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07-11-85 Safety Comm Minutes4:00 P. M. July 11, 1985 SAFETY COMMITTEE •The Safety Committee met this date in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Present were Chairman Schindler, committee members Saverud and Grainger, Police Chief Stefanic, Fire Chief Doty and bicycle club members Joel Thomas Schoknecht and Ron Brunk. Joel stated that the clubhas a course selected and they were requesting permission to use city streets for the Coors Points Race on August 24 and 25. A series of three races will take place during this time, one on country roads at Big Mountain, another one out in the valley and one in the Kalispell area. This would be a closed course race which is a very good spectator race. Their plan is to start and finish at Conrad Mansion, north towards Second Street, to Woodland Park, Hairitage Beauty Shop parking lot, up College Avenue through Woodland Drive. The hope that having the race in the business area would enable them to draw support in the form of cash prizes. A map was presented, showing their proposed route. All roads in the area would have to closed; the longest race would last an hour. Chief Stefanic asked how people living in that area would be able to get in and out of their homes. He was told that club members would ask people to park off the course. Councilman Grainger stated that he lived on Sylvan Drive and they were talking about a lot of homes. Be was sure the beauty shop would object to their lot being used on a Saturday afternoon and access would..be a problem both days. There is no way Woodland hill can be shut down either day and Grainger said he just would not allow the street closure. He cited recent problems with an awards day at Montessori School with just a part of the street being blocked off. Councilman Saverud suggested the cemetary as an alternate route; Northridge area was •also discussed. Joel and Ron will investigate the possibilities on these routes and check back with Chairman Schindler. The meeting adjourned at 4:30 P.M. Markie Sabol Recording Secretary 1-1 W SAFETY COMMITTEE The Safety Committee met in the Council Chambers on Thursday, July 11, 1985 at 4:00 P.M. Present were Chairman Schindler, Committee Members Saverud and • Grainger, Police Chief Stefanie, Assistant Fire Chief Larson, City Attorney Neier, Don Nelson, of Citizens Against Pornography and Roger Hopkins, DIL. C. Schindler opened the meeting and asked CA Neier to bring us up to date on his review of the history of the City of Kalispell obscenity ordinance. He was asked to do this to determine if the documentation supports the allegation that actions taken by the City Council were not the actions intended. The City Council enacted Ordinance f957 on 7/7/80 which established the offense of obscenity and defined the term "obscene". It followed MT law in definition and restricted obscene material distribution or publication to persons of age 19 or older. It did not prohibit possession of obscene material by anyone per se. After the passage of this ordinance, a group of citizens eircurlated a petition for initiative for the City Clerk to place on the general election ballot an ordinance to amend #957. This petition prohibited generally the dissemination of obscene materials to anyone -regardless of age. Because of a technicality in the language of the petition, it was rejected by the County Clerk & Recorder. After this refusal, the City Council on 9/8/80 passed Resolution #3308, which referred to a vote of the people an amended Ordinance #957, which deleted the reference to the 19 year old limitation and minors, thereby • rendering distribution of obscene material illegal to anyone. Researching this, Neier cannot find anything that questions the language contained in Resolution #3308, which is the resolution in the Resolution Book. The Resolution merely eliminated references to age that existed in #957 and prohibited the distribution of obscene materials to anyone. When referring this resolution to the people, they knew its language was different than that proposed by CAP. The fact that some CAP members were concerned about the referred language, and said so at the time, placed everyone on notice as to the change. Neier does not feel that the resolution was altered. The title of the resolution appears to state its purpose and he must assume that the Council had copies and knew what they werwe passing. • Residents enacted 957 as amended by a vote of 1,884 to 1,747 and since that time the city has had an all ages pornography ordinance. Language contained in the code book is not really the language of the official ordinance in the book. That portion should be changed. Since the time of passage of amended ordinance #957, not really lang of official ord in book. That portion should be changed. Partially because of an agreement with the Adult Shop owners not to sell "hard core pornography", and partially because no complaints have been filed for distributing pornography, the City has not been required to prosecute any actions. The proposed ordinance submitted last year by CAP contains language that is drawn from relatively recent Supreme Court cases that were not in existence in 1980 and the language from those cases has been added. Basic definitions are somewhat the same, but added definitions which CAP inserted into their -1- k ordinance do not exist in Montana law or the Kalispell ordinance. Neier states that he has reviewed the ordinance and the information supplied by CAP. Perhaps more modern language and incorporating recent Supreme Court decisions should be considered by the Council. Our five-year old language may not be in accordance with more recent cases, may be vague or for other reasons unenforceable. If the Council does provide for an updated or more stringent enforcement for a pornography ordinance of any kind, present or future, Neier does not believe his office can be expected to carry the full burden of carrying an action which would have the effect of closing the adult book store under our current budget. C. Schindler stated that he has learned that Century 21 is selling the building, along with the nearby white house. They are recommending to buyers that the yellow building be torn down and the area used as parking space. The bookstore owners have said that if the building is sold they will be leaving Kalispell. They seem to have the not so distinct pleasure of being the only bookstore in the state that is not making money. He hopes to let things take their own course and see if the building can be sold. Mr. Nelson said that be knew the building was for sale but that he was skeptical about the owners not relocating. He feels that the present location was selected to attract Canadian business. Loss of business, he says, probably had to do with the building entrance being so clearly in view plus the very small parking, area. People out of Bozeman have been establishing bookstores in MT and he thinks there is a good possibility of their putting one in here also. Another reason the business isnTt doing well, he speculates, is that convenience stores are advancing more into the same line of business. He has recently learned that on the top shelf of VCR movies they have X-rated movies which are basically what the adult store • sells in arcades. C. Schindler stated that nearly every movie rental in the valley has X-rated movies. • C. Saverud asked Neier if he suggests that it would be wise to wise to modernize the language of our existing ordinance. The City Attorney stated that it would be a good idea to look at the new definitions; MT law hasn't changed definitions since 1976 as far as he knows. The only protection in NW MT for any reason was the former City Attorneys against the adult book store. This dealt with violation of MT law and city ordinance involving sales to persons under the age of majority. People under this age are entitled to more protection and maybe state law should be modernnized. C Saverud stated that our community has demonstrated that they want a pornography ordinance. If language should be clarified without changing the substance of the ordinance, he would be in favor of that. He does not feel that we have the capability of attempting to enforce a stronger ordinance. We should not take too much comfort in the fact that the existing store might be sold. C. Grainger agrees. Don Nelson said that the proposed ordinance is the same as Whitefish, Flathead County and Columbia Falls has, it would be good to have a like ordinance all the way around. The present ordinance deals with excessive violence and sexually explicit material, which is different from obscene material. CA Neier agrees that the present ordinance would be subject to challenge because it is so vague. -2- C. Saverud suggested that the City Attorney draft a similar ordinance, have Chief Stefanie look it over, and then send it around. Nelson pointed out that an important addition to the county ordinance is the severability clause which says that if any part of the ordinance is found unconstitutional, it will not void the entire ordinance. Neier will prepare the draft as soon as time allows. Radio System Chief Stefanie reminded us that the Council set aside $35,000 Revenue Sharing funds last year, with $35,000 to be budgeted this year, also $21 „ 200 set aside for Fire/Ambulance departments. The two bids received were over the amount of pooled money. The Motorola bid was $30,000 higher and G.E.'s $10,000 higher. Upon the City Attorney's advice, we are in the position to reject both bids, out down items we are bidding for closer to the available money and rebid. It will take around 6 weeks to put new specs together and readvertise bids. C. Saverud suggested that as committee we recommend that if additional money is not funded in this years budget, department heads be authorized to draw specs and advertise for bids as soon as possible. There may or may not be any substantial difference in a second bid. The satellite repeating system accounts for some of the high cost. Chief Stefanie said it might be better to leave this equipment out since there seemed to be a question of the need for it. C. Saverud said that it should not be deleted until there is a real consensus from the Council, rather than just the comments of one or two. C. Stefanie said one thing causing consternation is that bid specs were prepared by Motorola. Based on his experience, he would prefer Motorola, • but understands the question of the propriety of having the specs written by a Motorola engineer. The G.E. Bid could be thrown out because it does not meet technical specs. One option would be to hire a radio engineer as consultant to draw up specs; cost would be around $2,500. Neier feels fairly confident that we could justify awarding the higher bid. G.E. meets the intent of the specs though not the specifications. Discussion of rejecting present bids, rebid with alternates, both companies know how much money is available. Bid bonds and performance bonds were discussed. Chief Stefanie stated that neither company would give performance bonds without the satellite receivers being included in the bid. All present agreed that they had no problem with the way specs were written. Chief Stefanie said that the state term contract has expired. His main concerns are the capabilities and performance of the console, which is around $30,000. He has a videotape showing exactly what the Motorola model does and invited all to take 30 minutes to watch the tape. He felt that everyone would feel a lot more comfortable about rejecting the G.E. -- it doesn't compare! A report will made to the Council and new specs drawn up. Miscellaneous C. Schindler asked for approval for Chief Stefanie to put together a program • -3- whereby charges can be fixed for unlocking car doors. All agreed. C. Schindler stated that the committee has been requested by Street & Alley and Annexation Committees to research the legality of being able to control pest birds. There have been many complaints to councilmen, crows have been killing cats (1) and causing garden damage. Since crows are protected birds a variance would have to be requested from the state to shoot them. Chief Stefanie will check into this. The meeting adjourned at 5:15 P.M. Markie Sabol Recording Secretary • -4-