08/06/80 City Council Minutes)' :�
THE REGULAR MEETING AND BUDGET HEARING OF THE CITY COUNCIL WAS HELD AT 7:30 P.M. pl
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1980 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL. MAYOR HAPP PRESIDED.
ALL COUNCILMEN WERE PRESENT.
APPROVE MINUTES
Councilman Daley moved that the minutes of the regular meeting of July 21, 1980 be
approved as presented. Seconded by Councilman Zauner. Motion carried.
On behalf of the Council and herself, Mayor Happ expressed her sympathy to Mrs. Foot on
the death of Judge Foot. Judge Foot was a former City Attorney and District Judge and
has donated his library to the City.
RESIDENCY VETO --FIRE MARSHALL BOWMAN
Mayor Happ reported that she is vetoing the 4 to 3 vote of the Council approving the
request of Fire Marshall Bowman to reside at 2313 Mission Trail, which is outside the
City. Her reasons are as follows:
"At the Council Meeting of July 21, 1980, a Request of City Fire Marshall Roger
Bowman to live outside the city limits at 2313 Mission Trail was granted without any
conditions by a 4-3 vote of the Council. Fire Marshall Bowman had made his request
on June 11, 1980, under Section #20A-1 of the City Code. Fire Chief Gene Doty had
referred the request to the City Council without having given his authorization for
the request or making a specific recommendation to the Council.
I am hereby vetoing the Council's action of July 21st in this matter and do so
for the following reasons:
1) The State Law allows a city to require a Fireman to be a qualified voter of
the City. The Fire Department Manual of the City requires bona fide city residence;
this indicates the City has always followed the State Law. The State Law is for the
benefit of the City residents and should not be lightly ignored. I agree with past
city administrations that it is to the best interest of the City as a whole to have
Fire Department personnel reside within the city limits.
2) In the specific case of Fire Marshall Bowman, he is third in the chain of
command of the Fire Department. It is particularly desirable that he be a city resi-
dent to exercise his command functions as they may be required. The farther away from
the Fire Department Headquarters he may live makes it that much more difficult for him
to come to the Fire Station and assume his command position in case of an emergency.
We cannot foresee what emergencies may arise or when they may occur or what unuaual
conditions may play a part in such an emergency. We have a duty to our citizens to be
as prepared as possible and prompt, unrestricted response of the Fire Department com-
mand personnel is of primary importance in discharge of that duty. City residence is,
I believe, much more important in regard to Fire Department command personnel than for
lower ranking people: I believe the Council acted unwisely in approving a situation
where it is conceivable we could have a leaderless Fire Department in an emergency.
We cannot allow such a situation to occur if at all possible.
3) Also, Fire Marshall Bowman has specific responsibilities in the vital field
of fire prevention. I believe if he is a city resident he will be more interested
and knowledgeable in carrying out these duties due to his familiarity with the city
as a resident rather than a 119-to-5" worker in the city.
4) As a command level member of the Fire Department, Fire Marshall Bowman par-
ticipates in budget preparation for his Department. As a city resident and tax -payer
he will be more personally interested in economical operation of the Department on a
day-to-day basis because of the direct tax impact upon him. This concern will be to
the best interests of all city tax -payers by promoting an attitude of a more efficient
and economically operated Fire Department. If he were not a city resident, it is more
probable that he will not be as fully conscious of concern for inefficient and unecon-
omical operations of the Department.
5) The City has lost many citizens between the 1970 and 1980 census. Our status
as a first-class city will be in jeopardy if this trend continues. It is to the ad-
vantage of the City as a whole that we take all reasonable steps to retain as many
city residents as possible. Allowing Fire Marshall Bowman to move out would further
deplete the city population by the number of persons in his immediate family. I do
not feel it is in the City's best interest to allow this to happen if we can -reason-
ably and lawfully prevent it.
6) When Roger Bowman was being considered for his promotion as Fire Marshal he
assured the Council he had no intention of moving out of the City. I do not question
his sincerity in making that statement, however, I feel the Council should require him
to live up to that commitment. We all felt City Residence to be a factor involved in
his promotion to Fire Marshal then. I feel it would be a violation of trust to the
other members of the Department to now ignore that factor.
J . 7) We have denied other members of the Fire Department permission to live
outside the city. It is not fair to those members to now allow Roger -Bowman to
live outside the city for no good reason other than his desire to move out. Roger
Bowman has not shown any hardship he will suffer by being required to live in the
City. He owned one of the city's more beautiful homes in the Park View Terrace
area and it should not have been a hardship to have remained there. At least, he
has not shown any hardship to the Council that prevented his remaining a city resi-
dent. He obviously moved out of the city without proper permission but with full
knowledge of the Provisions of the City Code and the Fire Manual requirements. I
do not think we should condone such action merely because of his personal desires
and convenience; to do so would destroy all credibility of the City to enforce
Sec. #20A-1 as it is meant to be administered.,
8) To allow Fire Department personnel a blanket "response time" criteria to
govern their residence requirements is impossible to administer. Since Kalispell
has such a disparity of conditions that can effect "response time" from one day to
the next we would be in a constant state of turmoil were we to set an arbitrary
time. The City taxpayers maintain the Fire Department for one purpose only - to
protect their property from fire. It is my feeling that, with our small Department,
we should have as many firemen as possible living as close to the Fire Hall as we
can reasonably require - the -city limits as a boundary is clear and definite and
we should do all in our power to maintain it as the outer limits of our fire pro-
tection personnel available. Were we a larger city with a larger Department and
possibly satellite stations, the situation may be different but that is the not
the case in Kalispell. Our citizens do not want a responding fireman stuck in a
snowdrift or an unplowed county road.
9) It is my personal opinion that a person working and earning his living
from the taxpayers of the municipality owes those same taxpayers part of the con-
tribution back to the city. It is easy to accept a 10z% wage increase plus fringes,
including health insurance and retirement - shouldn't the employee help the other
city taxpayers pay this wage? Maybe if Roger Bowman was a city resident he would
realize this better.
10) It has been pointed out that several other city employees live outside
the city limits. There is no question that the Fire Department is an emergency
service and cannot logically be compared to the Street Department or the Garbage
Truck people. Different standards apply to require city residence for an emer-
gency service.
11) It has been pointed out that most first-class cities in Montana do not
have residency requirements. I might point out, most first-class cities have
many, many more firemen in their Departments and many have sub -stations. Several
Mayors have told me they prefer Firemen to live in the city and regret a policy
of allowing them to move out.
12) True, we did give permission to one fireman to move about 100 yards from
the city limits and another one lived out when he was hired under a government sub-
sidy program. Two other requests from firemen to live outside the city were pre-
viously turned down.
The Fire Chief personally feels all firemen should live within the city,
though he "could live with" modifications. However, administering an ambigious
boundary line would be impossible.
I have stated my reasons for vetoing Council action; however, it is the
Council's prerogative to override this action by a 3/4 majority. I wish it clearly
understood that my action has no personal motivation whatsoever against Roger Bowman
as a person. I feel I am acting in the best interests of the residents and taxpayers
of the City; what non-residents may say or feel or what other cities may or may not
have done in similar situations is of no concern to me. My job is to do the best I
can for Kalispell and I think I have done so."
Mayor Happ concluded by saying that the Council could over -ride the veto by a 3/4
vote. No Council action taken.
ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL \
Mayor Happ made three calls for anyone wishing to address the council. No one
responded.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
ORDINANCE #958 -- Fire Safety Code
Councilman Grainger moved the second reading to enact Ordinance #958, an ordinance
adopting the Fire Safety Code, Edition 1979. Seconded by Councilman Saverud. Roll
call vote. All voted aye.
Councilman Grainger reported that the Safety Committee will meet at 10:00 A.M. Wed-
nesday, August 20, to discuss two issues. One is the Disaster Program which has been
forwarded to Helena and received good comments. The other is to discuss requests
from two firemen to live outside the City. All Councilmen are invited and Fire Chief
Doty is requested to attend the meeting
made at the first meeting in September.
A recommendation on both issues will be
SEWER $ WATER
Councilman Granmo moved that Mayor Happ be authorized to call for bids for cleaning and
grouting the sewer system,75% of which will be funded by EPA. Seconded by Councilman
Smith. Motion carried.
RESOLUTION #3300
Councilman Granmo moved to adopt Resolution #3300 a resolution to accept a change order
on the water well supply project. Seconded by Councilman Grainger. Roll call vote. All
voted aye.
CITY DEVELOPMENT
Councilman Saverud had no report.
STREETS
Councilman O'Boyle had no report.
EMPLOYMENT
Councilman Zauner had no report.
ANNEXATION
ORDINANCE #960
Hearing the second reading, Councilman Smith moved to enact Ordinance #960, an ordinance
to zone Meridian Addition a B3. Seconded by Councilman O'Boyle. Councilman Smith re-
viewed her reasons for asking for a B3 zone. She stated that more time has been spent
in zoning Meridian than all the rest of the City. She asked the Council to support her
action in what she felt was a good compromise for the area. B3 will require a change in
the Comprehensive Plan. Attorney Bill Astle, representing about 14 residents in the
area, reviewed their reasons for wanting it zoned strictly residential. He presented a
formal petition protesting the B3 zoning pursuant to 76-2-305, MCA of Blocks 1 and 2 of
the Meridian Addition. He also read letters from Steve Petrini, Professional Planner;
Gary Hill, ATS Planner; and Nakul S. Verma, ATS Planning Director, all of whom recommended
the area be zoned residential.
Councilman Smith rebutted with the statement that B3 zoning covers the area in that it is
an island, a central business and on a major street. It will protect the value of the
buildings, while an RA1 is not Conducive of protecting the value of any building. Also,
Mr. Verma divided it one-half I-1 and one-half RA1 in his recommendation.
Question called.
Roll call vote. All voted aye.
Councilman Smith moved that Resolution #7 of the city -County -Planning Board concerning the
Amendment to -the:. Comprehensive Plan be approved. This resolution w.as:submitted.to.the. City
Council and_the_ County Commissionersbyletter of 6/26/79_, but.action.was,delayed dueto the
uncertainty.of the rezoning_of_Meridian Addition, which was included within_the-area_covered -by
Resolution #7. Seconded tiy- cc loran-Zauner. This area will change --from high density resi-
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dential—to industrial. Ques_tion" 6-a`1'led. Motion carried.
FINANCE
On review of July claims, Councilman Ruiz moved that all bills found in order be paid.
Seconded by Councilman Smith. Motion carried.
BEER F, WINE LICENSES
Councilman Ruiz moved that beer and wine licenses be issued to Charles E. Lyman, 52
North Main and to 7-Eleven Food Store #22530 and 7-Eleven Food Store #22186. The
7-Eleven Stores are approved pending receipt of their state license. Seconded by
Councilman Daley. Motion carried.
S.I.D.#327
City Attorney Donahue explained that the developers deposited $50,000,or- more with the --City
when they petitioned for an S.I.D. Most of this money was used to pay their engineering
fee. Construction bids, land bonds were advertised, but -the bondswerenot_sold. We still
have money left which is due the developers and the City for administration costs. He re-
commended that the remainder -be paid, to the developers after City fees are -deducted.
Councilman Ruiz moved that the money remaining from the $50,000.00, minus City admin-
istration costs, be refunded to the developers; the amount, -of City fee__t_o be determined by
conference_ with the Finance Committee. Seconded by Councilman Saverud. Motion carried.
BUDGET HEARING
Councilman Ruiz reported that the budget was arrived at by going S% over last year's
budget. The Flathead County Assessor is not able to tell us the value of a mill be-
cause of a computer breakdown.
96 Mr. Ruiz reviewed the budget by departments. Mr. Colin Wills, representing the Tax-
payers Association, questioned certain items of the budget. Mr. Wills stated that he
thought it would be to the taxpayers advantage if the City and County consolidated.
Total General Fund budget for the fiscal year 1980-81 is $1,838,393.00 Last year's
total expenditures were $1,732,577.31. Total budget for all funds for the fiscal year
1980-81 is $6,001,524.00. Mr. Wills stated that over all he was pleased with the
City Budget.
Mayor Happ thanked Councilman Ruiz for all the time and effort expended on the budget
and for acting as Labor Negotiator with the City employees.
MISCELLANEOUS
Councilman Ruiz moved that the Council ratify the labor contract with American Federa-
tion of State, County and Municipal Employees at 10:25 P.M. August 11, 1980. Seconded
by Councilman Saverud. Motion carried. Average raise for City employees for the
fiscal year 1980-81 was 10.2%.
LICENSE AND PERMIT BONDS
Kalispell Electric, Inc.
Electrician Continuation Certificate
Councilman Saverud moved that all license and permit bonds reviewed by City Attorney
Donahue be approved. Seconded by Councilman Grainger. Motion carried.
Mayor Happ announced that meeting dates will be September 8th and 15th because of
Labor Day Holiday.
Mayor Happ recessed the meeting until 7:30 P.M. Monday, August llth, at which time the
budget will be finalized and the mill levy set.
Minutes approved as presented August 25, 1980.Ec�x �.� C--,oj ,�
L Norma E. Happp`,, Mdy�or
Maii orie Giermann, City Clerk
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