Havre entering arbitration on Bullhook project, working on tree damage

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson updated the Havre City Council at their Tuesday night meeting about the work his department is doing throughout the city, including attorneys for the city visiting the site of the Bullhook storm drain project later this week.

Mayor Tim Solomon said this morning that their visit would be dependent on the weather.

The city and Kincaid Civil Construction out of Mesa, Arizona, are set to begin arbitration in May, after the company did not finish installing new concrete culverts in Bullhook, which runs from south of town to the Milk River, as they had been hired to do in 2016.

Paperwork has been filed by the city with Montana Disaster and Emergency Services, and a contractor has been hired to cut down loose tree branches hanging above sidewalks, roadways and in parks, Peterson said.

The city has hired Davey Tree Surgery Co. of Billings to begin the work to clean up from the record setting snowstorm that pounded Havre and much of the region last October.

Peterson said the company was supposed to begin cutting down damaged and dangling tree branches from over sidewalks, streets and city parks in late December but were unable to do so because of the snow and frigid temperatures.

Work will also be done in the coming months to make the restrooms at city hall more compliant with the Americans with disabilities act, Peterson said.

In other business, Mayor Tim Solomon issued committee assignments for council members.

The Committee's Labor Relations Committee will be chaired by Council member Karen Swenson. Council members Andrew Brekke and Caleb Hutchins will also be on the committee.

Council Member Ed Matter will chair the Finance Committee. Brekke and Council members Terry Lilletvedt and Denise Brewer will also be on the committee.

Newly sworn in council members Lindsey Ratliff and Sarah McKinney will be on the Streets and sidewalks committee chaired by Denise Brewer. Matter, McKinney and Ratliff will be on the Water and Sewer Committee, with Ratliff as the committee chair.

Brekke, Hutchins and Swenson will remain on the Ordinance Committee.

Members Lilletvedt, Matter and Ratliff will be on the Fire and Police Committee. Hutchins, McKinney and Lilletvedt will be on the Parks and Recreations Committee.

Swenson will chair the Safety Committee, of which Brewer will also be a member.

The council voted 5-0 to approve a draw of $12,674.28 on a Community Development Block Grant for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line.

McKinney, Brekke and Swenson were absent.

Independence Bank Securities were also approved 4-0, with Lilletvedt, an Independence Bank employee abstaining from the vote.