City Hall getting makeover, City Court hours expanding

For years, people who wanted to pay City Court fines could only do so when the court office was open, hours that were uneven throughout the week. But starting January, people can pay court fines any time City Hall doors are open.

"Jan. 3, which is a Tuesday, at 8 a.m. - the goal is - that is when our joint, collaborative, executive-judicial branch project is launched. Happy New Year, city of Havre," Havre City Court Judge Virginia Seigel said Wednesday.

The extended hours will be accompanied by a new reception area in the entry hall. The future reception area is being constructed. But once it's complete, long-time city employee Sara Sieglock, who works for Finance Director Doug Kaercher's office and will continue to perform her current duties, will be taking on more responsibilities and working that station.

Kaercher said that, on top of the expanded hours and services for the court, security was also a reason for the renovation. Although nothing serious has happened, Kaercher said there have been incidents that make him glad the door to the court will be locked.

"Periodically, we get someone who's excited about something," he said

A city memorandum of understanding says that Sieglock will be a dual officer of the court. The 30-year city employee will handle cash and take court-ordered payments from cases, she will prepare monthly court reconciliations and reports, and she will answer calls for the court.

Siegel said she is looking forward to working with Sieglock and has high aspirations for her.

"I also like the way she interacts with people, and I like the way she thinks," Siegel said.

The restructuring was a collaboration between Siegel and Havre City Mayor Tim Solomon born out of necessity, Siegel said. For as long as Siegel has been judge, and longer, she said, she has always needed more help.

"The court's been historically, chronically understaffed. We have been working to get staffing to an adequate people for the amount of work. The city of Havre, though it's the eighth-largest in our state population, it's actually the third highest for crime," she said. "So my intent for having the proper court staffing is to reduce recidivism, to enforce compliance and to ultimately, reduce crime."

But whenever she had asked for money to hire staff, she did not get a budget increase from the executive branch, she said. So she applied for and was awarded a $30,000 Misdemeanor Probation Officer grant through the Montana Board of Crime Control mid 2015. Her current misdemeanor compliance officer, Tyson Bliwernitz, was eventually hired and paid for with money from that grant.

The money from that grant has run out and an extension of the was not awarded, she said. So in August, Seigel said she drafted a memorandum of understanding and met with Solomon and Kaercher and "entered into a joint-branch collaborative project to improve both City Hall and staffing shortage for the court,"  

Siegel said she will now have no compliance officer - "I still will be short. I still am short" - and that's something she'll probably have to take on until something is figured out. She hasn't ruled out teaching Sieglock the position, but, she added, she does not want to overwork employees, either. Teaching Sieglock the compliance officer position is something that will be considered only if Sieglock can fit it into her workload.

As for where the money comes for the restructuring, Sieglock is already a paid city employee, and the renovation is paid with storm money, Kaercher said.

He said approximately $200,000 in building permits was generated in a year's span after the July 4, 2015, hail storm damaged the roofs of several homes. The city can only use that money toward "enforcement of, or support of, the building code," Kaercher said.