Belgrade City Council

CITY OF BELGRADE COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES COUNCIL CHAMBERS November 3rd, 2025 7: 00 pm This meeting was open to the public and attended in person. Deputy Mayor Mike Meis called the meeting to order. Council Members in attendance were Jason Guffey, Mike Meis, Jim Simon, Erin Bell, 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, Municipal Court Judge Chris Gregory, Chief Building Official Lucas Sobeck, Director of Human Resources Becky Wilbert, Director of Community and Economic Development Katharine King, Public Works Director Camaree Uljua, Director Alina Prunean, and Fire Chief Jay Wittwer. Others in attendance were Nicholas Johnson, Vivian Crouse, Stephen McAddam, and Anthony Stratman. ACTION: Council Member Mattimoe moved to excuse Mayor Nelson. Council Member Simon seconded the Motion. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. ACTION: Council Member Mattimoe moved to excuse Council Member Simon. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the Motion. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. PUBLIC FORUM Deputy Mayor Meis called three times for public comment. There being none, the Public Forum was closed. PUBLIC HEARING Discuss and Consider Final Adoption of Ordinance No. 2025- 11, Repealing and Replacing Title 6, Adopting the International Fire Code, Establishing the City Manager as the City Fire Official, Fire Marshal Position, and Updating Associated Code Sections After Notice and Public Hearing City Attorney Murray advised that the Ordinance was preliminarily adopted by the Council at their October 6, 2025, meeting. Murray added that the were no changes made with respect to fireworks. Murray informed that this update allows the City Council to repeal outdated provisions of the City' s fire regulations while streamlining fire code administration and permitting. It will also modernize fire code enforcement by adopting the International Fire Code. Page 1 of 4  Murray advised that the City has provided public notice of the ordinance changes and allowed public comment at public hearings, as required by Montana Code Annotated. The City has received no comments. ACTION: Council Member Mattimoe moved to open the Public Hearing. Council Member Simon seconded the Motion. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. Deputy Mayor Meis called for public comment. Jay Wittwere, residing at 1303 Powers Boulevard, expressed his disappointment that the Council continued moving forward with this action. However, he also wanted to make sure the City Council knows that the Central Valley Fire District is a partner with the City of Belgrade and will continue to support the City in any way possible. Deputy Mayor Meis called two more times for public comment. Stephen McAddam, residing at 1410 Powers Blvd, stated he does not understand why taxpayers would be paying two entities for the same position of Fire Marshal. Deputy Mayor Meis called a third time for public comment. The was none. ACTION: Council Member Simon moved to close the Public Hearing. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the Motion. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. ACTION: Council Member Simon moved to adopt Ordinance No. 2025- 11, repealing and replacing Title 6, adopting the International Fire Code, establishing the City Manager as the City Fire Official, Fire Marshal position, and updating associated code sections after publication of notice and public hearing. Council Member Mattimoe seconded the Motion. City Manager Cardwell noted that the State of Montana has mandated that the City of Belgrade must be the fire code authority within its municipal boundaries and is not allowed to contract that out. Cardwell advised that these changes are being made to ratify that mandate from the State. Cardwell explained that no additional positions are being created as a result of these changes. The City' s Building Official, Lucas Sobeck, will also serve as the City' s Fire Marshal. Cardwell closed by stating this ordinance change is meant to ensure the City's compliance with state laws. Deputy Mayor Meis called for a vote. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. REPORTS Deputy Mayor Meis had nothing to report on behalf of Mayor Nelson. Page 2 of 4  City Attorney Murray had nothing to report. City Manager Cardwell reported that he will meet with the proposed awardee of the Design Build Services RFP/ Q for the City Hall/ Justice Center. He noted that the City and the proposed awardee are currently in the process of developing a contract that he hopes will be brought to the Council for authorization by the end of the year. He noted that there were seven submissions to the project, and the top four were selected for an interview. Cardwell also explained that the grain elevator acquisition is expected to close soon. The current owner will be required to demolish the old liquid fertilizer tanks as part of the purchase. Once that is completed, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway( BNSF) has agreed to release them from their lease. Additionally, the City will be released from being required to have a lease with BNSF. He also mentioned that two new employees started today in two newly created positions that were authorized in this year' s budget. Cardwell then turned a portion of his time over to Police Chief Lensing to speak about the events that transpired on Monday, October 27, 2025. Police Chief Lensing thanked the Council and City staff for their support during this tragic incident. He then reported that the officer who was injured is recovering well, but that there is still a long road to recovery for the injured officer and his colleagues on the force. The Chief also added that a tragedy has also hit the Gallatin County Sherrif' s Department, and the Belgrade Police Department is offering its support to them. Deputy Member Meis asked Lensing if there were any concerns about staffing issues due to the injury and officers who were put on desk duty during the ongoing investigation. Lensing answered that the Department was already dealing with staffing issues before this incident, but this incident has aggravated that problem. However, available officers have been generously offering to work overtime to help cover for officers who were out or on desk duty because of the recent incident. Meis then asked if the Belgrade Police Department was involved in the pedestrian/ vehicle incident that occurred earlier in the day. Lensing confirmed that the Police Department was involved. He noted that the School Resource Officer( SRO) was involved in the background, while patrol officers and Central Valley Fire both responded to the emergency call. Meis thanked Chief Lensing and the Police Department, as well as Central Valley Fire, for their continued service to the community. Page 3 of 4  Cardwell continued his report by mentioning that someone had recently backed their vehicle into an obsolete crosswalk signal. The City will be replacing that signal with a more modern one. Lastly, Cardwell mentioned that the City is working with the School District on their speech and debate meet, which is shaping up to be the largest speech and debate meet in Montana. Cardwell noted that they will need 300 judges for the event and encouraged citizens, as well as City staff, to participate if they can. FOR YOUR INFORMATION Council Member Mattimoe had nothing to report. Council Member Bell had nothing to report. Council Member Simon asked if there would be a water storage update at the upcoming workshop. Cardwell answered that there will not be an update at the November Workshop, but there will hopefully be one in December. Council Member Guffy had nothing to report. Deputy Mayor Meis had nothing to report. ADJOURN Council Member Mattimoe moved to adjourn. Council Member Simon seconded the Motion. Deputy Mayor Meis called for a vote. All voted aye, Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7: 30 p.m. Ike Mei e Attest:, Qam14L Camille Gregory, C' y C e Page 4 of 4