City Council: P.C. Cattlewomen Fight For Use of City Hall for Ag Day

Tuesday, February 13th the Malta City Council met at 5 p.m., in addition to the council members, also present were John Wright, Compliance Officer, and Taylor French.

Minutes from the last meeting, agenda for the current meeting and claims were approved following a motion and a second. The motion passed unanimously.

PWD Jim Truelove started the reports to the council members. He said the hydrants in Murray Trailer Court were being flushed. This action will hopefully clear up some of the slow hydrant problems.

He stated he has patching material on hand and it will be applied according to the weather.

The booster station has two new pumps and a tank, it will be complete with the plumbing and valves. There was a planned shutdown of water at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday evening to allow for the transition. A second night will be required to get it all complete. There will be an announcement prior to the shutdown. A concrete foundation will need to be laid at a point in time as weather dictates.

Truelove said he's had several inquiries as to the level of magnesium in the water; he said he's being pro-active and it is not as high as some towns are experiencing.

Clerk Lorie Bond in her report stated she would like permission for Deputy Clerk Lori Barrett to attend the Municipal Summit on May 15th at Fort Peck.

She also inquired about herself and Barrett to attend the Clerk's training Municipal Institute scheduled May 5-9th in Fairmont Hot Springs. Councilmember Hick made a motion to approve the clerks to attend the training in Fairmont, seconded by Councilmember Wiederrick; motion passed.

Compliance Officer John Wright opened his report by stating since his last attendance at the council, he had sent 11 letters; four are current with compliance of ordinances; one has moved and the vehicle is still on the street, and he is having discussions with the owner. He is waiting for response on five of the vehicles. He will be ringing doorbells on three of the ones, like he had to on other cases.

He is still waiting on one case for a response from a property management company in Great Falls. This one is in regard to a sidewalk not being properly maintained.

Wright said he has received a complaint on Ordinance 422 on the trailers; it does specifically state "enclosed trailers" in the ordinance, even though it does state "not limited to..." and Wright stated he has drafted an amendment and provided it to Clerk Bond in regards to this and changing the dates of enforcement on the parking.

January 1 to March 1 to more probable December 1 to April 1 stating the winters are drawing out longer and winter is hanging around longer.

Discussion followed on the thoughts and definitions of trailer descriptions.

The ordinance will have to be re-written and passed, before it can be changed

Council member Wiederrick inquired about the lot that the City was asked to sell. Mayor Demarais said he would take it before the zoning board for a vote.

There were no reports from any other committees.

Taylor French attended on behalf of the CattleWomen inquiring about using the City Hall for Ag Day this year; they had the event at the Event Center last year. She stated there were several reasons for wanting to change venues. She said, "We ran into a few different issues that made it not as successful as we have seen in the past."

The first being parking, all vendors had to park behind the building which made it difficult to unload. Also, they maxed out the vendors at 28 last year and we had more requests for them this year.

"We feel as a promotion of our ag community, we don't want to limit the number of people who want to participate in it."

"We found that the space was a lot more cramped and if people wanted to stop and visit between booths, it clogged up the alleyways; it made it difficult to get to the bathrooms and exits."

French stated they did use one of the side rooms for the pie contest and it worked okay as far as having the judging. "We use our pie contest to fund our scholarship we offer to graduating seniors each year. We technically saw about half of the money we usually make off of it but that was only because the volunteer who usually arranges for the contest didn't charge for any of her contributions to the prizes and things so we actually would have made zero money."

There wasn't a lot of space in the kitchen area to put pies and sell them, and there was no place to sit and have coffee and visit with friends with pie.

"We got comments that it was very cramped and we didn't see as many people come through."

"The other main issue we had is we paired our event with the fire halls' event and because it was held in two different places, we heard from the firemen that they didn't get as many people and we didn't get as many. Ideally, what we would like is if we could return to the City Hall where the event has been held for many, many years...it would offer more space, it is a more centralized location. They have a greater history of where this is where ag day was held. It would offer more space for the cookies and pie contest...that's where we draw donations."

French stated she knows there have been other events like the trunk-for-treats and other events and she hoped they would make an exception for them and bring ag day back to the city hall.

Councilmember David Rummel said, "I like that at least you have a lot of reasons. Most people say, like for a wedding, I don't think we can get as many people in there as I think are coming. At least you gave us some. In general we want to say no, but we don't usually have something real solid."

"We do worry about – well, you let the Cattlewomen...if I voted yes, at least I can tell them here's why. The Firemen are losing money, you're losing money. At least I have something I can put my finger on."

Councilmember Bonnie Wiederrick added, "The Event Center was purchased for what you all want. I can't agree with the parking in back; it wasn't that bad, you can drive right up to the handicap thing and there was a government rig sitting there and they were inside. There's more room when you use the classrooms and the big main room out there. The one with the one with the chairs - the storage room, there's more room out there, than there is here. The kitchen is available, the bathrooms are absolutely awesome, where here you have one toilet, where you can go upstairs."

She continued, "We can't say yes and no to another. The museum when they have their craft fair, they were very skeptical in the beginning and they really liked it out there."

French inquired, "Can I just ask what was the rational for allowing trunk-or-treats or the race track vs...."

Rummel chimed in, "I will tell you what it was. They had a very valid reason. They do an auction and they said they need to display all our items up on the stage for our auction, and they tried it out there and it just wasn't working."

Wiederrick stated, "No, they didn't, they were never out there."

Rummel corrected himself, "Oh, okay. That's what they said, they needed the stage for an auction display this is what want – they needed a stage up high to show the stuff. That's what I remember when they came and asked."

Wiederrick said, "The trunk-or-treat thing was just a last minute thing, because of the weather, wasn't it? There was a reason they let the little kids in...just a last minute thing."

French said they would like to have ag day March 22, they are flexible. The fire department is okay with that day, also...both could do it the 15th or 22nd. National Ag Week is March 17-23.

Councilmember Laura Pankratz asked if the fire department had considered moving their event up there and promoting it. The general consensus was that there wasn't room for the table the fire department needs, nor is there seating space for the two events.

Councilmember Bill Hicks said, "It sounds to me like it hurt your business by moving up there...which we don't want to have happen..."

French replied, "It did, we're a nonprofit, so we're not trying to make a million bucks on it...but it does help our organization to reach more activities and scholarships."

Hicks added, "And it had to hurt the firemen, too."

"I think the firemen will still do theirs either way. We probably will look at other venues, as well as the Event Center, if we don't use the City Hall," stated French.

Wiederrick stated the wi-fi should be better now, and there is a new sound system, when French stated that vendors had problems connecting last year.

Wiederrick said, "I would love to say yes, but I have this thing about saying yes to one and no to another – we just had told another we couldn't. The gym is fragile and we want to keep it for sporting stuff."

Rummel said, "I make a motion we allow them to use the gym." Wiederrick said, "I second the motion."

Bond asked for a roll call vote: Rummel, yes; Wiederrick, nay; Pankratz, yes; and Hicks, yes. The motion was declared as carried with the 3-1 vote in favor.

Mayor Demarais said as to item 2 on the agenda, which was the Malta Chamber of Commerce asking to use the City Hall gymnasium for a Dueling Piano Fundraiser they decided the Event Center would work for them and withdrew their request. They had done some measuring and it would work for the event. Rummel added, "I move they are allowed to go there then, I want to be a big guy on this," with a grateful chuckle.

Item 3 on the agenda was the Highway 2 Association Membership dues. Wiederrick made a motion to pay the dues of $100; motion was seconded by Rummel and following a roll call vote the motion carried with a unanimous 4-0 vote.

Next on the items for business was the Great West Engineering – Task Order No. 6 Amendment – State Construction Grant Applications. Rummel made a motion to approve the amendment, Pankratz seconded the motion, and with a roll call vote it carried with a 4-0 vote.

The final item was also a Great West Engineering matter, Task Order 7 – General Services. Hicks made the motion to accept the Task Order, Wiederrick seconded it and this, also, carried with a unanimous vote of 4-0.

The next meeting is Tuesday, February 27th at 5 p.m.