The City of Hamilton recently approved an amendment to the zoning regulations that will prohibit keeping alligators, crocodiles, venomous snakes (rattlesnakes in particular), piranhas, and roosters within the city limits. It also prohibits keeping livestock in town. It does allow some domestic animals to be kept such as dogs, cats, birds and reptiles. This would include animals such as rabbits, ferrets, chickens (but not roosters), fish (but not piranhas). The regulation, although allowing reptiles, also specifically excludes rattlesnakes and other venomous snakes, alligators and crocodiles.

Councilor DeAnne Harbaugh, who introduced the motion, said that it was recently discovered, when someone was trying to keep horses on their property in town, that the zoning ordinance prohibiting livestock in the city limits had been left out when the city's zoning regulations were revamped. As a result the council adopted an emergency ordinance prohibiting livestock. The resolution under consideration was designed to address that oversight.

In the public comment portion of the hearing, Hamilton resident Jim Olsen suggested that the regulation should contain a process allowing for a special use permit for those people who "don't fit the formula." Councilor Mike LaSalle later endorsed the notion of a process for applying for a special use permit, and sponsor of the motion Councilor Harbaugh agreed to amend it to allow for a special use permit process.

The motion to adopt the amendment was unanimously approved on first reading with the proviso that it go to committee to undergo the recommended changes adding a special use permit process to the regulation prior to second reading.

Although it was believed at the time that this was the first vote in a public process requiring two readings, it was later decided, according to City Clerk Rose Allen on Monday, that because it was simply a Resolution it really only requires one vote. She said that the Mayor was considering placing the matter on the next agenda, however, because addition of a special use permit process to the regulation constitutes a significant change and should be considered by the entire council for approval.

In other business at its September 4 meeting the Hamilton City Council:

• created Lighting District 16 - City Administrator Steve Green told the council that this was a Lighting District that should have been established as part of the conditions of approval in the Arbors Subdivision that was approved about two years ago. Creation of the levy to allow collection of taxes for funding the lighting district was approved unanimously by the council.

• approved a levy for Special Improvement District 21 - The council unanimously approved a levy for SID 21 to pay for improvements to the road system in an area that includes Arbors subdivision, Paddocks subdivision and the Hamilton School District property. Councilor Bob Scott, although voting for the measure, noted that early on the advantages of expanding the SID area to include Fairgrounds Road and Marcus Street was considered.

"We have missed an opportunity to spread the bond costs over a much larger number of property owners. We have missed the opportunity for sidewalk and road improvements on Fairgrounds and Marcus and that will come back to haunt us," said Scott. He said that the sidewalk and road improvements in the district need to be extended to Fairgrounds and Marcus, and would be in the future, "but the Arbors subdivision will have escaped all costs."

• awarded a bid to Green Diamond Excavating for DeSmet St. Project - Councilor Jerry Steele first moved that the bids for work on the DeSmet Street Project not go to the low bidder Green Diamond Excavating, of Florence. After being reminded by the Mayor that negative motions are not acceptable, Steele changed his motion to accept the second lowest bid from Western Excavation out of Missoula.

A preliminary engineering report estimated the cost of improvements at about $188,550. Green Diamond Excavating entered the low bid of $189,359.54. Western Excavating was next with a bid of $250,000. The rest of the bids increased in value by about $10,000 increments up to a high bid of just over $240,000.

"Due to our experience with the low bidder," said Steele, "I would not recommend him to do any more work for the city. Period. We've had a major fiasco on Fairgrounds Road, along with a sewer pipe problem and I don't feel like we want to work with this company."

City Administrator Steve Green mentioned that the matter of Fairgrounds Road had gone into arbitration and it had been determined that Green Diamond Excavating shared responsibility with PCI for those problems. He suggested that, since Green Diamond had already been given a contract for another project in the meantime, a precedent had been set and it would not be acceptable to go back now and change direction after that settlement.

Commissioners LaSalle and Scott agreed that a precedent may have been set in the subsequent hiring of Green Diamond on another project and it could lead to legal problems if Green Diamond was denied this bid. Councilor Scott agreed with La Salle that a precedent may have been set. The matter was tabled to investigate whether the council must accept the lowest bid.

It was reported later in the meeting that the law states that the council must take the lowest "responsible" bid. The council by law needs to consider more than the economic costs. They must also consider the bidder's financial ability to perform, whether his company has the skills, judgment, experience, and resources to do the job, and whether it has the staff and facilities to accomplish the work as well as a demonstrated ability to perform the work.

Scott suggested that because of the precedent that had been set by hiring Green Diamond Excavating for another job since the problem job, that it might be better to not award a bid and issue new bidding advertisements that could be framed in a way to preclude Green Diamond.

Steele said that he would withdraw his motion to approve the second lowest bid in favor of a motion to put the bids out again.

LaSalle said that it did not address the problem of the precedent that had been set and he moved to award the contract to Green Diamond Excavating. Steele and Harbaugh voted against the motion but it passed on a 4 to 2 vote.

• approved a single family residential zone - Despite a request from property owners Shawn and Terry Moulding to zone their property residential multi-family residential (RM), the Council unanimously voted to zone it single-family residential (RS) following the recommendations of the Planning and Zoning Committee.

A neighbor complained that multi-family dwelling units in the area would degrade the neighborhood which was basically a single-family resident area. County Commissioner Kathleen Driscoll, who owns property in the area, agreed, saying that multi-family designation would add to the congestion in the area that was creating a an "explosive activity area" that the police department was not equipped to handle.

Hamilton resident Jim Olsen said that the council needed to "take the bull by the horns and decide what is acceptable behavior between neighbors instead of trying to deal with it by limiting housing options in an area."

The motion to zone the area for single family residential passed unanimously.

• approved creation of a Lieutenant position in the City Police Department - Police Chief Ryan Oster told the council that his Department needed to reorganize its structure by creating a Lieutenant position that would take the pressure off the Patrol Sergeant who had been taking on increasing duties over the years. He asked the Council to approve a Lieutenant job description at a pay of $20 to $25 per hour.

Oster said that the process of hiring police officers over the years had become more difficult and more time consuming. As more and more duties were piled upon the Patrol Sergeant he was less and less able to perform his number one duty of supervising patrol officers in the field.

Councilor Scott stated that putting money into a new position would mean less money for other things like benefits for the officers.

Oster countered that the possibility of upward movement within the department was also a very positive point. He said it was a reasonable wage for a job that needs to be done.

The Council unanimously approved the new job description and wage scale.

• referred a Tree Ordinance to committee - Councilor Harbaugh, who emphasized that the development of this tree ordinance, designed to control vegetation in the city's rights-of-way along the streets and boulevards in town, has been in the works for a year and eight months, urged her fellow councilors to approve the measure. She said that the ordinance draft had received input from many citizens' groups and professionals and had been reviewed by the City Attorney. She recommended adoption of the Ordinance with the City Attorney's recommended revisions which were mostly technical and grammatical in nature.

Harbaugh noted that no enforcement penalties had been included, but she said they had been considered. She said that current city ordinances already provide that a violation of any city code that does not contain a designated penalty shall be enforceable by a fine of not less than $5 and not more than $500 and jail time of not less than 1 day and not more than 6 months. She said that the Tree Ordinance would be covered by that general enforcement regulation. She also recommended following some nationally adopted standards for "tree topping" in the regulations.

Councilor Steele quickly moved to refer the motion to the Public Works Committee and the Parks and Recreation Committee for consideration of the additions suggested by Harbaugh as well as consideration of adding language referring to the "clear view triangle" concept of management of intersections.

Councilors Scott and Harbaugh argued that the ordinance could be passed on first reading that evening and then fine tuned in committee, making minor changes before second reading. They urged the council to "get on with it."

"We have been at this for a year and eight months," Harbaugh reiterated. "This is America. The Public Works Committee could have put this on its agenda at any time. I would like to have this passed tonight."

It didn't happen.

Councilor Steele said that the ordinance gives the City the responsibility for care and management of the vegetation in the boulevards, rights-of-way, alleys, or parking strips abutting private property and that the abutting property owners are responsible for normal lawn maintenance, mowing and removing debris, and regular watering.

"How much is this going to cost the City to take care of all those trees? We need to know that," said Steele.

Councilors Steele, LaSalle, and Hendricks voted to refer the issue to the Public Works and Parks and Recreation Committees. Commissioners Harbaugh, Scott and Sutherland voted against it. Mayor Jessica Randazzo broke the 3 to 3 tie by voting to approve the referral to committee, without further comment.

West Nile Virus infects a human, a horse and a moose in Ravalli County

By Michael Howell

According to officials at the Ravalli County Department of Public Health and Human Services, the first case in the county this summer of a horse infected with West Nile Virus was reported last week by Dr. Brett Bender. The horse had not been immunized. Earlier this summer a human case of the virus was also reported in the county as was one of the few ever substantiated reports of a moose being infected by the disease.

The website for the State Department of Health and Human Services states that, as of September 10, 2007, there have been 100 cases of West Nile Virus in humans in the state in 2007. The cases appear to begin around mid-July and peak in late August and early September. That is because the disease is transmitted by mosquitoes, especially a breed that peaks in that late summer time period. The first heavy frost ends the mosquito season and the cases of virus transmission rapidly dwindle.

Out of the 100 human cases recorded in Montana this year, 70 showed signs of fever and 30 showed more serious symptoms of encephalitis and meningitis that can accompany the disease. Scientists say that 80 percent of the people that are infected with the West Nile Virus do not suffer any symptoms and the disease may go completely undetected in them.

The disease first appeared in the western hemisphere in 1999. It has since rapidly spread through 48 states, seven Canadian Provinces, and most of Mexico. Over 15,000 people have tested positive for West Nile Virus in the United States since 1999. Over 500 of them died.

West Nile Virus was first detected in Montana in 2002. Two human cases were recorded that year. In 2003 this total jumped to 228 cases throughout the state including four people that died that year. This year four people have died in the state but the total number of recorded human infections is only 50, half what it was in 2003. For some reason, after the bumper year of 2003, recorded infections in humans in Montana dropped to six in 2004, climbed to 25 in 2005 and to 34 in 2006. Of the 50 people infected so far this year in the state, two thirds have shown signs of the more serious symptoms of encephalitis or meningitis.

With only three infections recorded in the Ravalli County this year, one each in a horse, a moose, and a person, the county is low on the list of infections. The counties suffering the most infections this year are Roosevelt and Valley County with 13 human cases each. Yellowstone County is next with eight.

The disease is here and, officials stress, it is probably here to stay. The best way to deal with the virus is to take precautionary measures against being exposed to mosquito bites. Use of repellent is recommended as well as wearing appropriate apparel, with long sleeves. Avoid going to areas with high mosquito numbers at the times of peak activity such as dawn and dusk. Install and repair screens around the home. Reduce mosquito breeding sites wherever possible, such as water standing in pots and other containers such as old tires and bird and stock waterers.

Symptoms of West Nile Virus include fever, headache, fatigue and, occasionally, a skin rash on the trunk of the body, swollen lymph glands and eye pain may occur. When the central nervous system is affected, clinical syndromes ranging from febrile headache, to aseptic meningitis, to encephalitis may occur.

There is no specific treatment for West Nile Virus. In cases with milder symptoms, people experience symptoms such as fever and aches that pass on their own, although even healthy people have been sick for several weeks. In more severe cases, people usually need to go to a hospital where they can receive supportive treatment including intravenous fluids, help with breathing and nursing care. The incubation period for West Nile Virus is three to 14 days.

Page One •	Valley News •	Op/Ed •	Sports •	Calendar •	Classifieds •	Links •	About Us •	Back Issues •	Email Us •	Home
©2006 Bitterroot Star This site was Done By Dooney