TOWN OF LIMA
CITY COUNCIL
Regular Meeting
September 14, 2015
MEMBERS PRESENT: David Olsen, David Brown, Darrell Miller, Jim Fullard, John Stosich
STAFF PRESENT: Carla Weidinger, Pete Brown
OTHERS PRESENT: Bob & Candy Estill, Steve Poole, Joyce Merrell, Tom & Arlene Greenslade, Dennis Scoggins, Kent Craven, Carl Kluesner, Alice Brown, Linda Lee, Deborah Ellinwood, Don Cheney, County Commissioner Mike McGinley, Donna Cherry, Russell Kluesner, Forest Leal, Don Story, Jackie Sutton, Scott Baize, Bob Young, Rose Gray
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ACTION TAKEN
1. A motion by Miller, seconded by Brown, to approve the consent agenda. Fullard aye, Miller aye, Stosich aye, Brown aye. Motion Carried Unanimous
2. A motion by Brown, seconded by Fullard, to finalize the water rate change within our regular October council meeting for a ¾” line at $30 base with $1.00/per thousand gallons and larger meters base rates by the mulitiplier with $1.00/per thousand gallons to be effective with the October billing. Fullard aye, Miller aye, Stosich aye, Brown aye. Motion Carried Unanimous
3. A motion by Miller, seconded by Brown, to approve the Agreement for Law Enforcement Services with the County for $10,000 annually. Fullard aye, Miller aye, Stosich aye, Brown aye. Motion Carried Unanimous
4. A motion by Stosich, seconded by Miller, to adopt Resolution 2015-6 Fixing the Annual Appropriations for the Town of Lima, Montana for FY16. Fullard aye, Miller aye, Stosich aye, Brown aye. Motion Carried Unanimous
5. A motion by Stosich, seconded by Miller, to approve Resolution 2015-4 Adopting Mill Levies for FY2016 at 160.79 for total tax collection of $39,858. Fullard aye, Miller aye, Stosich aye, Brown aye. Motion Carried Unanimous
PUBLIC COMMENT: NONE
CORRESPONDENCE: NONE
NEW BUSINESS: NONE
OLD BUSINESS:
6. Public Hearing on Water Rate Increase – Discussion of different rate change options. Brown states he and Councilman Fullard have gone over the many different options and to be fair with everyone we need to charge water based on the customer’s usage. During the months December – March we may need to allow people to let their water run to keep from freezing though. As suggested by our USDA Loan Officer we asked Nick Close from Montana Rural Water Services (MRWS) to help with a water rate study and this is where our different options have come from. Councilman Fullard explains some history about the water rates; for 12 years we have had this same rate. At that time they were set primarily to break even our water fund expenditures. Water is separate from the general fund and we do have to meet loan obligations and stipulations from the USDA. Fullard explains we also have some additional expenditures for defending our water rights due to the objection filed against our water right by Big Fly, Inc. The Mayor states the State Legislature has mandated water adjudication and it’s a mess for everyone and it’s costing us a lot of bucks to defend our water rights.
Lengthy discussion between the Council and public regarding different thoughts and how paying by usage may affect how much a customer uses in the future and has that been considered when coming up with these rates? Yes, this is taken into consideration but we have to start somewhere. Each year these rates will need to be reevaluated. There are some people for the new rates and structures and some who are against. The Council will plan to make a final decision at the next regular Council meeting after another special municipal rate hearing.
7. Agreement for Law Enforcement Services – Brown states he doesn’t like the increase from $7,800 to $10,000 but he will agree if the other Councilmen do. COLA was 1.6% last year and Mike McGinley says it’s looking like next year may be a reduction. Bob Estill feels we should make the COLA negotiable based on if we are getting the services we should be getting. This agreement is renewed each year so we can look at that. Mayor and Clerk sign the agreement.
8. Mayor’s Report – there will be a teleconference on September 18th with the attorney and Dave will have more information later.
9. Unscheduled Matters – Craven states he just would like to bring up the same thing he brought up last month regarding the roads and Mayor said he is working on that.
Meeting adjourned at 8:34pm. Next regular council meeting will be held on October 12th at 7pm at the Town Hall.
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Mayor Clerk
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