Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Page One News at a Glance

County examines Community Wildfire Protection Plan

Old garbage complicates Hamilton sewer project

Corvallis project gets CTEP funds

County will rewrite contract for purchase of Search and Rescue building

Commissioners rachet up payments for indigent burials

Clerk and Recorder seeks election judges

Lease renewed for Hamilton Golf Course

Twin culverts pose a hazard

County examines Community Wildfire Protection Plan

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners began a re-examination of the county’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) last week that may involve adoption of recently drafted maps that specifically outline the lands that lie within the designated Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) area in the county. The WUI is a defined zone where structures mingle with undeveloped wildland fire fuels.

The county’s CWPP was first drafted in 2003, but Senate Bill 131, passed in the last legislative session, requires counties to adopt official maps outlining the designated WUI area in each county by 2012. If a county has not adopted maps designating the WUI by 2012, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation will make the designation. Ravalli County is one of only 4 or 5 counties in the state that have not yet adopted such maps.

In 2003 Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) received a grant from the USDA Forest Service - State & Private Forestry to facilitate the development of a Community-based Wildland Fire Risk Mitigation Plan, or “Community Wildfire Protection Plan” as they have come to be called.

Diverse groups of valley residents met repeatedly during the winter of 2002-2003 to brainstorm and prioritize potential actions to address the most pressing issues that affect the valley's ability to reduce the risks associated with wildland fires. The strategy was a cooperative effort of volunteer fire chiefs, county officials, conservationists, community-based non-profit organizations, realtors, tourism and timber industry leaders, federal and state land managers, business people and interested residents.

Last Wednesday the Commissioners heard from Community Forester Byron Bonney that a draft map has been produced by Bitter Root RC&D showing the designated WUI area in Ravalli County. Bonney said that the criteria for identifying lands in the WUI have not changed over the last six years. It includes any lands where vegetative fuels pose a high risk to values, private property, the public, or to firefighters.

Bonney said that the line generally extends from one to one-and-a-half miles into the National Forest on the east and west sides of the valley. It generally extends across private land towards the valley floor as far as the vegetative fuels extend. This includes timberland as well as sagebrush-covered land, especially on the east side. Generally, irrigated farmland is not included. The County’s WUI lands cover about 266,000 acres of Forest Service land and about 396,000 acres of adjacent private lands. He said that RC&D worked with 13 local fire departments, the U.S. Forest Service and DNRC in ground checking the boundary line.

“It represents a good solid line indicating where treatment needs to take place,” he said.

Bonney said that one reason for the county to take the initiative in the mapping process was that it would be required for grant applications to the federal government and the state to do any fire protection treatments within the area. He said grants were available at a 50 percent match to do the vegetative treatments if they lie within the WUI. He said $2.6 million has already been granted for treatments on private land through the federal program since 2001.

The Commissioners took questions and comments from a roomful of people about the CWPP and the maps. Many expressed concerns about how the designation would affect property owners and the National Forest.

Loxie Faber said that she thought something so important should go before the voters. She said that firefighters face risks as a part of their business, that every fire represents a risk and she questioned the need for designated areas of risk.

Matt Kanenwisher, who has filed to run for County Commissioner in the next election, said, “I don’t have a problem with the assessment, but with the effect the assessment has.” He said the plan would effectively designate about 70 percent of the private land in the county as unsuitable for development.

Doug Soehren, a member of the county’s Resource Advisory Committee, said that vegetative fuels needed treatment in the area, but said that studies have shown that only the area immediately surrounding structures needed treatment. He cautioned about reaching too far into National Forest land as unnecessary for fire prevention related to structures.

Niki Sardot said that she was afraid that the designation of the WUI threatened to reduce property values. She recommended other alternatives such as wrapping structures in fireproof material.

Former Forest Supervisor Sonny LaSalle disagreed. He said that fuel reduction treatment was vital to protecting the WUI. He said that it would not reduce the value of properties in the area but increase the value as they become more fire resistant. He said that treatment of the National Forest land within the WUI was also essential to the overall effectiveness of the program.

LaSalle said that firefighter safety was a crucial consideration and that one way to endanger them was to ask them to defend a home that was not prepared.

“I’m asking you to view your land through the eyes of the firefighters who would come to save it,” said LaSalle. He said if one landowner does nothing to his land it affects his neighbors.

Vito Ciliberti, a local landowner and former BLM hydrologist, said that he knew how to take care of his land and he did not want the government telling him what he can and cannot cut on his property.

Longtime rancher Joann Hosko said that at the estimated cost of treating timbered land at $800 per acre the cost of treating her 800 acres was prohibitive even with a 50 percent match from the government.

Commissioner J.R. Iman said the county had a year and a half to figure this out.

“It affects a lot of things besides lines on a map,” said Iman. “There are insurance questions and effects on new home construction that need to be considered.” He thought the decision should be delayed.

The meeting was subsequently continued until April 5, at 9 a.m., when the commissioners will take the matter up again, giving the public and the commission more time to study the ramifications of adopting the maps.

The draft plans and maps may be viewed on the internet at www.bitterrootrcd.org. A copy is also available for viewing at the County Commissioners’ office at 215 S. 4th Street in Hamilton.

Bonney can be reached at one of the following: cell phone:

(406) 544-5126; e-mail: bitterrootrcd@cybernet1.com, or Bitter Root RC&D, 363-1444, ext. 5.

Old garbage complicates Hamilton sewer project

By Michael Howell

Discovery of old garbage and ashes from the City’s previous dumping and burning practices has complicated the City of Hamilton‘s Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase I project improvements. Public works director Keith Smith told the City Council members last Tuesday, February 16, that discovery of the old garbage and ashes under the compost bed sites raised a question about the adequacy of the ground for supporting the footings for the proposed roof to be constructed over the compost beds.

Smith said the layer of garbage and ashes in the area ranged from 6 to about 15 feet in thickness. He said that a Kalispell company had done some tests and determined that the piers needed to provide support for the columns that will support the roof would work. He said that it was still to be determined how many piers would be needed to support the foundation. He said an initial estimate of the cost to place the piers and redesign the footings could reach $125,000 to $145,000. A large chunk of that would be about $30,000 just to remove the garbage. He said a firm estimate of the costs was yet to come. He said that a special meeting might be required to deal with the situation to keep on the timeline for July completion.

Another unforeseen site condition at the compost bed project site was uncovered during the excavation process. That is the fact that the drainpipes for the four compost beds turned out not to be what was called for in the plans or in the ‘as built’ description. What was uncovered was an open topped pipe held together with steel bands. The system was installed in 1983. That system had filled in with sand, gravel and sludge and was clogged and did not meet DEQ requirements.

The council approved a $25,294 change of contract order with Dick Anderson Construction to pull out the old system and replace it with perforated PVC pipe wrapped in fabric and covered with sand for filtration.

The City Council also approved a consulting services agreement with Professional Consultants, Inc. to design the sidewalk improvements along the south side of State Street from 5th Street to 9th Street. It is a Safe Routes to School grant-funded project and is estimated to cost $18,508.

The Council also agreed to discontinue the lift station maintenance charges that have been charged homeowners in the Stonegate Meadows subdivision. When the subdivision was approved, homeowners agreed to pay a lift station maintenance fee to have their sewer lines pumped into the city sewer system. About 93 homeowners have been paying $8.15 per month each to pay for the lift station maintenance for several years.

But the homeowners were promised that the fees would be discontinued when the city sewer line was installed in the area. When the sewer line was installed, however, it was, perhaps mistakenly, placed about four feet above the Stonegate Meadows sewer line and still requires a lift station. The Council agreed that it was not the fault of the homeowners and agreed to discontinue the fees in April and absorb the cost of operating the lift station into the overall sewer system.

Following a closed session on personnel matters, the Council voted unanimously to follow Mayor Jerry Steele’s recommendation to terminate the position of City Police Detective Nick Painter as of February 11 and pay his vacation time of $22,016.99 and sick leave of $1,082.13. No reason was given for Painter’s termination.

In other business the Council:

- approved a Resolution of Intent to adopt a Transportation Plan. A public hearing on adoption of the plan is scheduled for March 2, 2010.

- appointed Dirk Beyer to the Police Commission for a term ending May 2013.

- appointed Velda Vial to the Parks Board for a term ending February 2012.

- appointed Dorinda Troutman as an ex-officio member of the Parks Board for a term ending February 2011.

- appointed Corey Johnson to the Zoning Commission for a term ending January 2011.

Corvallis project gets CTEP funds

The Ravalli County Commissioners agreed to award $112,000 in CTEP funds for a scaled back project to construct a pedestrian walkway along the Eastside Highway adjacent to the Corvallis School District property.

The project was originally proposed by the Corvallis Civic Club but the School District soon jumped on board. The school district has agreed to help maintain the improvements including the plowing of snow off the walkway. The original proposal included some improvements in the area of the Corvallis Merc at an estimated total cost of $250,000. But the improvements around the Merc were dropped from the project and the trail changed from a concrete walkway to asphalt in an effort to reduce the amount of funds needed down to $112,000. It would require about $14,000 to $15,000 in matching funds to meet the total estimated cost of the project of about $126,000.

Tonia Bloom of the Corvallis Civic Club said that their project proposal was scaled back in response to the recent request by the Stevensville Main Street Association for a Main Street improvement project in that town. The Stevensville project was also scaled back from its original extent to a more modest three-block improvement project that is estimated to cost about $500,000. Both projects were scaled back to allow funding of both projects from the limited monies currently available in the county’s CTEP fund. The county’s CTEP fund currently holds about $461,000. Another $189,000 is expected in July.

The Stevensville request has not yet been approved.

County will rewrite contract for purchase of Search and Rescue building

By Michael Howell

When the County Commissioners recently approved up to $600,000 for the purchase of a building on the north end of Hamilton for use by Ravalli County Search and Rescue (RCSR), members of the RCSR Board of Directors thought it meant that they had authorization to purchase the building and they moved ahead. A deal was negotiated and a buy-sell agreement was signed by that board with the seller, Farmers State Bank. But Deputy County Attorney Dan Browder told the Commissioners on Friday, February 19, that he thought it was a bum deal.

First off, Browder told the Commissioners that RCSR had no authority to purchase property for the County. He said that the County Commissioners were the only parties that the law allows to purchase property for the county and that they would have to sign the buy-sell agreement. He also noted that he had several other problems concerning the document and suggested that he draw up a new agreement once the current one, signed by RCSR, was voided according to a contingency provision in that contract itself.

Problems he saw with the current buy-sell agreement, a form contract devised by the Board of Realtors, included time frames that were too short and a provision allowing the appraisal of the building to potentially be made by a broker rather than a qualified appraiser as the law requires. He also objected to a provision for attorney’s fees in the current document and other problematic provisions.

Commissioner J.R. Iman, who works as a realtor, said that the Board of Realtors had spent a lot of time and money devising the form document and that it should be used, with a few changes perhaps, as the foundation for a new contract between the County and the buyer.

Browder disagreed, stating that he believed a stand-alone document rather than a realtor’s form contract would better protect the county’s interests.

The Commission voted unanimously to void the buy-sell agreement between the RCSR and the seller and then directed Browder to devise a new agreement.

Vice-President of the Board for RCSR, Mark Butler, said the building to be purchased was the green building with the large smoke stack located north of the Riverside Conoco station at the north end of town on Highway 93. Butler said the 6,000 square foot building would allow for parking all the RCSR trailers and vehicles indoors and double the meeting space they had in their old quarters located along Fairgrounds Road. That building was significantly damaged recently by a car crash following a shoot out between the driver of the vehicle and a Hamilton police officer.

Commissioners rachet up payments for indigent burials

By Michael Howell

The county has had a longstanding contract with the valley’s funeral homes to provide funds for indigent burials. But that contract has not been honored for a long time.

The original contract, still on the books, authorized three options with varying amounts to be paid by the county. It describes a traditional funeral with a casket and burial at a cost of $1450 to the county, cremation with services at a cost of $1,170, and a direct cremation option for $798.

In fact, however, for years now the county has, by resolution, only been paying for direct cremations at a cost of $798. To qualify for this assistance the decedent or his/her family can have no assets or visible source of income.

Funeral directors from Daly Leach funeral home, Tom Grymes and Bill Rothie, and Ron Brothers from Brothers Mortuary, who also serves on the state Board, told the Commissioners that they were having to eat a little too much of the cost of indigent burials as costs have risen over the years and also were placed in a more costly predicament when the family of the deceased refused to sign off on cremation. A deceased person cannot be cremated without the authorization of the family. They said that a new law recently passed theoretically relieves them of liability in these cases, but that it would not really resolve their concerns until tested and upheld in court.

The funeral directors requested that the Commissioners consider raising the amount of county funds for each indigent burial to $1,300 from the current $798. They said that this way the cost to the funeral homes could be averaged out between the cremations and the occasional burials that had to be performed for one reason or another.

“I’m in favor of minimal disposal,” said Commissioner J.R. Iman. “They’re gone and you’ve got to do something.”

The Commissioners unanimously agreed to set the indigent burial payment at $1,300.

Clerk and Recorder seeks election judges

Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg has announced two days of training sessions for anyone interested in serving as an election judge at any of the county’s 18 voting precincts over the next two years.

Election judges can be from any recognized political party and are paid a minimum wage for the time they actually work. Chief Judges are paid a bit more, she said. Those taking the election judge training courses are not obligated to work as judges at the polls and the certification is good for two years. The training sessions last about 2 and half hours but the work on election days may last from 12 to 14 hours.

The training sessions are scheduled to take place at the First Interstate Building at the County Fairgrounds. The first session for precincts in the Hamilton, Charlos, Victor, Pinesdale and Corvallis voting districts is set for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17. The second session for the Sula, Conner, Darby, Florence, Lone Rock and Stevensville voting districts is set for Thursday, March 18 at 10 a.m.

“This is really good for politically minded people who want to get involved in the process,” said Plettenberg.

Anyone with questions may contact Plettenberg at 375-6555.

Lease renewed for Hamilton Golf Course

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners decided last Friday, February 19, to renew the lease agreement with the Hamilton Golf Course, Inc. A ten-year lease agreement with the non-profit organization is set to expire this summer. The Commissioners agreed on a 4 to 1 vote to renew the lease subject to approval of the new agreement by the County Attorney’s office. Discussion of the lease included a lengthy discussion of the complaints registered by adjacent landowners Dave and Kathy Brady. Commissioner Jim Rokosch cast the lone dissenting vote primarily due to the safety issues raised by the Bradys.

The Hamilton Golf Course has been around for a long time. President of the organization Randy Kearns recited the history of the golf course for the Commissioners. It started back in 1936, according to Kearns, when Margaret Daly transferred 80 acres to the golf club. A nine-hole course was constructed and run as a private membership club for about 41 years.

Then, in 1977, the club got a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to purchase adjoining land to expand into an 18-hole course. Award of the grant was conditioned upon the land being owned by the local government, however. So all the land was deeded over to Ravalli County and the club became a public non-profit organization in 1978. A few acres of adjoining land were added to the course in 2006 at the cost of six lifetime memberships to the family who owned the land.

The club is responsible for all the costs of operating and maintaining the golf course on the county land. Kearns said that the club spends approximately $600,000 a year on the operation and maintenance of the course.

The existing lease calls for 3 percent of the net profits to go back to the county. But there is a clause that allows the club to keep that 3 percent if it goes into a reserve fund for future capital expenditures. The club has made a net profit in only about three years of its operation; that profit ranged from about $6,000 to as much as $86,600. But the club has a long list of capital projects and has not returned any money to the county. Those looming projects include expansion of the parking lot and eventual replacement of the irrigation system, costs that could total over a $1 million. They are also planning to purchase about 30 new golf carts at the cost of about $123,000 in the coming year.

New neighbors to the golf course, the Bradys, showed up at the meeting with a box full of golf balls that landed on their property the previous day. The couple lives adjacent to tee on the 18th hole. They recently bought the home last March and claim to have been unaware of the problems associated with the property’s proximity to the course.

“We don’t mind a couple of balls,” said Mrs. Brady, “but what we have is life threatening.” She said that she has to wear a helmet when she mows the lawn, that balls hit and damage the house, having broken at least two windows. She said that they cannot park in their driveway but have to park at the front of the house and that they cannot have their grandchildren over to play in the yard.

“We have no enjoyment of our property. It’s a bad situation,” she said.

The Bradys have constructed a 14-foot tall fence, but balls continue to come over the fence.

The Bradys have proposed that the Golf Course re-design the 18th hole to alleviate the situation.

That option would be almost prohibitively expensive, according to Kearns. It cost them close to $80,000 to redesign the 8th hole a few years ago. He also said that longstanding court rulings have established that if the golf course existed before a home was built, the problems lie with the homeowner. He said in this case the home was a spec home that did not sell because it had issues. He said that the problem extends along the fairway to other lots in the subdivision that have not been built on yet. He read to the commissioners a letter submitted to them when they were considering approval of the subdivision describing the potential problems. He said that no action was taken by the commissioners in their approval of the subdivision to address the problem at that time.

Kearns did say that the club was willing to try and help the couple address their problem.

Commissioner Rokosch suggested that the club consider shutting down the 18th hole until a resolution could be agreed upon. He said that renewing the lease was premature.

“If the government has any role it is to protect the safety of the citizens,” said Rokosch. He said that the problem needed to be addressed since serious injury or even death could occur.

Other commissioners felt that the Bradys’ problems were not part of the lease renewal decision and should be left to the homeowners and the golf club to resolve. The new lease was approved pending legal review.

Twin culverts pose a hazard

By Michael Howell

The twin culverts pictured look relatively benign as the low flows of the Supply Ditch pass through them under East Second Street in Stevensville. But come March 15, when the irrigation season legally begins, things could change drastically, according to a letter recently sent to the Ravalli County Road and Bridge Department by Hans McPherson, President of the Supply Ditch Association.

McPherson states that debris floating downstream regularly gets lodged between the culverts creating a dam which quickly backs the water up flooding the road and surrounding private property.

“Please consider this letter as formal notice of the hazardous condition,” writes McPherson, “and a request that it be rectified as soon as possible before the next irrigation season…”

He states that a simple remedy would be to replace the two culverts with one large one.

Ownership of the road became disputed during the annexation and approval of the Creekside Meadows Subdivision several years ago. The original subdivision plans called for using East Second Street as a connecting road into town. But some of the landowners along East Second Street protested claiming that the road was never adopted by the Town.

Former Mayor of Stevensville and County Road Foreman Bill Meisner said it was determined at the time that the first three tenths of a mile of the road was adopted by the county. That stretch ends at the Supply Ditch and, according to Meisner, the road from there to the subdivision was never officially adopted and was a private road used to access the last house along the road. That property owner has now deeded that private section to the other private landowners along the lane.

County Road and Bridge Supervisor David Ohnstad said that the county was aware of the situation and has removed debris from the culverts in the past and will continue to do so when needed. As far as replacing the twin culverts with one large one, according to Ohnstad. there is a long waiting list for corrective actions such as this in many places up and down the valley.

“We have been replacing culverts in the county as we have the resources to do it,” said Ohnstad. He said his department will be keeping an eye on the East Second Street situation as they are on many similar situations and will remedy them in order of the highest priority.