[MissoulaGov] PS&H 8-19-09

[David Strohmaier]

Filling in for Bob again . . . 
 
Our deliberations today in PS&H ranged from the mundane to the controversial. We voted to recommend confirmation of police officer Melissa Sparling. We also heard an interesting presentation on a drug disposal day that occurred back in June. The main impetus for the event was two-fold: disposing of unused prescription drugs that otherwise might contribute to the very real problem of drug overdoses and addiction, and to keep drugs out of our acquifer as opposed to the all too frequent practice of flushing them down the toilet. Last year, 19 people died in Missoula County from prescription drug overdoses. It sounds like the goal is to have four drug disposal days each year. We then voted to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a contract with the Emergency Response Training Institute for around $34,000 to provide a hazardous materials technician course at the Missoula Fire Department. This is a pretty good deal, since the funding is via a state grant and it will allow this training to occur locally rather than incurring the costs of sending firefighters outside the area.
 
Finally, we spent the balance of our time diving into proposed amendments of the pedestrian interference ordinance. This is an ordinance that is already on the books, but the Panhandling Working Group proposed a number of amendments. The two items the we wrangled over today were the prohibition that makes it unlawful to "lie or sleep upon any street, sidewalk or other public right-of-way within the city limits," and the prohibition against "leaving less than six feet (6') of clear right-of-way for pedestrian passage within the city limits" in relation to "any street crosswalk, sidewalk or other public place." Pam proposed amending the sleeping or lying provision, limiting its applicability to only streets or alleys. That motion failed. Unfortunately, some of the rhetoric focused on behaviors that are already illegal, such as public urination, etc., rather than the actual language of the ordinance. The police department is supportive of the no sleeping/lying prohibition, because (if I understand them correctly) as it now stands they have no authority to even check to see if someone who may be passed our or dead. I'm sure that we'll be revisiting this in future discussions. In terms of the currently proposed 6' free passage provision, I raised the concern that some sidewalks in town are only 5 feet wide, and, as in my case, my kids are oftentimes occupying at least half of the sidewalk drawing with chalk. Chief Muir suggested modifying this to say something like "it is unlawful . . . to obstruct more than 50 percent of the right-of-way." I'm sure we'll discuss this again, also. I plan on scheduling a full hour next week to resume our deliberations on this ordinance.
 
Best,
 
Dave


Dave Strohmaier

City Council, Ward 1


 


From: JWiener at ci.missoula.mt.us
To: missoulagov at cmslists.com
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:29:13 -0600
Subject: [MissoulaGov] Public Works 8-12-07





Bob Jaffe is on vacation so committee chairs will be filling in by reporting our meetings. Here is my installment.
 
Public Works:
 
We approved an agreement with MDT to chip-seal on Russell between the railroad and North Avenue. The city acts as a contractor for the state on these routes; since we’ve got an agreement in place and the public sector (especially our streets division) is so efficient at providing these services, it saves everyone time and money. 
 
We wrapped up dealing with the additional issues created by the discovery of right-of-way on the west side of Miller Creek Road that was dedicated in 1896 by passing a resolution vacating the portions of the road we can’t envision needing for any future construction on the road. (Right now, that far-off future construction is of a four-lane road but the immediate project is just for three lanes and the bike lanes, sidewalks and boulevards that go with a complete street.) The old right-of-way went through houses and yards and created a problem since governing bodies are not free to give away public goods but the discovery of the public stake in the right-of-way was causing the property owners significant angst. About three-quarters of the properties affected were in the county, which vacated its right-of-way in exchange for a limited easement that  requires property owners not destabilize the road with improvements on its edge. The city did the same in cases under our jurisdiction where the new easement could be obtained; in one case, where the easement could not be obtained, we vacated all of the right-of-way that we wouldn’t even need an easement on. We didn’t have any public comment, which I took as a sign that property owners are pleased with the outcome since the affected people have been good about letting us know when they disliked how things were progressing. So that’s good work by the people involved and it allows us to proceed with nailing down right-of-way on the east side of the road.
 

*********
Jason Wiener, Alderman, Ward One
1238 Jackson St.
Missoula, MT 59802
(406) 542-3232
 


From: Stacy Rye 
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:57 AM
To: Marilyn Marler; Dave Strohmaier; Jason Wiener
Subject: list serv
 
Greetings,
I told Bob I would do the listserv while he was gone.  Since I have been advised/ordered to avoid stress I will miss most meetings today.  Wish that order would have come with some meds to help other than the new pills that lower my blood pressure, duh.  Marilyn, would you write up Conservation, Jason do Public Works and Dave do PSH for the list serv this week?  I could do PAZ unless Marilyn wants it.
 
Let me know.
 
Stacy
 
Stacy Rye
Missoula City Council, Ward 3
www.ci.missoula.mt.us 
406-543-9784
 
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