Mayor Emmet D. Embody called the meeting of the Cut Bank City Council to order at 6:30 PM, Tuesday, January 19, 2010. The following council members answered roll call: Tim Curtiss, Tom Shock. Kelly Solberg and William McCauley. City Superintendent Jim Suta, City Clerk-Treasurer Diana Filban, City Attorney Robert Smith and Police Chief Jeff Kraft were also present. All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Councilperson Shock made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of the January 4, 2010 City Council Minutes, January 11, 2010 City Council Minutes and the January 7, 2010 Payroll in the amount of $57,709.46. The second motion was made by Councilperson Solberg. The motion passed 4-0.

Police Chief Kraft reviewed the changes which will be coming for the radio systems in law enforcement. Police Chief Kraft explained he is trying to gather any grants he can to help with the financial end of the change. Councilperson McCauley made the motion to approve the Police Chief’s report. Councilperson Solberg made the second motion. The motion carried 4-0.

None

Superintendent Suta said the variance request from Robert Young came in front of the City/County Planning Board. Superintendent Suta said under the current laws the building would be illegal once it is completed with the four walls and a roof. The City/County Planning Board discussed various aspects of the request including fire, but felt once completed the structure would be safe. Superintendent Suta said it is his recommendation that the variance on the 70 foot rule be allowed and the variance granted. There was some discussion on the State fire statute which was brought up earlier. Superintendent Suta noted the state statute said outside storage not storage within a building. Councilperson Solberg said it was discussed at the City/County Planning Board that a wood pile stored outside would be much more hazardous than a wood pile started in a metal sided structure. Councilperson Shock said his concern was about setting a precedent for other persons in the City, if the Council approves this variance. Mayor Embody asked if Mr. Young had been able to build his storage unit with the 70 foot setback, would he have had any reason to be here tonight. Superintendent Suta said no he could have built the storage unit with a building permit approval. Councilperson Shock made a motion to approve the variance request from Mr. Young. Councilperson Solberg made the second motion. Councilperson McCauley said he feels a metal building is more combustible than other buildings and burns faster. The call to vote was Councilperson Solberg in favor and Councilpersons Curtiss, McCauley and Shock against the motion. The motion failed 1 to 3.

City Superintendent Suta noted that after review of the bids which were opened on January 4, 2010 there is a successful bidder. Before the meeting, Joel Pilcher from Great West had handed out his recommendation of Phillips Construction at a bid of $1,248,725.00. Councilperson McCauley moved to go with the acceptance of both the superintendent and engineer that Phillips Construction with a bid of $1,248,725.00 receives the bid. The motion was seconded by Councilperson Curtiss. The motion carried 4-0.

Councilperson McCauley said that it was the consensus of the Council at the last meeting that we would be in favor of going ahead and utilitizing the combination of option one and option two. Councilperson McCauley motioned to move forward with the financing for schedule three of the water line distribution project. Councilperson Shock made the second motion. The motion passed 4-0. Councilperson Shock made the motion to approve the expenditure of $8,000.00 maximum for costs to pursue the financing options. Councilperson Solberg made the second motion. Councilperson Shock asked to withdraw his motion to which Councilperson Solberg agreed. Councilperson Shock moved to have Great West Engineering work on the financing for schedule three on the water line improvements and to commit the maximum of $8,000.00 in our funds to pay for this grant search. Councilperson Solberg made the second motion. The second motion passed 4-0.

Superintendent Suta said he would like to make a recommendation to the City Council to deny all of the quotes on trading in the travel car as there is nothing there worth going after. Superintendent Suta said the City would have to commit to more money in order to get a vehicle that would be used for both back up snow travel and a regular travel vehicle. Mayor Embody said he agreed with Superintendent Suta. Councilperson McCauley motioned to deny all of the proposed trade-ins as far as the travel car were concerned and this be put off until budget time, and we can see exactly how much money we want to spend. Councilperson Shock made the second motion. The passed 4-0.

Police Chief Kraft said he has two leadership qualified officers he would like to utilize for the times he can not be around. Police Chief Kraft would like to see these two officers receive the same on-call pay as other officers do for specified time periods. This would not overlap with the officers working hour. One of the two officers would be on-call supervisor for the hours that they would not be at work. Police Chief Kraft said the financial impact would be $1,680.00 per year. Councilperson Shock moved to approve the request for these officers to receive on call pay of $1.50/hour for a maximum of 32 hours on a weekend. Councilperson Curtiss made the second motion. The motion carried 4-0.

Councilperson McCauley moved to approve the following persons to attend the Montana Rural Water Systems, Inc. Conference: Stephen Proefrock, February 18, 2010, at the cost of $175.00; John Damberger, James Suta and Bert Guith , February 17-19, 2010 at the cost of $375.00 each. Councilperson Shock made the second motion.

Mayor Embody said he had received letters from Robert Carette, Bank of Glacier County; Wade Johnson, Superintendent of Schools; Rick Billman, Billmans and Jeff Billman, Cut Bank Chamber of Commerce all thanking the city crew for the last round of snow removal. Mayor Embody asked Superintendent Suta to pass on the praise to his crew.

Councilperson McCauley said Cut Bank may be in trouble on going over the amount of cardboard that the Joint Refuse District will accept without further payment. Superintendent Suta said there is a possibility communities can market cardboard on their own. Councilperson McCauley said the Town of Browning is interested in doing something similar, and they do have a bailer. The Town of Browning has a large supply of cardboard at present. Councilperson McCauley asked the Town of Browning, if Cut Bank could utilize their bailer, we could haul their cardboard to Cut Bank, bail it and then market it ourselves. This would give the two entities an idea if this would be a worthwhile endeavor. Mayor Embody asked for this to be put on the next agenda.

There being no further business to come before the council, Councilperson McCauley moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:32 PM. Councilperson Curtiss made the second motion. The motion carried 4-0.