Commission declines to grant sewer variance

The Hill County Commission voted down Thursday Mike Winchell’s request for a variance that would allow him to install a septic tank on a property he recently developed east of 32nd Avenue East,

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean voting for the variance and Hill County commissioners Mike Wendland and Mark Peterson voting against.

The subdivsion agreement for the land required that Winchell, owner of Lodestar Land and Home, hook the property into the public sewer system.

He said at previous meetings on the issue that he later found that the proximity of his property to the sewer main would require the construction of a lift station, which he said, was economically infeasible based upon the quotes he’s been given from local businesses.

Winchell said this exempted him from the agreed-upon reuirement, especially because he received an incorrect estimate of the main’s proximity from the Havre Public Works Department.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said that information request was made after the foundations of the house Winchell was building on his property were already in place.

Mark Peterson said Winchell was repeatedly told to verify that proximity before building on the property and the fact that he didn’t is part of the reason he would likely vote no to granting the variance.

“When he talked to the city engineer, Dave Peterson, they gave him some numbers that showed the sewer line depth, but they also cautioned him to check that depth and verify,” he said, “the surveyor told him to make sure to check the depth of that sewer line before you proceed, and the sanitarian also told him to check that. And as near as I can tell that was never done until after the house was basically there, the foundations were there,” Mark Peterson said.

“If they had done their due diligence they’d have known before they proceeded, but they did not,” he added.

Peterson also said he’d had conversations with contractors who have developed subdivisions in the area who said approving the variance would create a precedent that could allow anyone to say they don’t want to hook up to the public sewers.

“That kind of defeats the purpose of what we are trying to do, which is having a good system that serves everybody,” he said.

Wendland said he’s received calls from people in the area Winchell is developing saying that they were made to follow the rules of hooking into the sewer system and thought it was unfair that this property would get an exception.

“It’s been before the health board in a couple different meetings. I don’t think this is something the county can change… Mike Winchell is going to have to hook into the city sewers,” he said.

Hill County Sanitarian Clay Vincent said his office has been trying to get everyone who can to hook into the sewer system for reasons of cost and safety.

“We’ve pushed that for 37 years, just because it keeps the cost down for everybody and it’s a much better way to deal with sewage,” he said.

Vincent said he hopes Winchell can find a more affordable lift station quote and that he can continue his development.

The commission also discussed the possibility of changing county elections so that they are non-partisan, meaning candidates will run without being labeled as belonging to a particular political party.

Wendland said a change like this can happen via a local government ordinance and would require two announcements in the Havre Daily News followed by a public hearing after which there would be a 30-day period before the ordinance takes effect.

He said because there is not enough time to do all of this before the upcoming ballot, discussion of the matter would be temporarily discontinued, but he said, the issue would likely resurface in time for the municipal election.

Havre municipal actions already are non-partisan.

The commission also discussed a request that was recently made by the Rudyard Ambulance Service to raise their compensation for certain tasks.

These requests include a $25 stipend for people who respond to lift assist calls and wellbeing checks.

They also wanted to raise their stipend on trips when it involves waiting at the scene for another agency like Highway Patrol to assist from $100 to $125, which they said, can take from two to four hours at times.

They also wanted to raise their compensation for drives to Great Falls from $200 to $225.

Peterson said he replied to the request by asking if those requested raises were high enough given the amount of work the volunteers put in.

“I don’t think they’ve been raised in a tremendous amount of years,” he said.

McLean requested that the matter be tabled for the sake of having more discussion about the issue especially since it wasn’t in the agenda and there hasn’t been a chance for the public to comment on the matter either.

McLean said she is not at all opposed to the idea, but thought there should be more time to talk about it since the commission had only received the request yesterday.

“I’m not against it in any measure,” she said.

Also, at the meeting the commission unanimously approved a pair of applications for funding made by the Hill County Council on Aging to United Way.

The first was a $7,800 in grant for the council’s efforts delivering meals to the homes of the elderly, the same amount the organization received from United Way last year.

Council on Aging Director Don Kenny said his organization has received donations from other sources this year as well.

“We received some additional funds from the Washington Foundation and NorthWestern Energy due to COVID-19,” Kenny said.

The second grant application was for $1,850 which will pay for food and supplies necessary to feed the volunteers who work for the council.

“As everybody knows, we have an incredible team here on the Council on Aging,” Kenny said, “… What this does is give us funding to pay to feed those volunteers.”

The commission also unanimously approved all committee appointments recently made by the Hill County Park Board.