that sold the siren, they're out of Colorado.
So, I mean, and there's tons of them sirens around here.
Yeah.
The siren was going to write out to the clerks to see if anybody else.
I guess, but I didn't get a lot of response.
And this doesn't have one.
Did Steve, did they say any of them had a circuit that they run once every year, five
months?
Well, so the guy, he said there are guys in Seattle and Minnesota, but he didn't know
the names of them.
So I got to try and figure out what the names are to call them and see.
So I'm sure they got a, I mean, if they do, I mean, any kind of.
Oh yeah.
They're going to make a loop.
So that's what everybody else does.
I do know that the Gary Lybrand did service the one on the water tower here about five,
six years ago.
I know Roosevelt County did four new sirens about two years ago.
And I don't remember who the contractor was, but I know when they worked with Lindsay
and Ab, she was the clerk for the commissioners at that time, but she's also the DES coordinator.
So a call with Lindsay May.
Oh.
May help you just get a contact.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
Okay.
So no fire chief.
Uh, sheriff report.
No sheriff, um, had a long, uh, law enforcement advisory board minutes.
It took it a minute to get to the, what I thought was going to be the only topic we were going
to discuss instead of meeting kind of got hijacked early on.
And, uh, anyway, I think everybody's on the same page now.
This is amended.
The feelings are less hurt, but since we're here, um, then are you kind of on board with
what we were discussing?
I know you were sick that day, so you couldn't come, but Logan proposed a couple of things
we hadn't talked about yet.
Yeah.
Um, we have, uh, the, uh, Logan Clinton.
I actually have a meeting at 1030 today.
Well, we're going to get together and, uh, talk it over.
I know it's kind of further down and I don't know if you want to tackle it there.
Um, sleep in the cars or whatever.
Um, sure.
Yeah.
But just, yeah, kind of briefly, I mean, that is something that the city can do.
There are other Montana cities that do prohibit either overnight parking or overnight for
an extended period.
It goes anywhere from Kalispell where it's just no overnight period.
Bozeman recently passed some to the, some of the urban camping and they went, depending
on who you talk to, too hard or not hard enough where it was, the vehicles have to be moved
every 30 days and they can be fined, but only after like three warnings.
I don't know.
Yeah.
That seemed like pretty long way around for, for my money.
But, um, yeah, that is something where I just feel like that's a council decision.
You know, um, I don't know how much, uh, it was discussed at the last meeting too and
they're obviously, you know, other underlying issues that I don't think necessarily prohibiting
overnight parking is going to solve, but it is one potential option, you know, that could
be explored.
So if the council wants me to draft an ordinance to that effect, I can definitely do that and
totally up to you guys on whether you want to jump in on it or not.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I'm going to, I want to, we'll, we'll just kind of combine this sleeping vehicle because
we have a 930 webinar with the CBP folks.
Um, and then if you got to leave a 1030, you know, I definitely don't want you to miss
that meeting that's been a, a meeting in the making.
Yeah.
I'll get in all three of us at the same time, the same places, no small fee.
Yeah.
But so I'm going to just, I'm just going to speak for me personally here.
I know there's comments out there that, you know, why create another ordinance when we
don't feel our ordinances are already being addressed.
Okay.
I get that.
But when I put both my insurance and mayor hat on, you know, we have, we have a law enforcement
contract.
You know, we're doing things within our ability.
I feel if we take that attitude and don't do it, well, we're not doing anything.
I feel the city, even though we feel it may or may not be enforced.
We need to do everything in our power as the city.
Um, all we can do is, is make the laws.
We don't have an enforcement arm other than a contract with the sheriff's department.
So that's why I am in huge favor of drafting this ordinance.
Um, there's a couple of examples thrown out five days.
Um, you know, there'd have to be some language in there.
That's what we pay the attorneys for.
But, um, I'm in favor of just for that, just so the city, when this whole situation finally
ends, whether it's, you know, something terrible happens to John or he finally gets well and
gets a place to live.
Um, the city can say, we talked about it at every damn meeting.
We created new laws.
We've, you know, we've invited people in.
We've done this.
We've done that.
We can't say we did nothing.
So that's.
And importantly, you can't have somebody come back and say, I had this happen before.
Why did you do something?
Yeah.
So, so that's just why I'm in favor.
And I'm not saying I'm trying.
I'm swaying you guys.
I'm just saying that's my stance.
And I would, if the council wants, we'll, we'll have Ben draft something up.
Hopefully, you know, if you can move quickly so it's here by next meeting.
Cause like I just talked earlier, you know, the potential.
But I know I want to get the, the drought.
I want to get that one.
Get it good.
This is ridiculous.
So.
Right.
I agree.
I just can't.
So.
I'm watching him die.
Yeah.
So, and hopefully some things come out of this meeting with the sheriff and the two
attorneys.
So does Montana have an actual physical control law?
For DUI.
Yep.
That is the rule.
Okay.
Doesn't have to be a started vehicle.
Yeah.
So I guess my only apprehension with that is if you have somebody who gets a little tipsy
at the end of the night and decides to sleep it off in their car before they head home,
I would rather have them sleep it off in their car before they go home than kill somebody.
And if we make it too strict, that can't happen.
That's why they'll get the same.
Just from a, from a healthcare standpoint, sleeping it off in your cars and missing
over.
Cause when you close the bar at two o'clock and you drive home at eight o'clock and you
are still intoxicated.
You'd have to sleep in your car for a minimum of 16 hours to be able to pass the legal
definition for not intoxicated.
So the sleeping it off in your car is BS.
It's not true.
You feel better the next morning.
You know, in Canada, the police have stopped canvassing the, the bars at closing time.
They just set up roadblocks at 9 a.m.
And all those people who were intoxicated at, at 1.30 are still intoxicated at 9 a.m.
And you know, Sunday morning, can't get to church without going through at least one.
Yeah.
So.
So yeah.
Let them sleep it off in your car.
It doesn't, it doesn't work.
Yeah.
It's not a problem.
You have nothing to do with that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, there's obviously, you know, the cops have to decide to cite them.
Then the prosecutor's looking at it.
You know, the judge is looking at it.
At least it looks like it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It goes through multiple levels of review.
If that was in fact what was happening, I think you'd probably end up with somebody that's sympathetic to it somewhere along the line.
Anyway, all that being said, yeah, if the kind of council consensus is to prepare something, you know, I can and then I guess I just asked the council to think about, you know, what that length of time, you know, should be.
And if you want any prior warnings or anything like that built in, I think those are the two kind of moving parts.
And I think that's a policy decision for you guys to make, not a legal one on my side.
Okay.
Go from there.
Okay.
Well, it was just a discussion.
So I guess we got all kind of roll.
Okay.
Ben, can I ask you a question?
And I guess it's obviously on the record because we're talking about this, but I feel it needs to be asked.
There would be ways of law enforcement doing something by now if they wanted to.
I don't know if I can answer it honestly.
It's not, be a little bit careful about it because, you know, I'll be perfectly honest.
I don't think I have all the facts.
It seems to me that a lot of people know a lot more about the situation than I do.
Well, and I don't either.
It just seems to me that he's been sleeping in his vehicle for a year now.
Yeah.
I think something could have been done before now.
You'd have to be there when he's evaluated in order to be able to say, yeah, he should have done something.
You have to see what he sees.
Yeah.
It's pretty hard for me to, you know, again, just say that law enforcement should have done something.
I don't have any facts necessarily to say that, but yeah.
So I'll have to, I guess, decline to offer an opinion on that because I just don't have the information.
Yeah.
Quite honestly, I wasn't really tracking that the guy was there until a couple months ago or whatever.
Yeah.
But I don't talk to anybody.
I stay in my own lane and I like it there.
So that's, that's kind of where I'm at, all right.
Okay.
Steve, how are we doing on time there?
923.
I don't know.
Okay.
Well, we'll keep trucking.
So, um,
Here we go.
Well, I guess while we get dialed in here, um, council comment.
We have any other than what we've just discussed regarding the big ticket items going on in town.
Is there any, anything else?
Okay.
Must be doing something right if they're only talking to us about one or two things then.
Same stuff.
Okay.
So, um,
Let's see.
John, are you prepared to kind of help us with the bid award here?
Okay.
Absolutely.
So, um,
The, uh, bins from Century Ward and Hard Drives were as read, um, the bid for Bishop.
Uh, he had a math error in his bid.
The actual bid from Bishop was $394,950,
Um, which still puts him at, uh, third instead of fourth.
Uh, so the apparent low is Hard Drives construction at $300,874.
Um, all his math checked out.
His bid bond was enclosed.
Uh, the liquidated damages were enclosed and the bid form was signed.
So, um, it appeared as everything, uh, was he in order with his bid?
Uh, so I would recommend the award to Hard Drives construction.
Um, and then if, uh, that is the way the council wishes to award,
we will take the bids, uh, prepare a formal tabulation, uh,
comparing all the bids and send it to you,
and then also send me a notice of, uh, uh, notice of award design.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
Well, John, I really appreciate that.
So at this time, I will, uh, I will recommend that we, uh,
award our fifth Avenue Street project bid to a hard, what was it?
Hard Drives.
Hard Drives construction.
And I just had one question.
I did have a call from three different contractors asking me if I would let them know what the results of this were after the meeting.
Is that all right?
If I do.
Yeah.
So it's all public records.
Yeah.
As far as I know, we can't really hold it back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We've opened everything.
Okay.
Just wanted to make sure since it's your meeting.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right.
So I'll entertain the motion to approve, uh, the bid from, uh, Hard Drives.
Hard Drives.
My gosh.
I'll make a motion to approve the bid for the fifth Avenue Street project to Hard Drives construction.
And I'll second it.
Okay.
So we have a motion made and seconded to accept the bid from Hard Drives construction.
Um, is there any questions that we haven't already discussed?
Um, John, I'm just going to get it out there.
You've worked with them.
You've both confidence.
Yeah, I have.
I worked with them actually over the last year.
They did the Wolf Point Airport at Seal Coat.
We've worked with them on other projects and had, had they worked with.
Okay.
I think they also believe they, I'm not sure what the project was, but they did the airport
up here last year as well.
Okay.
Good.
They are our buildings.
Okay.
Um, any other discussion?
All right.
Hearing none.
All those in favor?
All right.
All right.
Okay.
Motion carries.
Um, are they ready?
Uh, she's on mute for just a minute.
Okay.
Say, I can be real quick with it.
Yes.
Yep.
It's not done yet.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that's fine.
So question with that, we are going to, um, we're water right now, but even if the lease
isn't done, if Terry really wants to get in there and cut it, cleared off, do I have
the ability to say, yes, get in there?
I would say so.
Yeah.
And make sure the council's aware of this.
Okay.
And there's nothing hanging up the contract.
No, uh, I just got pulled off on adventures in Sheridan County last week.
That's good.
That's unfortunately all I can say meant to get there.
Yeah.
All right.
Thanks, Ben.
Yeah.
I'll do my best.
All right.
Are we paused on time?
No, they're on mute.
This is Dana with GSA.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Yeah.
So, um, I can only see one person, but how many other people are in the room?
Uh, there's eight of us total.
So, well, yeah, eight of us total.
The city clerk, public works director, um, one of our engineers for a project, the four
council persons, and myself, the mayor.
Okay.
Excellent.
And just for your awareness, we do have two other folks joining us in just a minute.
The least contracting officer from GSA and then also the least contracting specialist.
And just for awareness, my name is Dana McNeil and I'm a broker assisting them with my own
firm.
It's, um, called Archer Rex.
And so that's my role in the process is to help the government with their space, space
search.
Okay.
Excellent.
And so the two ladies that I was just discussing, the LCO, Angie Sturlock, and the least contracting
specialist, Katie Knoll, and I hope I'm pronouncing both of your names properly, um, who just
joined us.
And on the city of Scobie side, we have, um, eight personnel, council members, the mayor,
um, we can't see everyone in the room, but that is who is on the lines.
Thanks, Dana.
Sure.
And so with that, I don't know if, um, if they would like to kick off with your questions
or how you see the best being facilitated.
We're pretty open.
Yeah.
Um, I guess I'm, I'm excited that there's an opportunity, uh, that there could be a,
another, uh, a nice size building built in, possibly in Scobie, possibly around Scobie.
So, um, uh, you know, I'm aware we have a building that has a 20 year lease right now.
I think it's on year 17 or 18.
Um, uh, I'm familiar with that because my painting job, we actually ensure that building.
So, um, you know, I've been through it and whatnot.
Um, again, is, are you guys, what, uh, I guess my first question is,
is this like a due diligence thing that you guys are doing because you're going to see if it's better off to build,
have a new building for competition versus renewing a lease with a building that's approaching 20 years old?
Sure.
I can jump in here.
Um, so yes, you gave a pretty accurate description of what's going on.
It's, it's part of our due diligence process.
So we always notify, uh, whatever municipality when we're going to start the new lease procurement and by new lease procurement,
that can fall under, um, a current lease that's being replaced because it's coming up for expiration or it can fall under just something that's totally brand new to the government.
So in this case, what's happening is you spoke correctly, we had a 20 year lease.
Um, and that is coming up for expiration here within the next few years, couple of years.
And so this is part of our process of figuring out what our next steps are.
We notify the municipality in this case, uh, the city of Scoby and then also thank you for passing that on to the county as well.
Um, and then we just basically see where that takes us.
So, uh, like I mentioned in my email, um, so we'll have an ad that's posted.
So that'll be coming up soon and we post all of our procurement advertisements on Sam.gov.
And so that'll give all of the details about the space that we're looking for.
Um, and then it, it also, we, we basically just go from there based on what comes back from that, uh, pre-solicitation, we call it.
So we basically just put feelers out to the community.
Um, we see if the current less or is interested in bidding on the next round.
Uh, and so I also noticed one of your questions, I can just ties in with this, uh, discussion right now,
which was basically the timeline for, for build out.
And that's something that is really very procurement specific and it really depends on the outcome of our procurement process.
And so, um, that depends for example, if the current less or, uh, wants to bid, then his space is already, his land is already built out.
Um, so it depends on who responds to the inquiry, who's interested and kind of which direction the procurement takes us.
So hopefully that answers your question.
Okay.
Yep.
Great.
Okay.
So I, you know, we're just kind of here to learn that that's all I had.
Um, I'm not sure if there's any other information you guys, uh, you don't need to share with the city.
Or if there's any questions you have, um, we do have, you know, our department heads in here.
If there was specific questions, but, um, you know, like for zoning or whatever, but other than that, we just kind of wanted to meet with you and see what was going on.
Sure.
Um, I, I guess that's probably the bulk of the information from us.
Um, as far as some of the questions that you sent to us, uh, a lot of that information will be in there.
But, um, I know you had asked about lease terms.
So, uh, what we're going to be asking for in this next round is going to be 10 years, five firm is what we call it, which means, um, basically like a, a firm period of five at the front and then a non firm period of five following and then additional two five year options.
So it again, it can total up to 20 years, but it's just broken down into smaller bite size pieces.
So that's how that will work out.
Um, and then you also asked to we're representing, which basically, um, as you figured out, it's, it's going to be for border patrol for their lease that's coming up, uh, and expiring, but, um, general services administration.
We're kind of the procurement branch of the government.
So we handle a lot of acquisitions, whether it's for, um, supplies or, uh, leases or property, that sort of thing.
So that's why we're the ones coming to you all and, and letting you know about this instead of border patrol doing it themselves.
So we're doing it on their behalf.
That makes sense.
Okay.
Yep.
Okay, great.
Um, and then as far as your other question, let's see here, the jobs for, um, scoby and Daniels County residents, basically that, you know, that just depends on border patrols on hiring initiatives and, and what direction they want to go with this location in the future.
Um, that's not something that we really have a say in or, uh, have information about, um, in terms of future jobs that we do know they've already provided that, uh, for the community at this point.
So that's great.
Um, and then there was also a question about the, the definition of mixed use space, which is a combination of office space and warehouse space.
Basically, um, you know, they're going to be needing some, some storage or warehouse space and then climate is going to need to be a climate controlled warehouse portion.
If that makes sense.
So.
And I'd just like to add in there, um, for this specific procurement, that would be the definition of mixed use space.
But if you were ever to see that in the future, um, for, you know, another procurement, it could mean any sort of mixed use, right?
It could be office and warehouse and where yard.
Um, it could have lab space.
Um, it just shows that there could be, like Katie said, potential different uses and that could change like the climate control or the need of land.
Um, and so overall mixed use just means it's not necessarily, you know, just office space.
There's usually some sort of, um, other element to that.
Okay.
Okay.
Anyone else have anything in the room here?
Nope.
Okay.
That was my question.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks for submitting those.
Um, yeah.
Well, that's all we have.
I appreciate you taking the time to, you know, say hi and, and answer the questions.
And I guess we can just keep moving forward.
All right.
Well, thank you.
We appreciate you all reaching out as well and taking an interest in the process.
So we were glad to be able to talk with you this morning.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Okay.
No, just as a comment or a question or both.
The property that they have outlined at third stage.
Is that what any hospital is supposed to go?
It would be within there.
Within there?
Yeah.
That's what I thought.
Yeah.
It's a big chunk.
Ten acre chunk of it is.
Yeah.
I mean they're going all the way up to the river on that.
They're basically used to the river as the border.
Right.
The river and that up road.
Yeah.
And then the highway.
We just don't have a big enough chunk in town to give us, do we?
Wow.
The biggest spot would be if we had a couple of landowners together over there in light
industrial.
Sure.
Like, like north of carriers.
Yeah.
Like between, like where the stockyards are.
Yeah.
You know, you'd have to be, somebody would have to sell out up there.
Yeah.
Or baseball fields.
Okay.
So usually you would think they would maybe go right across the street from the new hospital
and it would be the best spot.
Really?
Well, and I'm sure, I mean, pending, I guess, trifle with the current landlord, I'm sure
it's probably just due diligence, you know, or he doesn't want to lease anymore or something
like that.
I'm sure it's.
Or is this just an attempt to make sure that his bid stays low?
I'm sure that's part of it.
Yeah.
This is what they do.
Yeah.
I mean, in these communities, it's not like there's a 20,000 square foot building around
every corner.
So they're trying to make him on this too.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you know, 20 years old, it still looks like it's a pretty good shape.
Yeah.
From the outside.
Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
So, how did we leave off?
Okay.
Let's go to the non-award notice there letter to me from Montana Commerce.
Basically, we did not get the PAR.
I met with them yesterday, actually, to discuss it.
And so the project counts.
We, our LMI, our low to moderate income level threw us out.
We, Scovie and Daniels County has to, we make too much money.
The residents.
So, so there's a low to moderate income percentage and we're just, we're above it.
We have too many working people, even though I thought with as old as we were, we go down.
And the hospital has struggled with this too with some CDBG grants.
They had to move away from the low to moderate income and move towards like the percentage
of Medicare Medicaid, which obviously we do have a bunch of old people here.
Average age over 45, close to 50.
But so there's still some work to do there.
I did meet with Craig Erickson from Great West.
He's their lead grant writer guy.
And we talked after the meeting and he said that he's going to take a couple of weeks and do some more research.
He also mentioned this probably falls under FEMA grant, which that she was just saying a little bit ago.
And then he mentioned something else and I don't remember what it was, but the FEMA one is kind of a big one.
So, but he's going to get back to me in about two weeks and we're just going to, you know, keep this going.
I told him this, you know, our situation isn't on fire.
I said, but, you know, I have a five year plan.
You know, I'd like to have a fire department moved into a new facility in five years.
And if it happens great, if it don't, it don't.
So we're not going to rush any failure here on this.
So that's that.
We didn't get one little part of the grant and we're just going to keep moving on.
Um, airport appointment.
I haven't made any more progress on that.
I mean, Charles remains on there until the city does something different.
And again, I got to catch up with McKinsey on that one, but pretty much in the same, same list as the pivot lease.
So as far as last week went.
Yeah. And Charles was flown out.
Um, he had two stents put in as of last week.
Oh, I didn't know that.
No, I would see Donny yesterday. He was talking about it.
So it sounds like he's sounds like everything good.
Seems like these heart surgeries is like going in and getting a filling.
They just, oh yeah, just one guy, two stents.
When it comes to stinting, you're ready.
So 48 hours turning around back to work.
Yep. Time to go back to doing stuff.
That's how servers do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I guess more to follow on that.
Sleeping in vehicles.
We discussed nuisance vegetation.
We have some handouts in front of us here.
Yes.
So what the mayor's requested when they prepared the draft ordinance for the council to consider.
And the long and short of it is it expands the definition of nuisance vegetation to include dead or diseased trees.
Basically that pose a danger to either property or life, you know.
And came out of a discussion, I guess, or a complaint in town about just such a tree.
They were worried about it falling over on someone's house.
Obviously that's problematic.
But this doesn't require action by the city if it's fast, but it doesn't give the city the same, I guess, process to deal with it as it does with the grass and weeds and whatever else.
Give them a notice if they don't take any action that the city can go on and remove the tree and build.
And if they don't pay it, it becomes a lien on their taxes sooner or later.
Is it a word of that we can hire somebody to do it?
Yes, that is still a possibility.
We say we want that in there.
We don't want that liability.
We were removing the tree and dropped it on their house.
That is not contained in the language that I invented.
I only invented the part that needed to be basically, but it already, the rest of the ordinance, which would remain unchanged.
Most of the time we would just do it.
Yeah, cut in trees depending on the size of them.
Yeah, that's a specialized job.
You would be able to hire somebody to do that.
Anyways, so we need to put this on the next agenda for the first reading?
I didn't include it. I just don't use this.
Is it on the agenda good enough?
I know you said you don't have the ordinance number and all that.
Are we better off holding off?
Probably better off holding off until the next meeting.
Okay.
But I guess this was good that you got it whipped up quick and the verbiage.
I mean, I broke that out as I was bouncing over to have her on Saturday mornings.
I wasn't driving, my wife was, but passenger seat trip.
But yeah, no longer, so that is, yeah, I guess for your guys' consideration.
Plenty of other places have that.
I mean, there are a multitude of examples, something that hasn't really come up specifically.
Okay.
Well, upcoming agenda.
Next, why license your dog?
How many dog licenses have we sold tonight? 36?
Yeah, maybe 36.
Something like that, 34.
There's got to be more than $34.
Well, I think three or four of them are mine.
Okay.
So I think Sonia, were you wanting to maybe put a little reminder in the paper?
Well, that, and I don't know if we should set fines if that would encourage a long question to society.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Does the council ever want to do that?
Yeah.
When did they really drop off, Sonia?
I remember years ago.
Last couple of years.
Yeah, there was a paramount old art sheriff at the time.
You know, never bothered doing his, lived right across the road to which I always thought was interesting.
Yeah, now he does.
Yeah.
He doesn't harm anybody else too.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
It might be.
But I know there was a plane stop of barking dogs and I know that those dogs weren't licensed.
Yeah.
So, and then I just happened to see this notice some other city was doing and I thought, well, maybe we do a campaign.
Yeah, because we're not going to actively go out and physically inspect every dog to make sure it has a license.
But if there's a complaint and law enforcement does, you know, that gives them another citation to issue.
And also if they're running loose, that's a good opportunity there.
If they pick up a dog that's just running around town, if they check and see if it's actually licensed, they could just issue a citation for that.
So do we not have any dog fines for anything?
It's just up to the judge.
Yeah.
I mean, actually we have not been setting fines in our code.
Well, I know that when I was on council last time, Jared came in and talked to us and he said he would prefer if we set fines.
Yeah.
Because it makes it easier on him.
So.
Because it makes the city the bad guy and not the judge.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
Sorry, the judge is always the bad guy.
Well, it's a safety concern.
People need to, most people around here are making sure their dogs are vaccinated and what not.
It does.
It seems like the more we let it go, the more we don't know.
Yeah.
The more chance we have of somebody coming in with an unvaccinated dog and not going, oh, I'm not paying that.
Or we have the other issue where it's a some sort of mix and they won't come in and tell us what kind, because we have to tell.
Oh, yeah.
When we register and what kind of dogs we have.
Because what is it?
How much does it cost for us to your dog 20 bucks?
It's not that much.
Yeah.
I mean, so the first fine could be double that 40 bucks.
You know, it's an inconvenience is what it is.
If you do want people to do it, generally, you've got to make the penalty for not doing it more expensive.
More expensive than doing it.
20 dollars, 200 dollars.
Yeah.
Well, I'm ashamed to say that I know you're tender.
Yeah.
It's gathering up the vaccination records.
That's the pain in the butt.
I was late too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We usually know, especially if you're redoing it.
Yeah.
We usually know what people are.
So does each dog or each person, let the dog have a file like opens a drawer and okay.
Nope.
All we do is look at it when the person comes in and gets there.
So if I bring in a copy, you know, I had Heather send me an email that shows all the expiration dates of the whatever.
We don't do a whole bunch of research.
Yeah.
I didn't know if you kept copy of that and stuck it in a file.
But it's kind of a folder.
It should be.
Yeah.
It should be.
I think it's like a condition of the license issue.
It's like you guys would give it to them.
Yeah.
One way to get from the vet that says they've been vaccinated and then the other one from the city.
So we take our dogs to Swimby.
We even put our vaccination record in our camper with us.
Also we have it with that way.
Because if they, your dog ever does bite somebody, you know, they come at you for a dog bite.
You can say, here's the vaccination.
Otherwise your dog's got to be held for like 24 hours for rabies.
More than that.
More than that.
Yeah.
They're being pounded for like two weeks.
Yeah.
You got to watch them to make sure they don't develop rabies.
And then pay the boarding costs and all the rest of it.
I don't know.
That was one other, in an email that saw the mayor that I brought up.
I mean, I don't know if the council wants to continue doing that.
There are state regulations on it.
But maybe I'm just speaking for me personally.
But I was like, I'd be, it would be easier for me to come in and license my dog.
I didn't have to round up the vaccination.
But I understand it.
A lot of the licensing stuff you can carry on your phone now.
Yeah.
Because that's what a lot of them are doing.
Like my plumbing licenses on my phone.
And I'm seeing where a lot more of the contractors are just carrying their license and their
insurance certificate right on their phone.
Just so that, and this is considered legal in the state of Montana.
So maybe it's just a matter of setting some fines and then doing some kind of a PR.
So if we set fines for this, do we have to set fines for everything?
No.
You can do it one at a time.
Yeah.
If you want to, we can do dogs and just leave everything else.
And then we just want to discover orders.
That, that was something, which city came up with this?
Yeah.
But if we like this.
Yeah.
So we could plug in ours.
We could just.
We could plug in ours.
So is that a new ordinance that we'd have to vote on or?
No, I would just replace the sections from what we already have on the books.
Because I mean, I think ours is with the exception of providing the fines.
Like it's sufficient.
Yeah.
There's nothing really wrong.
I don't like that continuous parking for 30 minute deal.
Apparently we take that to the T of 30 minutes.
I think it needs to just be continuous, obnoxious parking.
Yeah.
Something.
Well, and I'd say.
There's so many minutes within an hour.
It's better than continuous.
Yeah.
I mean, cause continuous, they'll sit there.
Use some common sense.
I mean, every time it stops parking, then they say, well, we're reset.
We reset the clock.
Right.
And that's, and that's what you go on.
Yes.
Yeah.
So maybe you just remove the 30 minutes portion and just say continuous parking.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, you're the attorney on that.
Is that too broad though?
Well, it would be something that theoretically you would have to approve in court to a jury
that this was continuous parking under the statute.
And people record it.
The other person could argue that it's not continuous cause they stopped and whether
that goes or not is a jury question, you know, so there's no way to say for sure.
Yeah.
But 30 minutes, you know, you could have that same argument over the 30 minutes.
Oh, yeah.
Moving where the argument is, the argument remains.
So I wouldn't say my experience as a prosecutor, I wouldn't have any harder time doing just
continuous 30 minutes.
Yeah.
And again, it's going to go through multiple layers.
Like even if the cops think it's bad enough, it's still going to get through the prosecutor's
office and then the judge has to actually impose a fine.
Yeah.
So when you're the district judge, meaning you are MCA is written so you're like, I remember
that one guilty.
Yeah.
You're going down $1,000 fine.
Yeah.
I'm in a bad case.
Put a number on it.
Knock on wood.
Good God will it.
I'll never see a parking dog for a place like this.
People are crazy, Ben.
Yeah.
People are crazy.
We're going to make sure of it now.
Yeah.
Is that a dare?
I think it is.
It's a double dog.
Dare.
Let's see what you did there.
Okay.
So, I mean, we have the opportunity here to make a couple changes.
Right now, are we fine with just simply removing the 30 minutes from the ordinance and then
I'm assuming we'll have to do two readings of all that or is that convenient?
Yeah.
No, it's two readings and 30 days after the second reading is when it takes effect.
This is what we always come to as well.
Okay, we might as well just rebuild this Chevy 350 while we're at it instead of just
changing the oil.
This one, I don't know how to completely, I don't know what everybody wants to do here.
I am finally just taking off the 30 minutes knowing that, you know, it's still arguable
in court, I guess.
A couple of things I might suggest, again, it's totally up to you guys what you want
to do, but removing the 30 minutes and then probably providing for some fines and if you
remove the possibility of jail time, it will actually speed things up in court because
when people are cited, that's then a civil infraction.
They don't get, you know, you don't get public defenders appointed because there's no
jail time possibility, so you basically can move it a lot faster through the court system
not having to hold things up.
Can we do a min-max?
Yes.
I mean, you could set first, second, third, and they can be ranges too, you know, like
no less than, you know, first one say 50 to 100 or something, second 100 to 200, you
know.
And then whatever they get fined is at the discretion of the judge.
So you're limiting it, it's got to be within there, you know, but you guys can set the parameters
or you can just set a certain fine and you will have to look back on it, you know, when
I, years ago, when we did the big update on these codes, there were still a bunch of like,
you know, $25 or $15 fines floating around in there for like the 80s, you know.
Well, that's not much of an incentive, you know, 2010 or whatever.
Anyway, but yeah, as far as kind of what you want to do there, I mean, I can draft one,
I can take a look at some other cities and see where their fines are at and kind of, you
know, come in with a range and obviously if you guys want to do something different, let
me know.
Yeah.
We can ploy in whatever number you want, but I think given the court, restricting the court's
discretion somewhat would be good, so you make sure that you're going to get at least
enough to make it so that they're going to...
There's a minimum there.
Yeah, there needs to be a minimum.
It's got to cost them more than not doing it, like that's the bottom line or they're
not going to, as we've seen.
Advertise all that, you know, kind of like that example.
And then, you know, I'll actually add it to my list for the meeting here at 10.30, but
just let the sheriff know, like the city will be updating this likely and, you know, as
you're going around finding dogs or whatever, you know, check with the city, check to see
if they're licensed, you know, if they should have tags on them theoretically if they do
and maybe look at...
We send them a list too.
Yeah, maybe look at sighting them, you know, just like the years ago when they ramped up
enforcement on people parking on the other side of the street, took about, you know,
a couple of weeks, but everybody started tolling the line once they knew it was actually being
enforced.
So I'd imagine you'll see a number of people licensing their dogs, jump, if you can get
it organized and everybody's on the same page.
Okay, well, I guess we'll keep it on.
Yeah, add it to your list.
I know you're trying to get your list shorter.
We're adding to it.
Okay, no other public here.
Other job?
Yeah.
Okay, cool.
I'll start off by apologizing.
I didn't realize the old lady was coming in today, but I did want to take a second.
We do have a new grant writer within our state.
Her name is Lynette Diaz, so I think some of you have worked there before.
So I understand you guys have a grant writer, her looking at grant writer in-house, but
if there's anything we can do to help you, I just want to take a second to introduce
her.
She obviously isn't here today, but she is in the spring.
We do plan on taking a trip up and introducing her to some communities.
So just want to take that.
I wasn't trying to steal her.
No, no.
That was kind of a coincidence.
Yeah.
But anyway, just wanted to take that second to introduce her and let her know that she's
around.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
All right, upcoming agenda items.
Yeah, part time office position, public safety commission.
I still haven't had a third come up and asked me about it.
I don't know if anyone's been approached you guys, but so I guess that clock keeps
ticking because what do we have?
What are we down?
14 days now?
Yeah.
Election day is 14 days now and we have to elect.
A point to shortly thereafter.
So it's about time I start doing my homework on all that stuff.
Okay.
Last item on the agenda is the consent items.
I would entertain a motion to approve.
So moved.
Second.
Okay.
So I have a motion to approve the consent items and discussion.
Okay.
Hearing none.
All those in favor?
All right.
Motion carries.
At this time I'd entertain a motion to adjourn.
So meeting adjourned.
So Sidney's not bad as far as-