Charter government effective July 1

At a meeting Monday night, Havre City Council approved Ordinance No. 914 — an ordinance providing for the transition from a commission-executive government to a charter government.

“So the charter was passed last November. And this one is first in the transition ordinances. And it sets the effective date for the transition, which is our fiscal year July 1, and then it officially recognizes the form of government from commission executive to charter with a council,” Council member Andrew Brekke said.

The council approved additional ordinances in relation to the transition. Other ordinances included Ordinance No. 915 providing for the continued effectiveness of ordinances, obligations and officers after the government transition.

“This one moves our ordinances, our debt obligations and all officers and boards, commissions, everyone who’s currently in office transitions (to the new form of government) and then anything that’s related to finances and ordinances automatically transition except those that we’re amending today,” Brekke said.

“We’re not really changing anything in our ordinances, it’s pretty much taking the wording and moving forward. But we could at this point change something if we wanted to,” Havre Mayor Tim Solomon added.

With Ordinance No. 916,  the council then amended Title 1, Chapter 4 Section 20. This pertains to newly appointed City Council members.

“We have specific language that this body chose after I left to amend with regard to newly appointed City Council members. So this brings the current ordinance into compliance with what’s specified in the charter and with the statute. So it’s just some language changes, but it sort of brings it into compliance,” Brekke, who had left the council when he moved to a new counicl district but later was appointed to fill a vacant seat, said.

Brekke indicated the change in language does not change the letter of the law.

“So, we’re talking about my seat. I’m an appointed individual for an unexpired term. In the statute, it refers to unexpired terms, but our charter talks about it specifies the terms of office. And so we needed to specify that the unexpired term ends at the election. ... I mean, that’s what we’ve always done by practice, but it needs to be set in writing. So that’s what this is changing. So it’s really just in reference to the term,” Brekke said.

Through Ordinance No. 917, the council amended Title 1, Chapter 8, Section 1 pertaining to the fire marshal and deputy fire marshal.

“We have an office of fire marshal and deputy fire marshal, or the reference, to a deputy fire marshal in our current ordinance. The way we’ve done it by practice, the chief and the deputy chief or assistant chief fill those roles, ex officio capacity,” Brekke said. 

Brekke said the only difference between the old ordinance and this ordinance was the charter mandates that all executive appointments be made by the mayor, and then approved with the advice and consent of the council. 

“In the prior ordinance, It was strictly made and approved automatically. But since the way this is, technically the council could choose, the mayor could choose to appoint a different person. But by practice, since it’s the chief and assistant chief’s role, and the mayor appoints and the council advises and consents on that role, it needs to include the fire marshal and the deputy fire marshal as well,” Brekke said.

“There’s some specific language that the marshal proceeds with, that’s reference to other ordinances and their powers and duties. It’s just, leave it alone, is what we wanted to do. So all we’re doing is just making our ordinance compliant with state statute and our charter,” Brekke added.

City approves agreements on fire, ambulance services

The council approved an interlocal agreement with Hill County for ambulance services outside city limits. Mayor Tim Solomon said there is no exact boundary line for how far service will extend outside city limits but that this is intended to serve the east half of Hill County.

The council then ratified the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 601 collective bargaining agreement for Fiscal Year 2021-22. Also ratified was a memorandum of agreement settling contracts for fiscal years 2019, 2020 and 2021 with Fire Fighters Local 601.

Havre establishes City Tree Commission

The council also approved creation and establishment of a City Tree Commission through Ordinance No. 918. Solomon said Havre is required to have this commission as part of Tree City USA. The commission helps review tree ordinances.

“The old ordinance referenced that they were automatically appointed, and, again, in keeping with compliance with our charter, … bringing this one into compliance as well,” Brekke said.

“These individuals do help with a lot of the work. So they actually do assist the parks and rec director and the assistant director, when they’re replacing boulevard trees and trees in Pepin (Park) after the storm. So these individuals that serve in this capacity take their role very seriously. They do a lot of work for the city, and it’s probably something we should recognize more often, the work that a lot of these boards and councils do,” Brekke added.

Council cleans up language in ordinances

The council also amended Ordinance No. 919, which clarifies how the chief of police is appointed and the number of patrol officers.

Brekke said the change cleans up language on the ordinance, which the city attorney noted had some incongruities.

He said another change approved by the council dealt with mutual aid agreements negotiated by the mayor.

“This ordinance brings it into compliance with the charter that says the mayor can do those actions, but it must be approved by the council,” Brekke said.

Calculation of building permit fees modified

The council addressed an item on building permit fees from its April 5 meeting, which Brekke said had not been updated since roughly 1991.

He added that the increase in fees from this update will be minimal.

“I’ve had a number of calls from people who are concerned about this, you know, we’re dramatically raising everyone’s fees. And I said yes, some of them are going up. But I told them to look at the tiers because the tiers are also being amended and try, living in any other community. it’s not that much, really in all reference,” he added.

NAMI Havre to host May 22 barbecue

The council also approved a request from National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre for a closure of Third Avenue between Third and Fourth streets 3-6:30 p.m. May 22 for an open house barbecue.

The council will hold its next meeting May 17 at 7 p.m.