Mayor Joni Stewart called the meeting of the Cut Bank City Council to order at 6:30 pm, Monday, April 21, 2008. The following council members were in attendance: Councilpersons Tom Shock, J. W. Eaton, William McCauley and Kelly Solberg; Payroll Clerk Jeannie Ostby, City Attorney Bob Smith, Police Chief Jason Abbott and City Superintendent Jim Suta. All stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

The items up for approval on the consent agenda consisted of Approval of the April 7, 2008 City Council Minutes, Approval of the April 14, 2008 City Council Minutes, Approval of the Chief of Police’s Report, Approval of the April 17, 2008 Payroll $48,278.44, and Approval of the March 2008 Finance Reports. Councilperson Eaton moved to pass the consent agenda as presented, Councilperson Solberg seconded. The motion was passed unanimously.

Lou Villemez, on behalf of the Crime Stoppers Board, presented a request for the week containing May 15, 2008 as Police Week and May 15th as Police Officers’ Memorial Day. He wanted to modify that request to say Law Enforcement Officer’s Week and Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Day to include Glacier County Deputies, not just the City Police. Crime Stoppers would use that week to recognize positive achievements and possibly a Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. Councilperson Eaton made the motion to make the week containing May 15 Law Enforcement Officer’s Week and May 15th Law Enforcement Officer’s Memorial Day – Councilperson Shock seconded. Motion carried unanimously.

The new personnel manual has been updated with the changes discussed in previous Council Meetings and sent on to John Cummings who approved it. It now needs to be approved by the City Council and reissued to the employees. Councilperson Eaton made the motion to accept the updated Personnel Manual ~ Councilperson McCauley seconded. To reissue the manual there will be a mandatory lunch for all city employees to go over it line by line. The lunch will be scheduled when Diana returns. Motion carried unanimously.

City Superintendent Jim Suta presented the Council with a request to purchase a pool cover at the cost of $8,700.00. Councilperson McCauley made the motion to approve the request ~ Councilperson Eaton seconded. Superintendent Suta stated that this item has not been budgeted because at that time, there wasn’t a solid quote. The old pool cover can no longer be repaired. No further discussion. Motion carried unanimously.

The following Board Appointments were up for approval:

Planning Board - Ken Hughes Term May 08 - May 2010; Jim Suta Term May 08- May 2010
Park Board - Virginia Villemez Term May 08 - May 2010; MaryAnn Smith Term May 07- May 2009;Treasure Berkram Term May 07-2009; Sonja Ray May 08-May 2010; Nicole Altenberg May 08-May 2010
Police Commission - Tom Siefert Term May 08- 2011
Glacier County Conservation District - Mark Lewis Term May 08 - May 2010

Councilperson Eaton made the motion to affirm the above board appointments ~ Councilperson Shock seconded. Councilperson McCauley questioned whether Tom Seifert would be a conflict of interest or not. Mayor Stewart said she discussed it with Wayne and he said that Tom is fair minded and would be able to work with people. Mayor Stewart also noted that they need someone on the board with knowledge of law enforcement. Mayor Stewart noted that there are still some vacancies in the boards. The Planning Board has two vacancies and they are both Council appointees, one vacancy on the Police Commission - if Seifert is affirmed, Board of Appeals, Port Authority and Airport Authority will be left alone for now. No further discussion. Motion carried unanimously.

Payroll Clerk Ostby read a thank you note from Girl Scout Troup 324 for the opportunity to attend the last Council Meeting and to help with the animal shelter.

There was some discussion on how they were going to do the budget sessions. Police Chief Abbott will be ready for May 5th after the regular Council meeting. City Attorney Smith strongly suggested to the Council to make sure there is money in the budget for each patrol car to have cameras that can be activated with a microphone. The rest of the departments are as follow: CIty Superintendent Suta - May 19, (Clerk-Treasurer Filban also if City Superintendent Suta's meeting runs short); the firemen and City Attorney – June 2nd.