Havre looks at changing the structure of City Council meetings

During the committee reports of the Havre City Council meeting Monday Mayor Tim Solomon discussed with council members an idea to reorganize the council's monthly meetings.

"I find it a very interesting concept," Council member Erik Meis said. "It could be viable."

Solomon said he brought up the idea at the end of the Ordinance Committee meeting last month and discussed the idea with the committee. The idea is the City Council would meet once a month to discuss and vote on agenda items, with a second meeting later in the month for committee meetings and educational trainings for the council and community members.

He added that the council has had a number of meetings in the past year with only one or two agenda items and changing how the meetings would be structured would allow more to be on the agenda and possibly increase community involvement.

A number of other cities already use this structure for their monthly meetings, he said.

Council member Terry Lilletvedt said that some council meetings are short and have only a few agenda items, but throughout the year the council does have meetings with several agenda items.

Council member Caleb Hutchins said that the Ordinance Committee could rewrite an ordinance and include a section which would state the council could hold a second meeting to pass agenda items if needed.

He added that City Council has to meet two times a month regardless of the number of agenda items, and restructuring the meetings could provide a better use of time for the council members and the committees as well as increase community involvement, because each meeting would have more items which could be discussed.

Council member Lindsey Ratliff said that it is an interesting topic and is worth further discussion. 

Hutchins added that at the last Ordinance Committee meeting the committee also discussed parking issues in downtown Havre.

"I don't know if there is any easy answer to that situation because our downtown has grown in the last four or five years - which is a great problem to have - but now we are faced with more cars than there are parking spaces, it seems," he said.

The issue is going to need further discussion, he said, adding that if anyone has any suggestions or ideas he is happy to hear them.

The Ordinance Committee also discussed making changes to the qualifications for Havre police officers, Hutchins said. He added that the committee will be making some changes and will vote on the issue next meeting, which was scheduled to directly follow the Dec. 16 City Council meeting.

The city already approved a proposal to restructure the hiring process for firefighters to make it consistent with state guidelines, removing an upper age restriction.

Council member Denise Brewer said that the Streets and Sidewalks Committee met last Monday to discuss how the city could move forward with establishing special improvement districts in Havre. She said that after discussion, the committee agreed to talk with the Capital Planning Committee to find more information on how the city can move forward with the idea.

Solomon said that the city doesn't have a designated Capital Planning Committee and the Streets and Sidewalks Committee would need to talk to Public Works Director Dave Peterson.

The council also passed the fifth part of the contractor pay application for the Bullhook water project, a total of $155,161.43.

Peterson said that the project is very close to completion, with the project being tied into the existing main and cleanup still needing to be done. 

He said in an interview after the meeting that the project is right on schedule, although it was delayed by recent weather conditions. He said that if the weather did not interfere with the project it would have been completed a few weeks ago.

He added that it is nice to see the project finally being completed.

"It's going to be good and we can move forward to something else now," Peterson said.

Solomon said that the budget for the project is still to be determined because the city is still working with the bonding company.

The project is to replace the infrastructure in Bullhook, a creek that runs under much of Havre with streets and buildings built over it that acts as a storm runoff drain. The system started collapsing in 2013, leaving holes in streets and sidewalks. After finding funding including grants and loans, the city awarded a $1,972,503 contract to Kinkaid Civil Construction out of Mesa, Arizona, to do the work. After the company failed to complete the project by the deadline, the city entered into negotiations with Kinkaid and eventually into arbitration, which came back in favor of the city and it has been working with the bonding company to recover its funds.

Solomon added that he agreed it will be nice to have the project completed.

"This has been a long time coming," he said.

The council also approved the reappointment of Bob Breum to the Airport Board and Keith Doll to Havre/Hill County Historic Preservation Commission for two-year terms.