Minutes town council meeting May 6, 2025

Meeting was held at Hot Springs town hall 109 Main St. Hot Springs Mt 59845

meeting was also held via zoom

Call to order at 7:00 PM by Mayor Woods

Roll call- Susan Welker, Leslee Smith, Ed Weatherly, Jennifer Carr, Randy Woods, Amy Gray

Also present- Paul Stelter, Scott and Ladonna Volmer, Phil Harris, Michele Bangen, Eric Larson, Lindy Larson, Tony Tinacci, Stephen Sheffield and Mary Whitsett, Starla Rice, Shana Camenzind

Minutes- Smith/Carr 4-0

Claims- Smith/Weatherly 4-0 pass

Financials- Smith/Weatherly 4-0 pass

REPORTS

Mayor Woods reported He met with Mike Dolson from the tribe and discussed the possible location for the skate park and what it would entail to put the skate park in

Public Works has been busy with some sewer problems. They had to dig up Spring Street to replace a sewer line, they’ve also been working on other connections around town. It is common to see sewer issues in the springtime oftentimes caused by tree roots in the old clay pipes. There’s a new house going in on 3rd Ave. NE with new water sewer connections. They’ve also been fixing some potholes and cleaning up the streets. Hopefully it warms up soon and they will be able to start painting the streets. We are still looking into culverts talking to the tribe and the county.

Fire department has had a busy month with a few structure fire calls that fortunately ended up not being structure fires. There’s also been a couple of car wrecks. We’re still working on upgrading fire trucks in conjunction with the rural fire department. Fire and ambulance have been doing a lot of training. Mayor Woods explained the importance of calling 911 for a fire or ambulance emergency instead of calling City Hall or the Mayor directly. Woods also explained there had been a problem with a sewer line in town and the owner of the property had called his business and left a voice message, he had been out of town for a week and didn’t get the message . The property owner was upset because the sewer problem had gone on for several days. They never did contact city hall. Woods explained they needed to contact City Hall instead of him directly and that everyone needs to know they need to call City Hall for town issues so that they can be addressed by the proper department in a timely manner. Woods also explain the importance of as builds

being given to the town whenever water or sewer lines are placed on private property. We have people who come in asking about the sewer lines on the property and the town has no way of answering those questions if people don’t provide the information to the town.

Police report presented by Chief Larson. Chief Larsen explained this will be his first homesteaders as Hot Springs chief of police. He asked that people contact him regarding anything that has been concerning in the past or anything they’d like to see done differently. Larson also discussed the problems with vehicles in town right of way , and explained that the police would be taking a more proactive stance on tagging and removing vehicles illegally stored or parked in the right of way. Gray spoke up explaining that two of the officers had gone to training for intoxilyzer and DUIs.

Clerk- Gray Reported it’s time to start looking at the budget. She’ll be sending out some blank budget forms with previous year actuals to the council members and we will be looking to schedule a preliminary budget hearing soon.

Library report presented by Starla Rice

Zoning compliance Woods has been talking to people about some fences, another guy who wants to change some lot lines and put in tiny houses. He also explained we’ve been dealing with someone concerned about a survey that showed a garage to be a foot on town property, they were asking about a variance and given information how to go about getting that done.

NEW BUSINESS

Homesteaders days open container and Street closure- Michele Bangen presented information to the council regarding the events going on during homesteaders. She presented a map showing where the vendors would be and asked for street closures the same as previous years Main Street from Spring Street to Wall Street, one block North and South on Arlee Friday at 2pm until Sunday afternoon, and different from last year she was asking for Wall Street to be closed from Main Street to Central Just during the hours of nine to noon on Saturday so that the farmers market could set up at that end. Open container rules would be the same with bar owners responsible for cleanup and no glass bottles and no straws. There was also discussion about a bar catering at the sassy saddle property which would have to follow the same rules. Gray explained there was a caterer form that would need to be filled out and presented to the town and she would e-mail that to Michele so she had it. The narcotics anonymous group that comes to town every year will also be here the same weekend as homesteaders. Smith explained they would be set up at the Symes and had several workshops scheduled during that time. Welker/Weatherly 4-0 pass

Alameda’s replacement well- woods explained there’s an ordinance that does not allow new wells to be drilled in town without consent of the council. Woods read a letter from Chris the owner of Alamedas, explaining the need for the new well to replace the existing well that is no longer functioning properly. Phil Harris was present and answered questions for the council regarding the flow of the well and which well was being replaced. Smith expressed the importance that we maintain all the hot water wells in town and that she was in support of allowing the replacement well to be drilled. Smith/Welker 4-0 pass

Hot Springs Police Department IDI Program- officer Visintin submitted a document explaining the need for the program and the cost of the program. Chief Larson and Mayor Woods explained the benefits the program provides to the department including investigation tools, background checks, and criminal information. This is a contract which requires council approval. The cost is $125.00 per month. Smith/Welker 4-0 pass

Skate park-Mayor Woods explained that Mike Dolson from the tribe had intended on being present at this meeting . A map was pulled up and Woods showed where the skate park would be on city property. Central Ave. continues to run East through the park down to school property however it’s not developed as a street. This would be the location for the skate park. The idea for the skate park is to make it an urban skate park, the property would likely be leased to the tribe so that it would be the tribes responsibility for maintenance and upkeep as well as insurance. Woods explain a possible need for an MOU or 99 year lease, depending on what the tribe presented. This was discussion only no action taken.

Non agenda items

Woods called for any public comment on non agenda items

Scott Vollmer asked why one string of Christmas lights was still on when the rest were off. Weatherly explained they had flipped the breaker to turn them off that it must have gotten turned back on and he would look into it next week.

Scott Vollmer also questioned whether or not the town had sprayed pesticides or weed killer in the alley behind their house. There was a stretch of dead weeds and grass and he was wondering if the town had done that. Woods explained that the town did not

Woods asked if there was any other public comment, there was none.

Adjourn Smith/Welker 4-0 pass 7:55 PM