Jeff Arp, left, with MIRMA presented Tarkio Police Chief Tyson Gibbons, right, with a grant certificate in the amount of $371.25 for new body cameras for the police department. (Submitted photo)

 

The City of Tarkio Board of Aldermen met Wednesday February 8, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at Tarkio City Hall. The Pledge of Allegiance was conducted. Roll call was done by Danielle Madron, City Clerk. Aldermen Scott Poppa, Jeff Agnew, and Blu Dow were present; Andy Riley was absent. Visitors were: City employees – Street Superintendent Jamie Quimby, Parks Department employee Chris Niles, Building Inspector Jesse Payne, Chief of Police Tyson Gibbons; and Tarkio citizens – Richard and Amy Weidenaar, Allison Hatt, Jonathan Caruso, Gerry Tohill, Tony and Tammy Grossman, Katherine and Mike Cox, Sandra and Jo-Anne Kaelin, Ashley Dalton, Kathy Athen, Betsy Chapin, Robert Prestyly, Mike Klosek, Jr., Mike Klosek, Sr., Michael Klosek, III, Corey Martin, Barb Swinford, Sherry Bowlin, Dallas Prather, Donnie Dockins, Scott Morehouse, Ashlee Driskell, Brooke Vette, Jeff Olsen, Summer Reeves, and Paige Agnew.

Mayor Staten opened the public hearing at 6:01 p.m. in regards to Main Street parking from 6th to 10th streets.

Amy Weidenaar voiced her concerns about the proposed new parking limit on Main Street. She does not feel putting a three-hour parking limit will solve any of the current issues. Their family and their neighbors park on the north side of the street frequently, for ease of access to their homes. Several city citizens voiced their concerns about the hazards of parking on the side of Main as it could cause injury to children who run out behind said vehicle and poses a danger to traffic turning onto Main Street without being able to see around these vehicles. Several residents suggested making Main Street no parking on either side from 6th to 10th streets, excluding the church parking.

Mayor Staten closed the public hearing at 6:33 p.m.

Mayor Staten asked for the approval of the January 11, 2023, regular meeting and the January 20, 2023, special meeting as distributed. The minutes were accepted.

The City of Tarkio candidates for the April 4, 2023, General Election are as follows: South Ward Alderman – Jeffrey Olson and Timothy Morehouse; and North Ward Alderman – Daryl E. Wiley and Scott Walker.

Jeff Arp with MIRMA presented Chief Gibbons with a grant certificate in the amount of $371.25 for new body cams for the police department. The city’s annual review took place today. The review went well, with a few recommendations on things that need to be fixed at city properties.

Mike Klosek, Jr., spoke to the board about changing the trash collection contract. Klosek’s Trash Service is requesting a rate increase to offset the increase in costs of fuel and labor. The current rate is $11.25 per household. They are asking to have the rate increased to $16.88 per household. The City Council would like to discuss this further and has set up a meeting with the trash company on Wednesday, February 15, at 6:00 p.m.

Mayor Staten read by title Bill No. 290.23, Ordinance No. 276.23: An Ordinance Adopting An Amended Budget For The City Of Tarkio’s Fiscal Year April 1, 2022, To March 31, 2023. Dow made a motion to approve Bill No. 290.23, Ordinance No. 276.23, and the motion was seconded and approved. Mayor Staten gave the second reading of Bill No. 290.23, Ordinance No. 276.23. It was also approved and adopted.

Mayor Staten read by title Bill No. 291.23, Ordinance No. 277.23: An Ordinance Establishing A 3-Hour Parking Limit On The North Side Of Main Street From 6th Street To 10th Street. It died for lack of a motion.

Mayor Staten opened the two sealed bids received for the gold dump truck. The first bid was from Smith Construction in the amount of $5,500.00. The second bid was from Danny Graves in the amount of $3,901.00. The aldermen voted to accept Smith Construction’s bid of $5.500.00.

Poppa asked if there was an ordinance in effect that referred to animal feces and yards being cleared of animal feces. Chief Gibbons stated there is an ordinance that requires animal owners to pick up their animal’s feces from their own and other people’s properties.

Department Reports

Blu Dow, City Buildings – Travis Hicks will be getting a bid in on the evidence room door. Danny Beckman will be here to tuckpoint the brick on the front of City Hall once the weather is consistently warm enough to do so.

Jeff Agnew, Fire Department – Chief Bredensteiner got some information from Jeff on the cost of a new fire truck. If the truck was ordered now, the $98,000.00 of ARPA funding the city set aside for a down payment would be the first payment, which would be made in July of 2024. A yearly payment of $29,000.00 would be due every year after that until said truck is paid off. Dow made a motion to move forward with ordering a new fire truck. The motion was seconded and approved.

Andy Riley, Parks & Pool – Ashlee Driskell updated the council on the baseball project. There had to be some changes to the bleachers, so there might be some additional costs involved. Trivia night is next weekend at the Community Building. Chief Gibbons presented the Park Board with some information about available grants that the city might be eligible for.

Scott Poppa, Street Department – Quimby’s report:

• Repairs/Equipment – A hydraulic line on the front loader had to be replaced.

• Brush Pile: This area has been burned. It did jump the berm and burned the back side of it. Quimby informed the fire department when it happened and that it was under control so that they would be aware of what was going on if someone called it in.

• Potholes: Since this winter has not been overly wet, the crew has been able to keep up with potholes so far and there is still a good supply of Aqua Patch.

• Budget: Clerk Madron and Quimby have been working on the 2023-2024 budget and have the street department pretty much done.

• Speed Limit: Tyson and Quimby have discussed speeding issues and would like to have the ordinance changed to state that unmarked streets are 20 miles per hour. They would like to also place new signs at the three entrances to town stating that. The current limit is 25 mph on unmarked streets.

Mark Staten, Gould Peterson Municipal Airport – Clerk Madron is working on gaining editing access to the FAA reporting site to add contractors to the projects so the city can get the projects closed out at the airport. The building of the new hangar should start sometime in April.

Chris Niles, Animal Control – There was an inspection that resulted in five different issues that have to be addressed: excessive amount of rodent feces; large amount of boxes with unknowns being stored in the building where animals are being housed; accumulation of cob webs, dirt and dander; dog bowls needing to be cleaned after each animal use; and animal blankets need to be washed after each dog use (they were told to get rid of the pet beds and just use blankets). The inspector will be back next month to see that the issues have been corrected. Chris has cleaned up and corrected said issues. The heater in the pound has stopped working. Meek & Sons has been notified about checking to see if the heater can be repaired. In the meantime, a space heater has been borrowed to heat the building when there are animals down there. This month there have been two dogs in the pound and both were returned to their owners, and a call out for a cat that was returned to its home as well

Tyson Gibbons, Police Department – The bags for paws event on January 4 went well and raised funds for K-9 Hemi. There was an incident at the Big T Motel, involving a foot pursuit, resulting in the apprehension of the suspect.

Danielle Madron, City Financials – Clerk Madron has started working on the budget for next year. She will be getting with department heads to get their budgets prepared.

A break was taken from 7:30 to 7:35 p.m.

Mayor Staten announced an executive session would be held per Chapter 610.021 Section 3. Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting a particular employee, etc. The meeting moved into executive session.

A discussion was had with the Tarkio Board of Public Works board members.

The executive session adjourned and the meeting moved back into regular session.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Next month’s regular meeting will be March 8, 2023, at 6:00 p.m.