City Council looks for state help replacing Boulevard Ave. water main

Havre City Council passed a resolution Monday to have the city apply to the Montana Department of Commerce for financial assistance from the Delivering Local Assistance Program.

The application is for funding to assist the city with costs to replace the water main in Boulevard Avenue and upsize the line to create redundancy for the city’s water main serving the Highlands area of the city, the resolution said.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said that the city is trying to finish a project in the Highland Park area, which includes 16th Avenue, 11th Street, Boulevard Avenue and Eighth Avenue West.

He added that the city is trying to repair the water main underneath the street, but the city does not want to do an overlay project on anything that will be torn up by a possible water break. He said that replacing the water line on Boulevard Avenue will also include creating a redundancy for the Highland Park area.

A redundancy means that if the city were to have an issue with the elevated water tank, which could affect the water supply for the schools, hospitals and care centers in the area, the area would still have a water source.

Peterson said that the city did not have the funds in its water budget this year and the city is putting in a grant application, with the help of Bear Paw Development Corp., to get the grant. 

Bear Paw Development Corp. Community Development Director Lisa Moisey said Montana Department of Commerce has $1.5 million, maximum, available per county. 

“It’s a very competitive statewide grant for communities who can show impacts from natural resource development,” she said.

She added that the natural resource developments could either be an increase or decrease and is split between 20,000 schools and infrastructure projects statewide. She said the state possibly has hundreds applying for the grant.

Peterson said that one of the requirements for the grant is the project has to be engineered and ready to go. He added that the city already has the project engineered and should be getting approval by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

“You can’t just put in for it then design for it,” he said. “You have to be ready to go if you get the money.”

The application deadline is this month and the city will hopefully hear if it has been awarded the grant before the end of the year, Peterson said.

Moisey added that if the city is awarded the grant the city should be ready to break ground in the spring of next year.

Peterson said the city applied for just a little more than $453,000 and has to have matching funds if awarded the grant. 

The city also approved a resolution assessing a special property tax against certain properties in the city of Havre whose owners failed to pay the fine for nuisance weed control services on their properties.

Mayor Tim Solomon said that the resolution is straightforward and the city passes this resolution every year. 

The city also passed a memorandum of understanding between the Montana Department of Administration and the city. 

The memorandum says the purpose of the document is to permit the city to purchase supplies and services from vendors at the prices, terms and conditions contained in contracts between the state and those vendors. The methods by which the city may participate in state contracts are through the requisition time schedule for vehicles, term contracts, eMACS Marketplace and purchase orders or contracts established from invitations for bids or requests for proposals.

Solomon said that the memorandum of understanding is also passed every year and is the same agreement as last year. 

The city also approved a request from Gal Phillips with PJ’s Restaurant and Casino to have outdoor music in the parking area in the alley of the 300 Block of First Street Sarturday.

Solomon said that Phillips has done her background checks and planned it very well.

During the public comment portion of the council meeting, Solomon said that the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce has developed a committee and are working on an application for Havre to be included in Main Street Montana. He added that the application is almost ready to be submitted, and will be submitted by the Chamber.

Havre becoming included in Main Street Montana will also open up new opportunities for grants for the city, he said.

Council Member Sarah McKinney said she has also spoken to Montana State University Extension Local Government Center Director Dan Clark about he or another representative from his office coming to Havre Oct. 30, to discuss special improvement districts to fund projects, repairs and maintenance.