Belgrade City Council

CITY OF BELGRADE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL CHAMBERS November 21, 2022 7: 00 PM This meeting was open to the public and attended in person. Mayor Russell C. Nelson called the meeting to order. Council Members in attendance were Martha Sellers, Mike Meis, Jim Simon, Kristine Menicucci, Jim Doyle and Renae Mattimoe. City staff in attendance were City Manager Neil Cardwell, City Attorney Rick Ramler, City Clerk Susan Caldwell, Executive Assistant Dana Jambor, Finance Director Charity Wilson, Community Development Director Jason Karp, Public Works Director Steve Klotz, Police Chief Dustin Lensing, Library Director Gale Bacon, HR Director Becky Wilbert, Consultant Ted Barkley. Others in attendance were Greg Prothman, Vivian Crouse, Judy Doyle, Karen Davis. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Nelson called three times for public comment. There being none, public forum was closed. CONSENT AGENDA Council Minutes for November 7, 2022 Confirmation of Probationary Police Officer Ben Martin Council Member Mattimoe noted a spelling correction needed on page 3. This was noted by the City Clerk. ACTION: Council Member Simon moved to approve the consent agenda items as submitted. Council Member Menicucci seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. DISCUSSION AGENDA Consider Payroll/ Holiday Calendar for 2023 HR Director Wilbert proposed observation of the same holidays that were observed in 2022. City Manager Cardwell noted that Columbus Day/ Indigenous People' s Day was exchanged for the day after Thanksgiving. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. Page 1 of 6  ACTION: Council Member Meis moved to approve the Payroll/Holiday Calendar for 2023 as submitted. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Consider Calendar for Council and Advisory Board Meetings for 2023 City Manager Cardwell noted that some of the meetings might be adjusted since we were streaming more meetings using SWAGIT services. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve the calendar for Council and Advisory Board Meetings for 2023 as submitted. Council Member Doyle seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Consider Senior Center Board Appointment City Manager Cardwell noted that this would fill the last vacancy on the Board. Mayor Nelson recommended appointment of Carol Scott to serve on the Senior Center Advisory Board. ACTION: Council Member Simon moved to approve of appointment of Carol Scott to serve on the Senior Center Advisory Board for a three- year term. Council Member Sellers seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Discuss and Consider Annual Board and Committee Appointments for 2023 The Mayor and Council Members discussed the current designations and generally agreed to leave them unchanged. Council Member Doyle volunteered to serve on the newly formed Senior Center Advisory Board. Deputy Mayor— Council Member Meis City- County Planning Board— Council Member Meis Library Board— Council Member Sellers Local Water Quality District Board— Council Member Menicucci Park Board— Council Member Mattimoe Central Valley Fire District— Council Member Simon Revolving Loan Fund Committee— Council Members Doyle, Menicucci and Sellers Disaster Emergency Service Committee— Council Members Simon and Doyle Planning Coordinating Committee ( PCC)— Council Member Meis City- County Health Board— Mayor Nelson Senior Center Advisory Board— Council Member Doyle Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. Page 2 of 6  ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve appointments for 2023 to remain the same as the previous year, with the addition of appointing Council Member Doyle to the Senior Center Advisory Board for 2023. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Discuss and Consider the Belgrade Downtown Plan and establishment of a Calendar and process for Identification of Projects to be prioritized by the Belgrade Renewal District Consultant Barkley noted that the Belgrade Urban Renewal District funds had been accumulating and the anticipated revenue stream was such that some projects could be identified to move forward. As the governing entity for the District, Barkley noted the need for Council to review a proposed process and calendar to identify and prioritize projects and programs. Projects could include additional downtown parking, improved pedestrian access, bike lanes, benches, signs and visual improvements to name a few. Enhancements to the commercial core could be accomplished through partnership with other entities such as Montana Department of Transportation and Montana Rail Link as well. Discussion followed about plans to reach out to business owners and other stakeholders to include public meetings, links on the website, email links for surveys and so on. Barkley noted plans to bring back more information for approvals at the Council meeting scheduled for February 6, 2023. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Meis moved to approve the proposed schedule for identifying priority projects for the Belgrade Downtown Improvement Districts. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Consider Compensation Review Conducted by Greg Prothman GMP Consulting Greg Prothman with GMP Consulting discussed the recent review completed for the City of Belgrade for Department Directors and City Manager compensation ranges. He discussed use of a broad grouping of cities in the western United States and what it might cost to replace these positions in today' s market. He noted there were many such openings, but the number of qualified candidates were lacking. He felt the established ranges for the directors were reasonable. He recommended raising them from the entry level of the range to the higher levels to encourage retention. He recommended a range of$ 132, 000 to $ 197, 000 for an Assistant City Manager. He recommended the range of 180, 000 to $ 205, 000 for the City Manager. Council Member Sellers asked if data from Montana cities and towns was used. Prothman said they were not because he felt it would cause an artificially low average because there were so few large cities in Montana. City Manager Cardwell said this was for the Council' s reference and did not require a motion of approval. Page 3 of 6  Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. EXECUTIVE SESSION The Mayor may close to the public all or portions of this meeting to MCA Section 2- 3- 203( 4)( a), to discuss strategy with respect to litigation when an open pursuant meeting would have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the City, or when the discussion related to a matter of individual privacy. Discuss and Consider the City Manager' s Performance Evaluation and Contract At 7: 36pm Mayor Nelson called for Executive Session related to individual privacy. He allowed a brief intermission for all attendees to vacate the chambers. Those remaining in session were all Council Members, Mayor Nelson, City Manager Cardwell, City Attorney Ramler and Greg Prothman. At 8: 15 Mayor Nelson closed the Executive Session, reopened the regular meeting to the public and called the meeting back to order. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to approve the revised City Manager' s Contract for Services as presented and authorized the Mayor to sign said contract. Council Member Meis seconded the motion. Motion carried 5 to 1. Council Members voting aye: Meis, Simon, Menicucci, Doyle, Mattimoe Council Member voting no: Sellers REPORTS Mayor Nelson reported on enjoying the local College football game over the weekend. City Attorney Ramler had nothing to report. Police Chief Lensing reported on a recent chain of promotions within his department. He reported the promotion of Sergeant Dave Keen to Deputy Chief of Police. With over 21 years of service with Belgrade, Keen would continue to provide positive leadership. Lensing noted promotion of Sergeant Justin Sharp to the rank of Captain. Deputy Chief Keen would be primarily responsible for the newly designated Uniformed Services Field Operations Division which would encompass patrol and code enforcement. These are the largest most visible components to the Police Department within the community. Lensing noted that Captain Sharp would primarily oversee Support Operations which would include criminal investigations, School Resource Programs and Records Management. Lensing noted that these promotions from within would create other opportunities to fill such as the Sergeant position previously held by Keen, along with the opening created due to Sergeant Sprague' s pending retirement in December. Lensing noted that the current staff had a great depth of experience and he had already chosen one replacement that would be announced soon. Page 4 of 6  City Manager Cardwell reported that the State Land Board had given their approval for Belgrade to purchase approximately 28 acres for the Public Works building site. The contract with Martel was already in place so the project could move forward. Cardwell reported that the other area of land covering approximately 90 acres located north of the wastewater reclamation facility was still on the City' s pending list of interest and no other parties had bid on this property. Cardwell discussed the current appraised value of$ 65, 000 per acre in effect through May 25, 2023. This was very near the date of the special election date so staff was working with DNRC to confirm whether an updated appraisal would be required. He noted that Dorsey Whitney was working on language to appear on a special ballot in regard to formation of the Belgrade Regional Parks, Trails and Recreation District. Two questions would be presented to voters: one question to establish the District and one question related to a General Obligation bonds for land acquisition and to build the Aquatics and Recreation Center. Council Member Sellers asked if there were plans to provide more dog- friendly spaces and trails. Cardwell noted ongoing conversations with staff on this subject as well. In addition to this consideration being included in use of the acreage under discussion, there were some existing city- owned spaces that could be improved for this purpose, such as the old landfill property that was currently an open field, as an example. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Council Member Mattimoe reported on her attendance of the recent career fair at Belgrade High School and noted very good turnout with over 72 vendors. She noted quite a few higher education entities that had come. Council Member Doyle had nothing to report. Council Member Menicucci reported on her membership on the Board of Big Sky Retired Educators and that they had received grant funds to be used for Meals on Wheels. A portion of those funds were conveyed for Belgrade' s program in the amount of$250. Council Member Simon reported on attending the recent Fire Board meeting and the Park Board meeting. He noted that the Fire Department was seeing an increase in the number of calls for service, and multiple calls coming in at the same time. They were looking to put in a fourth shift, shutting down the station in Springhill and turning it into employee housing. They had approved joining in with a purchasing cooperative to assist with acquiring ambulances and apparatus. They had also held a Career Academy graduation. The Park Board discussed the Parks & Recreation site and the QR donation program. They also touched on upcoming baseball field usage that will be reviewed for the Spring season. Efforts were underway to develop a Parks plan for developers to have clearer direction. Council Member Meis reported on progress of installing Christmas lights over the last weekend at the Senior Center and in the downtown area despite the cold temperatures. He appreciated working with the volunteers from the Belgrade Community Coalition and thanked the 3 Page 5 of 6 apprentices, the electric foreman and a construction engineer that came along to help. Their efforts involved 3 bucket trucks and a manlift and the lights looked great. Council Member Sellers reported that she loved turkey and stuffing belonged in the bird. ADJOURN Council Member Simon moved to adjourn me at 8: 35pm. S y gE< L thI ie12ve21/ nssell C. Nelson, Mayor AltcsXf t Susan Caldwell, City Clerk Page 6 of 6