By Michael Howell
The Stevensville Town Council voted 3 to 1 to change the night on which the Council meets from Thursday to Monday evenings. The change was made at the request of Fire Chief Jeff Motley to enable him to host fire training meetings at the fire hall on Thursday evenings. He said due to the noise level generated at the fire training sessions, there would be a conflict. It could take a month to go through the necessary process for making the changes.
The meeting day had been changed to Thursdays several years ago in order to increase public awareness of, and participation in, the decision making process for Stevensville town residents. The Bitterroot Star, which is delivered for free to every household within the town limits, is published on Wednesdays. The council meeting day was changed so that meeting notices as well as legal notices could be easily placed in the Star and published in time for the meetings.
The Council approved a change order on the existing contract for a water system improvement project funded by a grant from Rural Development. Although construction on the project is completed, the project is still in the warranty phase and this would allow for additional expenditures of left over funds that would otherwise have to be returned to RD. The change order would add an air compressor, an air filter and a damper to the project at a cost of $22,853.61.
The Council approved submittal of an application for a grant by the Stevensville Main Street Association to the Montana Transportation Alternatives Program for Lighting Phase II of the Stevensville Streetscape project. Concern was expressed by some about how the new lighting would affect the traditional Christmas light decorations that run across Main Street stretched between the current light fixtures. It was agreed to go ahead and apply for the grant and deal with those questions once the grant was awarded. There is no requirement to accept the grant if it is awarded.
The Council also decided to:
• approve a Special Event Permit for the Highland Games on March 25.
• approve accepting the Montana Board of Crime Control grant in the amount of $9,315.80 for Student Awareness and Education.
• approve including physical demand/work environment requirements to the Building Official position description.
• confirm the Mayor’s appointment of Officer Jessop as full time police officer
• modify the School Resource Officer contract with Stevensville School District