EKALAKA TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES

Special Meeting

Town Office: Thursday, July 20, 2023 @1:00pm

A. Call Meeting to Order @5:03pm

a. Roll Call Council: Libby Barth, Andy Wright, Rex McCord

b. Employees Present

c. Appointed Officials Present: Buck Kratzer, Kamely Harkins

B. Pledge of Allegiance

C. Public Comment

D. Unfinished Business

a. 5-pm Larson property management

i. Shay has submitted a bid for $3,000 to remove homes and take to old city dump to burn. Buck will assist.

ii. Libby moved to accept Shay Beyer’s bid of $3,000 for this removal project, Andy seconded – motion passed.

E. New Business

a. Zoning:

i. A. Laughery: Well

ii. B. Higgins: Trailer

iii. C. Ekalaka Public Schools: Single Wide Mobile

iv. Andy moved to approve all zoning permits as presented, Libby seconded – motion passed.

b. 1-pm Work session with the Town Council and Lawyer

i. Reschedule to Thursday – suggest a Thursday and evening session.

c. Quotes for meters

i. Libby moved to approve quote from Ferguson Waterworks for $3010.72 to repair the two meters for the town wells. Andy seconded – Discussion: Elston will install – motion passed.

d. Quotes for BMS for cloud

i. Andy moved to approve quote from Black Mountain Software for $700 (annual) to allow software upgrade to cloud services. Rex seconded – Discussion: this allows Kamely to work remotely, if needed. – motion passed.

e. Quotes for Xylem

i. Andy moved to approve purchase from Xylem Water Solutions for $796.00 to replace lamp parts for Town’s UV System. Libby seconded – motion passed.

f. A/C at the Treatment Plant

i. Due to weather, the fan continually breaks on the A/C unit.

ii. Dicks heating and Cooling presented two options:

1. $3,465 to fix and move the system to avoid the fan breaking in future.

2. $6,800 for a new system all together.

iii. Andy moved to fix and move the A/C unit, Libby seconded – motion passed.

F. Next meeting: August 2nd, 2023 @5:00pm

G. Adjourn

a. Libby moved to adjourn at 5:38 pm, Andy seconded, motion passed.

Minutes submitted by Kamely Harkins & approved by Buck Kratzer

Town Office: August 2nd

a) Call Meeting to Order @ 5:00 pm

a. Roll Call Council Melissa Lovec, Andy Wright, Rex McCord, Libby absent

b. Employees Present None present.

c. Appointed Officials Present Buck Kratzer, Kamely Harkins

b) Pledge of Allegiance

c) Public Comment No Public comment

d) Minutes from last meeting(s): read, correct July 5th minutes and July 20th Special Meeting. Andy moved to approve minutes from July 5th and Special Meeting July 20th, Rex seconded- no discussion- Motion passed.

e) Claims Approval Melissa moved to approve Claims of the amount $7397.77- Andy seconded – no discussion motion passed.

f) Reports of Officers:

a. Public Works Director- Reported the water system is back online, we’re still waiting for meters to fix 2 of the wells.

b. Mayor - Called Wyrick to come get us a quote on how much it would cost to fix some of bad spots on paved roads.

c. Attorney- will be here on August 3, 2023, for a workday with the Council.

d. Council – Complaint received of lifeguards being on their phones and community members would like to see swimming lessons be longer than a half an hr.

g) Reports of Standing and Special Committees:

a. Administrative (Clerk/Treasurer) – Kamely mentioned shutting phone off at the shop, feel it’s a waste to pay when we have cell phones. Phone at the office has been upgraded to have call forward so no phone calls get missed if she is out of the office.

b. Law Enforcement- No reports

c. Streets- Robin will be blading and some gravel will be hauled to a few streets that need the most before fair.

d. Library- Library monthly minutes given

e. Fire Department/Committee- would like to proceed in building the new fire hall , the current fire hall has issues with the floor Buck will go check it out , Fire Hydrant replacement on Senator Street they are working with Great West to incorporate during the water project, Also fire hydrants on Speelman and one at shop aren’t working properly, Fire Hydrant at Breding needs to be raised

f. Parks - Weeds have been sprayed.

g. Pool - passed inspection.

h. Water/sewer - Water smells but hope we have fixed it now.

i. Landfill - Having issues with dumpster exchange, Kamely will stay on top of that.

j. Safety - change all doorknobs and locks.

h) Presentation of Petitions and Communications: Zoning and Permits None to be presented.

i) Unfinished Business

a. Jed Larson - property management update- property have been cleaned.

b. ARPA Annual Project and Expenditure Report - no report on it

c. Russell Industries/New pump for lift station- pump is fixed no need to buy a new pump

d. Community Plan -

e. Pool Liner – fall

f. Sheriff interlocal agreement- will work on this with the town Attorney.

j) New Business

a. Bobby With Montana Rural - No Action needed, information on a must do sample for lead exposure in water supplies.

b. Jesi Pierson – Andy motion to hire Jesi at $50/hr for up to 50 hours increments, to help Town get finances in order, Rex second, discussion of liability on Jesi, Jesi is bonded and no need to have any extra liability, Motion passed.

c. Maguire Iron Inc, water tank inspection, Rex motion to table the tank inspection for the time being until we know more of where the town budget stands, Andy second, no discussion motion passed.

k) Announcements - none

l) Next Meeting Date: September 6th

m) Adjourn Andy moved to adjourn meeting, Melissa second no discussion motion passed. Metting Adjourned at 7:30pm

Minutes submitted by Kamely Harkins & approved by Buck Kratzer

Town Office, 103 N Main Street, September 6th @ 5:00 pm

a) Call Meeting to Order

a. Roll Call Council: Melissa, Andy, Rex present Libby by phone

b. Employees Present: None

c. Appointed Officials Present: Kamely Harkins, Buck Kratzer

b) Pledge of Allegiance

c) Public Comment: none

Minutes from last meeting(s): read, correct August 2nd Minutes.

Andy moves to approve August 2nd minutes, Rex second, motion passed.

d) Claims Approval

Andy move to approve claims for the total of 25,285.63 for August. Melissa second motion carried.

e) Reports of Officers:

a. Public Works Director - Kamely continues to do the everyday check and things are okay for now. Elston has been working on fixing pressure washer, but it will need to be taken to Billings because it froze, Dump Truck will need work, council advised to have Fruit Service work on what they can.

b. Mayor: School called and wanted to use the old horseshoe area for football practice, we will need.

c. Attorney no reports.

d. Council no reports. None

f) Reports of Standing and Special Committees:

a. Administrative (Clerk/Treasurer) Kamely has visited with Kirsten and would like the board to allow her to come back and finish the bank reconciliation that she started, she would be able to come back and finish it sometime in October.

b. Law Enforcement no reports.

c. Streets: Robin is doing a great job with the streets

d. Library: Kamely was told maybe the library needs their own credit card, Discussion was had, and it seems that the way they have it now is working okay. Monthly minutes of library board were given to Town.

e. Fire Department/Committee Fire relief allocation will be transferred to fire department, Kamely will figure out how to do it.

f. Parks - trees need to be trimmed.

g. Pool has been winterized and we had some break ins, some precautions have been taken.

h. Water/sewer - Been waiting for meters and parts to show up to get some stuff worked on before winter, lots of back-order things. Water system is working for now but will need new radio for well #3.

i. Landfill: Dumpsters have been getting exchanged on time.

j. Safety: Locks have been changed, wells are back to being locked and the shop is also locked.

k. Presentation of Petitions and Communications: Carlisle Zoning Permit: Melissa motion to accept Carlisle zoning permit. Rex second no discussion motion passed.

Venhaus Zoning Permit: Andy moved to approve Venhaus Zoning permit, Rex Second no discussion motion passed.

Ekalaka Public Schools Zoning Permit: Melissa Motioned to table School zoning permit in lack of measurements, Rex seconded motion carried.

g) Unfinished Business

a. ARPA Annual Project and Expenditure Report no reports. Need to contact Great West to see where we are at with the water project.

b. Community Plan no discussions.

c. Pool Liner no discussions.

d. Sheriff: interlocal agreement kept the same until 2026.

e. Maguire Iron Inc Water tank inspection will push it off until next year.

h) New Business

a. Melissa Foster FWP

Checking in to see how the deer hunting in town was going and she has heard that the deer population is down in town. Town will not have a town hunt this year. Introduced to new game warden.

b. Fire department building

Fire department would like to ask if town would give the EVFD 99-year lease? Town will check with the Lawyer about it. Kamely will contact Noble to see what options we have.

c. Walt Anderson, Culvert - no action

d. Alex Lovec, Culvert - The culvert is sideways and is ruining her yard, and she thinks its maybe needs out, maybe a drainage ditch. Buck thinks it needs to be moved, the city owns the culvert. Get together with Carl and see if we can look at what we could do with county culvert. Andy moved to table Central Ave. culvert project. Libby second, motion passed.

e. AC at Lagoon Quote

Andy motion to approve new AC system for $2,500.00 Melissa second motion passed.

f. Distribution of Property for bid (Desks, Old Printer, Shelf)

Andy Moves to put town property to distribution. Melissa second motion passed. Kamely will put a list together and give it to The Ekalaka Eagle.

g. Resolution for Election, needed to sign a resolution since there’s no need for primary election to be held.

No action

h. FY 22-23 Budget Amendment

Andy motion to amend the general fund budget 22-23 for $2,490.92. Rex second, Motion passed.

i. FY 23-24 Budget Approval

Kamely presented the new budget to the board, Pam helped and explained about the budget and levy to the board.

Andy makes a motion to approve the budget as presented, Melissa second motion passed.

i) Announcements

No Announcements

j) Next Meeting Date: October 4th

k) Adjourn at 7 pm

Minutes submitted by Kamely Harkins & approved by Buck Kratzer