Troy City Council meeting report
The Troy City Council held their monthly meeting last night at City Hall with items on the agenda promptly moved through.
Minutes from the Jan. 15 and Jan. 21 meetings were the first pieces approved by the council.
Department reports didn’t elicit discussion, but Mayor Darren Coldwell noted that the Community Improvement grant he had submitted two months ago for beautification projects for Troy was approved earlier this week. The city will receive $16,000, which will be used for street banners and hanging flower baskets on Highway 2. An additional 15 trees will be planted on the walking path on the St. Regis Haul road to improve landscaping. The museum will also receive about $2,500 dollars for enhancements to the decking, lighting and painting, with another $3,000 for Christmas lights for the museum.
Mayor Coldwell said the city is looking at some water line replacements for this summer and fall. “The two main areas we’re looking at is from 2nd street to 3rd street on Mineral Avenue in front of Goodrich’s. And on 6th street from Missoula Avenue, Highway 2 to the elementary school,” he said. The city has received some bids for the project, one at $9,400 and the other at $8,500. Coldwell said the bids will be presented to the council at a meeting in the near future.
The council voted to approve ordinance 689 for the adoption of the International Building Codes. The codes are mandatory for cities to adopt and Troy’s lawyer Clif Hayden wrote the resolution to make sure the city was fully compliant.
A total of seven letters of interest to become part of the museum committee were submitted to the council for approval. The interested parties are active with the museum and would be filling volunteer roles. The council approved the letters for committee and Coldwell said they should be patted on the back for their volunteer work.
Resolution 693 allows for an additional $3,000 for the Local Government Review Study Fund. The city had originally budgeted for $7,000, but ended up asking for $10,000 from taxpayers. “This is a line-item change so we don’t have an extra $3,000 floating around out there so we don’t have any surprises at years-end,” Coldwell said. Councilman Joe Arts asked whether the council had oversight over how the money is spent, which Coldwell affirmed they do. The resolution was approved.
Troy will now be going though the company Municode for codification of the city’s codes and will also host the information online. The switch will save the city $250 off the bat because the company will host their site free for the first six months and will result in about $150 in annual savings for their services. Switching to the Florida-based company was approved.
The city will also be changing companies for collection of outstanding utility bills. They’ll be switching from the Credit Bureau of Libby to Collection Bureau Services in Missoula. Collecting for outstanding electrical bills, some in excess of 10 years, is the main reason the city is turning them over to collection. The city can put liens on property for outstanding water and sewer bills, but not with electric bills. Deputy Clerk for Troy Sandi Sullivan estimates the amount owed to the city for the late power bills to be between $8,000 and $10,000.
City Clerk Tracy Rebo said, “We give people having trouble paying their bill more than enough of a chance to pay. We work with them a lot.” Rebo outlined the city’s process to inform people they need to pay, which includes several notices over a couple of months, followed by a 10-day notice and finally a 24-hour notice before shutting off utilities. She said shut-offs rarely occur. Collection Bureau Services was approved for collection services for the city.
The final two resolutions approved by the council were to repeal past resolutions. Resolution 694 repealed a resolution requiring all police officers maintain a personal log book for inspection by the council. It was determined log books are no longer necessary as officers now have personal and in-vehicle recording devices and council’s access to such records does not serve the best interest of the city under Montana’s Criminal Justice Information Act.
Resolution 695 repealed a resolution that established a policy limiting all city hourly employees to five eight-hour work days. The council decided the limitation does not serve the best interest of the city. Coldwell also noted that in their union contract it states that decision is between the administrator and the employee.