Belgrade City Council

CITY OF BELGRADE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL CHAMBERS December 18th, 2023 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 Jason Guffey, Mike Meis, Jim Simon, Kristine Menicucci, Jim Doyle, and Renae Mattimoe. City staff in attendance were City Manager Neil Cardwell, Assistant City Manager Greg Tryon, City Attorney Rick Ramler, City Clerk Camille Gregory, Executive Finance Director Charity VanKirk, Chief of Police Dustin Lensing, Director of Information Technology Ryan Curtis, Municipal Court Judge Chris Gregory, Director of Community Development Jason Karp, Director of Parks and Recreation Steve Klotz, Director of Public Works Camaree Ujila, Library Director Gale Bacon and Building official Lucas Sobeck. Others in attendance were Vivian Crouse, Judy Doyle, and William Davis. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Nelson called for public comment. William Davis 23 W Main St, is here to get help obtaining a business license for a cannabis shop. They had one in Bozeman, but the building their shop was in was put up for sale for more than they could afford. They found they could afford a spot at 23 West Main St. in Belgrade. They obtained signatures from the surrounding neighbors and businesses supporting their shop. He gave handouts of the signatures and reviews to the Council that will be available to the public to view in the City Clerk' s office. Director of Community Development Karp further explained that they would have to do a zone text amendment and take it to the Planning board. Mayor Nelson called two more times for public comment. There being none, the public forum was closed. PUBLIC HEARING Discuss and Consider Second of Reading Ordinance No. 2023- 9 Amending the Belgrade Zoning Ordinance. Director of Community Development Karp commented that the Council adopted a Zoning code in July 2023, during which the planning department expressed that they anticipated future adjustments would need to be made. The attached staff report explains the process and lists some of those amendments. Page 1 of 4  Mayor Nelson asked if the setbacks were part of the legislation requirements. Karp confirmed it was. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Meis moved to adopt Ordinance No. 2023- 9 amending the Belgrade Zoning Ordinance as recommended by the Planning Board and Planning Staff. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. DISCUSSION AGENDA Discuss and Consider Resolution No. 2023- 30 Updating the Building Valuation Data Tabled Used to Determine Building Permit Fees. Director of Community Development Karp explained that what is up for discussion is how the City will calculate building valuations that the building permit fees are based on. The fee chart currently used in the attached Resolution 2021- 36 is many years old and does not reflect the increases in expenses. Now is the time to re- evaluate the valuation chart and bring it closer to the market value to keep up the same level of service. This resolution will adopt the new square foot construction costs ( building valuation data). City Manager Cardwell thanked the Community Development team for getting started on this. He pointed out that this is the first process of many in getting the City' s fees more tied to what' s been discussed regarding the cost recovery model. Mayor Nelson asked if there' s the possibility that the same fees will be addressed again. Carwell said yes. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Mattimoe moved to adopt Resolution No. 2023- 30 amending Resolution No. 2021- 36 to update the building valuation data table used to determine building permit fees to the February 2023 table provided by the International Code Council and automatically adopting updated building valuation data tables as they are published. Council Member Menicucci seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Discuss and Consider the Formation of the Gallatin Valley MPO District. City Manager Cardwell explained that this is a little over a year in the making. The census designated this greater area a metropolitan statistical area, which triggered the need for a Metropolitan Planning Organization( MPO) for transportation. What this does is it will take the planning of transportation projects from the state organization Montana Department of Transportation( MDT) and put it in the hands of the local jurisdictions and moves the funding to the locals to use for that planning effort. The MPO does not build roads. It receives the funding to plan Page 2 of 4 and do studies on roads and transportation projects in the area. This MPO is unique and the first to be multi jurisdictional. He then explained the various three documents up for authorization. He also mentioned that the City was awarded a couple of grants, one of which was the sidewalk grant for Madison Ave., and those grants would be the type of thing the Gallatin Valley Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee ( TPCC) board would determine. Mayor Nelson called for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Menicucci moved to authorize the City Manager to sign the Interlocal Agreement, " 3- C" Cooperative Agreement and the Designation Letter as presented. Also move to authorize the City Manager with approval of the city attorney to sign any other necessary and related documents for the formation of the MPO District. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Discuss Library Annual Report Presentation. Library Director Bacon presented a PowerPoint presentation and went over the library' s accomplishments and awards. Mayor Nelson thanked Bacon for her presentation and called for public comment. There was none. REPORTS Mayor Nelson had nothing to report. City Attorney Ramler had nothing to report. City Manager Cardwell spoke on the library building progress and is happy to report that the brick veneer is going up already thanks to the light snowfall and that the project is slightly under the Guaranteed Maximum Price ( GMP). He also wanted to remind everyone that the city offices will be closed on Friday, December 22, 2023, in observance of one of the two Christmas holidays for the City staff. Also, the audit is rapidly coming to a close. Lastly, Cardwell received a little information today that all signs are pointing to everything merging and collectively coming together to support getting the Jackrabbit Ln. and Main St. project going. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Council Member Guffey had nothing to report. Council Member Meis asked if the planning board meeting was moved. Karp confirmed that there will be no need for a Planning Board meeting in December. The next City/ County Planning Board Meeting will be Monday, January 29, 2024, at 7: 00 pm. He then mentioned that the Urban Transportation District( UTD) board will meet on Wednesday, December 20. Page 3 of 4  Council Member Simon attended the fireboard meeting. At that meeting, the union opposed the offer the City made to take over the administrative aspects of the fire district because the City pulled the offer. They also discussed looking at finding another Fire Chief. They originally would use Prothman or GMP as the recruiting service for the position. However, the board decided they wanted to do more research into other recruitment services. He then mentioned that the Fire board would meet Tuesday December 19, 2023, at 5: 30 pm to determine who the recruiter will be. Simon will not be able to attend that meeting. Menicucci volunteered, but Cardwell suggested the City step back from it and let the Fire board handle that decision. Menicucci withdrew. Council Member Menicucci attended the water quality board meeting. She mentioned that a representative came to explain why the poll plant is not for residential or some businesses. She also mentioned that they are looking for sites to test and that the representative wants to meet with City Manager Cardwell, and they have a report about the Belgrade project that will be posted in February. Council Member Doyle attended the senior Center board meeting. He reported that the Senior Center is still very busy with Meals on Wheels and other activities. Council Member Mattimoe attended the Parks board meeting, where they discussed some capital funding options they might have and will discuss again. She also attended a presentation for Mayfair Meadows Park proposal for the bike park on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, at the Library and the Montana Department of Transportation meeting on Thursday, December 14, 2023, where she participated in their survey about intersections, particularly where Frank Rd. crosses Cameron Bridge Rd., where Frank meets Valley Center and where Love Ln. meets Baxter Ln. The mayor wished the city happy holidays. ADJOURN Council Member Simon moved to adjourn the meetin: : 8: 11 pm. i/ c Russell C. Nelson, Mayor Attest: Camille Gregory, City ,"erk Page 4 of 4