By Michael Howell
At the July 25 meeting of the Stevensville Town Council, Mike Halvorson of M&M Auto and Trailer officially donated a vehicle to the Stevensville Police Department. He recently purchased the 2005 Ford Crown Victoria that was used by the Missoula Police Department with the intentions of giving it to a friend. Unfortunately, that friend died about a month ago, leaving Halvorson with the vehicle.
According to Halvorson, Police Chief James Marble, whose office has been in need of a good vehicle, got wind of the situation and indicated that he might try to purchase it for the department. He thought the car would be a good buy with only 72,000 miles on it.
“He offered to purchase the car, but not on my watch,” said Halvorson. Halvorson said that the town should be proud of having a police chief with such integrity and honor as James Marble. He said that when he saw some trouble in the community and let Chief Marble know, “He came to me and we got action.”
“The Chief took the ball and ran with it,” said Halvorson.
Halvorson said that the donation was being made in the memory of his deceased friend and other veterans in the community. He also donated the use of a raft trailer to the town’s Fire Department for emergency use on a year-by-year basis. Halvorson said that he believed his donations were “going to make a difference” in the community. He said that he was also donating 10,000 sheets of construction paper to be used by pre-schoolers and home-schoolers and children with autism.
In the first order of business at the meeting the council disagreed about approval of the minutes from the last meeting.
Councilor Robin Holcomb moved to approve the minutes as submitted. But Councilor Desera Towle said that she wanted to amend the minutes to include a record of the fact that she was on an excused absence at the time and that the Mayor had read a letter from her in support of the Bitterroot Star regarding publication of notices.
Councilor Pat Groninger objected. He said that Towle was not at the meeting and that under Robert’s Rules of Order, reading a letter from her was not acceptable.
“She was not here,” he said. He called for a vote on the original motion to approve the minutes as submitted. Towle was not included in the vote since she was not at the meeting. Holcomb voted in support of her motion, but Councilors Dan Mullan and Pat Groninger both voted against it.
When that motion failed on a 1 to 2 vote, Holcomb made a new motion to approve the minutes as amended at the request of Towle. Holcomb and Mullan voted to approve the amended motion, but Groninger dissented. The amended minutes were approved on a 2 to 1 vote.
In other business the Town Council approved a change order in the construction contract for the Sewer Improvement Project to the tune of $66,000. Although the Mayor has been given authority to sign change orders that remain within budget, it was decided to give the Council a heads up first, due to the large amount of money involved.
Craig Caprara of HDR explained that the change involved improvements in the automatic control systems that were already identified as needed improvements in the next phase of work at the plant. He said it made sense to do it now with money already budgeted in contingency funds for change orders such as this. He said that fund currently held about $172,000 which would leave over a hundred thousand dollars for future contingencies.
The Council also heard from Julie Foster of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority about the sewer line improvements planned for the Tax Increment Financing District established east of town that would bring town sewer services to Selway Corporation and other properties within the district. The overall cost of the improvements is estimated at $922,000. It would be paid for through a CDBG grant and a loan from the Montana Board of Investments and monies collected as part of the tax district. She asked the Council for preliminary approval to proceed with the grant and loan applications and, in the meantime, to grant an extension for Selway to continue the use of the old sewer line. The current extension expired in June.
The Council agreed to an extension of the sewer provisions to Selway and for RCEDA to move forward with work on the grant and loan package.
The council agreed unanimously to allow a budget transfer in the Fire Department removing about $10,000 from line items and placing it in savings to be carried over into the next year’s budget.
Both Councilor Mullan and Councilor Groninger complained about items related to the water and sewer projects being left off the agenda.
Mullan said the Town had a lot on its plate and needed to have items placed on the agenda in a timely manner.
Groninger said, ”The system we have is not working whatsoever. We need to have better documentation. Things that we ask to have on the agenda we need to have put on the agenda.”
“O.K. You’ve beat that horse to death,” Mayor Lew Barnett shot back in an angry tone.
Grononger said that the system needed to be fixed soon.
Groninger also asked about the cutting down of the large elm trees on Park Street in front of the school. He said that they were located on town property and belonged to the town. He wondered who gave permission for them to be cut down and removed.
Street Supervisor Ed Sutherlin said that he was consulted and shown the design for the new parking lot. He said the trees did not fit in with the planned improvements. He said that he assessed them and that their health was not that good and for all those reasons he gave them permission to remove the trees.
Police Chief James Marble said that plans were being made to interview the 18 applicants for the full time position that was advertised.
The Council also agreed to pay Utility Clerk Denise Philley $256 in back pay to the time that she received certification and should have received a pay raise. The Mayor was going to check into whether or not the volunteers who worked in the office while the clerks were at school could be paid $305 and $222 respectively even though they volunteered their services at the time.
Councilor Mullan noted that the committee screening the five applicants for the job of the town’s water right attorney had all arrived independently at the same selection of Garlington, Lhon and Robinson out of Missoula.