[MissoulaGov] committee Update 2-4-09

[Derek Goldman]

Wow. I guess it's "Petty Friday."


> From: community at buildmissoula.com> To: missoulagov at cmslists.com> Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 11:07:26 -0700> Subject: Re: [MissoulaGov] committee Update 2-4-09> > As a former speech and debate coach/instructor/judge/participant, I also> have strong personal feelings about telling young people to shut up and> smile (particularly towards young ladies like the one at the hearing).> Getting young people involved and interested in the political process is> crucial, and I just hope that none of the students who testified read Mr.> Jaffe's comments. Plenty of the other council people provided constructive> comments despite their strong feelings against the sign.> > Perhaps there are good reasons why schools are exempt from City Council> review (whims).> > If there's one positive note from all of this, at least now I know how Bob> feels when the rest of us speak at City Council. :-)> > Have a great weekend!> > Ryan Morton> Government Affairs Director> Missoula Building Industry Association> 406.543.4423 or 406.546.0902 (cell)> community at buildmissoula.com> > -----Original Message-----> From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com> [mailto:missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com] On Behalf Of Ruth Link> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 10:42 AM> To: bobj at montana.com; missoulagov at cmslists.com> Subject: Re: [MissoulaGov] committee Update 2-4-09> > I want to make a personal comment, not on behalf of MOR. I was in> attendance at this PAZ meeting and saw the presentation that the students> made. I have to say that I was incredibly impressed by the preparation and> poise the students exhibited. Obviously, we all see things through our own> personal filters, but from my perspective, when the students wrapped up,> they weren't "carrying on;" they were showing that they had heard the> concerns and had responses to them. Regardless of our differing opinions of> the students' motive, it seems unnecessarily condescending to use the phrase> 'to keep your mouth shut.' These students are the future of our> city/state/nation. Our collective efforts should be toward earning their> respect and exhibiting respect for them, unpolished as they may be. These> comments do neither. > > Ruth A. Link> > Please consider the environment before printing this email.> > -----Original Message-----> From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com> [mailto:missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com] On Behalf Of Bob Jaffe> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 10:43 PM> To: missoulagov at cmslists.com> Subject: [MissoulaGov] committee Update 2-4-09> > Greetings,> In Public Safety this morning we learned about the hazards of compact> Fluorescent bulbs. They contain a small amount of Mercury. Even though it> is a small amount there are a great volume of the things out there and the> first large wave of dying CF bulbs is upon us. Ace and Home Depot will> take the bulbs for recycling and proper disposal. You can also bring them> to the haz waste days event the health department does each year. Pete's> electric takes them for a fee.> Here are some links for more info on the subject:> http://www.governing.com/articles/0811bulbs.htm> Here's a link that addresses the hazards of exposure if you break one:> http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/#fluorescent> > In conservation we awarded bids for the reconstruction of Pineview park up> in the Rattlesnake. The SID budget for the project is $750,000. We put it> out to bid last summer and the bids came back way to high. So they broke> the job into four smaller parts so the smaller local firms could bid. Many> of them are unable to cover the bonding requirements of the bigger bids. > I think we should employ this technique more often. As it happens gas> prices are half from when we did the first attempt to bid and the economy> has tanked. So this time the bids came in much better.> Of the $750,000 budget, $108,000 goes to financing costs. This is the cost> to set up financing. Not the interest. When I suggested that paying a 15%> fee for setting up financing is incredibly inefficient Brent agreed but> said this is what it costs. Taking a $640,000 bill and spreading it over> a thousand property owners and tracking divisions in land and changes in> ownership is an incredibly labor intensive and inefficient way to pay for> something. Apparently the same thing applies to sidewalk financing. We> should really look for a new way to do these things.> > We also approved a contract for development of a conservation lands> management plan. The contract was granted to Ecosystems Resource Group.> Here is a link with all the details:> ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/Packets/Council/2009/2009-02-02/Referrals/CLMAgr> eementReferral(2).pdf> > Our third item of business in Conservation was the Greenhouse Gas Energy> Conservation Team's proposal to have the city sell "Green Tags." I think> this was the fifth time this had come back to committee but this time it> moved forward to the floor. They had revised the proposal so the direct> costs to the city were negligible and had consulted with the> administration and had their support. To see the past discussion on this> item or any others from this list you can go to missoulagov.org and use> the search box at the top of the page.> > In PAZ we started with a review of the sign proposal for Sentinel High> School. The school is not subject to local zoning regulations so they can> pretty much do whatever they want with their sign. Mr. Wilkins got wind of> their proposal and how it was completely non-compliant with our> regulations and started following the issue. He spoke with a number of the> folks who live near the school and there was quite a bit of objection to> the project. For some of us it is objectionable that a public entity> would ignore the local regulations. The sign is a project of their> marketing club and what sounded like their equivalent of ASUM.> The item on the agenda today was to consider if we wanted to pass a> resolution expressing the opinion of the council on the project to the> school board. It turned out the thing was only a little offensive and> didn't cross the threshold to get the council to pursue a resolution. A> few folks thought it was just fine. Of primary importance the school> representatives indicated that they wanted to work with the community to> make people happy.> After much discussion and questions and answers Alex Apostle, the> superintendant, made a really nice statement assuring us that they would> work to make this a win win for the school and the community. He waited> until everyone had spoken to say his piece. It was skillfully positioned> to close the meeting on a positive note and leave us feeling assured that> we had been heard and the school would be responsive to our concerns. This> fine piece of diplomacy was lost on the marketing teacher and student> representative who then continued to carry on defending their project and> discounting the concerns expressed by council members. One lesson in> marketing they need to work on is knowing when it is time to just keep> your mouth shut and smile.> > Our main PAZ item was the discussion of development agreements. This item> had been broken into two parts. First we discussed the revisions to the> rules on contract sewer. Contract sewer is for people who are outside of> the city and want to connect to the sewer but do not want to be annexed.> The whole ordinance is being revised. Much of the work is clean up and> memorializing existing policy. Some of the additions are that requests for> contract sewer will require a development agreement that will cover such> things as development consistent with city subdivision regulations and> payment of fees in lieu of impact fees.> Some points that interest me are how we handle areas that the city council> does not want to annex but sewer services are potentially available. They> may be within the defined growth and service areas but from a land use> planning perspective we may not think it is time for those areas to> develop. Currently such areas, like out at the Wye are eligible and> receiving contract sewer. When we take on the next round of updates to> the growth policy I'm hoping we can address this issue.> > The other part of the development agreement discussion was establishing> the policy to apply the agreements to all annexations. So anyone who> wishes to annex to the city will be required to enter into a development> agreement which essentially serves as a contract between the developer and> the city spelling out the terms under which we will annex them. We would> like all interested parties to submit comment and work with Carla Kraus to> form a final draft to bring back to committee as early as Feb. 18th. From> there we will decide if it is ready to go to the floor or if we want to> set a public hearing to continue the process.> The updated versions of the various documents are not currently available> electronically but here is Carla's email address if you wish to be> involved in this: CKrause at ci.missoula.mt.us> > In A&F we had the presentation from our financial auditor. Everything was> in order and looked good from the auditing perspective. One thing that> stuck out to me was he commented a couple of times on how the lion's share> of our income is from property taxes. Our revenues have been gradually> climbing but our mill levies have been pretty stable. This is because of> growth and rising property values. In the absence of growth and rising> values we are going to be hard pressed to maintain the same level of> service without significantly raising the number of mills we assess. I'm> guessing there will be some very hard decisions to make in upcoming> budgets.> > Public works had a number of small items including the re-approval of the> purchase of a prius for the fire department. Enough council members were> befuddled by this item to send it back from the floor on Monday to have> more questions answered.> > Then we had another COW session to discuss the notification process for> the big zoning rewrite hearings. We had asked OPG to come up with a sample> letter they were going to send. They put together a sheet front and back> that explained the process, told when and where the meetings would be,> explained how to get more info, and highlighted the substantive changes. > Some folks were really pushing hard to see a side by side representation> of what your current zoning allows and what will be allowed under the new> code. Roger explained how this would be impossible to do for the whole> city because it is different depending on where you live. The part of the> document that lays out this zone by zone comparison is 20 some pages long.> In the end there was agreement that Marilyn would help to edit the one> pager to make it more readable by the general public and Jon Wilkins would> get to give it final approval. It will then go out to 22,000 property> owners next week at a cost of around $10,000.> > Thanks for your interest,> > > Bob Jaffe> Missoula City Council, Ward 3> bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us>                               406-728-1052                > > > _______________________________________________> -----Please delete extra content when replying to messages------> > Note: This list is NOT an official service of the City Of Missoula. But> posts to this list may be entered into the public record. > Subscribe or view archives at Missoulagov.org > List Serve hosting provided by www.CedarMountainSoftware.com. > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature> database 3828 (20090205) __________> > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.> > http://www.eset.com> > > > _______________________________________________> -----Please delete extra content when replying to messages------> > Note: This list is NOT an official service of the City Of Missoula. But> posts to this list may be entered into the public record. > Subscribe or view archives at Missoulagov.org > List Serve hosting provided by www.CedarMountainSoftware.com. > > > > _______________________________________________> -----Please delete extra content when replying to messages------> > Note: This list is NOT an official service of the City Of Missoula. 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