Harlem City Council discusses Late fees, Junior High recycling

Harlem City Council

Regular Meeting Minutes

Monday, March 13, 2017

Prior to the regular council meeting, a public meeting was held to discuss the possibility of implementing a late fee on past due utility bills. The public hearing began at 6:00 p.m.

Dean Baker asked the Council why penalize the people that are paying their bill who once in a great while forget to. Rhonda Baker added that the snowbird and/or vacation rate payers don't always get their bills because they are not always able to get their mail. She suggested charging a late fee on the second time a utility account holder was late with payment.

Dorothy Cochran said the water bills are already high enough without a late fee.

Mayor Taylor and Councilman Marc Arensmeyer stressed that some of the reason for looking at charging a late fee was because of the inability to shut the water off at some residences when the bill has gotten out of hand.

Councilman Arensmeyer also expressed that he was under the impression that the late fee would be charged after 45 days past due, not 15 days as the Resolution stated.

The Harlem City Council regular meeting was called to order at 6:19 p.m. by Mayor Taylor.

The pledge of allegiance was recited.

Roll Call: Council members in attendance were Kenneth Hansen, Ralph Schneider, Eva English, and Marc Arensmeyer. A quorum was present.

February 13, 2017 Meeting Minutes: Kenneth Hansen made a motion to approve the February 13, 2017 council meeting minutes. Marc Arensmeyer seconded the motion. Kenneth Hansen, Ralph Schneider, Eva English, and Marc Arensmeyer voted to approve the motion. The motion carried.

February Claims and Payroll: Ralph Schneider made a motion to approve the February claims and payroll. Eva English seconded the motion. Kenneth Hansen, Ralph Schneider, Eva English, and Marc Arensmeyer voted to approve the motion. The motion carried.

Public Forum: Rhonda Baker asked the council if the City had a noise ordinance. The train whistle and barking dogs seem to her to be a disturbance to the peace. Mayor Taylor told her he would look into it. Mrs. Baker also asked about animal control in town. There seems to be a bad influx of skunks in town and she gave the Council and Mayor two places in town that seem to be where the problem is stemming from. Mayor Taylor said the City had traps and would look at addressing the issue. Councilman Kenneth Hansen talked about residents that leave dog food out at night not helping the matter.

See Page A5: Harlem City Council

Bear Paw Development: Michele Turville discussed change order #3 with the Council and she asked that they not approve it until she could verify the weather days that are listed in the change order. Michele also said she would get ahold of the engineer to find out if Century had recently been hauling material to the site because that would mean that the winter shut down would have to come to a close.

Brownfields was the next agenda item under Bear Paw Development. Clerk-Treasurer Rebecca Shackelford explained Samantha Chagnon was going to be at the April meeting to discuss this with the Council and Mayor.

Mayor Taylor explained that as far as the drain ditch was concerned, he had gotten ahold of the logger who sounded interested in taking some of the large trees out of the drain ditch for the City. Timing it correctly for when he would have time and when the conditions were acceptable was going to be the next issue.

Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Audit: Clerk-Treasurer Rebecca Shackelford said she received the completed audit. Financially the City is doing acceptable. She did have one finding on the audit with some accounts payable that should have been recorded as an accrued liability.

Ralph Schneider made a motion to approve the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Audit. Eva English seconded the motion. Kenneth Hansen, Ralph Schneider, Eva English, and Marc Arensmeyer voted to approve the motion. The motion carried.

Resolution 03-17-04 - Late Fees on Utility Bills: Due to the questions that arose during the public hearing, and the discussion that ensued, the Council and Mayor decided to put this on the April agenda.

Infrastructure: Michele Turville spoke to the Council on this agenda item. Mayor Taylor has for quite some time been talking about getting the City distribution lines and other infrastructure into a GPS system that would help with locates and shut offs, among other benefits. Mayor Taylor had spoken to Great West engineers about the possibility of this and Michele talked about the program that is available for this kind of project. Councilwoman Eva English added that a new GPS instructor at Aaniiih Nakoda College may be a source to get in touch with about co-oping with the students taking the courses. Michele added that she had talked more with Craig Erickson at Great West about the program that could be a source of grant money for this project. The application would not be due until February of 2018, so the City would have time to look at the budget for how much could be contributed for a match, and document issues that the GPS program would help address. Mayor Taylor and Great West and Michele will have a follow up conference call this coming Wednesday to continue making a plan for this project.

Summer Employees: Clerk-Treasurer Shackelford just wanted to let the council know they would begin advertising for lifeguards for the summer and also for a part time lawn mower to help with the lot mowing and other mowing during the summer.

Harlem Junior High/Janet Jorgensen - Recycling: Janet Jorgensen, principal of the junior high, introduced herself and explained that a new program had been started at Harlem Junior High. Students from the Student-Principal Leadership program were also present at the meeting. Ms. Jorgensen had a few of the students read the essays that they wrote in order to be in the program. Next Ms. Jorgensen explained that the group was looking for some assistance and/or guidance on starting up a recycling program in town. She said that eventually they would like to be able to put together a few places in town where people could drop off their recyclables. Mayor Taylor suggested talking to Pacific Steel & Recycling. Michele Turville gave Ms. Jorgensen a few other numbers and names of organizations in Havre that maybe she could get start up ideas from. Rhonda Baker added that the elementary school collects used phone books and that talking with Kerry Johnson would also be beneficial possibly.

Sheriff Contract: Mayor Taylor said that no correspondence had been received from the Sheriff yet.

Council Concerns/Committee Reports: Councilman Marc Arensmeyer told the Mayor and Council that he would be attempting to get the County Sanitarian to Harlem to look into some places that have an abundance of junk and which also may be in the flood plain.

Department Reports: There were none.

Next meeting: The next City Council meeting will be a regular meeting scheduled for Monday, April 10, 2017, at 6 p.m.