Libby considers 10-year plan for capital projects
New Libby City Administrator Jim Hammons suggested at Monday’s city council meeting that the city invest in a professional 10-year capital improvements plan that would prioritize infrastructure needs.
Hammons told the council that the city’s grant application would receive a higher score if it had a 10-year plan in place. Such a plan, he said, would be tailored to the two-year funding cycles.
Dan Thede, who retired from Hammons’s position last fall, had put together a brief overlay of priorities for the city, but Mayor Doug Roll said that the city needs an in-depth report.
“When Jim took over the job that was the first thing I tasked him with,” Roll said. “We need some sort of blueprint, some sort of plan.”
Roll originally asked Hammons to look into a five-year plan for the city, but after contacting Ryan Jones from Morrison-Maierle, Hammons suggested a 10-year plan, which will cost approximately $5,000.
In other news from the meeting:
• Mayor Doug Roll performed the first reading of a new ordinance that would make all traffic laws apply to bicyclists.
• Councilmember Vicky Lawrence reported back to the council on the issue of the city’s role in preventing unlicensed electricians and plumbers working within the city. She stated that she believed it was up to the state to enforce the licensing laws, but that building inspector Ron Higgins agreed to be more diligent in inspecting licenses.
• Hammons reported that if all goes according to plan, work on the Thomas Street water main could begin as soon as late March or early April. The project includes installing about 1,400 feet of 8-inch water main, a fire hydrant, a flushing hydrant and nine gate valves.
• The council unanimously approved Hammons’s suggestion to offer a price of $4,000 per acre to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for the right-of-way of a small piece of city-owned land for the state’s Flower Creek Watershed Project.
• The council voted unanimously to grant preliminary approval for the Bentgrass Subdivision with an amendment to the terms. The owner did not want setbacks for the sloped property to be recorded on the plat for final approval, but have language in the plat stating that the property would have to be engineered before a structure could be built on it. The council denied his request, not wishing to run the risk of creating a lot that cannot be built on.