MINUTES TOWN COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, February 6th, 2024

Hot Springs City Hall 109 Main Street, Hot Springs, MT 59845

Meeting was also held via zoom

CALL TO ORDER 7:01 p.m.

ROLL CALL: Carr, Welker, Smith, Woods, Gray Absent: Weatherly

Also present: Jen Smith, Breck Smith, Steven Sheffield, Evelyn Pratt, Scott Vollmer, Ladonna Vollmer, Shelly Eisenrich, Cameron Martin, Tony Tinacci, Peg Winebrenner, Cody Scott, Mike Geddes, Ron Szmergalski, Renee Keough, Mary Whitsett, Leslie Haugen, Aaron Mathew

APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Smith/Carr 3-0 pass

PRESENTATION OF CLAIMS: Smith/Carr 3-0 pass

FINANCIAL REPORTS- January financials presented, Welker asked about the line item for local government review. It was explained to her that in 2014 when they did the local government review funds were left over and a resolution was passed to allow remaining funds to be transferred to the general fund. Smith/Welker 3-0 pass

REPORTS

MAYOR Woods presented Mayors Report. Town hall has been busy. He hired police officer Cameron Martin. Martin was present and was introduced. Stacy is not longer full time in the office, she is still coming in to help with training and additional tasks. We advertised her position and hired Antonio Tinacci as water/sewer clerk. We have been working on the details for the $1.5 million sidewalk grant. It is administrated by DOT. We have just completed the agreement that we will maintain the sidewalks and completed start up paperwork. We have met regarding the subdivision. The engineers are working on the stormwater portion of the review as well as a few other things to keep the project moving forward. Cold weather created problems at the lift station. Mike was there with propane heaters warming up the electronics and cycling pumps manually. He was able to keep everything running until it warmed up a little bit so we didn’t have a big mess out there. There were a few backups in town. We had some reports of frozen sewers. Mike has been working on those issues and we have had a couple of new connections as well.

PUBLIC WORKS Crew has been plowing and sanding, also cleaning up mud holes and snow piles. If you have a mud hole let them know at city hall.

FIRE DEPARTMENT 6 structure fires in 6 weeks and several car crashes. The fires were mainly caused by heating devices and chimney fires with one of them being suspicious. The Two Eagle School bus hit an elk. There were no kids on board yet.

POLICE Largent was unable to attend tonight. Police report not provided.

CLERK We will have a public hearing on zoning changes on February 28, 2024 at 6pm.

LIBRARY Library is looking for quotes for new siding on the library. They are looking at using metal siding.

ZONING COMLIANCE There have been several questions about lots in town, lot sizes and dividing lots.

PUBLIC COMMENT FOR EACH AGENDA ITEM WILL BE ALLOWED

NEW BUSINESS

OPEN CONTAINER REQUEST FOR BANDITOS WEEKEND map provided to council members with requested open container areas. Smith/Carr 3-0 pass

DOG PARK PROPOSAL Discussion on dog park location and proposed plan for the dog park. There was some question on funding for the dog park. Gray explained there is a parks and rec fund and there is a line item within the general fund for parks and rec. We would be using general fund money for this project unless additional funding can be obtained through grants. We may have fencing for part of the park. Motion to move forward with dog park proposal Smith/Carr 3-0 pass

MAIN STREET ONE-WAY TRAFFIC Welker stated that the people she has spoken with think it is a good idea to make Main Street one way. Breck Smith stated we could try it and if it doesn’t work we can go back to two way traffic. Geddes asked about wheel stops at the curbs, Woods stated we would not be putting them in at this time. Carr/Welker 2-1 pass Smith opposed

PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Keough- Concerns about dogs being at large. Dogs running at large are a concern to her for her safety and the safety of her seeing eye dog. Gray explained that the new cop would be tasked with addressing some of the dog issues we are having. Woods explained that some people don’t even like the friendly dogs. Mathew stated it is difficult to take his dog for a walk on leash because of uncontrolled dogs

Gray- shared that Chinese New Year parade would be Saturday at 3pm

Mathew-read a public apology to Mayor Woods and Gray for his behavior last year. He thanked them for allowing him to serve the community and for what they do for the community.

Whitsett asked how many officers we have. Woods stated we have 2 full time officers at this time.

Breck Smith asked about the dump and if it was in the Town’s control? Woods explained that we are currently waiting for the lawyers to work through the paperwork

and the lease. We are determining how much property we are actually going to lease. Woods stated we will need to go in and clean it up and make a level area for the trash containers. He also explained that the dump is a fee site. Currently there is a fee assessed on taxes for $160.00 per year.

Adjourn: Smith/Carr 3-0 pass 7:56 p.m.