Havre City Council approves RFD1 fire suppression agreement

After months of back-and-forth arguments between the city of Havre and Rural Fire District 1, the Havre City Council unanimously approved a new Fire Suppression Contract with RFD1 and adopted a number of other resolutions and ordinances in their monthly meeting Monday evening.

The RFD1 Board approved this contract, which was sent to the city for consideration last month, establishes that the city will provide fire suppression services to the people of Rural Fire District 1 and that the district will appoint someone local to handle fire code enforcement.

RFD1 is essentially a ring around Havre in which the Havre Fire Department previously provided fire suppression service, but last December the city announced it would cancel the previous contract effective at the end of June to enable writing another contract which delegated responsibility for enforcing fire codes in the district.

Havre Mayor Tim Solomon has said there are buildings in RFD1 that are being built with fire code violations and they need someone local to handle enforcement of these codes for the safety of residents and Havre’s firefighters.

The board and the city failed to reach a new agreement by the original deadline, leaving Rural Fire District 1 unprotected, at least on paper. After the deadline passed, Solomon gave an extension which would have run out July 15, then extended through the end of July and and again to the end of August.

The conflict came to a head when RFD1 allowed that deadline to pass, after which the district was again left unprotected.

After a tense meeting the day after the deadline passed, one last two-week extension was granted on the understanding that the RFD1 board would work toward appointing someone to enforce fire codes.

Hill County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Amanda Frickel, who has expressed significant frustration at the situation, as well as Kremlin Rural Fire Department Chief Kody Peterson offered at that time to cover fire code enforcement during the extension and have both since offered to do that through June 2022 in order to give the RFD1 board enough time to work out the specifics of an ongoing enforcement plan.

With Monday evening’s unanimous approval by the council this conflict appears to have finally reached its end, provided the state approves the agreement, which appears very likely.

After Monday’s meeting, Solomon said it’s highly unlikely this agreement won’t be approved by the state.

At the meeting council members thanked Solomon for his work getting this agreement in place and for his patience.

The council also approved a resolution which will allow the mayor’s office to temporarily assume the duties of the city clerk and treasurer.

Council member Andrew Brekke said with Solomon leaving office in January and City Finance Director Doug Kaercher assuming that role, the city finds itself in the position of having to fill Kaercher’s position as he transfers into his new role.

Brekke said finding someone to fill this role can take time and Kaercher has graciously offered to carry over some of his duties when he assumes the office of mayor, which will make the city’s job easier as it tries to fill this role.

He said this is a kind offer and one he supports the city taking given the situation they find themselves in.

“Speaking for myself and, I think, on behalf of the committee,” he said, “We appreciate Doug’s offer to do that, because he certainly doesn’t have to.”

Brekke said this change is not in conflict with Montana state Law nor the city’s charter and can be reversed later should the council see fit to.

He said it will also allow the city to transition more easily into a city manager model of local government if it is decided that that is the direction the city should take.

The resolution was voted for unanimously.

Another resolution that was passed unanimously was for the yearly assessment of a special property tax against property owners in the city for failure to pay for nuisance weed control on their property.

Havre resident Cody Miles requested that the procedure for Havre Public Works to cut nuisance weeks be changed to include a second notice before they cut which he said would be courteous to people in the city.

“It would be nice to see the city of Havre work with its property owners a little more,” Miles said.

He said not properly notifying people before cutting their weeds at their expense is a bit unprofessional and rude.

Brekke said that, under the current model, which has been in place for some time, Public Works will give a property owner a notice when their weeds are out of control and if they fail to address the issue they are put on notice for the year and public works will cut their lawns at their expense whenever a violation is found.

Before this, he said, they would provide notice before each cut, but over the years it became clear that for the most part it was the same handful of properties that were always in violation and to streamline the process they implemented the current system which included the elimination of the second notice.

“In 14 years, it’s about the same every time,” he said.

Miles said he didn’t know that it was the same handful of people who were constantly in violation and he understands the city’s reasoning, but that people like him should still be properly noticed before public works starts cutting on their property.

“It’s about being kind,” he said.

Members of the council said this was the first time they’ve ever heard someone complain about the current model but Solomon said the discussion was ultimately not relevant to the resolution being discussed as it only had to do with fees, and doesn’t change anything about how the process works.

This resolution also passed unanimously.

The council also unanimously passed a resolution vacating the alley between Fifth Avenue West And Sixth Avenue West, for the sake of a new building being put up in the area.

Solomon said this will allow the alley to be built on, but the right-of-way for utilities will remain.

They also unanimously approved an ordinance amending Havre City Code to allow the city to issue violation notices to properties that have had utilities discontinued for a year or boarded up for six months.

Brekke said this policy was inspired by one in Billings that has helped them deal with their issues, though his committee did make some alterations to better fit Havre.

Once the city issues a violation notice, he said, they can start conversation with owner about getting the building in order which is handled on a building by building basis.

He said a public hearing was held about this amendment and while members of the public did have questions, there didn’t appear to be any objections.