City Council raises street maintenance fees

Glasgow has a lot of paving to do, and not enough money to work with. The City Council heard at Monday's regular meeting that they have a significant amount of street work scheduled and asphalt costs are not expected to come down. City Clerk Jeanie Davis-Anthony presented two estimates on the increase to households if street assessments were increased. A 10-percent increase would raise taxes more than $1 and bring in $29,489 a year. A 15-percent increase would raise the assessment a little more than $2 and make $44,000 a year.

In discussion, council members said this would not be a significant amount of increase for people, and they are not raising garbage or street lighting assessments.

The council approved a 15-percent increase in street maintenance fees.

City employees

A committee has met again with a union negotiator and city employees on a new three-year contract. The employees have asked to go back to a July 13 proposal: a $.50 per year raise, an increase in health insurance and no longevity pay. Councilman Melanie Sorensen said the employees were told that if the city runs out of money, they are looking at layoffs.

"Our big stumbling block is what the police are getting," said Councilman Becky Erickson. "They should be separate."

The council unanimously approved the proposal and requested a final contract for review and approval.

New police grant

Police Chief Bruce Barstad announced that the department has received a federal Rural Law Enforcement grant of $592,000. This zero-match grant is to hire additional people and buy some necessary equipment for them. The grant is for a minimum of two years.

The new hires would be two criminal investigators and a full-time evidence technician.

An off-site location is required to house the people, and lease money is supplied in the grant.

In addition, a Montana Board of Crime Control equipment grant has been fully funded. This $15,000 grant is to replace current firearms. It is also a zero-match grant.

Clearing the dike

City workers have been clearing trees and bushes from the dike on the city's south side, as required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If the dike is not maintained according to the Corps' standard, it could lose Corps certification, and homeowners would have to buy their own flood insurance. Kompel said one property owner has responded with a lawyer.

Satisfying the Corps is not the end of the matter. Surveyor Mike Kaiser told the council that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is going to come in a couple of years to re-evaluate the dike and the 100-year flood elevation. The dike must be 3 feet above the 100-year flood level, however a previous study showed it to be 1 1/2 to 2 feet under that level.

FEMA requires a 15-foot root-free zone on the inside and outside of the dike, and there is supposed to be an easement to drive around inside the dike to inspect and do work.

"Those folks with houses (in that zone) - what are they to do?" Kaiser asked. "We're looking at keeping Corps certification for our dike. That has some weight with FEMA."

Mayor Dan Carney said the city has just received "a whole bunch more paperwork" from the Corps. The Corps told him they are hiring a firm to do assessments on the dike, but they did not say who pays for it.

Aid for crime victims

The city has some money to help crime victims that comes from surcharges paid by offenders in City Court. At one time, these funds went to Wolf Point. Then they were designated for the Women's Resource Center in Glasgow. Now that the city has a victim's advocate working with the police department, the City Council wants this money to channeled to victims through her. The council passed a resolution to this effect.

Sheila Doll of CHMS delivered the annual audit report on the city. There were six findings, things not in compliance that needed to be brought to the city's attention. The findings included segregation of duties in the city office, cash reconciliation, the money in the Fire Department Relief Association fund, lack of a staff member with expertise in financial reporting, and not meeting the net revenue requirement in the sewer fund. As Councilman Becky Erickson said, most of them are things that won't change, because Glasgow is such a small city.

Director of Public Works Bob Kompel told the council that people from Dry Prairie Rural Water came to his office recently and made a verbal request to run their water pipes over city pipes when they come to a crossing, rather than go under the city pipes. There would be about four places this would happen. Kompel said he told them that it is not in the city's power to grant this request on city easements. Dry Prairie would have to ask the landowners who granted the easements to the city.

This was the last City Council meeting for City Clerk Jeanie Davis-Anthony, who is taking a job with the Glasgow office of the National Weather Service. She was given a round of applause in appreciation for her service.