Belgrade City Council

BELGRADE CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Zoom Video Platform January 4, 2021 7: 00 PM This meeting was open to the public and attended via the Zoom video conference platform. Mayor Russell Nelson called the meeting to order. Other Council Members in attendance were: Brad Cooper, Mike Meis Jim Simon, Kristine Menicucci, Jim Doyle and Ken Smith. City staff in attendance were: City Manager Ted Barkley, City Clerk Sue Caldwell, City Attorney Rick Ramler, Planning Director Jason Karp, Accounting Tech Kris Norby, Judge Andy Breuner, Public Works Director Steve Klotz and Finance Director Diane Eagleson Others in attendance were: Emily Cuyle, Ryan McLane, Judy Doyle, Kay Trevarthen, Diana Setterberg, Kieley Parker and Eric Holton APPROVE MINUTES ACTION: Council Member Cooper moved to approve meeting minutes for December 7th and December 21St of 2020. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Nelson opened the public forum and called for public comment. Kay Trevarthen, residing on Melissa Way, referred to an email she had recently sent to City staff about the poor condition of the pavement on her street. She said there were wide vertical and horizontal cracks in the pavement and even up into the curbs. She asked if City staff would inspect the streets to address it before more damage occurs due to water and snow penetrating and expanding the cracks. She stated that it was very concerning that a 4- year old road was already failing. She commented on the plan that Meadowlark Ranch developers were trying to bring another Phase of the subdivision on- line for further development and this would surely bring more heavy equipment onto the existing streets. City Manager Barkley said he received her email earlier today and he agreed that City staff would be directed to investigate. Public Works Director Klotz confirmed that he had scheduled a visit to the affected area which was mainly on the 900 Block of Melissa Way, where it crosses over Baseline Road on to the cul- de- sac. Klotz noted he would be joined by City Engineers Keith Waring and Tom Eastwood. Klotz noted that these paved areas had initially passed all the compaction tests and the goal was for a 20- year life span on roads. Mayor Nelson called 2 more times for public comment. There was none and the public forum was closed. Page 1 of 6 PUBLIC HEARING Consider Resolution 2021- 1 regarding Extension of Interim Zoning of Property Northwest of Collins and Weaver Roads Planning Director Jason Karp referred to Ordinance 2020- 5 which had been adopted in July 2020 by Council which provided for interim zoning to prevent a gravel pit from being located off of Collins Road. Karp noted that since adoption of that Ordinance, a section of that land was permanently zoned as R- 3 by Ordinance 2020- 7 and annexed into the City by Ordinance 2020- 8. The remainder of the land subject to the interim zoning of 2020- 5 was set to expire in January 2021 unless permanent zoning regulations were put into place or the interim zoning ordinance was extended. City staff recommended approval of Resolution 2021- 1 to extend the interim zoning of the subject property for a period of one year. Mayor Nelson opened the public hearing and called 3 times for public comment. Eric Holton, residing at 17 David Drive, was in support of extending the interim zoning as stated. He thanked the Council for supporting the measure. Mayor Nelson called 2 more times for public comment. There was none and the public hearing was closed. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve Resolution 2021- 1 to extend interim zoning set by Ordinance 2020- 5 for one year per MCA 76- 3- 306 finding that all procedural requirements for the extension of an interim zoning ordinance have been met. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING Consider Resolution 2021- 2 Budget Amendment for Fiscal Year Ending 6/ 30/ 20 City Manager Barkley reviewed the proposed adjustments to the Budget for Fiscal Year ending 6/ 30/ 2020. He said he had spoken to Finance Director Eagleson and she was unsure whether we should be adding the pension expense liability into the cash budget so they were waiting for advice from the State. Barkley noted an adjustment to delete the first and third line of the data related to Fund 5310 and amend the resolution accordingly. Mayor Nelson asked what the bank fees were for. Barkley said he would have to find out and let him know. Mayor Nelson opened the public hearing and called 3 times for public comment. There was none and the public hearing was closed. ACTION: Council Member Simon moved to approve Resolution 2021- 2 deleting items 1 and 3 for Fund 5310, amending the Final Budget for FY2019- 2020 to increase spending authority for the accounts stated. Council Member Meis seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Page 2 of 6 REPORTS Mayor' s Report— Mayor Nelson had nothing to report City Attorney' s Report— the City Attorney had nothing to report. City Manager' s Report City Manager Barkley reported plans to meet and discuss comments on the Downtown Draft Area Design plan and he hoped to have it to Council very soon. Barkley reported on another loan application under consideration for Revolving Loan Funds and that there was a new Director at the Northern Rocky Mountain Economic Development District NRMEDD) that would be introduced to Council in the near future. Barkley noted that the City staff did not yet have a definitive schedule for Covid- 19 vaccinations. He referred to the information sheet that was included with the Council packets. He reviewed the plan for administering vaccinations in phases and how it would affect those who fell in the various categories. Barkley noted his plan to draft an agenda for the Council Planning Retreat scheduled for February 1St so Council could add other items they wished to discuss. Barkley noted plans to have the Code Enforcement Officers visit residents to get their input on the proposed Residential Parking District near the High School. DISCUSSION AGENDA Consider Ordinance 2020- 10 ( second reading) to Create a Court of Record Judge Andrew Breuner reiterated the importance of having a Court of Record. He felt it was an important step for Belgrade to establish best practice and a transition to the designation of a Municipal Court. He felt the 6- month provision to get the hardware and software in place was reasonable and would give his staff the time they would need to make sure everything was working in terms of functionality. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. Kay Trevarthen, resident, asked what kind of recording this would involve and would it include voice and/ or video. Judge Breuner said it would require electronic recording or a traditional court recorder. He noted that most Courts of Record use electronic recording of audio, not necessarily video. He noted that storage of records would include physical space disk storage plus a secondary cloud-based backup storage. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. Page 3 of 6  Council inquired about how the judge' s position would be filled after Breuner' s current term ended. Breuner said that the growth of our City was the determining factor as to what drives the requirement for the election of the next judge. He noted the statutory requirement was for a candidate to be a resident of Gallatin County, but they were not required to be an attorney for a Court of Record. A Municipal Court would require that the judge be an attorney. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve Ordinance 2020- 10 amending the Belgrade Administrative Code, Article II, Section 2. 02 Administration, Subsection H. City Court, providing for the creation of a Belgrade City Court of Record and providing for the election of the City Court Judge. Council Member Cooper seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Consider Resolution 2021- 3 to Amend the City Employee 457( b) Retirement Plan to Permit Loans City Manager Barkley reviewed the optional loan program that would provide eligible plan participants the ability to borrow money from their own individual retirement account through ICMA- RC. Barkley noted that this was a supplemental retirement program, was voluntary and was not part of the Public Employee Retirement Plan through the State of Montana. Repayments would be made through payroll deduction and the plan was administered through ICMA- RC. Barkley reviewed the features of the loan program allowing requests for up to half the value of the participant' s plan with a maximum of$ 50, 000. Barkley recommended approval of this option. Discussion followed regarding the process when and employee was terminated or retired and had an outstanding loan. Barkley noted that limiting the amount of the loans to half of the account balance is designed to take care of that circumstance. Barkley also noted that this would not incur any substantial fees for the City, but it would require a small amount of administrative time by staff Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Meis moved to approve Resolution 2021- 3 to allow City employees participating in the ICMA- RC 457( b) retirement plan to borrow money against their account as provided in the Loan Guidelines Agreement and authorize the City Manager to submit all related documents to amend the retirement plan to allow loans. Council Member Doyle seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. EXECUTIVE SESSION Consider Belgrade Water Rights Case Mayor Nelson closed this portion of the discussion pursuant to MCA 2- 3- 203( 4) to discuss a strategy to be followed with respect to litigation when an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the City. Mayor Nelson noted to all in attendance that the Council would hold a discussion only and no action would be taken by Council while in closed session. When the session was opened back up to all attendees, he stated that action by the Council may be considered at that time. Page 4 of 6  At 7: 50 pm the City Clerk placed the attendees of the regular open meeting on hold and started the closed Executive Session. Those attending the Executive Session were Mayor Russell Nelson, Council Members Brad Cooper, Mike Meis Jim Simon, Kristine Menicucci, Jim Doyle and Ken Smith; City Manager Ted Barkley, City Clerk Sue Caldwell, City Attorney Rick Ramler and Attorney Ryan McLane. At 8: 23pm, Mayor Nelson closed the Executive Session and the regular meeting session was reopened. Mayor Nelson called the regular meeting back to order to continue the discussion of the Belgrade Water Rights Case. City Manager Barkley summarized Council' s discussion about the proposed stipulation agreement with Town of Three Forks as a mutually beneficial consideration and as part of the effort to reaffirm and define the City of Belgrade water rights. It was noted that the Town of Three Forks, also located inside the same Basin, gave notice that they were joining into the case as a friendly objector. The Town of Three Forks was paying attention to our case to see how it might affect them as they wanted to make some changes of their own. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve the Settlement Agreement with Three Forks draft version dated 11/ 2/ 2020 as part of the water rights adjudication process and that the stipulation and agreement regarding increase in flow rate, service area and volume was in the best interest of the City of Belgrade; and to authorize the City Manager to sign said agreement on behalf of the City of Belgrade. Council Member Cooper seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. ( Roll Call Vote) CONSENT AGENDA Pledged Securities for November 2020 ACTION: Council Member Cooper moved to approve the consent agenda items. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Council Member Doyle had nothing to report. Council Member Simon had nothing to report. Council Member Cooper noted that next to his house there was an abandoned City street and a neighbor had dug a basement and left a pile of dirt there. Cooper asked that City staff follow up on it and have the man responsible to move the dirt as it should have been done quite some time ago. Council Member Meis reported that a group had worked to take the Christmas lights down yesterday and the Code Enforcement Officer gave them a hard time about where they parked their utility trailer at 9: 30am on Sunday morning. Page 5 of 6  Council Member Menicucci reported that the Library Foundation had set a goal for raising 2M, and they had now gone over that amount. Last week they had pulled in $300, 000 and were now working on preliminary design. She said it was very exciting to see it going in the right direction. Council Member Smith had nothing to report. Mayor Nelson reported a flyer that was put out by Bozeman that they were offering funding assistance related to Covid- 19 for individuals and businesses in the forms of micro loans and grants. He asked if Belgrade could provide this type of program. Barkley said that most of the funding assistance the City had received related to Covid- 19 was being used toward City Covid- 19 related operating expenses and police payroll. He noted that primarily the general services funds could be used for other purposes if Council wanted to consider options. He suggested that Council consider this at the Planning Retreat on February 1St. Barkley noted that Belgrade had already been offering a combination of grants and loans through our CDBG RLF program and about 7 applications had been received. He felt we needed to get the word out again and refresh the outreach. Barkley said he would put something together for the newspaper and the Belgrade Chamber newsletter so council could review it at next council meeting Mayor Nelson reported that the platform used to conduct the next Council meeting would again be reviewed according to the current circumstances. Kaye Trevarthen, Belgrade resident, asked about when FYI meetings would be held and if they would be held on the Zoom platform. City Manager Barkley noted that FYI was a part of every regular Council Agenda and was not a separate meeting. Mayor Nelson referred to the Covid- 19 vaccination information sheet and asked where the City staff would fall according to the phases. Barkley noted that most City staff would come under the category of Phase 1C which showed a tentative date to receive vaccinations on or around March 1 5th ADJOURN Council Member Smith moved to adjourn the meeting at 8: 47pm. Russell C. Nelson, Mayor Attest: Susan Caldwell, City Clerk Page 6 of 6