[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 2-10-10

[Jim McGrath]

Bob,

 

Here's a bone-head question:

Dick asserts that businesses are the primary source of tax revenue. Is
that true? How does it break out, really?

Setting aside philosophical arguments that no one would have money if
their weren't businesses, how does the tax and fee revenues to the city
split up? 

For example, my understanding is that MRL is a big payer, but they may
pay less proportionatley than residences (I don't know); and if the big
supporters are MRL, NW energy, Qwest etc., in what way would the city
"promote" these big corporations? (Certainly not through tax breaks,
because that would be undermining the goal of increasing revenue.)

 

 

From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com
[mailto:missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com] On Behalf Of Bob Jaffe
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 11:14 PM
To: missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: [MissoulaGov] Committee Update 2-10-10

 

Greetings,

This morning in conservation we authorized a $38,000 grant from the DNRC
to implement a GIS based street tree inventory and do some kind of
ecosystem analysis.  The city did an inventory back in 2003 but the data
has not been maintained. This grant will allow us to get updated
software and start the process of building the inventory. We also
discussed the urban forest in general.  Currently we only budget enough
for a pruning cycle of about 45 years. The ideal cycle for the health of
the trees would be seven years.  We talked about activating the tree
board and ideas for getting citizens more involved in the care of the
urban forest. We hope to get interns and other students involved in the
GIS inventory of the trees. There are lots of opportunities in the urban
forest for citizen science and citizen stewardship.

 

In PAZ we finished up the historic preservation ordinance. The document
was reorganized to move the procedures into the general procedures
chapter of title 20 but there were no more substantive changes. There
were a few interesting debates but no successful motions. One of the
discussions had to do with expanding the scope to include properties
eligible for listing on the register. Currently there are two such
properties in Missoula. The Moon Randolph homestead owned by the City
and the Catholic block buildings other than the church. To be eligible
means that the lengthy process to get listed has been completed but the
owner hasn't signed the paper.  

Jason made the motion to include eligible properties and argued that the
resource is historic whether the owner wants it to be or not.  We don't
tell owners of property along the river that they have land that
qualifies as a riparian resource but since they haven't registered it as
such they don't need to protect it. This pretty well gets to the essence
of the issue. Do we consider cultural and historic resources to be
community assets to the degree that they deserve protecting, potentially
against the will of the owner? We regularly apply this standard for
environmental resources. All the same the motion failed. I think it was
me, Jason, Dave, and Pam in favor and everyone else against.  

The ordinance will go to our next council meeting and hopefully get
approved. Next I expect there to be an effort to identify a neighborhood
that wants to explore establishing a historic district. Until then,
please no more posts about historic anything. I'm kind of sick of the
subject.

 

In A&F we approved the collective bargaining agreement with the parking
commission. It is a one year contract with 3.5% increases.

 

In Public Works we finished up the revisions to title 12.22 related to
parking. There were tons of edits but the one we spent the most time on
had to do with parking in the setbacks.  The final language reads like
this:

A.     Parking in within the setbacks per (C) above shall be removed
when the use adjacent parking spaces are removed from located within
outside the required building  setback is discontinued.  A curb cut and
driveway approach, if existing, shall be removed and the previous
parking area shall be landscaped.   The driveway may be retained if it
meets all the following conditions:

1.     The driveway shall be a minimum of 20 (20') feet long as measured
from the property line

2.     The driveway and apron must be paved

3.     The maximum width of the driveway within the setback cannot
exceed 20 (20') feet

 

We also talked about sewers in Linda Vista.  It's hard to describe this
without the map but a deal had been worked out for the sewer line to run
down into that open land northwest of Linda Vista Blvd. It would go to a
lift station and then be pumped up to the area of the new roundabout.
Instead, a deal was worked with Lloyd Twite to put the lift station in
the parking lot of the golf course. The net savings to the city to build
it this way is about $130,000.  We also learned that the bids for the
roundabout came in substantially below estimates and the project would
for sure be built this summer.

 

The last meeting of the day was COW for the goals discussion. Besides
Ed's best efforts it went really well. Nothing actionable was
accomplished but it was good to hear people just talk about what was
important to them.  I was most interested to hear from the conservative
corner as I already know what the folks on the left have to say.  Renee
was hoping we could get some kind of inventory of city services so we
could prioritize them and identify possible duplications of service. I
think this would be a good idea too. I think people will be impressed to
see the list of services they receive for an average price of
$60/month/household.  

 

Jon's highest priority goal is to keep small homes on small lots and
multifamily housing out of the Lewis and Clark neighborhood. His other
goal was to see more people elected to city council who can think for
themselves. I'm not sure why he found it necessary to lob an attack like
that since he appeared to be enjoying the conversation and stated as
much.  No one opted to take the bait and challenge him on the attack.
Sometimes you just have to shake your head and move on even if it is bad
for your heart.

 

Dick talked about how we appear to misunderstand the conservatives
sometimes during the budget discussions. They aren't just about cutting
everything. They want to see many of the same projects and programs we
do move forward. But they think the funding for these things should come
from clamping down on waste in other areas. He also talked about the
businesses being the primary source of tax revenue and how we need to do
more to promote them. At the end Lyn criticized Pam's suggestions that
we look at things holistically and focus on the big picture. Lyn thinks
we should be more pragmatic and just hope to survive. She said we need
more high paying jobs and the city needs to be more business friendly.
As an example of how anti-business we are she offered a rumor that a
Texas firm wanted to come to Missoula and create 200 jobs paying
$12/hour. But they were told by the city that we didn't want them. She
didn't offer any additional details to the rumor and so far I haven't
found anyone who knows what she is talking about. She pointed out that
Billings is #1 on the list of business friendly cities the mayor was
bragging about us being number ten on.  We should look at Billings to
see what regulations they don't have that make them so much better for
business.  

 

The other day, Jon Wilkins got applause from the crowd of builders when
he chastised Roger for comparing Missoula to other cities. Apparently we
are only supposed to learn from the experience of other cities when it
serves one's argument. But I do think Jon had a point. You can only go
so far comparing us to other cities. We are not Billings (thank God). To
name a few things we have a different industry base, different location,
and we are a different size.  In the end we will need to find solutions
that are right for Missoula.        

 

Thank you for your interest,   

 

Bob Jaffe

Missoula City Council, Ward Three

1225 South 2nd West

Missoula, MT 59801

(406) 880-2052

 

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