Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Council discusses solid waste issues

The Whitehall Town Council tabled the discussion on a resolution at their monthly meeting Monday that increases the fees for solid waste services.

The discussion on resolution 2015-6 has been tabled until the governing bodies March meeting. The resolution increasing solid waste services was passed by council in 2015.

Town Clerk/Treasurer Summer Fellows said the current commercial rate is $24.50 per month for a 300-gallon commercial trashcan picked up once a week. Public Works Director Kory Klapan said some people are paying too much, some not enough, some are getting picked up three times per week and only getting charged for one. Klapan said he would like to eventually get 96-gallon cans to every resident in Whitehall, but it is expensive, and the town does not have it within the budget at this time.

Town employees will be making a list to document what will be the fairest regarding the 300-gallon and commercial pickups. At this time fees and increases will remain the same from 2015; which will be a $2 increase on residential and a percentage on commercial pickups this year.

In his monthly report, Mayor Dale Davis discussed the locks at town hall.

“We bought some new doors to go into the city office with deadbolts and we will be changing the lock on the front door. We dead bolted the back doors because we have had an individual in this building at night. We have been told twice by two different people who this individual is, so I think the easiest thing to do is to change the doors and locks,” Davis said.

He said on Tuesday council members will have a training session with MMIA (Montana Municipal Inter-local Authority) from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on how government works.

He also reported on a water break at the Ladies of the Country Store building.

“The Ladies’ Auxiliary had a water break and really made a mess in that building. It took a few days to get that mess cleaned up. We turned it in as a claim and we will see where it goes from there,” he said.

In her report, Fellows said it is the end of the payroll year, and all the W-2’s and 1099 have been completed.

Fellows stated she had printed off a copy of the current budget, and would like the council to review it.

“I have made some notes on it. For example, both payments to the Sheriff’s department have been paid on the contract, so we won’t owe the Sheriff’s department until the next fiscal year in July. Streets which we moved into the gas tax fund have been just about used up, so unless there are some budget amendments you will have to start looking at it.” Fellows said.

Klapan reported on the public works department and said they had a pretty busy month with all the snow removal and trying to keep the roads sanded. He said the Lagoon had a pump back up and put a temporary fix on it, and they also worked on getting all of the Christmas decorations taken down.

Alderman Tom Jenkin reported for the Recreational Complex Board. At their monthly meeting, he said the board discussed what to do with the TIFF grant for the electrical concerns at the Recreational Complex. He said some things listed are the main panel for the wiring, new wire from the transformer and installing seven to ten RV hook-ups to help the vendors. Jenkin added more people seem to want to use the complex all the time.

“We are just trying to make it a little nicer, look a little better and have more facilities,” he said.

Under the Consent Agenda a Business License was approved for Reed’s Rescue & Rehabilitation. The leases on the insurance for the digital equipment at the Star Theatre that the town owns, and the piece of property Northwest Energy leases at the Rec. Complex for poles and transformers were both renewed. 4 Rivers Concrete applied for a permit to add an addition to the shop so the company would be able to get more trucks in their shop. Council voted and approved the permit.

The Resolution 2017-1, that was discussed at last months meeting was approved. The resolution will attach a late fee to utility bills over 60 days past due.

Council approved NCI Engineering in Great Falls to help with the town’s uranium problem. The engineering firm will be working with the Town of Whitehall and the DEQ . A recommended test done at the Wisconsin State University laboratory report didn’t really help the town’s uranium analysis much, according to Mayor Davis.

Klapan said the Division Street well read 26 µg/L and the Firehall well was 37 µg/L which is 7 over the 30 µg/L EPA standards and regulations.

Councilman Joe Adams resigned as Council President at Monday night’s council meeting. The Council elected Mac Smith as Council President.

No action was called after an Executive Session to discuss legal strategies related to issues imposed on the Whitehall Ambulance Service.

 

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