Park Board votes to impose time limits on public comments

The Hill County Park Board voted to impose time limits on public comments at their monthly meeting this week where they also considered consolidating their committees and looked at the coming year's budget.

During the meeting, Board Member Lou Hagener presented an updated version of the board's public comments and agenda-setting policy in the hopes that it would be approved.

Board Chair Jeff Jensen said the board doesn't need that, and all he wants to change is the time limit.

Hagener's proposed policy said the chair has the discretion to limit time for public comment for the sake of practicality and fairness, but Jensen said he wanted defined time limits instead, specifically one minute for agenda items and three minutes for non-agenda items.

Hill County Commissioner and Park Board member Mark Peterson said this policy would communicate to people that their comments need to be concise.

During public comments cabin-owner Robert Williams objected to these time limits, saying it was unfair to the public.

"You're giving me a minute, but you can have all the time in the world," Williams said.

"That's because I'm chairman," Jensen responded.

He said he's just trying to speed up meetings, and is willing to let people go a little longer than the time limit to finish their thoughts within reason.

Williams said that doesn't change the fact that the policy would allow him to cut off anyone he wants to after only one minute.

Hagener, as well as local resident Lowell Alcock, said they were concerned with the lack of clarity on the agenda, with Hagener saying he's several times seen a matter on the agenda only to find that the item being discussed at the meeting was very different.

Jensen said they are going to put the agenda online so it's more easily accessible.

Peterson said if people have questions they need to contact the board for clarification.

Hagener said he's had several people contact him with concerns over public comments and agenda setting.

Jensen said those people should be getting in touch with him or Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar.

"Not one person has ever called me about anything," he said.

Hagener said the website is not a great place for posting agendas.

Hill County Commissioner and Park Board Member Sheri Williams said the county is getting a new website soon which will be much better.

The board voted to impose the time limits with everyone but Hagener voting for it.

The board then discussed possibly consolidating their Rules and Regulations Committee with their Finance Committee,

Jensen said the committees don't really meet all that often and it's becoming harder and harder to find people willing to sit on them so he thinks it would be a good idea to combine the two.

Hagener disagreed, saying when the committees were established they were active and doing good work establishing fee models and creating new positions and the board just needed to give them things to do, which would lighten the load on Edgar.

"We haven't used (the committees) very effectively and that's on us," he said.

He said he also feels the skill sets and experience needed to be on each committee are different, so he opposes combining them.

Jensen suggested they table the matter until they get a better idea of who and how many people there are willing to apply to be on these committees, as many spots are up for appointment.

Peterson said anyone interested can submit a letter to the commissioner's office and they can interview them about who they are, why they are interested and what kind of expertise they would bring to their committee.

Hagener said he doesn't want to be antagonistic, but he's at the courthouse twice a week and he's never seen postings for these open committee slots.

Williams said they are posted.

The board also discussed the future of the new Camp Kiwanis Beaver Lodge being designed.

Jensen said no one responded to their request for proposals, but local architect Becki Miller just told him she knows a firm in Billings that may be interested.

Hagener said the advertisement for the request for proposal in the Havre Daily News was extremely small and the quality of the paper was bad.

Peterson said as far as he can tell, they have met their legal obligation for advertising the project, so they can reach out to Miller's suggested firm.

The board was also presented a proposed budget for Beaver Creek Park by Edgar, who said he's laid out a number of requests in the budget for projects and new equipment.

He said the park needs to continue replacing outhouses, especially in the Eagles Campground, and he'd like to restain and reseal the park's chapel, which sustained significant flooding damage last year.

Other projects he said he'd like to work on are improving one of the park's counselor cabins which has seen some significant deterioration and installing a new septic tank at the office, as they have to deal with multiple backups every year which makes more work for them, especially in winter.

Edgar said there are roads near Beaver Creek Reservoir, or First Lake, that have seen some significant erosion damage, and while he knows they are difficult to address the situation there is getting serious.

"We can only say 'We don't have the money or the resources' for so long before you damage more land, and that's not doing our job," he said.

He also talked about putting a concrete apron on the cattle guard at Camp Kiwanis and buying a new truck to pull their skid steer and possibly a new side-by-side.

The last request Edgar made was for a new pump for their fire truck, which is itself becoming an issue for the park.

He said the truck is a cumbersome and expensive to maintain piece of equipment and after talking to Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department Chief Josh Bebee he thinks it should be replaced with a tank and pump on a skid which could be carried with a pickup truck.

He said this would be faster and more maneuverable, than their fire truck.

Edgar said many of these requests won't be able to be addressed in this year's budget, but between their main budget and their capital improvement fund, he thinks they can address quite a few.

He asked the board to take the next month to go over the budget and requests and get back to him with any questions.

Edgar also provided an update on the last month of park usage, which he said has been low until the last two weeks when they started seeing some campers as well as the Bear Paw Bowmen recently having a shoot.

He said the park has been greening up and suspects it will get busier soon.

He said conditions are still pretty wet but most of the snow is gone and the creek has a strong flow.

He also said the kiosk, set to go up at the north end of the park, has been shipped and should be arriving shortly.

Edgar also thanked the commission for approving a new junior laborer position for a 16- to 17-year-old.

He said they aren't permitted to use power tools with blades, but it's getting harder and harder to find people to take jobs at the park, so opening it up for a younger person will be helpful.

He also said they will be increasing hours for their secretary from 24 per week to 30 per week, as the office's workload seems to increase every year and it gets harder and harder to keep up.

The board also heard a brief update from Friends of Beaver Creek Park at the meeting.

Board member Ursula Brese, also a member of the Friends, said they have their new stickers available at Camp Kiwanis for $5 each.

She also said she recently found an old but very detailed writeup of the park's history from a former member of the Friends, which she is hoping to use for something.

Hagener also made a request to discuss consistency in their cabin inspections at the next meeting, which was granted.

During the meeting the board also gave their blessing to this year's Bear Paw Marathon after a brief presentation from Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Past President Matt Wertheimer, who said the event is set for June 3 this year.

Wertheimer said the path will be the same as last year, going through the park and ending at Montana State University-Northern with people able to run the full marathon, half marathon and a 5k run.

He said they will need to shut down one lane of traffic for the duration, but will have pilot cars and flaggers at the intersections, as well as a cleanup crew which will make sure everything is picked up after the event ends.

He said they have 208 people signed up this year, but they usually get an influx of sign-ups in the last month before the event and for the last two years they've had over 300 runners.

Of their current sign-ups, he said, 33 are from out of state and many of those from in state are from out of town and he thinks the event will continue to grow in popularity as time goes on.

Peterson said, having volunteered to help with this event for the past two years, he can say with confidence that it is very well-run, with fast cleanup and excellent safety precautions so he wholeheartedly endorses it.

The board approved the event unanimously.