Belgrade City Council

CITY OF BELGRADE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL CHAMBERS September 3, 2024 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 Mike Meis, Jim Simon, Kristine Menicucci, and Renae Mattimoe. City staff in attendance were City Manager Neil Cardwell, Assistant City Manager Greg Tryon, City Attorney Kyla Murray, City Clerk Camille Gregory, Executive Assistant Dana Jambor, Executive Finance Director Charity VanKirk, Chief of Police Dustin Lensing, Director of Information Technology Ryan Curtis, Director of Community Development Jason Karp, Chief Building Official Lucas Sobeck, Director of Human Resources Becky Wilbert, Director of Parks and Recreation Steve Klotz, Public Works Director Camaree Uljua, and Fire Chief Jay Wittwer. Others in attendance were William Beckman, Chris Cameron, Jordan McGearty, Seth Ray, Nick Johnson, Brinn Fiorentino, and Anthony Stratman. ACTION: Council Member Meis moved to excuse Council Member Guffey. Council Member Simon seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM Mayor Nelson called two times for public comment. Bill Beckman, residing at 910 Montana St., Unit A, noted that he is a retired agronomist with a PhD from Purdue. He feels that he is paying for water that he does not use. He explained that this year, during three of the months he was caregiving for his wife, he was charged for 27, 000 gallons of water and doesn' t believe he used that much water. He also asked if the rate change had been reported to the Public Service Commission. Mayor Nelson called a final time for public comment. There being none, the public forum was closed. CONSENT AGENDA Consider Approval of Council Minute Draft( S): 6- 17- 24 Workshop Meeting, 6- 17- 24 Regular Meeting, & 7- 1- 24 Regular Meeting. 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. Page 1 of 5 DISCUSSION AGENDA Discuss Central Valley Fire District Mill Levy Presentation Fire Chief Wittwer and Fire Marshal Jake Zlomie of the Central Valley Fire Department CVFD) stood and gave a brief presentation that highlighted the need for increasing the mills on the Fir District Mill Levy. Council Member Meis asked if there are any metric numbers for response times and what the last ask was. Wittwer stated that it would be difficult to come up with a response time average because it would have to depend on the location. He also said the previous mill increase request was to replace the 10- mill levy with a 30- mill levy. However, after a more thorough examination of the budget, the CVFD has determined they could ask to replace the 10 mills with 25 mills this time. Mayor Nelson called three times for public comment. There was none. Discuss and Consider Naming of Western Park in Prescott Ranch Subdivision Phase 2 Director of Public Works Klotz explained that this park is dedicated parkland, so it is a City of Belgrade park. It is located in the Northwest area of town, north of Cruiser Ln. and west of Jackrabbit Ln. The lot is 2. 25 in size. He explained that the issue of naming this park had come to the Parks Board a couple of times, and they found that' Western Park' best fit the neighborhood' s theme and feel. It was noted that the developer does not desire to keep the park. Mayor Nelson called three times for public comment. There was none. ACTION: Council Member Mattimoe moved to approve naming Prescott Ranch Park Phase 2 Park " Western Park". Council Member Menicucci seconded the motion. All voted aye, motion carried unanimously. Discuss update on the challenges with DOR and the effect on the budget timeline City Manager Cardwell explained that the purpose of this update was to give the Council a review of the new dates the Department of Revenue( DOR) has issued so they can get newly certified taxable value out. Cardwell further explained that the City cannot set a budget until the new certified value is submitted. He noted the DOR will submit its finalized portion of certified values on September 16, 2024. The City will receive the new certified value by September 27, 2024. After that, the City will only have until October 2, 2024, to calculate the mill levies, finalize the City Budget, and have it submitted to the County as a preliminary budget. The City will have had to complete officially adopting the budget and setting the mill levies in order to submit it to the County. Page 2 of 5  Cardwell also explained that due to the tight timeline, the Council and the Belgrade Regional Parks, Trails, and Recreation District Board will have to call special meetings to adopt their budgets and set mill levies in order to meet the deadline. Mayor Nelson asked Cardwell how he felt after the meeting he had with the DOR and if there was a way to verify that they were appraising all the properties. Cardwell said that he had asked DOR if there was a way to verify that they were appraising all properties, but he did not get an answer. He also mentioned that members of the group that attended the meeting, including the City of Belgrade, also asked for a timeframe when the property evaluations would be done. However, there was no clear answer to that question either. Simon asked what the budget would look like without the new values. Based on the preliminary estimate, Cardwell explained that the City is $ 120, 000 short in projected revenue. That shortage would hit the General Fund, particularly coming out of the Public Safety mill levy. Mayor Nelson called three times for public comment. There was none. REPORTS Mayor Nelson had nothing to report. City Attorney Murray had nothing to report. City Manager Cardwell thanked Mr. Beckman for his comments and asked him to contact the Utility Billing Department. He then explained that municipalities are not subject to the Public Service Commission( PSC) when it comes to the water and wastewater rates. He noted the State recognizes the City Council as the regulatory body for those rates. Municipalities are subject to particular rules and regulations about how they notice changes and how they structure ordinances or rate changes, and the City followed all of those rules. Council Member Meis clarified that the PSC regulates publicly traded utilities, such as electric companies. Cardwell then mentioned that he, Director Uljua, and SK Rossi met with Director Dorington and Montana Department of Transportation in Helena to discuss the multiple projects going on in Belgrade. The discussion focused on how Belgrade could continue to partner with MDT to assist them in areas of town streets that Belgrade is better suited to maintain, like Main St. and some portions of Jackrabbit. He then thanked City Engineer Hauck and Public Works for their quick response and quick thinking in creating an alternate route for the Story Creek school pick- up and drop- off area. He also mentioned that many of the department heads took a Safeserve class through the Health Department in preparation for serving at the Fall Festival and assured that the Health Page 3 of 5 Department would be on- site at the Festival to show the community that the City is taking food handling safety seriously. Cardwell noted that on September 26, 2024, from 1: 00 pm to 3: 00 pm, the Senior Center will host an open house for the mill ask. A similar open house will also be held for the School District and City Land Exchange, the time of which is to be determined. Lastly, he thanked HR and Facilities for hosting MMIA for a safety tour of all the City facilities. They reported that we are doing far better than most for a city of our size. Mayor Nelson asked if there had been any talks about a possible third interchange. Cardwell said that MDT acknowledged that Belgrade would need a third interchange at some point and is doing a corridor study from Bear Canyon to Three Forks. This study could indicate that more than one location will need a new interchange. Council Member Simon asked if the State would reimburse the City if we assisted in maintaining some of the City streets that are currently under State control. Cardwell explained that they are early in the process of determining what that would look like and he' s hopeful that it would look similar to the way that snow removal in downtown Bozeman on Main St. looks. In that arrangement, Bozeman is getting compensation for their work. Council Member Meis asked if there was any word on the CRISI grant. Cardwell said there is no word as of today. He noted that Senator Tester' s staff asked to meet with him a few weeks back and said that they indicated that they were hopeful to get some information on that soon. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Council Member Meis had nothing to report. Council Member Simon reported he attended the Fire Board meeting, where they discussed the same issues with the DOR that the City is facing with the certified values. Council Member Menicucci mentioned that the Gallatin Water Quality Board is now in the works to be umbrellaed under the County Health Department and believes this is a positive move. She also mentioned that she had driven around Belgrade and was astonished to see how big it had gotten. Council Member Mattimoe reported that she will not attend the September 16, 2024, Council Meeting. ADJOURN Council Member Simon moved to adjourn the meeti : . 8: 05 pm. Russell C. Nelson, Mayor Page 4 of 5 Attest: L Camille o( kegory, City lerk Page 5 of 5