MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING
DILLON CITY
COUNCIL
January 17,
2007
COUNCIL
PRESENT: Frank Mastandrea, Jim Mc Isaac, Mike Klakken, Mike Riley, Al Lawson, Nils Troedsson, Ray Graham and Mayor Martin Malesich.
COUNCIL
EXCUSED: Tom Straugh
STAFF
PRESENT: Faye Jones, City Clerk; Amber Herzog, City Hall Clerk; John Gutcheck, Chief of Police; Scott Marsh, Fire Chief; Ty Cobb, City Treasurer; W.G. Gilbert, City Attorney.
STAFF
EXCUSED: J.S. Turner, Director of Operations
ABSENT: Virginia Compton, City Judge.
Mayor Martin Malesich called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Mayor Malesich asked Councilperson Mastandrea to lead the pledge of allegiance. The first order of business was the approval of the December 20, 2006 regular meeting minutes. Councilperson McIsaac moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Councilperson Mastandrea.
Corrections:
Page 1 – Pet & Com : Letter addressed to Mike Riley – wrong address. Next line should be the, not to.
Page 2 – 2nd para, 3rd line, a line; bottom of page, 5 lines up – form, not for.
Page 3 – 2nd para, current, not currant. Line 5 be done “on” our present…add Jean Bergeson asked Police Chief John Gutcheck if it was in the Charter’s intent to separate the legislative and the executive branch, and was it their intent to give the Mayor the power to break ties to that?
Page 3, 3rd para, Councilman Riley…too many “the” 5th para, too many “the.”
Page 4, top para, 3rd line, add Duke believed the Attorney General was mistaken on that.
Page 6, 3rd para, last line motion passed was 6 votes, not 7.
Page 6 4th para, 2nd line his number is #2. 2nd para from the bottom: Riley asked Dr. Straugh “to” address…
Councilperson Troedsson moved to approve as corrected, seconded by Councilperson Lawson and carried unanimously.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Next item was the approval of the January 3, 2007 regular meeting minutes.
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 2
Councilperson Troedsson moved to approve, seconded by Councilperson Riley.
Corrections:
Page 1, bottom of 3rd paragraph, …Klakken/Graham “could” not should…fines.
Councilperson Troedsson moved to approve as corrected, seconded by Councilperson Lawson. Abstained: McIsaac, Graham, Klakken and Mastandrea.
MOTION CARRIED.
PETITIONS AND
COMMUNICATIONS:
1. 12/19/06 Letter from Arnold & Kathy Tollefson addressed to Mr. J.S. Turner: Mr. Troedsson asked if the Fire Chief and the City Attorney felt comfortable with this letter? City Attorney Gilbert responded, “Yes, the conditional statement causing the difficulty has been removed.” Fire Chief Marsh replied, “Yes, this is what we agreed to.” Mr. Riley asked for clarification regarding the date of the $100.00 payment from the Tollefsons. Faye Jones replied she would check into the situation.
2. Montana Department of Transportation letter of 12/20/06: Grant request that we did not receive. Mr. Graham asked if this was money we had counted on for the budget? Faye Jones replied that $19,000.00 was expected and not received, therefore Mr. Graham asked if a budget amendment was necessary? Faye Jones replied that she thought we didn’t need one.
3.
Bicentennial
Apartments letter of 12/20/06 regarding donation in lieu of taxes:
4.
Letter
to Jim McIsaac regarding donation in lieu of taxes: Mr. McIsaac thanked the
City and stated the Bicentennial Board also said thanks. Mr. McIsaac also asked
Mayor Malesich if the City has received a response of $350.00 per unit
donations from the Snowcrest Apartments? Mayor Malesich stated he had attempted
contact and will continue efforts to contact.
5.
Resolution
“Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act” Refer to Judiciary Committee: Mr.
Riley stated he had heard on the news prior to the meeting that this issue is
now moot. The Budget Administration has referred this to a special court in
D.C., that takes this out of contention. Mr. McIsaac moved to table this until
such time it might be revived, seconded by Mr. Troedsson and unanimously
carried.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED.
6.
Letter
of 01/04/07 to Raymond Graham: Mr. Graham states, “After reading the ordinance
and I didn’t see anywhere where it states you can compel me to come to another
meeting where you guys don’t even have a quorum. My understanding is if we’re
gone from a meeting, you can send the Chief out, and if he finds us and if we
refuse or send a good excuse, you can fine us. It
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 3
don’t say you can stop the meeting, reschedule it if we don’t come to a
meeting with an excuse, then you can fine us. The only way you’d fine us is if
we’d not showed up that night and you sent John Gutcheck out to find us,
and if we’d refused or not sent a good excuse – fine us.” Mr. Gilbert stated
essentially, that’s the way it reads…it’s not clearly written. Mr. Graham
wanted to know how less than a quorum of the Council can vote for the Mayor to
do something? Specifically, rescheduling the meeting? Mr. Gilbert replied the
rest of the Council had the authority to vote to have the Mayor reschedule the
meeting. Mr. Graham also set the record straight by notifying the Council that
on the morning of his absence from the Council Meeting, his wife came to City
Hall and told J.S. Turner he would not be attending the meeting. Mayor Malesich
replied he had not been notified of the abovementioned information until
now.
7.
Letter
of 01/04/07 to Mike Klakken: Same as above
8. Letter of 01/11/07 from Nils A. “Sweede” Troedsson to Mayor Malesich requesting to have the Judiciary Committee draft amendment to City Code 2.09.060: Mayor Malesich referred this issue to the Judiciary Committee. Mr. McIsacc moved to table this issue, seconded by Mr. Graham. Mr. Troedsson disagreed with Mr. McIsaac stating that this was not a witch hunt, it is to facilitate rescheduling of the meeting, consider the entire agenda of the meeting that was canceled due to a lack of quorum, it’s not a witch hunt, per se, it’s a convenient vehicle to get on with business. Mr. Lawson asked the President of the Council what his opinion on this whole thing is? Mr. Mastandrea stated he thought the fact that we didn’t have a quorum was a rare occurrence. If there was something important on the agenda, it would probably be one issue that could go to a special meeting and be dealt with. He didn’t think the Council should try to slap a Bandaid on every little bruise that comes up. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” He thought the Council operated fine without adding more layers of rules. Mayor Malesich called for the question, a poll vote:
Troedsson: No; Graham: Yes; MsIsaac: Yes; Mastandrea: Yes; Klakken: Yes;
Lawson: Yes; Riley: Yes. 6 – Yes,
1 – No.
MOTION CARRIED.
9. MMIA letter of 12/28/06 regarding Liability Program Bond Documents: MMIA is solvent and has retired their bonds.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON PUBLIC MATTERS NOT ON THE AGENDA:
Mayor Malesich asked the citizens present if they wished to address the council: There were no comments made to the council.
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 4
MAYOR’S REPORT:
1.
Appointment
of Jim Carpita to City of
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED.
2.
Letter
of 12/20/06 from
a. Appointment of Council member to the Enhanced 911 Advisory Board: Mayor Malesich makes the appointments, and although he has someone in mind, he solicited interested parties from the Council for this appointment. He stated he was leaning towards Mr. Troedsson because he had experience as an EMT, Search and Rescue, Communications and so on. Therefore, Mayor Malesich nominated Mr. Troedsson for the appointment, and Mr. McIsaac moved to approve the appointment, seconded by Mr. Lawson and a poll vote:
Troedsson: Yes; Graham: No; McIsaac: Yes; Mastandrea: Yes;
Klakken: No; Lawson: Yes; Riley: Yes. 5 – Yes, 2 – No.
MOTION CARRIED.
3. Letter of 12/21/06 from Attorney General regarding Ray Graham discussion
of option to file Declaratory Judgment in District Court: Mr. Gilbert stated, “As you know, we sent the opinion in, the one that you guys reviewed. As you can see the Attorney General declined issuing an opinion on it on the basis of it was subject to fact questions. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Tweeten this afternoon and I asked him in particular what facts were the difficulty, or what facts the person he talked to about this raised, and he said they hadn’t raised any fact that was incorrect in submission or otherwise; he still thought it was largely dependant on question of fact and they wouldn’t issue an opinion. The only other option is to do a Declaratory Judgment, if you choose.” Mr. Graham asked Mr. Gilbert for his written opinion on this subject, whether Mr. Graham can discuss and vote on this issue or not and, he’d like to table this issue until that written opinion is issued. Mr. Mastandrea seconded tabling the issue until a written opinion is received from the City Attorney. Mr. McIsaac moved to amend the motion that this issue be tabled for the duration of Mr. Graham’s elected term, seconded by Mr. Klakken. Mr. Lawson stated the Administration had the opportunity to stop Mr. Graham in the beginning from running for Council, they didn’t and the people voted him in; I think he should finish his term and when
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 5
he’s up for re-election, they can look at his address and deal with it then. Mr. Gilbert clarified it was not the Administration of the City that had the opportunity to stop Mr. Graham from running for the Council, it was the Courthouse Officers. Mr. Riley asked Mr. Graham if an opinion from the City Attorney would be binding to him on this issue? Mr. Graham responded if he said I could speak, I would speak and if I couldn’t I would abstain. Mayor Malesich recognized Kenneth Kailey. Mr. Kailey asked Mr. Gilbert what kind of financial outlay are you looking at for the City with this Declaratory Judgment? Mr. Gilbert responded depending on the opposition, $3000.00 to $5000.00. Mr. Riley suggested to amend the amendment. Mr. Klakken withdrew his second. Mr. McIsaac moved to amend his motion to read that we reconsider after January 2008, seconded by Mr. Klakken and approved. Mr. Graham abstained.
MOTION CARRIED.
Mayor Malesich called for the question as amended and the motion carried. Mr. Graham abstained.
MOTION CARRIED.
4. Monthly Revenue Report: Mr. Klakken moved to approve the report, seconded by Mr. Mastandrea and approved unanimously.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
5. Fire Hall Report – December 2006 Expenditures: Mr. Marsh presented the Fire Hall Report. Mr. McIsaac moved to approve the report, seconded by Mr. Klakken and unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
6. Citizen’s
Requests: Mr. Lawson asked Police Chief Gutcheck if he had conferred with J.S.
Turner about Morse/Washington traffic study and the signs on
REPORTS OF OFFICERS
AND BOARDS OF THE CITY:
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 6
PLANNING BOARD – Draft Minutes of December 19, 2006 meeting: Mr. Riley asked why these were draft minutes? He was aware the minutes had been approved. Lynn Westad stated she had a call into Donna Sevalstad asking why she hadn’t made the corrections yet – No response yet. Mr. Riley mentioned there was one change: 2nd paragraph on page 3 of 3: Marie Giere seconded… we added a period and capitalized Motion. Mr. McIsaac found an error on page 2 Kelly Rowe remove “to” clarified “that.” Mr. Riley moved the acceptance of these as amended, seconded by Mr. McIsaac and unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Mr. Riley stated at the last meeting the new Chairman was
elected: Jim Carpita. Mr. Riley was elected as Vice Chairman. They welcomed
Russ Schwantz to the board. They are looking at seven new subdivisions coming
before the board. There are requests for re-zoning, which has been referred to
committee, along with the feasibility of rezoning the entire City. A
sub-committee, consisting of Mike Riley and Lynn Westad, are attempting to
recommend to the Planning Board a method of presenting the Council Meetings
with the latest, up-to-date, Planning Board Minutes. Discussions of appointing
three members of the Planning Board to the interim dealing of the donut
jurisdiction: Mr. Carpita and Ms. Westad were appointed. The third position
will be held cooperatively by Brant and Russ. The next meeting will be on the
23rd to deal with issues coming before the board on new
subdivisions, and if fees are paid or requests for rezoning.
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS – J.S. Turner –CDBG Project Report:
a.
Zoning Compliance
Certificates Applied For:
#1924
– Judy Broere, 121 Skihi – 12’x16’ shed
#1925
– Robert Beattie, 100 E. Clark – Residence w/garage 35’x71’9”
#1926
– Barry Briggs, 337
b.
Zoning Compliance
Certificates Issued:
#1924
– Judy Broere, 121 Skihi – 12’x16’ shed
#1926
– Barry Briggs, 337
#1927
– Monarch Ltd., Tobacco Root St. – 2-4 unit apartments – H-Zone
c.
Variances applied
for:
None
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 7
POLICE CHIEF – John Gutcheck – Mr. Gutcheck presented the Officer Activity
Report for December 2006. Councilperson McIsaac moved to approve the report,
seconded by Councilperson Troedsson. Mr. Lawson asked Mr. Gutcheck how much
overtime had he approved for the month of December? Mr. Gutcheck replied he had
authorized 861 minutes of overtime for his officers, for the month. He stated
the overtime included court appearances on days off, etc. Mr. Lawson stated he
was asking because it justified the need for an additional officer. Mr.
Gutcheck responded, “Eventually, yes.” Mr. Klakken asked Mr. Gutcheck if he had
worked during the month of December? Mr. Gutcheck responded that he did not
patrol (the zeros represent patrol time). Mayor Malesich called for the
question and acceptance of the report was unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
FIRE CHIEF – Scott
Marsh – Mr. Marsh stated they
responded to 52 incidents in the City during 2006, with an average of 14
Firefighters on scene. The average response time was 3 minutes, 20 seconds from
time of page to first vehicle on scene. In those 52 responses, we put in a
total of 579 man hours. We had an estimated property loss of approximately
$224,000.00. We had two fires that were the majority of those: The Womack fire
and we had a house burn down last year on
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY
APPROVED.
STANDING COMMITTEES:
JUDICIARY – Mike
Riley, Chair – Minutes of the
Judiciary Committee of January 10, 2007 with all written submissions were
submitted by Mr. Riley who moved to approve, seconded by Mr. Troedsson and
unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED.
One recommendation
came out of that meeting and it is stated as follows: The matter of the
grandfather status of the property at
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 8
Council with the
recommendation of the Judiciary Committee that the status be continued. Mr.
Troedsson moved to approve supporting that recommendation, seconded by Mr.
Lawson. Mr. Lawson asked Mr. Gilbert if the City will be liable with this
decision? Mr. Gilbert responded it will depend on the circumstances. The reason
for the difficulty on this issue has been that I have not been able to find any
legal precedence giving me confidence, one way or the other. There may be cases
in other states based on similar ordinances, but I haven’t been able to find
any. I checked the ones that I could before the meeting tonight. “The way I
look at it is, there would be more risk to the City to shut it off, than there
would be not to.” Mr. Klakken asked Mr. Gilbert why the City would be at risk
if we enforced the non-conformists? Mr. Gilbert replied, “I’m not going to
discuss that in public, thank you.” Mr. Klakken responded, “What do you mean?
You want us to vote and you’re not going to tell us why?” Mr. Gilbert replied,
“Nope.” Mr. Riley agreed with Mr. Gilbert that allowing the grandfathering to
continue on the property will be less of a risk. Mr. Riley felt Ms.
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 9
recently. Braden
Jones, Cynthia Osborne’s partner was not aware the City had issues with the
property being a four-plex until Sandra walked over one day and told him the
building had lost its grandfathering status. Mr. Riley stated the question
before the Judiciary Committee was are we going to accept the risk of suit or
not? It was the consensus of that meeting that we would not accept that risk. I
want to add to that, Ms.
Troedsson: Yes;
Graham: No; McIsaac: No, Mastandrea: No; Klakken: No; Lawson: Yes; Riley: No. 2 – Yes, 5 – No.
MOTION FAILED
Mr. Mastandrea
would like the Judiciary Committee to look into the definition of what defines
a family unit. Mr. Riley states the definition varies. Mr. Gilbert asks the
Council what should he do if Ms. Osborne files a lawsuit. Mr. Lawson thought we
should allow Duke to spend money on researching the laws on non-conforming use.
Mr. Mastandrea and Troedsson felt Mr. Gilbert should act immediately and inform
Ms. Osborne of the Council’s decision to enforce the ordinance. Mr. Dan Compton
stated he was happy the City enforced the ordinance, and the City should send
Ms. Osborne a letter informing her that she’s lost her grandfather status on
the building. Mayor Malesich stated the Council should clarify what they want
the administration to do. Mr. Gilbert stated the only remedy I have that will
work is I’ll have to file an injunction to prohibit her proceeding with the
remodel as a four-plex. If we wait we could be involved in legal arguments. If
we’re going to do, we better do it at the get-go. We won’t file a lawsuit just
to file, however, if she continues to remodel as a four-plex, I’ll have to file
it. Mr. Mastandrea moved to give the City Attorney the authority to file an
injunction at the appropriate time, seconded by Mr. Riley. Mr. McIsaac stated
he would like to be certain the City Attorney plans first to send a letter
notifying Ms. Osborne of the Council’s decision and the legal ramifications
involved. Mr. Gilbert agreed that would be his course of action to begin with.
Mr. McIsaac amends the motion for Mr. Gilbert to notify Ms. Osborne that her
grandfather status has lapsed, with her failure to conform to the ordinances
will result in an injunction, seconded by Mr. Troedsson and the motion carried
unanimously.
MOTION CARRIED
UNANIMOUSLY.
All those in favor
of the motion as amended, and the motion carried unanimously.
MOTION CARRIED
UNANIMOUSLY.
FINANCE – Mike Klakken, Chair – Mr. Klakken presented the Claims Report and Line Item Budget Report for the month of December 2006. Mr. McIsaac moved to approve the reports, seconded by Mr.Troedsson and unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
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Dillon City Council
January 17, 2007
Page 10
CITY HALL – Al Lawson, Chair: No report. Mr. Lawson informed the Council that they had a meeting last night, but no minutes are available.
FIRE AND ORDER – Frank Mastandrea, Chair: No report.
PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS – Nils Troedsson, Chair: No report
CEMETERY – Raymond Graham, Chair: No report.
HEALTH AND WELFARE –
Tom Straugh, Chair: No report.
STREETS AND ALLEYS – Jim McIsaac, Chair: No report
WATER AND SEWER –
Mike Klakken, Chair: Minutes of the
12/18/06 meeting were presented for approval. Mr. Graham moved to accept the
minutes, seconded by Mr. Mastandrea and unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY
APPROVED.
There being no further business the motion to adjourn was made by Councilperson Lawson, seconded by Councilperson McIsaac and unanimously approved.
MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
The meeting adjourned at ???????????????? P.M.
The above minutes were transcribed from a tape recording of the actual meeting and such minutes include the substance of all matter proposed, discussed or described.
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Page 11
Submitted by:
_____________________________
Amber K. Herzog, City Hall Clerk
ATTEST:
____________________________
Martin Malesich, Mayor
Approved by:
_____________________________
Faye Jones, City Clerk