City Council appoints new police officer

An officer was appointed as a patrol officer for the Havre Police Department Monday at Havre City Council.

Havre Police Department Chief Gabe Matosich appointed Jayce Barclay to the position of patrol officer.

Matosich said Barclay has gone through an extensive background investigation and graduated from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy.

Barclay completed the 14-week field training program, Matosich said, adding that Barclay has met all the necessary requirements for the full-time position of the patrol officer.

“Jayce has been doing an exceptional job, as you may have read on Facebook and has proven to be a hard-working and dedicated officer,” Matosich said. “He will be a great asset and addition to the Havre Police Department.”

Ordinance No. 912 — An Ordinance Amending Title 1, Chapter 6, Section 1, Salaries of Elective Officers, of the Havre City Code was approved on first reading 6-1 with council member Ed Matter voted against it.

The ordinance would raise the Havre mayor’s salary from $22,000 a year to $30,000 a year.

If the ordinance is passed on second reading it will take effect.

Matter said the salary is ridiculously low and he has felt that way since he came on the council.

“Unfortunately, when you wait, in this case 14 years, to make up for having no one raise it in the past, then you're tempted to raise it a great deal, not that it isn’t an appropriate amount,” he said. “I do have a little concern about raising it as much as what’s being proposed.”

Council Member Terry Lilletvedt said she was the one who requested the Ordinance Committee to meet and consider a raise for the mayor position.

“I feel and I hope the council agrees with me that our mayor is underpaid, and honestly has not received a raise since 2006,” she said. “Tim did not ask me for this raise. No one came to me and gave me a little pep talk about it. I’ve thought about this since I joined the council.”

She thinks that a lot is asked of the mayor locally, she said.

“We call it a part-time position and while it might not be full-time, it certainly is full-time sometimes, and certainly is more than part-time all the time,” Lilletvedt said. “I’m not doing this for Tim, I don’t want that to be mistaken. It’s really for continuity of the office moving forward, make sure we get people to apply.

“We ask a lot of the mayor and I feel strongly that it is time to raise that salary,” she added.

A resolution setting Public Works authority dealing with weeds in the city was approved unanimously.

Public Works Director Dave Peterson said this resolution is done every year.

“We send out the notices throughout the city for people who don’t keep their weeds within the ordinance,” he said. “If they don’t cut it within 10 days then we go out and we will cut the property and a minimum assessment is $150 depending on the time the guys are there it’s based on the amount that we charge then we send them a bill.”

If the bill is not paid then the resolution allows the city to collect it on their taxes, Peterson said.

Matter also said the Finance Committee met before City Council and unanimously approved September’s claims and manual warrants.

The next City Council meeting is set for Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. in City Hall, after which an ordinance committee meeting will be held.