[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 7-9-08

[Jason Wiener]

Bob is on vacation this week so I wrote up the committee meetings today.

J.

 

*****

 

When I was a kid, Nickelodeon ran this show called "You Can't Do That On
Television." In addition to dropping green slime on people when they
said "I don't know" and sporting a regular skit with a line-order cook
named Booger, the show featured a recurring bit called opposite sketches
where the normal order of things would be turned on its head-the stingy
would become generous, the refined uncouth. This morning turned out to
be opposite-sketch time at 140 W. Pine.

 

Dave Strohmaier was out for work and Ed Childers and Bob Jaffe were both
on vacation which meant Pam Walzer, John Hendrickson, Jon Wilkins, Lyn
Hellegaard, Dick Haines, Renee Mitchell and I made up the Public Safety
& Health Committee. With the self-style conservative minority firmly in
control of the votes, I'd venture to guess we got a taste of their
governing style.

Police Chief Mark Muir and Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Bender
presented the first item: an $18,000 contract for cost estimating with
MacArthur Means and Wells (MMW) as the lead architect and police station
specialists Wilson Estes providing specialty support. MMW was given the
contract by the administration, following on preliminary work they did
on the downtown site that everyone seems to prefer. 

 

John Hendrickson raised an issue with the selection of MMW, asking if
the project was bid. Dick Haines asserted that the entire project would
face an uphill battle because MMW has "zero credibility" because of
their work on the aquatics project. They didn't seem bothered by the
fact that the job wasn't advertised with an RFP since its size didn't
merit that. They just flatly objected to MMW. The principal architect is
different and the subcontractors, too, but merely the letters MMW were
enough to precipitate some ensuring shenanigans. There was a motion to
approve the contract and a call for a show of hands on it. Pam and I
voted in favor.  Jon W., Lyn and Renee voted against it while John H.
and Dick abstained. Pam tried to call the count 2-3-2 but John H. told
Jon W. to change his vote to yes and Jon W. obeyed, making the vote
3-2-2. Then John H. changed his vote from abstain to no so the vote
would be 3-3-1. The objective was to tie the vote because, under a
poorly constructed Council rule, a tie in committee is the only way to
keep an item from moving to the Council floor. Of course, we can just
take it up next week unless the administration decides to pick another
architect for this $18,000 piece of a likely $40 million project. I got
frustrated with all the puppeteering and offered to change my vote as
well, which prompted John H. to offer to change his back. It finally
stopped when City Clerk Marty Rehbein pointed out that minute-taker
Lesley Wills had no idea how anyone was voting. We eventually moved on
to the other item, a towing contract extension sent back to committee
because it the extension was offered without an RFP. The Police agreed
to advertise the RFP and asked for an extension with the existing
company in the interim, which the committee agreed to. We came back to
the vote on the police station but stand-in chair Pam ended up
continuing the item to another meeting because of the obstruction and
irresolution.

 

PAZ followed, albeit starting late because of PS&H's pile-up. We talked
about the Office of Planning & Grants Urban Initiatives task list for
the next fiscal year, which lays out the non-project priorities of the
department. The biggest tasks (with hours allocated) were as follows:
zoning revision (2400 hrs), application of UFDA work including a plan
for Orchard Homes (2000 hrs with the county collaborating), Mayor's
Housing Initiative (1000 hrs). The whole list is here:
ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/Packets/Council/2008/2008-07-07/UITaskList.p
df

 

Everything in the plan was funded except for a revision to the
Rattlesnake Comprehensive Plan. Partly in response to some development
pressure on unzoned land, a group from the Rattlesnake, including people
from both Neighborhood Councils has been working to update its 1995 plan
to create tools that would inform resource decisions on specific
land-use matters and highlight missing infrastructure. The item was
assigned 2000 hours by a scope of work drawn up this year. Pretty much
everyone agrees that's too much time but right now none of it is funded
anyway. The people in that area are looking for money outside
government. I'd like to see a fraction of the money and staff time made
available by the city so the community can leverage it. Otherwise, the
community people working on this will have wasted many hours and, after
having their hopes raised by OPG drawing up a scope of work, their
cynicism will simply be stoked by the lack of any movement on it. Other
areas of the city are under greater development pressure, of course, and
I recognize the need to prioritize based on need. I think desire,
expressed with genuine grassroots effort, should also merit support.

 

About an hour was left for a discussion of stacking lots. Roger Millar
from OPG made a presentation about the practice, which allows the
redrawing of lot lines in established subdivisions without undergoing
subdivision review as long as the number of lots after the redrawing is
no greater than before and the parcels, buildings, setbacks, etc.
conform to zoning. If the stacking results in lots arranged under a PNC,
the requirement that the redrawn parcel conforms to zoning doesn't mean
that they have to meet minimum lot size, setback and the like for the
existing zoning because the PNC is a zoning regulation. At least that's
what I took away. If you are interested in the intricacies, you can
download the presentation (over 3 MB) at
www.jasonwienerforcouncil.org/stacking.ppt

 

Most of the Council questions, and all the public comment, centered on
the Lincoln School, a historic school that's being converted to what
looks a lot like a 13-lot subdivision using the planned neighborhood
cluster tool. Very quickly, familiar sounding complaints about PNCs,
zoning overlays, and neighborhood protest filled the committee room.
None of it had much to do with Roger's suggestion on how Council could
rewrite local subdivision regulations so future attempts at stacking
would have to go through subdivision review. Even if we did adopt his
suggestion, there are a number of other loopholes in state law that
would probably still allow such projects to be exempt from subdivision
review, like condominium ownership. Some of the rhetoric got overheated;
at one point the Lincoln School project was compared to murder, at
another a puss-oozing blight. So I was surprised when we ended early.
During public testimony, which stand-in chair Marilyn Marler limited to
three minutes so everyone could speak, Lee Clemensen took more than
twice her allotted time, ignoring four-minute and six-minute warning and
ultimately refusing to yield the microphone. Without a sergeant-at-arms
to enforce the chair's ruling, Marilyn adjourned the meeting at that
point. It was the right move, in my opinion, but, regrettably, two
people who wanted to testify were not allowed. Odds are good that they
wouldn't have gotten to anyway because of the filibustering.

 

I was glad lunch time had arrived. We accomplished precious little
during the morning but expended plenty of energy.

 

After lunch, A&F met briefly to set a public hearing on park maintenance
districts. There are two on the south side of town and the assessments
fund the improvements instead of the general fund. It is an unusual
arrangement but no one had an issue with it. I guess someone could voice
one at the public hearing though.

 

In Public Works, we approved a pair of purchases for sewer and streets.
We also approved an encroachment permit for an alley skywalk between the
current Garlington Lohn and Robinson building at 199 W. Pine St. and
their new building, planned for 138 W. Broadway, where Scooterville
currently is. (Someone in a position to know tells me Scooterville is
eyeing the proposed green mall as a new location. They were offered
ground-floor retail in Garlington's new building but need to locate
somewhere during the year that will take to build anyway.) The skyway
plans call for more than just a connection between buildings, with the
skyway to contain a conference room and break room. We talked about the
criteria for approving the request since there is only one skywalk in
Missoula, between the Palace Apartments and Central Park. Basically,
there is no entitlement to encroach so the decision is discretionary. We
aren't setting a binding precedent by saying yes. The vote in favor of
the permit was unanimous but the architect will be available Monday if
there are questions. Some plans are visible at
ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/packets/council/2008/2008-07-07/Referrals/RO
WEncroachSkywlkPlan.pdf

 

The final item was a discussion of the interminable
Higgins-Hill-Beckwith construction project. Delays in acquiring
right-of-way in front of the Grizzly Grocery have pushed the project to
a schedule where construction could not begin until late fall. That's
frustrating, of course, because this project has been going on for a
long time. It also means the project should probably wait until spring.
If construction doesn't begin until the fall, the 45-day schedule could
be interrupted by winter weather, which is highly undesirable since the
finished product is a bit of a prototype in Missoula. Steve King and
Kevin Slovarp from Public Works said MDT wants the project to be built
first thing in the spring, April 15. This will mean closing the
intersection for over six weeks while school is in session and detouring
the traffic associated with the street and Paxson School through the
neighborhood. The alternative is waiting until school lets out to start
construction, which adds uncertainty to the cost of the project because
the bigger the gap between bidding and construction, the greater
contingency a contractor is likely to insist on for changes in material
costs. Stacy expressed a preference for waiting until school is out but
there was no vote on the matter as it is an administrative decision. I'm
inclined to defer to the ward reps but would like to hear from people in
the area about their preferences for construction: fall 08, spring 09 or
summer 09.

 

We looked at the BID budget in Budget Committee of the Whole. They are
enjoying a lot of success, winning over even people who thought the
district-funded assessments on downtown property owners-was a bad idea
when it was created. The clean team and downtown ambassadors have done a
lot to help with that. Success with Downtown Master Plan is likely the
linchpin of renewing the BID when it comes up for renewal, which will be
in the next 12-18 months if I am not mistaken.

 

We also finished up Parks. Marilyn asked that we come back later to an
item funding various management plans, beginning with Conservation
Lands, continuing on through Turf Management, which is probably as far
through the list as Parks can expect to get in one year. The
Conservation Plan came in as the top priority because turf has good
science associated with it and public buy-in for the techniques
indicated. Conservation lands management needs more original work and
includes a public process to determine how to balance tolerance for
pesticide and antipathy toward noxious weeds or the desires of
recreational users with the health of the land. A half-dozen new
requests were turned down - the list of funded and unfunded new requests
in the budget is at
ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us//Documents/Council_Review_Budget_FY09/New%20
Requests%20From%20All%20Departments%20FY%2009-ForCouncil.xls
<ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/Documents/Council_Review_Budget_FY09/New%20
Requests%20From%20All%20Departments%20FY%2009-ForCouncil.xls>  -
including one to keep good behaviors at the skate park by hiring some
young people to be good role models by wearing helmets, doing awesome
tricks, and living clean. Apparently, this was a strategy that
historically succeeded in roller rinks. Marilyn remembered the people in
the roller rink of her youth who fit this profile and was shocked to
learn they were likely planted. It seems like a good idea and not too
expensive. It would be nice to fund but there's unlikely to be enough
money this year since the item is currently unfunded. That wrapped up
Parks although we will be returning for Marilyn's conservation lands
discussion and Stacy's request that we revisit the Park Maintenance
budget, which was reduced by over half, meaning that improvements at
several existing parks will not be funded id the status quo prevails.

 

Finally, we considered non-departmental budget items, including the
legislative agenda ($27,500 for a lobbyist, intern and expenses). There
was money for a legislative reception in there; Mayor Engen estimated
about half the delegation comes down to hear from Council and
administration. I hope we rate better than 50% attendance next time. How
the state behaves or doesn't is critical to how well the city serves its
constituents. We also discussed the city's pay structure for non-union
employees, including how cost-of-living adjustments (3%) and step
increases (2%) for employees making below the midpoint for their pay
grade, which reflects pay in similar cities, combine to keep city
employees interested in working with us. There was also some discussion
about a plan to add skill/competency-based pay. It was ensconced in a
bunch of bureaucratese that translates the sensible substantive goal of
paying people for adding skills into a neutral procedure for figuring
out when that has happened. We also talked about taking a look at the
distribution of salaries again down the line, since the last salary
survey was completed in 2004. Probably, there will be a referral on that
when budget season winds down.

 

There will be a special budget hearing Thursday night from 7-9 p.m. in
City Council Chambers. We will be discussing the remainder of the
non-departmental items, everything from the Missoula Cultural Council to
the Missoula Area Economic Development Corporation to the Missoula
Ravalli Transportation Management Association.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

*******

Jason Wiener, Alderman, Ward One

1238 Jackson St.

Missoula, MT 59802

(406) 542-3232

jwiener at ci.missoula.mt.us

 

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