United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Please call the roll.
Axelon?
Here.
Here.
Grant?
Here.
Crowder?
Here.
Okay, welcome back, Greg.
Thank you.
Okay, in your packets, the agenda for today's meeting.
we're going to move
with council approval
right under utilities
we have A and B
engineer update on infrastructure
and then city sponsorship for the infrastructure
project. We're going to move those to right
under
public comment
so right above item 8
so with that
I would entertain a motion to adopt
the agenda with those changes
so moved
second okay motion made seconded any discussion you're not on delay you're not on delay
okay hearing none all those in favor
okay also in your packet with the minutes from the march 17th meeting it's been a
minute since we've had a meeting so i'd entertain a motion to approve march 17 minutes
So moved.
Seconded.
Okay.
Motion made seconded.
Any discussion?
Additions, deletions, changes, corrections?
Okay.
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Okay.
So at this time, at 8.31, we will close the City Council meeting
and open the public hearing to discuss adopting the Daniels County Growth Policy.
See, we've got a lot of public here ready to express their opinions on this, per the usual.
Okay, does anybody have anything?
Cody, you are public. I know why you're here, though.
Okay, hearing nothing from the public, we will close the public hearing to discuss adopting the Daniels County Growth Policy.
And at 8.32, we will open the public hearing to update capital improvement plan.
Okay, again, hearing the usual amount of comments, we will close the public hearing to update the capital improvement plan.
And at 8.33, call it 8.33, we will reopen the city council meeting.
So that brings us to public comment.
So public comment on anything on the agenda.
Again, I got about as many comments as I expected.
So now we will move to the engineer update on infrastructure slash annexation info for the hospital.
So John, I guess I'll give you the floor.
Well, thank you.
I've been here before.
As you guys know, I'm John with Interstate.
Cody Britton here with Daniels Memorial Health Care is here as well.
So we are working on both on-site and off-site infrastructure improvements for the new hospital there.
In your packet, or I guess I handed out kind of what we're looking at as far as the preliminary layout for the on-site utilities as well as the off-site utilities.
I've got Wyatt here prior to the meeting on fire hydrant placement.
So we currently have three fire hydrants around the facility, one in the southeast corner, one in the southwest corner, and then one on the northeast corner there.
We're in the way he said they do have sufficient holes to reach from those locations basically all the way around the building.
and I will follow up with him on that there will also be a mass pumper nozzle or standpipe in the
front of the building for them to hook to as well which would be by the southeast fire hydrant so
just as we go through kind of the design criteria of the hospital and the off-site utilities I just
wanted to get the city's input on anything we're doing there to kind of give you a rundown on the
off-site utilities so we intend to tie onto the sewer line here at the intersection of this is
first and golf course road extend down golf course road across the highway and then basically come up
to the site basically on the east side of the site there so you'll see on this the colored image
shows the off-site infrastructure we do show on the just kind of the back corner of the
maintenance building here we'll have to cross we're anticipating having to cross
the water line we are looking at options if there is room to stay on the east
side of the water line all the way down and run it in the ditch the issue would
run into there is one there's fiber in the ditch there and two we don't know if
we'll have the adequate clearance between the water and sewer separation so
it looks like at this time we are going to be able to serve the entire site
without a lift station. I know that's kind of outside your guys' privy as far as if there was a lift station involved,
that would be the responsibility of the hospital. But just for your information, we're planning to serve that without doing totally gravity all the way.
So we are aware we'll have to go under the railroad tracks here to BNSF and then also go under the MBT right away.
As far as the water infrastructure, up by the water depot on the north edge of town there, there is a cap, and that line basically dead ends there.
We are looking at extending that line across the highway with an 8-inch line.
That's what's currently there now up Gulf Coast Road.
So we'll extend that 8-inch onto the site and then size appropriately either 8-inch or 6-inch on the site itself.
Just a couple of items I want to touch base with you guys on.
So we have been working obviously with NDT for access to the site and approaches.
We originally had two approaches onto NDT right away and they requested we remove one of those,
which would have been the closest to Airport Road and that was really an anticipated change from what we got.
We anticipated they were going to request that to be removed.
So there will be one approach onto Highway 248, I believe it is, and then also we'll
use Airport Road as an approach as well with two approaches onto Airport Road.
The north approach onto Airport Road will be strictly for deliveries and fire services.
That will also be the MRI truck in there.
So that will be more of a truck access, delivery access, and loading area.
We did put a T intersection or hammerhead, some people call them, in that so a vehicle can come in, get positioned, and then back into the loading spots there.
So with that, we are doing a traffic impact study for the Montana Department of Transportation.
One of the requirements that they ask is if the city of Scobie or Daniel Scobie will require any sort of traffic impact study in addition to their traffic impact study.
um i don't want to lead you one way or the other typically in a smaller community like this they're
not warranted by the city but that is your guys's call so i guess that was kind of one of the one of
the main questions we had for you today is if the city has any other traffic requirements or approach
requirements that we need to meet as far as that yeah i mean i'm pretty sure to know unless there's
something in our ordinances that states, you know, they put something in years ago that we would
require it, but sure. Okay. Um, and then as far as approaches, all of the approaches are really
on county or state right away. Um, but do you guys have any that, I guess to back up, we are going
through, um, through the title search process and whatnot on, um, the property ownership offset here
between the county and the state of Montana.
So technically that property line is the center of the road.
And then across on Airport Road, it is the private property on the east side
versus the hospital property on the west side.
Those technically go to the center of the road.
We are looking into what those easements say and what the right-of-way says,
if that is a dedicated access easement for the hospital
or if there is a lot of utilities in that as well.
So we're working through that process.
It doesn't affect you guys really, but I just want you to be aware.
I guess the last project we did in Scobie was the Taylor Plant water sewer extension up here.
My understanding is you guys just go off Montana Public Works standards for any water sewer extensions.
You don't have any other modifications that we need to know about or anything like that.
we just got kennedy fire items on okay i will make sure to know that
so um i talked with morgan about this earlier um so the property will be annexed into the city is
my understanding um i also visited with the commissioners there is an egg restriction on
this property uh when the plat was filed so it's kind of a cart and horse type deal whether the
egg restriction is lifted first or or later there are allowances in Montana
code that say if it is annexed into the city that that egg restriction can be
lifted at that time without any special meetings or anything we did discuss as
far as timing if the county wants to lift that egg restriction or pass a
resolution lifting that egg restriction prior to the annexation and it's really
just a timing on what works better for basically all three parties involved, the hospital,
the city, and the county.
So either way is really fine with us on that.
I guess the other issue, if this is, so currently there's no, currently obviously it's not annexed
in yet, so there's no zoning.
Is there any special process we need to go through for the zoning to designate this?
I assume this would be classified as central business or general business?
No, it would have to be public.
Public is the only one we allow hospitals in.
Okay.
Okay, so it would be public zone.
Okay, perfect.
And then the last thing is MDT Highway out there.
So currently the speed limits are 50 miles an hour.
There is some concern on the safety of the public obviously pulling out on that with trucks coming into town and whatnot at 50 miles an hour.
MDT takes a stance that they will not adjust a speed limit or change a speed limit based on projected traffic flows.
They will only do it based on existing traffic flows, which in our case, if we want to adjust the speed limit, the only way we can do that is if the city or county request it, then they can, the local DOT office can relocate those signs up to 500 feet.
The last thing we want is someone to get killed at an intersection or even get in a maximum intersection and then adjust the speed limit.
So I don't think it's anything that needs to be done right now, but between the city and the county, we may request, if it's all right with you guys, that you request to MDT that that speed limit be lowered basically 500 feet back.
So just wanted to kind of give you a heads up on that.
So not really any, like I said, any decisions or anything today.
Just wanted to give you an update kind of where we're at on the whole process.
obviously the plans and specs and everything will come to you guys prior to
prior to the theater or anything like that so did you have any questions for me
or John can I add in there too we talked about Friday and they're gonna
oversize the boring underneath the railroad line because if we ever have
future expansion on that state piece they won't have to re-bore they just have to
dig down and change the size of the pipe in the board yeah correct so yeah we
We looked at upsizing that main to a 10 inch, but one thing is not knowing if or when there
ever will be expansion out there.
Kind of a consensus among everyone was we'll upsize the bore under the railroad to accommodate
a larger pipe in the event there is ever growth out there, but then we'll install an 8 inch
pipe.
Cool.
Okay.
Yeah, I don't have any other questions.
I know Cody is going to talk about the annexation thing,
and that might generate some questions between city attorney, engineer, and that.
Well, thank you, guys.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
Will do. Thanks, John.
Cody, I'll give you the floor.
Sounds good.
Well, I just want to say thank you for considering the sponsorship of this month
so that we can get this off-site utility work.
I just wanted to put a plug for, as we've done some work with USDA, how the whole thing came about is we had talked on a call here with John, with our partners at USDA, and they said, hey, you know what?
We've got some extra funding that we would like to consider helping you guys out with this project.
The way that the funding works for these type of projects is we don't get any money from USDA until after construction is completed.
And so that would put it on us.
Right now we're working through the part of getting interim construction financing completed
so that we can afford to pay contractors and everything up until completion of construction.
But what USDA said is, listen, because off-site utility really isn't going to have a long-term value for the hospital,
it's something that just has to be done.
We have some funding that we would like to run through a sponsor like the city of SCOBY
to do some funding to where you guys would be paying the debt service on this,
but the city can act as a sponsor to run those funds through.
What that's going to do for us is that's going to actually allow us
to have a little bit more wiggle room in our budget
if we can take the off-site utility money that we would have used
and actually apply it to something else with the project
or have it in there as potential contingencies.
So the other benefit of this is it comes in at a much lower interest rate than what we otherwise would see if we had to go and do this offsite utility on our own.
So there's a lot of benefits, not only to the hospital, but for the city as the hospital is going to be the one owning it.
So I just want to say thank you for that consideration.
I'm grateful for it.
And I know that as we're working through this process, anything that we can do to help keep things moving is going to be good.
Okay.
Something else that I was coming to visit about was our petition for annexation.
So what we've got here in visiting with Morgan was the opportunity to annex the parcel that we had purchased back in, what was this, last year?
Or was it two years ago?
Two years ago.
Holy smokes.
Yeah.
And so we had purchased 9.98 acres, and we were looking to get that annex in.
And so I came prepared with a petition for annexation.
It's completed.
As far as there's two spots in here that in visiting with Morgan yesterday, we want to just leave them blank and tell further discussion.
I am also prepared for us to be able to pay the fee schedule for what this requires.
But I wanted to have this discussion first in case anything comes out of it so I know when to cut that check.
I hate to cut it and then have to go back and recut it again.
So anyway, so I've got this.
Morgan, do you want this or want me to get it?
Yeah, just ask Sonia.
Hold on with her mouth.
Sounded good.
There is a piece in here where it talks about meets and bounds.
And so what I did for that to get the official language in that is we have our completed certificate of survey that was completed by Big Sky Surveying.
So I've got the really small handwriting.
So I've got it in a PDF that I can actually send over.
it's a lot easier to read if you need to get that but I would assume the title that we completed for
that as well will have that same language on there for as far as legal descriptions
but yeah wanted to get that ball rolling just because I know sometimes it takes time to get
some of this stuff going but in visiting with our bond council here this last week when we were on
with John and also with with Steve and Morgan it became apparent as he just worked through the
process with the Wheatland Memorial Hospital down in Harlatan. They had worked through annexation
after the fact, and they had gone through a lot of stuff with the county and the city to get this
completed. And he told just anecdotally, he said, it was so much more of a headache doing it after
the fact. He said, if you're doing it now, he said, this is going to make your life so much easier in
the long run if you can get this thing annexed in. It's just going to be a lot cleaner moving
forward in the future so so anyway yeah i just wanted to come and present that petition for
annexation um that we would love consideration for for that okay any questions yeah so i'll kind of
piggyback off what cody said um so cody and uh mitch and kind of the the hospital crew um the usda
They approached us, the city, with sponsoring this package for the utilities.
So Cody gave us all the pros.
So there are some cons.
And I'm not trying to scare anybody because I am for moving forward, but I want to kind of go through the cons as well.
So let's say the hospital defaults.
Well, now, and let's say this is a million-dollar loan through USDA for this infrastructure piece.
If the hospital defaults, now that burden becomes the city's.
Now, that's a worst-case scenario.
If the hospital fails, I think there's going to be a lot of other issues that are going to be bigger than a million-dollar loan.
Now I'm not saying a million dollars isn't big because it is.
It's a million dollars.
So the other thing was it's going to be more work for the city full-time personnel.
This is now reporting that Sonia needs to do annually.
It's not new, but it's just more work.
And there's a lot of work that goes into filling out.
She can't just print off a report.
with the information on it from our system and give it to them she's got to transpose it onto
their system which is just time consuming so there is a little bit of work there so we had the
discussion initially well how can the city be compensated you know how can the how can the city
support the hospital but you know because this is a benefit for the hospital they're going to save
some money by doing this um while we also are at least compensated for our efforts so we thought
well instead of wait until the hospital is completed to annex it in let's just start that process now
so we looked into that and realized well we can't just annex it in yet because we don't provide
services to that property but the hospital can petition to be annexed in so that's what cody is
doing and so him and i have agreed you know hey we're going to do this but you're going to do that
for us and and we're all kind of moving forward right now so that way we can start collecting a
little bit of tax revenue on that property um so that's really kind of where we're at um i had
spoke to Cody and I said you know we Sonia, Steve, Cody and I along with state folks and
Billings Clinic folks have had a couple different discussions and I'm like okay we're to the point
now where we need to bring this information to the council so that's basically what we're doing.
I wanted the council to hear this you know formulate a discussion if we need to have an
opinion if we need to. And again, I am for moving forward, but again, I don't vote. So
is there anything, Samantha, that you see on the legal side?
What secures the hospital's repayment to the city for the city undertaking the note?
So we had this discussion. Now, I've heard this only twice, and I'm still trying to wrap my head
around it if I had my team at USDA here even a bond council they could explain it way better
than these please just take this with a grain of salt but the way I understand it is USDA has
requirements on creating I don't know what the wording is like some sort of reserve for any kind
of contingency let's say heaven forbid something happens the hospital defaults on this that we have
built up enough reserve over you know a period of time for us to be able to say hey for us to be
able to get this this loan taken care of you know the million dollars or whatnot that over time this
reserve is built up it's a 40-year loan you know a million dollars over 40 years makes it a lot
more affordable versus shrinking it down to like a 25 year but what they had said is the hospital
could come in and actually front load the funding of that reserve up front so that in case there if
If there is ever some sort of default, which I don't anticipate there is, that money is
already funded.
So Samantha, that money that assures that, hey, we've got enough money that we can pay
off this loan if we need to, is already front loaded.
Instead of waiting the time incrementally over the years to get this thing funded, we
can just front load that right up front.
So it's earmarked for that payment and necessary.
Correct.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Hopefully that gives a little bit more comfort in knowing that, hey, listen, if something
goes awry well you got that money you know just tucked away in some case that you need to have it
so not to be a doomsayer but um should that all fall apart and the city ends up
holding the bag for this million dollar loan do we uh default ownership
of that utility?
So the way it works is I think if we co-sponsored this,
that line is technically ours because it's our project.
So we own that line.
So this is the same time when we should talk about also increasing our tap fees
so if anybody ever wants to tap into that line.
But if we sponsored this, it's our project.
And basically what it is is we get the loan,
And then the hospital pays us and then we pay the loan.
That's the way it works.
And we manage the project basically with Interstate
and Sonia does all the reporting for the project.
So it basically becomes our project and not the hospital's project if we sponsor this.
It's basically the main extension at that point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just got to go ahead in here.
Everybody's thinking.
Got to think about it.
It's awkward.
Making this awkward.
So, being that this is on the agenda,
I believe we are able to bring this motion to the table and vote to approve it.
The annexation?
No, no, no.
Just the sponsorship for the infrastructure project.
Because I think we need to...
That was what I wanted the council to basically have their opinion on.
Because we're...
There's a little bit of work already going on in the background,
but I don't think we've given everybody the full go-ahead.
It was Steve from the state.
I will say we are working on an agreement right now,
so I've got our legal team working on an agreement
that we'll be able to present to the city for that.
So we don't have specific terms yet?
No, they're working on it.
They actually have a few agreements that they've used in other projects
that are exactly like this that I've got a call this afternoon with our legal team.
So Samantha, I can get with you and make sure we get you tied into those conversations
once they have something drafted.
And I think maybe just a conversation between the city's typical bond council
and your bond council because some of that is a specialty that's over my head,
to be honest, and I don't want to...
Who is the city's bond council?
Oh, Sonia, you told me.
Dorsey and Whitney.
Yeah.
Dorsey and Whitney.
Yeah.
And I could be a go-between between them, too.
I think it might be a good idea just for those people to discuss it,
and then I can help facilitate that.
Because our bond council may have things to think about
that I've never come across before that I think that they should speak.
So I think we are trying to be expeditious in this
from what Steve Trummel said is come May 1st,
that funding is likely to reduce tremendously or either go away.
I don't think it will go away, but I remember him saying, hey, we've got to get it.
And so our team is pushing on to get this agreement drafted so that we can start these conversations.
But we wanted to get it in front of the council.
So our next meeting is the 28th.
Yeah.
Do you think you would have the terms by then, Cody?
Yeah, I hope so.
I asked them to get it for next week.
So maybe we could have that on the agenda then for the 28th, the specific terms,
and the bond council will have time to visit in between.
Okay, well, we'll do that.
We'll vote on this on the 28th.
So, Cody, I guess if you want to let Steve and Shelby and whoever, those other folks know.
Yeah, I'll visit with them and let them know.
And other municipalities have done similar sponsorships for rural hospitals?
Have other cities done this?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, this isn't just recreating.
Yeah.
Okay.
Okay, so yeah, that'll be upcoming agenda item.
We'll put that on the 28th.
Hopefully with all the information we need, because I do remember them saying that we're
pretty short fused here, so we are working as quick as we can.
And then as for that annexation piece, Steve, do you want to take a look at that and see
what's missing?
Because I know Cody was talking to me about some of that.
And I'm like, Cody, I'd be honest.
I don't know anything about this stuff.
It's the first time we ever annexed anything.
Yeah.
I can talk with Samantha because then we get through this one.
And then we'd like to annex that other property in South of town.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Yeah, Niemann's going to help me for the hospital too.
Yeah, I knew where you were going.
It's going to be all Josh Shinsen's fault.
I'll text him right now.
I let the hotel owner know yesterday.
Okay, so everybody good on where we're at, where we need to go?
So we'll leave this for now.
Hopefully have everything we need to vote on it and just keep moving forward at our next meeting.
And we'll just go from there.
So, okay.
Thank you, Cody.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
Thank you, Cody.
Thank you, John.
Okay.
Moving right along.
Let's see.
Sonia did, was there any utility clerk report?
I thought she did want it.
Okay.
Every time I wear a wet shirt.
I can't wear anything like colored period.
I usually don't.
This is why I have black.
If I do, I cover it.
If I made spaghetti stain across it by lunch or something.
I've got to get some dark brown.
- If somebody comes up and says, "Did you go to lunch?"
Oh, nevermind, you know you.
- Yeah, yeah, you know you're right.
- Hi, Janet.
- Good morning.
- Morning.
- Okay.
In your packet, I put the account receivable summary
for this year, and I started in this fiscal year,
and I just wanted to show you how it's went down
each month since then, so we're on a good pace, I guess.
And also I wanted to talk to you a little bit about pet licenses.
Now last year at March 31st we had 41 pet licenses.
This year on March 31st we had 56.
So we have a few more.
So, just offhand, I was sitting and trying to think of people that have dogs or cats that don't have licenses.
And just off the top of my head, I thought of 34.
And I know there's probably a lot more than that.
So, I don't know if you want me to send letters to these people, if it would be worth the...
I did send extra letters out this year for people that have had them in the past.
And I think it was, what did I send out?
On March 10th, I sent out 23 letters just as a general reminder that they had them in the past.
And 11 came in.
And then one was sent in by mail, which worked great.
I mean, they didn't have the time to stop in during the day.
They just sent their information on their dog, and we had it from last year anyway.
And so I would end the money, and then I just went ahead and sent the pet tag to them.
So that worked out real good too.
So I don't know if you want me to send letters to these people, or if anyone else can think of more,
or just wait and see if they come in, or how much you want to do on this.
yeah but other than that that was pretty much all i had
okay anybody have any questions for dad
anybody else come in for chicken licenses no
that will be discussed under zoning administrator
yeah i have it for the chickens but we have to have the coops first right
yeah so we haven't started issuing the
okay all right well sounds good well thanks janet okay thank you appreciate it
um public works
well we started draining the pool yesterday because pool cleanup is this sunday
day. Baseball cleanup is the next Sunday. Sand and Street's got all the green cans put out
except for four that I gotta use at the park when summer food starts. I think everything
else is pretty much on the agenda. The garbage truck is supposed to start making its way
up here from Alabama on the front
of the church.
Awesome.
That's wrong.
This weekend.
Okay.
Anybody have any
comments for Steve?
For public works specific?
okay well we'll keep moving on zoning after a little discussion of zoning here so
uh let's see so
we did have a chicken conditional use proof
however we did not have enough people to have our meeting last week because everybody was out
So that has been postponed until tomorrow.
Looking at it right now, the permit will not fly anyways, because it doesn't meet qualifications.
We'll go from there with that meeting tomorrow.
Otherwise, we have the three permits here that are all good to go in standards.
I'll be excited about some discussion on Timmins that I think we should
additionally approve it pending the removal of the trees from the Timmins
Street I was gonna say that you read my mind
so where is she putting these oh there's the drawing it's inside the fenced-in
area where she used to put her mom's okay and she's gonna put a one of them
boot-type buildings inside the fence that's already there
Okay, well let's do this. I'll entertain a motion to approve two of the permits as presented, the one at 402 4th Avenue West and the one at 703 1st Avenue West.
So I'll entertain a motion to approve those.
Make a motion to approve the two permits, 402 and 711.
Okay, 703 first.
703.
Yep.
Okay, so I have a motion.
Do I have a second?
Is that a storage shed or a container?
Did they say?
I think it's a container.
Okay.
I'll second.
Okay, so motion made and seconded.
Is there any discussion?
Okay, hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Aye.
Okay, so motion carries.
Now, okay, so I will entertain a motion that we conditionally approve
the permit at 711 Timmons Street.
I'll make a motion that we conditionally approve
the permit at 711 Timmons
with the assumption she will remove the trees
before approval.
I'll second that.
Motion made and seconded.
So the condition would be she cannot start this project until the trees have been removed, correct?
In that order?
Yep.
Okay.
Ground is plenty soft enough to do it right now.
Sure.
Okay, so any other discussion?
okay hearing none all those in favor all right hi okay and then there are some things coming up
In zoning too, we're getting a couple buildings put on on Main Street.
Okay.
Moving right along.
Oh, actually, do you have any more for zoning?
Is that it?
Just meeting tomorrow.
Okay.
And now it sounds like we should have a forum.
I hope so.
I shouldn't be able to be here.
Okay.
Are those two buildings on that agenda?
Huh?
Are those two buildings you just brought up on that agenda?
No.
No, because I just got one permit today.
Okay.
And the other permit, they're still working on the architecture on it.
Okay.
Very good.
Okay.
So, Steady Commission report.
I believe we have a final meeting tomorrow?
Tonight?
Tonight.
Tonight.
It'll be the city's final.
When?
It's with the county.
The county's having the public hearing.
So we're just piggybacking off of that.
It'll be our final one.
Tonight at 6?
I'm sorry?
Tonight at 6?
Yes.
And it's at the friendship room, right?
Or is it at the courthouse?
Friendship room is what Joanne said.
Yeah, okay.
And there's cookies there from Frosted Feelings.
Whoa.
anything to bring the public
yeah
okay
so then
what I'd like to see
on our next agenda
is for study commission
reports on you we'll just put
final study commission report
on the agenda
for the 28th and then
Greg and
if Jason comes, great.
If not, Wyatt, whatever.
We can just give us a brief synopsis
as to what happened at the public hearing.
And then we will speak no more of it.
Until people voted in another 10 years.
Yeah.
We'll go through the same process.
And we'll be all that long.
Okay.
Fire Chief Report, Wyatt.
So the siren is up and running.
they still cannot
set the siren off
and page us out
with voice
on the dispatch. For whatever reason
voice will not go across 300.
So
it's up to us to
send a message out whether it's real
or not. And I don't know
what, Neil's been fighting with them
forever on that. Why they
can't use voice.
If it was a regular pager we'd be
that not everybody has a real pager and not everybody has a radio.
So Neil's heading that up to try to get...
Who's the radio guy's? Redtail. Redtail to get that figured out.
So was that the siren that went off yesterday?
Yes. It was? It's quite a different sound.
Well it's not as high and it rotates.
So I know on the... Well it was
It was moving and I thought there was a truck coming by the front of the house.
That's how I...
The south side.
I thought that's not a siren for a fire truck that I've heard.
You can hear it and it's not super loud.
That's why when you sent that message out,
if we were to put a nubble on it, I wouldn't do it at the water tower.
Yeah, we're for sure not doing it at the water tower.
Sorry, Seth.
The west side.
I have my ways.
Pioneer Town.
They've got it.
Getting it to not work.
Well, some of the locations...
30 plus foot truck.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So we're one of the,
by the bulk water station is a proposed location,
possibly here in the yard,
which I think we're too close to.
People live over here and over here.
Bulk water might be too close for Danny and Rainey too.
Yeah.
then the hospital will be able to hear it not that they need to be able to hear it but it doesn't
hurt yeah so does that roll the rock back and forth when that is turning it yeah it is a new
pole yeah i know i saw they sent a new pole yeah it was perfect yeah it was a little scripted when
they put it in yeah but you would have thought the power company would put a level on it yeah it's
pretty hard the level of you stand there and look out
not that i've ever been involved in something like that
it is actually really hard to get level
uh the county agreed with the deal swapping that wildland truck for the
suburban from what i understand it just be a matter of
swap titles okay and that'd be was it four zero the the red the red one
yeah i i forget what i don't know what the numbers are the only right one yeah i think four one is
the ford right yeah i think four zero is the 60. the red chevy the red chevy the red chevy
yeah but we'll take four one instead
yeah
it's all we'll drive
yeah
okay well if that's the case
we'll I mean
we'll put that on our
work on our agenda
for next meeting
to vote on that
and then I guess we'll have to do a little bit of research
make sure we can
get rid of that suburban by...
I mean, basically, we're donating it.
We're giving it to the fire department.
So that kind of washes our hands of it.
Well, you're giving it to the county.
Yeah, okay.
So it's just one government entity
swapping to another.
And then is the county going to sell it or keep it?
The county would sell it.
Okay.
Would those proceeds go to the fire department?
They would go to the fire department.
Okay, perfect.
Perfect.
Okay.
I actually thought I had something else, but I can't remember where it was now.
I won't go with just that right there.
Okay.
I'll think of it here.
Okay.
Well, if that's it, thanks, Wyatt.
Appreciate the information.
Public safety commission report.
I don't know what it was.
So, just to go on that grant for the siren,
Ann Miller's going to be here next month, I do believe the 5th.
If you would like, I don't know what day that actually is,
maybe I could have her come and talk to Sonia and give her an update.
Sure.
From the state side, anyway, on that grant.
As of now, it's still going to shut down, no clue.
But she's hoping that when it finally does open up,
that they will look back at it and say,
okay, they applied for it here,
they were granted the money here,
we are past due,
but it was at GoFall the Thirds.
Yeah.
Sure.
Projects already, you know what I mean?
Well, and we've...
Maybe they'll get a little grace in it.
We got Redtail on speakerphone a couple weeks ago,
and they are fine with waiting.
so they we all got on the same page because sonia was worried about it but now we're coming up we
got a june 30 deadline that's you know fiscal year end that's fast approaching so um and there's no
you know so we got it would sure be cleaner if if everything was done in the next couple weeks
She's going all the way to Scully?
Yeah.
The commissioners don't agree with me saying
we don't know anything about
when people's going to open.
She's going to travel all the way up?
Yeah.
Yay.
The state says we don't know anything
except that.
Wow.
Okay.
She travels a lot.
I just haven't seen her.
She don't come up here.
She may travel a lot, but not here.
Yeah.
Okay.
Moving on.
We've got to keep moving here.
I want to keep Seth here as long as we can.
He's got 42 more minutes.
Okay, so Public Safety Commission
report. We don't have Kurt. We don't have
Sheriff. But I did hear that
there was a resignation with the dispatch.
I haven't
I guess I haven't seen
the for sure
confirmation but I think the attack officer
resigned
from dispatch so more to follow on
that.
Committee will be busy trying to figure out what to do
there. Really?
So Greg had you
I haven't heard a word.
Okay.
No.
I've heard rumblings for the last six months.
Sure.
But it's as new to me as it is to set.
Okay.
I would like some, I mean, well, we're not going to probably get anything from Kurt,
because he's out and it's not pressing,
but when are they going to label and stripe and label their vehicles?
I mean, I think that needs to be done.
Sonny, you need to listen to Seth here.
I think that they need to get placards and striping and everything on their vehicles.
I mean, I think it's, I mean, I think it's, I feel it's a safety issue.
And I want to go on record saying that.
Because if people have troubles, they don't know that's a law enforcement vehicle.
You know, to flag them down.
And to flag them down.
I mean, I don't know.
I've been, I don't understand.
Yeah, is there a requirement that vehicles have to be or should be?
No, it could be unmarked.
It can be?
Every sheriff's vehicle?
They may have some.
Well, I don't know about every vehicle, but there are exceptions to have, there's some that may have.
Right, and that's understandable, but I would think that the one that's just the deputy drives around should be marked.
It's unusual.
Well, not only that, but the one deputy drives around a former law enforcement vehicle in his off time.
You know, I don't know.
I just feel that it should be placarded and signed for, I'm not saying so people can avoid them, so people can flag them down if there's issues.
That's probably what you brought up with that.
Yep, yeah, this will be, you know, I mean, yeah, this will be good.
I think it's a liability issue for the county.
Yeah.
I mean, if there's a kid in Trout Biggwight, and they're right there, and they're not from here,
and they don't know that's the law enforcement officer, you know, they can't fight them down.
They don't know who they are.
Well, and there's a degree of comfort that comes from, even if you're pulled over,
knowing that that's a police vehicle behind you.
Because it's not entirely unheard of that people pull you over who aren't law enforcement.
That are intimidating law enforcement.
Especially with the recent reports of land pirates in Montana.
A lady was followed all the way from Roundup to Fred Robinson Bridge.
And Sawyer was followed from Circle all the way to I-94 on his way home last Easter weekend.
I had somebody describe to me what Scobie was like by comparison to the rest of the world before I came here.
And they said it's just exactly like the rest of the world.
There's just fewer people and similar problems, just fewer in number.
Pretty much.
And the statute requires siren and lights, but it doesn't require markings on the side.
I just feel in a small town that...
Yeah, I agree with you.
There's no reason not to have them on there.
That's what I don't, you know.
Is that a requirement that we could make law, Samantha?
We could request it, and I mean, in my mind, it is a county liability issue
that if someone does need help and is afraid or apprehensive,
then it's just liability for the county.
Okay, we'll get that information to Kurt to get on the agenda.
How much longer is he doing, Morgan?
I think he's coming back fairly soon.
I thought someone had told me, but I don't know.
Okay, so moving on.
Council comment.
I will get us started here.
So Mike Lund called me late last week,
and he was going to go speak with the commissioners.
So his brother-in-law is one of the current Valley County commissioners, and they were having a discussion about grants and grant writing and grant writers.
And they pay a grant writer $60,000 a year, and that person has brought in over $2 million in grants.
So he was one of the commissioners back when he was a commissioner who was pro have city or county hire grant writer.
You know, we use whichever engineering firm we're using for those types of projects.
You know, we're getting grants for that.
But there's probably smaller grants that, you know, for whatever that, you know, we're not putting in for because kind of out of sight, out of mind.
And I told Mike, I said, I've always been for this.
I said, I hope that people, they don't use the metric like,
ah, we hired this guy for 12 months, paid him 60 grand,
and then we brought in $12,000 this year.
Well, you know, timing grant cycles and some grants are every two years
or five years or whatever.
So, I mean, you've got to hit the cycles right.
You'd have to have a measurement of like three to five years.
You know, you spent $180,000 to, you know, $300,000 here.
What's the return?
You know, a lot of people seem so short-sighted that it's...
I think that's why we don't have one, to be honest with you.
We don't have that kind of money right now.
Well, then you're not going to have it a year from now either.
You know, like...
We almost can't afford not to have one in this day and age
because there's so much money available that we could take advantage of
If we had somebody that would go looking for it.
The easy comparison now is our splash pad.
We had a committee of local moms who got together, applied for some grants,
and all together, Sonia, would you say we got, not really counting like Credit Union or NEMON,
but from out of town.
I mean, one was a $30,000 grant.
Sonia applied for the MDU one, which was a five?
Yeah, five.
You know, there are roughly $80,000 to $100,000 in money that came in.
You know, and this was just a bunch of people who aren't grant writers
getting on the Googles and finding information.
Well, both you and Sesh know dealing with scholarship possibilities
for your kids that are graduating.
It's quite like that.
If you go looking, they're there.
And apply for all of them.
What do you have to lose?
Exactly.
So I mean, whether, you know, I talked to Mike and I said that if we could find someone who basically wants to be like an independent contractor,
city pays them $30,000, just using the $60,000 figure, you know, for argument's sake here.
County pays them $30,000, city pays them $30,000, and this person just works for the community.
Safie, Beacon, Scobie, Daniels County, you know, whoever.
Hey, I know there's a grant here.
And it's just their job to bring as much money into town as possible.
I don't know why.
Because you're going to have to pay adult money to get someone to do this.
No one's going to do it for free.
No one's going to do it for $15 an hour.
And the people that would do it are already making $60,000 to $100,000 a year at a full-time committed job.
So, again, it's, and in my opinion, I think $60,000 is arguably low.
I mean, sounds like a lot of money, but...
I'm just saying.
To get the right person in there,
you either track them with money or you just continue to go.
And that's just the fact.
So he's pitching it to the county then?
Yep, he pitched it to me.
He was pitching it to the county.
None of the commissioners reached out,
but again, this was late last week when he was doing it.
So they might be letting it marinate a little bit,
or they might have laughed them out of the room,
or they might decide to hire someone.
I don't know where they're at.
Well, I think it's worth some sort of feedback from county.
So maybe get Michael P. here to see how that went.
Yeah, we're going to have to do something
because there just isn't the money here,
but we know there's money elsewhere.
Well even the little things like that fish tank competition that's been given
money like Savannah got some for her bakery. Yeah I mean there's a lot of money out there it's just
where to go for it. Well the crazy thing is there's a lot of grants out there that
are never given out because
nobody applies for them.
Yep, yep.
But anyway, so it's kind of food for thought
there. Any other
council comment?
Well, there's been garbage
complaints.
And I got a call
from Cordy Libran asking why the
boys on solid waste are not seeming to do their job and ask if the truck is really broken down
and it is and it's a wiring harness problem oh you're talking county we need to make sure
make sure the record reflects this is not city public works it's a county issue issue uh gordie
would like to be put on the county on the board uh as would steve and all i can do is bring their
names up they don't seem very amenable to adding anybody at this time um so my suggestion is
I know little to nothing about garbage and Steve does so if you would like to remove me from that
board and replace me with Steve I am great with that and Steve is great with that so
so Tammy Flabker came and talked to me um also last week I believe it was and uh she said if you
know anyone who's we have vacancies on solid waste i said we're trying to get steve barath on there
she's like no one's told the commissioners i'm like carrie's at that meeting like well i said
we're trying to get steve barath on there well i will bring this up so it's now that's in their
court so i went in and told christy too that i wanted on there yeah and of course she says well
that'd be two people from the city and it doesn't matter that there's nobody on the west side of
the county on that board yeah and that's my district i'm on the west side of the county
and to me there's no issue with the city's garbage either haul there or hauling the plentywood i'm
more worried about the county stuff so well and if that's the case if that's how they want to look
at it then we would maybe rather have you on there as public works than a you know than a council
person. You know, if they say you can only have one, well, then we'll...
Yeah, I mean, I would say if they say you can only have one, then we'll just follow
us, follow, yeah, switch you out with...
Yeah, what they would like to do.
But it's true, consistent with what you're hearing. Oh, we have vacancies on the board
and can't find anybody. I mean, which is it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's, the newspaper said one opening, but you look on the website and it's supposed
to be a nine person board and there's only seven listed on the website so i don't know yeah well
well and gordy's looking at it from a standpoint of being a contractor that's now the fees have
gone up for dumping the waste there but you know roger is on the board too so you know yeah i mean
his he should be bending roger's ear yeah every every day if that's the case um and once we get
when we start hauling again that will take some stress off the county and uh you know i i know
there's public who thinks we should not period be helping the county with this that that are very
opinionated on it i'm like well so if the city and county can't work together when there's an issue
then everybody suffers like i get this isn't ideal and there's probably a better plan a out there but
this is the plan right now.
Yeah, it's got to go.
Yeah, it's not an option.
No.
And so it just is what it is.
And the counties basically were contracted to haul it for the county.
Other than that, Michael has a surgery tomorrow,
so he'll be out for I don't know how long.
But I think they hired Gavin Lowell as the gatekeeper out there.
I saw there was a big brand new roll-off dumpster.
They got there.
Yeah, we bought four of them.
Four, but they're shorter.
Yeah.
Are those 20 feet long?
25.
25, but they're four foot or six foot tall.
Yeah, they're not the same height as the truck.
But they don't have a truck to haul them.
They do.
Yeah, we do.
Are they hauling those all the way to Plentywood,
or are they just picking them and hauling them here?
I can't honestly answer that right now.
I sure hope they're just hauling it to Plentylid.
That's what I would hope, too.
The places where they're being put is out in Peerless and at Flaxville.
Or they replace it on the dumpsters.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, they're wiring.
They're having the same wiring harness issue with Peterbilt as we were with our truck.
It's probably, I think their truck is about the same year as ours was, if not one year older.
Yeah, and I know that we also discussed at the last meeting the possibility of purchasing a new truck,
and that was like, do we purchase the containers or do we purchase the truck?
Because we didn't have enough in funds to purchase a truck this year,
so it's probably going to be on the agenda.
That's why I think they should just get rid of those rear-loading trucks,
those rear-loading dumpsters, and just buy another hook truck and more of them big dumpsters.
If you're going to haul, that's the way to go.
If that's the pair transfer station way then.
Well, then you're not dumping it twice.
You're handling it twice if you don't do it that way.
That's what I'm trying to get on the board.
Have at it.
Well, I mean, I think we're all on the same page here.
We're good on that topic.
Any other council comments?
okay well we will keep moving here stormwater drainage end of smith avenue so um
we have been trying and trying to trying to work with all affected parties
to no avail here.
We're simply unable to purchase
any part of that land
because we could purchase it,
but, you know,
for $40,000 an acre.
So,
I don't even think legally we can do that.
So, even if we had the money,
we just couldn't legally do it.
There's a pie in the sky somewhere.
We were hoping to
put in a gate that we could open just so we can kind of keep that area cleared. We even talked
about not pushing snow in there. Just open the gate so water can just flow smoothly as it used to.
And mow and we eat the tall grass down around here. But everything has now
fallen come to a screeching halt yeah come to a screeching halt so i think at this point um i sent
samantha an email and said i think we're to the point now where we have done as a city everything
we can do um we're gonna just basically wash our hands of that one specific thing and you know down
the road if the city develops that direction you know we can still use uh we could still potentially
build out storm water um you know again but i don't know how that would look um but regardless
that's kind of where we're at so do you have any any questions or comments we talked about yeah i
mean i don't think there's any duty of the city to do anymore i think the city has gone above and
on already and more than I would have done honestly uh so I will draft a letter to send
to the property owners and just let them know the city's position on it and get the mayor's approval
before it's sent okay so should is that should is that a letter we should approve through the
council or just completely up to you guys i'd be happy to have it for the next agenda or or just
send it to you all and everyone gives me the thumbs up on it i don't think it's necessarily
an actionable item sure because it wasn't like an open claim with the city or anything like that
okay no completely up to you guys yeah the council's fine with that we'll just
I'm fine with that.
Do you want?
Yep.
Sonia, does that work for you?
Yeah.
Perfect.
Okay.
All right.
So that's our next step.
Okay.
Moving on.
2025 Consumer Confidence Reports.
I see this from DEQ, and I don't know what I'm looking at.
Yeah.
Thanks, John.
Thanks, John.
Steve, are you our subject matter expert on the confidence report?
So annually we have to submit those.
Those are just coming to the public if you've had any violations or whatever.
I'm going to go back like five years or something.
No, it's yearly.
It's an annual.
Oh.
There's just some of the tests are done only like every five years or ten years.
Okay.
Okay.
So we pay to put all three reports in the paper and it takes like three pages of the
paper.
Every time we do this, Quirrell buys a new vehicle.
It's the three letter government, Morgan.
So, okay, we don't need to vote to approve this.
This is just the report, right?
It's purely informational.
Well, I disagree with that.
So do I.
We need more information.
We disagree with, Mr. Mayor.
We don't have near enough deficiencies on here.
what was the town that got all famous because of the water
how are we ever going to catch up with flint michigan and now because of them we have to do
this stupid lead and copper inventory on every house in town which were like 90 we're done with
now aren't we oh yeah no no they extended it because now you have to verify your results
by 2027. so through a just a water test or through a you have to dig it physically
but i'm going to piggyback off of great west because all the water services were exposed at
that time and they were either verified as copper yeah or if they were let they were replaced
We timed our water project just right then.
Actually, it would have been nice to go two more years with it
because then they could have filled the spreadsheet out as they were going.
Oh.
Gotcha.
Okay, higher lifeguards.
So, are we good with...
How many junior guards?
At the bottom, I believe, is listed as five.
Five junior guards.
Five.
Did we talk about limiting that, though?
Or should we...
How many do we usually carry?
Two?
Four?
Usually go between three or five.
Yeah, okay.
I have a question on Aiden Stentoff.
Didn't he guard a year?
So I did not update.
Anybody who did not reapply, I did not update,
but I left on the list in case they...
Okay.
So just bold.
They want to be a lifeguard.
So just the bolded names are the ones that have reapplied.
Okay.
And I updated them.
So if Stentop does reapply, I will...
Okay.
It came on there.
Well, I would move that we hire the list.
All applicants?
All applicants.
Okay.
Who wants to second?
I'll second that.
Okay, so we've got motion made and seconded to hire all applied lifeguards.
Any discussion?
I better abstain from voting, huh?
You can't discuss.
I think you can vote.
You can't discuss.
Oh, okay.
Well then I'll be quiet
Because that one's a real wild card
And there goes the quiet
That's why we hired
Shalice
She knows how to wrangle these kids
Yeah she does
So I'm excited for this cool year
Okay
All those in favor
Aye
Seth you weren't supposed to vote
I know
I just said I am going to think.
Motion carries either 3-0 or 4-0.
Have everyone look at it.
Greg, we're getting to you.
Summer help?
Yeah, summer help.
Do we just need one?
Well, so I found out some news this morning.
So we hire the one
however
May 4th, I have one going in for a doctor's appointment who had an MRI who has a torn labrum
and a torn rotator cuff and a stretched tendon in
Their shoulder that may require surgery and three months of rehab. Yeah
So depending on that appointment on the fourth I may need to hire two
for the summer to get through.
So, okay.
So, I don't know if we
can hire the one now.
And the other one wouldn't be able to work until
after school anyways.
Until school got out anyways.
So, I don't know.
But, yeah,
he had an MRI two weeks ago
and I got doctor equipment and billings
in May 4th.
So.
Okay.
I guess I didn't let them know who applied today.
No.
So Skip wants to come back.
He was here last year.
The other one is Asher Handrum.
Okay.
And I would recommend hire and Skip back for now.
And then if the other guy's out for surgery, then we hire Asher for the summer as well.
Okay, so hire Skip now, and then we'll probably know in the next...
Like I said, May 4th is when his doctor's appointment is, so hopefully we know then.
Okay, when would you have Skip start?
Like, do you have stuff warm right away here?
I was going to have him, if it was nice enough to mow, I was going to have him start mowing this week.
Because this could be mowed out here.
The park needs to be banged.
The baseball field needs to be banged.
Touch your face.
We need the rain.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, I'll entertain a motion that we hire the one right now.
And then the second one will be...
We'll just wait and see.
So moved.
Okay.
Motion made.
Seconded.
And seconded.
Any further discussion?
Okay.
Hearing none.
All those in favor?
Aye
Okay
Okay so we have second siren on here
Under fire and police
I think we're still at a standstill
With that
So Wyatt is suggesting
The west end of town
Did he talk to you at all about
The possible location
No that was all I ever heard
Okay
Because I had texted
I didn't send a message to the whole fire department through their Facebook chat.
I sent it just to Neil and Wyatt as the chiefs because I wanted their opinion on where would you guys like to see a second or potentially two more sirens go.
And Neil, I haven't heard back from yet.
Wyatt suggested someplace west, and that's really it.
So I had said, well, we're considering down here at the bulk water station, but, um, that's also kind of due to ease, you know, we already put it there.
Um,
it's really gotta be somewhere where you already have power.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is that going to be affected by the airport that site?
Nope.
Cause it's short enough.
It's 45 feet.
So we're under the, yeah, it's gotta be 75.
Yeah.
Yeah, back to the airport.
Yay, no way, FAA.
Yeah.
So I think, you know, for now, we'll just keep running with this one,
and we'll wait and see.
It's plenty loud enough to, I mean, I had plugged ears all last week,
and I could still hear it.
Well, I know talking with Sonia.
I can't hear it.
Sonia can barely hear it if she's in her office with the doors closed.
And Janet couldn't hear it from her office.
When did they do it?
When did they set it off?
They set it off on the day that Trump was deciding whether or not he was going to bomb Iran.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Perhaps not the best time.
The day to start playing with it.
I'm sure some of the rain have heard that.
Yeah, I did kind of laugh about that.
I remember that now.
I did hear it.
Yeah.
I mean.
And you can hear it up at the top.
I'm up by the tower, so.
Yeah.
I mean.
Yeah.
So we'll just kind of wait and see on that, I guess.
We'll put it wherever it needs to go.
Yeah.
Hmm.
So I assume the one yesterday was just a test as well.
Yeah.
That was a mess up.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was a mess up.
trying to just let the fire department know that there was an approved controlled burn and I think
they hit the wrong they juked when they should have jived on the old control panel so someone
said that we're not getting back our six o'clock yeah right now they cannot program their new
panels to do the six o'clock whistle their new things can't do that we can go after market and
get a sire or aftermarket and then they can put something in the box itself to do it but that's it
how many panels can have a time whistle yeah yeah so a scopey standby goes by the wayside
technology mm-hmm it's too advanced for common sense
uh well is there a manual override they could just
set it off at six the dispatch yeah they could set a reminder
you're depending on dispatch every day at six o'clock
yeah to push the button and if they're in the middle of a call
yeah or if they're outside they'll miss it
A lot of human error on that.
Well, and it was always confusing, too, to be honest with you.
If there was a fire anywhere close to 6, you're like...
You want to go check your page?
Or I'm grabbing my phone and looking to see if that's...
Wait a minute.
And then Wednesday or Thursday.
Yeah, the media days.
Test days.
But really the reason why this 6 o'clock siren was actually to test.
Yeah.
Test the siren.
So now the test will be fireman's meetings and whatever they do on Thursdays.
Thursday pager test.
Pager test.
Yeah.
And there's still a manual.
You can go in the fire hall and start it too.
All right.
Good talk.
Your code is still 3737?
No.
Oh.
No.
I'm not going to say what it is over.
Not public record.
Not public record.
Let's not do that.
Okay, moving on.
Okay, Ordinance 2603, Zoning Regulation of Laundromats in R2.
So this will be the second reading.
So I'll entertain a motion that we approve the second reading of Ordinance 2603,
an ordinance amending the Scobie Municipal Code,
Regarding the regulation of laundromats in R2 residential zoning within the city, codified at Chapter 17.05.030, declaring effective date and authorizing the codification of the same.
So moved.
Seconded.
Okay, motion made and seconded.
Any discussion that we didn't already have during our public hearing?
True.
Actually, no public hearing.
Okay, all those in favor?
Aye.
Okay, motion carries.
Moving on, resolution number 1136, adoption county growth policy.
So I'll entertain a motion that we approve resolution number 1136,
a resolution of the City Council of the City of Scobie, Montana,
adopting the Daniels County, Montana 2025 growth policy
as the official growth policy of the city.
So moved.
Second.
Motion made, seconded.
Discussion.
Greg, do you want to explain kind of why,
what prompted all this, why we're doing it?
We'll be glad to.
So the city is going for grant applications
from several funding agencies through Fix the Force Name.
I did bring some handouts today that would discuss that,
which we can certainly go through if you guys would like,
or I can just kind of tell you.
Department of Commerce requires that you have a growth policy update every five years.
So we saw that.
Your guys, I believe, was 2016.
So obviously beyond the five years.
Rather than you guys try and get a growth policy done on your own,
the Daniels County policy already had SCOBY included in it.
So it just makes sense that you guys adopt what the county's already done
rather than re-intentionally.
That will make your grant application stronger.
to the Department of Commerce which the MCEP program funds approximately half of
the force-made project.
Cool. So that's the purpose of the drug policy. Okay. Council have any other questions?
The commissioners are aware we went to the commissioners and asked them before we put it on.
We piggybacked up there. And they said that they were okay with using it.
In fact, they voted to approve allowing us to use it.
So, Greg, is the Department of Commerce, they're the ones that do the Montana Main Street project too?
They do Montana Main Street, yes.
Okay, any other discussion?
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Okay, motion carries.
Now, resolution number 1137.
So I'd entertain a motion that we approve resolution 1137,
a resolution to authorize submission of MSEP application.
I'll make a motion to approve resolution 1137.
Second.
Okay, motion made, seconded.
Any discussion?
Grave?
So just a quick thing, the MSEP grant application, excuse me, 19, $710,000, which again pays
for approximately half of the force main project.
The other funding comes from the DNRC for $125,000 SRF loan with some forgiveness in there.
We don't know what that percentage will be yet of $485,000.
And then we had a city match of $100,000 in there.
So that lines up with what you all have to hope.
It should be consistent with what we presented with the BER back then.
I think it was December that we did that hearing.
The day the roads all black guys spent.
If you co-op with the hospital, does that affect those grants?
Totally separate.
The hospital, it sounds like that's all USDA World Development Fund.
So it's different pots of money.
This is all state, whereas they're all federal.
Yep.
Okay.
Any other discussion?
Any other questions?
Hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Okay.
Moving along down the list.
I will entertain a motion that we approve Resolution 1138,
the resolution to adopt the update to the capital improvement plan
for the city of Scobie, Montana,
as prepared and presented by Great West Engineering.
So moved.
Seconded.
Okay, motion made, seconded.
Do I have any discussion?
And Greg, I'm just going to ask you again to speak on this.
Thank you for putting this together.
We've had a city request.
We updated the capital improvement plan,
which an updated plan also helps release of grant applications.
part of the reason why we did it, part of the reason is it's always good to have what your goals are in writing.
So I did bring two loose copies of the CIP if anybody else would like to review it.
So right here if you guys want to let me know.
Yeah, we do.
So I know one of the, well for me probably the thing that sparked this was
when the school was applying for like uh what the sidewalk the sidewalk field but then that
it's not you know i want to you know it probably what fell on the safe routes school probably fell
under that program but you know so we put in there the plan of you know school a football field
football field baseball field fairgrounds pioneer town golf course and then tie back into the safe
throughout the school.
So, and then, of course, you guys remember,
we brainstormed some other ideas.
For a couple meetings, we brought ideas to the table here
and added them.
Steve and Sonia both added some stuff.
Basically, it was just a big wish list for Steve.
As usual.
Yeah.
But I told him if it's not on there, he can't get it.
So, boy, I should have never told him that.
Those tables got a lot bigger.
Yeah.
But back to the connectivity deal, when does that open up?
Because I know we are interested in starting to apply for some of that funding.
I think it runs every two years.
We were too late to start on it last year.
I think it was about this time of the year when I think the school approached us for me.
I'm not 100% familiar with the deadlines of that program,
but it's the new pedestrian, I forget what they call it.
It used to be Safe Routes.
I want to say CTAP is what it's called now.
I think so.
I can find that out for you.
Sure.
Because I know a lot of these other communities did, you know,
four or five phases,
and it didn't necessarily cost the city or taxpayers, you know, much at all.
Did you say Columbus did that?
I think Columbus was one who did like a 500 space.
And I think they're part of that Montana Main Street program through the...
Yeah.
I think when we did the sidewalks, the Safe Routes Project a while back,
I think there was like a...
They pay seven out of eight dollars or something like that.
It's like a 13% match.
Okay.
That was a Safe Routes program.
Okay.
Okay.
So anyway, got sidetracked there.
Did we vote this in?
Not yet.
Not yet.
So, okay.
Any other questions?
Any further discussion?
Okay, hearing none, all those in favor?
Aye.
Okay.
Do you need me for your vote?
I think we can handle it.
Your vote was to not give the city staff a raise, right?
Yeah.
Any of the consent items I'm voting nay.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
All right.
Well, thanks, guys.
Sorry to run.
Sorry.
You're going to have pure misery for the rest of the days.
Your union negotiations.
Yeah.
Later.
Yeah.
Okay, so I'm in my Employee Benefits Program renewal.
So this is the health insurance.
Sonia, I know I've always just kind of left this up to you in the past.
No one has wanted to change any plans, so many employees have shown.
Currently, the city is under the Madison plan, which we have done for years.
Okay, and it seems to be covering everything good for employee,
and then either the spouse or the kids,
or both, I guess, for those who left both?
Yep.
They did offer a new plan,
and I think that's why I kind of brought it up
to the council's attention.
Is that the high deductible one?
Yeah, one step higher there.
Okay.
Okay.
Those plans tend to towards younger people
when their only needs are catastrophe.
Yeah. Yeah, those HSA qualifying high deductible plans have been extremely popular.
The Pintler plan is a new one. Okay. They just came up with that one.
But otherwise, no, we've always gone with the Madison. Okay.
if i may if you guys will excuse me yep a couple things i gotta run after but yeah nope
yeah thanks thank you very much so much i appreciate it yeah all right yep and i
messaged craig about the deadline of the ctap stuff oh perfect sounds good okay all right
yep thanks well i have none but it sounds like they'll pretty much have them
which is all pretty hashing stuff but i can leave you what i have you can leave me one yeah yeah
I'll leave you with Janet.
Sure.
Okay.
All right.
Yep.
See you, Greg.
See you, Greg.
So anyway, this is due back like Thursday, I believe, so I just wanted to be sure council
is on the same page as us or?
Yeah.
I don't know.
That's...
Any changes or?
So you don't want to make any changes?
No.
I don't think so.
What do you think, Steve?
Unless we had the whole family to our plan.
I think we talked about that a little bit of offering a family coverage and then maybe changing it to the Pintler plan if council would consider offering family coverage.
Oh, I see. Instead of just picking the...
Yeah, I see.
Going to the higher deductible plan, but including family coverage.
That might help in hiring...
Yeah.
you know, future employees do the health care costs so much.
Mm-hmm.
Are we able to select, like, two plans to offer?
No.
Because I know, like, more and more, like Greg had just said,
and I sell health insurance on,
I'm seeing a lot of people move towards the high deductible plan,
especially with an HSA eligible plan.
And then as the financial advisor side of me,
the triple tax advantage of an HSA account.
You get the tax deduction on it when you contribute to it,
and then you use the money.
It grows tax-free, and you pull it out tax-free.
So HSA accounts, in fact, Brother Cooper suggests fund your HSA first, Roth second.
Yeah, he's talking about them.
Yeah.
So, I mean, there's, it's...
That's definitely a conversation we can have with them in my age.
Okay.
Yeah, let's, we have, this changes in July, right?
We need to let them know.
Yes.
So we have a little bit of time.
We have to rest April and May, probably.
Well, actually, it's due to April.
Yeah.
Oh.
Two days from now.
Yeah.
So if you have time, you can sit and call them.
Yeah.
And see if we can offer different rates.
We've always just offered one package.
It's always been just the Madison.
Because it should say, like, you can offer.
I know it does make the...
Do you get a monthly bill and then just write a check?
Yes.
So then you would have to verify that a little closer to make sure it's right.
If two employees select plan A and three employees select plan B,
now you're making sure the math is mathing.
Yeah, I would go ahead and call them and ask them.
Yeah, if you think you can get a hold of them quick.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, the group election form must be completed by April 16th.
But no, I'm fine with that idea of moving to the Pintler plan, a little bit higher deductible,
And then you could add just the whole family.
So that basically makes it, that would cost the city $800 per employee more per month.
Looking at it, because it looks like the Madison, well, I guess not necessarily.
Well, some employees will be cheaper.
Yeah, so.
Yeah, see, like Collins.
Yeah, Collins would go down.
still be and Paul's would go down mine would go down unless my wife left Neiman yeah but everybody's
and I do I am you know we got I mean especially because we're going to be looking at hiring
somebody in there we got a retirement announcement for later this year yeah in front of me here so
Yeah, so if you offer it to the family, you're going to get more applicants to apply.
Yeah, it's an added benefit.
So neither of you two are against the higher deductible if we move to the Pintler plan?
See, the good thing about it is you add the whole family to it.
So let's say you have four family members that are on your plan.
Well, all four of you would, you know, one of you might meet your $2,000 deductible,
but then the four of you combined would, you know, once you meet that $4,000 max, or is
that?
Turns out an MRI will do that.
So I guess, what is it?
Yeah, some companies want to meet.
So it would be $10,000.
So $10,000 out of pocket.
Max out of pocket for the family.
So some insurance companies want you to meet that deductible twice before they begin to
pay 70% of everything.
so if it's a $4,000 deductible
two members in a family
have to make $4,000 before they pay for a rent
it's
it's a game
yeah
and that's why 220
companies across the country are involved
thanks to Clay
we've had medical bills every
so I guess
as a family once you'd pay out of pocket
it'd be $10,000
bucks. So. Yeah, but individuals only five. Yep, individuals five. Correct. Yeah. Okay.
You're right. I memorized four grand minimum. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Meeting the deductible.
I have an echo here again this summer, so. Yeah, meeting deductible this season.
One little contrast and you're at six grand.
Well, is this...
Okay.
So you guys are fine if we add family.
For this year, we'll just stay with the one plan.
Add family, change it to Pintler.
But next year, let's maybe look a little sooner to get the answer to see if we can offer multiple plans.
Okay, well, let's do this then.
I will entertain a motion that we renew our employee health benefits with the changes that we are moving to the Pintler plan.
and that we will offer employee and family option
as well as employee and spouse if they only have spouse
and employee and children if they only have children.
So, not all at once.
I'd make that motion
if we could consider as well
adding in there that we re-evaluate this next year
yep for sure
because this will be good since we're going to be recruiting
for a new full-time hire this might be good timing
to do what we're doing now and then tweak it again next year
and the possibility of adding a grant writer
yeah for sure
Yeah.
I'll second it.
Okay, so we have motion made and seconded.
So you two, since you guys are in charge of your employees and I'm in charge of you,
this is what we're wanting to do for sure?
I'm good, man.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay, any discussion from the council?
Okay, hearing none all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
I'm going to use my water belt and I'm going to begin to cover it.
No, no, we pay for health insurance through a separate tax.
Okay, this is an FYI, the completed audit.
Compliance.
And Sonia, were there any deficiencies that...
Yes, one at the end.
I can't remember what it was.
Is it on the very last page here?
Any findings, I should say?
Yeah.
What was it?
Oh, I didn't.
Oh, the pledge securities?
Nope.
Because we have recorded revenue for a reimbursable grant.
Yes.
We got grant money.
You're supposed to get grant money at the end of fiscal year 24, didn't get it in until
25 and then didn't record that.
But then you corrected that a few months later.
Yes.
Okay.
That's why I like to get money in a year.
I know.
Try to keep things simple.
Okay, so that's for the council.
Or for your perusal.
If you're on the toilet, the bathroom, and your phone dies,
you can have a copy of this next to you.
And sure go through that.
Okay, spring cleanup.
I told Steve these dates were fine, so kind of an FYI.
Do we need to vote it in, or do we already advertise it?
We usually vote to do it and advertise it.
Okay, well, I'd entertain a motion that we approve the spring cleanup dates of April 17th through May 1st.
So moved.
Seconded.
Okay, so motion made and seconded.
And so we will also, unless you guys have any discussion in rewording the advertisement,
we will just basically do what we've been doing and post it just like what we're looking at here.
Did we discuss Samantha sending letters, updated letters to the delinquent houses on our...
I think we mentioned it at the last meeting
but I guess I haven't done it
I don't know which house is
well we're
kind of just
slow playing that
while we get some of these other
issues handled
right now
are you in town tomorrow?
yes
are you coming here or not for the zoning?
I wasn't going to do it
I don't think you need to
I was just curious
It sounds like Steve already kind of knows what's...
I'm not surprised that it's not in line.
Yeah, and then she's going to try and get a variance,
but you can't get a variance if you created the problem.
Yeah, exactly.
So, yeah.
She's kind of asking for like a case-by-case basis.
Well, I will.
Okay.
Public comment. No public.
So, upcoming agenda items.
We didn't finish the vote on the newspaper.
Oh, all those in favor?
Aye.
I always get ahead of myself.
That's alright.
Pretty sure you're not going to get fired.
Some days it would be nice.
Okay, upcoming agenda items.
We talked about a couple things there, so...
Did we invite the baseball people here yet?
No, I have not invited them.
I think we might need a motion to table the bond sponsorship for the next meeting,
since that was an actionable item.
An actionable item?
I think we're going to vote on it and then we didn't.
So we're moving it to the next.
Okay, yeah, yeah.
I will move to table the bond issue.
Okay.
I'll second that.
Okay, so that's for the infrastructure project for the hospital?
Yep, for the city sponsorship.
Okay, no, well, we'll, so I'll enter.
Cody already sent me a bunch of information about it,
so I can call our bond council later today.
Okay, perfect.
Okay, so we have a motion made and seconded to table the city sponsorship of the infrastructure project for the hospital until the April 28th meeting.
Any other discussion?
Okay, all those in favor?
Aye.
Okay, good catch on that.
Okay, and then last item would be your consent items.
If you've had a minute to peruse those, I'd entertain a motion to approve.
I move the re-approved consent items.
Second.
Okay, so a motion made and seconded to approve consent items.
Any discussion?
Okay, hearing none.
All those in favor?
Aye.
Aye.
Okay, motion carries.
And this time I would entertain a motion to adjourn.
I move that we adjourn.
Okay, so we are adjourned at 10.15 until April 28th.
Nice to have you.