Minutes of December 7, 2021 Town Council Meeting
Meeting was held at Hot Springs Town Hall and via Zoom

CALL TO ORDER- by Mayor Woods at 7:00 pm

ROLL CALL Present: Paul Stelter, Leslee Smith, Ed Weatherly, Crystal Graham, Randy Woods, Amy Gray

Also Present: Stephen Sheffield, Starla Rice, Deanna Peters, Cayla Aldridge, Scott Vollmer, Ladonna Vollmer

MINUTES- Motion to approve minutes from previous meeting Smith/Stelter 4-0 pass

PRESENTATION OF CLAIMS Smith/ Stelter  4-0 pass. $3500 for election, Smith asked about the burn trailer claim and Woods explained we had the State bring the burn trailer in to do some live training with our fire fighters. Half of this will be billed to Rural Fire and reimbursed to the Town.

FINANCIAL REPORTS – September and October financials Stelter/Weatherly 4-0 pass

Budget reports/updates provided to council and Mayor

REPORTS

MAYOR- Mayor reported that we are working on the water project.

PUBLIC WORKS – public works is preparing for winter. Mike has dropped the levels in the water tanks and making sure all of the heaters are up and running. Dan and Mark have been grading and doing work in alleys and working on parking areas along the streets

FIRE DEPT- 1 traffic call. Ambulance has been busy

POLICE- Report presented by Woods

COUNCIL- Paul Stelter spoke, this is his last meeting and he wanted to thank the town for allowing him to serve on the council. He congratulated Cayla Aldridge and expressed that he felt we have a good council right now to represent the Town. Mayor Woods thanked Paul for his time on the council and said he has been a great asset to the town.

CLERK- Gray reported she is working with Magda Nelson to complete the AFR

LIBRARY – Starla presented library report

ZONING COMPLIANCE- Busy. We have three different areas in town where people are inquiring about subdivisions. There are several people with large lots looking into different options. We have a need for housing, but more 3 or 4 bedroom houses and many people are asking about tiny houses. It would be nice to have bigger houses for families.

COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC COMMENT FOR EACH AGENDA ITEM WILL BE ALLOWED

NEW BUSINESS

OATH OF OFFICE FOR RANDAL A WOODS FOR MAYOR- Woods was sworn in as Mayor to start January 1, 2022 by Weatherly.

OATH OF OFFICE FOR LESLEE SMITH- Smith was sworn in as councilperson to start January 1, 2022 by Mayor Woods

OATH OF OFFICE FOR CAYLA STORAASLI ALDRIGE- Aldridge was sworn in as councilperson to start January 1, 2022 by Mayor Woods

DRAW REQUEST FOR WATER PROJECT- Smith/Stelter 4-0 pass

PURCHASE SEWER JETTER – Mayor and council discussed the need for a new jetter for the sewer department. The one we have is very old. The company they are looking at will train our employees to use the jetter and how to camera sewer lines. This jetter will have the capability of doing smaller laterals. The quote is $48,000 . We will need to upgrade a few things.

Ladonna asked if the town would be able to sell the old one. Woods commented that it would be possible. He also stated that he has looked into rebuilding it and the cost would be close to $20,000 to get it back to good condition but you still have an old piece of equipment and the it would still be lacking some of the things we would like to see from a new one.

Deanna Peters and Paul Stelter both commented that they thought the Town should keep the old jetter as a back up. The availability of parts is difficult right now in the event that the new one needs a repair.

Motion to purchase new jetter made by Stelter second by Weatherly  4-0 pass

PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS- Woods called for public comment of non-agenda items. Deanna Peters mentioned the Chamber would like the Town to consider having the Public Works employees maintain the red signs on the highway. Chamber wants someone with insurance to be maintaining them. Woods stated the Town will look into the insurance portion of it and discuss it. No decision to be made as this was not an agenda item.

Woods called for additional public comment on non-agenda items, there was none.

ADJOURN   

 8:03 Stelter/Smith  4-0 pass

MINUTES FOR SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

FRIDAY, December 17, 2021 at HOT SPRINGS TOWN HALL 109 MAIN ST, HOT SPRINGS, MT 59845 And VIA ZOOM

CALL TO ORDER By Mayor Woods at 12:37 pm

ROLL CALL: Present: Stelter, Weatherly, Smith, Woods, Gray   Absent: Graham

Also present via Zoom: Starla Rice

COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC COMMENT FOR EACH AGENDA ITEM WILL BE ALLOWED

NEW BUSINESS

LIBRARY EMPLOYEES BONUS PAY- Woods explained that the library board has approved the bonuses for library personnel at their December meeting which fell after the Town Council Meeting therefore we had to call this special meeting to approve the bonuses to be paid. He explained that in the future they would need to plan ahead so there would not be a need for a special meeting. $500 Starla, $200 Martha, $200 Savanna, $75 Jessie.  Motion to approve bonuses as presented by Library board made by Smith Second by Stelter  3-0 pass

PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS Woods called for comment on non agenda items. There was none.

ADJOURN

12:47 pm  Weatherly/ Smith  3-0 pass

Dated this _________________Day of ________________________

Attest_______________________                 Signed____________________________