Havre City Council starts looking for new city judge

Havre City Council started the process Monday to replace the position being vacated by City Judge Virginia Seigel.

Seigel announced her resignation to the City Council during the Nov. 19 council meeting. She will serve her last day as city judge Jan. 21.

The council did not take action at that time because Seigel had not requested to put the consideration of her resignation or appointing her recommended replacement, her clerk, Tyson Bliwernitz, on the council agenda.

Bliwernitz has since resigned as City Court clerk.

The council has 30 days after the vacancy has opened to find a replacement.

Seigel’s replacement will serve the rest of her term as city judge until the next election, in 2020.

The council decided that, due to the holiday season they will advertise the position for three weeks, until Jan. 11 of next year.

City Clerk Doug Kaercher said that, within that time, there will be three, possibly four, advertisements for the position through a variety of media, such as the newspaper and the radio.

The council will accept applications until Jan. 11.

Kaercher suggested that if the council receives more than two applicants for the position that the council set a special meeting to conduct the interviews and vote on them. The agenda of the special meeting would have to be published ahead of time.

In order to apply for city judge, applicants must be a resident of Havre and at least 18 years of age Mayor Tim Solomon said, adding that if appointed other training is required by the Montana Supreme Court.

After each election cycle, the Montana Supreme Court holds training classes. The class was attended this year by Seigel. Videos and training materials are available to the city.

The council also approved Solomon’s recommendation of Scott Dawson to the City-County Planning Board.

Council President Terry Lilletvedt said she very strongly recommends new development of storm drains within the city.

“We do a lot of cleaning up afterwards when we don’t have a storm drain system,” she said.

She added that, initially, it might be more expensive to build storm drains, but the city will save money in the long term with less clean up.

Solomon said Lilletvedt should speak with the City-County Planning Board about the subject.

The council also approved adopting the Hill County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan update.

Solomon said Police Chief Gabe Matosich and Fire Chief Mel Paulson were the main ones who worked on the Havre portion of the mitigation plan

He added that the mitigation plan covers weather, fires and anything else that can happen in the Hill County area as required by the Federal Government.

Solomon said Hill County Commission has already adopted the mitigation plan, adding that it is a joint effort between Havre, Hill County and Hingham.

The mitigation plan is not a plan for how to respond to an emergency but is a plan to prevent emergency situations from occurring, Solomon said. He said that could include preparing in advance for bad weather or for situations at the dike.

“Anyone that has lived in this country kind of knows 90 percent of it,” Solomon said.

He added that anyone can go to Havre City Hall and look through the mitigation plan.