City council approves street closures, discusses budget

The Havre City Council passed a number of street closures for upcoming events in the city, including Festival Days.

The first request was from PJ’s Restaurant & Casino to close Main Street behind the bar to host a street dance with live music Saturday, Sept. 17.

The second was from the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce for the parade route, Saturday Market and bounce house. A request accompanied by a request for an open container waiver for Rock Lotto in the Town Square area.

The third was from the St. Jude Thaddeus Home and School Organization to close Seventh Avenue between Third and Fourth streets Friday, Oct. 21, through Saturday, Oct. 22, for the Annual Pumpkin Patch Festival.

All three were approved unanimously.

The council also approved a resolution assessing a special tax against certain properties in Havre for failure to pay a charge for nuisance weed control on their property.

After the meeting the council held a budget hearing that received comment from city resident Dave Brewer.

Brewer is a Democrat running for Montana Senate District 14 against incumbent Republican Sen. Russ Tempel of Chester.

Among other comments, Brewer said he wishes the Havre Daily News would tell people where to find the budget.

An agenda published in the Havre Daily Friday, says that additional information on agenda items, including the budget can be obtained at the City Clerk’s Office and in previous stories has said the budget is available on the city’s website and at the mayor’s office.

The budget hearing will reconvene tonight at 6 and will be followed by a meeting of the City Streets and Sidewalks Committee which will be discussing a proposal to change part of fifth and sixth streets to one-way and a survey that was recently done to gauge public opinion on the issue.

Brewer also commented on this, saying he thinks there is little support for the proposal from people on those streets.

He did however request that the city put a four-way stop at the intersection of sixth Street and seventh Avenue, which he said is a sight of a lot of close calls.

During the public comments, Brewer also said he thinks the city should put up street lights in the Highland Park area, but Havre Mayor Doug Kaercher said streetlights are all funded by lighting districts.

Kaercher said if Brewer wants streetlights in his area he would need to create a petition to create a lighting district and get residents to vote for it.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said he has forms in his office that will allow Brewer to get started on that process but he will need to talk to Northwestern-Energy and warned that district members would need to put money for the first year up front as part of creating a district.