Plains council gets new member

Two council members were sworn for four-year terms at the first Plains Town Council meeting of the year, but the town now needs to fill a vacancy left by Michael Brinson, who resigned on Dec. 20 for "personal reasons," said Mayor Dan Rowan. Brinson, a former Plains mayor, had been on the council for only a year.

Rowan first swore in Ward 3's Chad Cantrell, who had served on the board for the last two years to fill the vacancy from when Rowan took over as mayor. Connie Foust, a Plains resident for the last year and a half, was sworn in for Ward 1 and immediately took her seat at the council table last Monday with Cantrell, Audrey Kolbeck of Ward 2, Joel Banham of Ward 1 and Chris Allen of Ward 3. Allen was also re-elected by the council for a second term as council president.

Foust was raised in Helena and spent much of her life in Plains and Missoula. She had been living in Nevada, but when her husband William passed away, she decided to move back to Plains to be closer to her children, who reside in the area. She also joined the Plains Lions Club. Foust replaced John Curry, who had been on the council for five years, but might move out of town, making him ineligible for a council position.

"I thought this was one way I could give back to the community," said Foust, who volunteered that night to serve on the public works committee. She had been a member of the town's police commission, but can no longer legally be part of it as a council member, which now has an opening to join the other two members, Ron Robinson and Dennis Evans. Anyone interested in the two-year term on the police commission should contact City Hall.

"I've always attended council meetings wherever I was because I think a person should be informed about his community," said the 73-year-old Foust, who was the only applicant for her ward, something that troubled Plains resident Pat Kilgore. Kilgore was one of five community members to attend the meeting and is a regular. Kilgore was not only disappointed that more community members hadn't taken an interest in the community, but he believes residents who are interested in serving on the council shouldn't be limited to their own ward. Kilgore was interested in filling Curry's slot, but lives in Ward 3, but he believes the town is small enough that a person should be able to fill any ward.

Anyone interested in filling the Ward 2 spot, which includes everything east of the railroad tracks, should submit a letter of interest by Jan. 31 either by mail at P.O. Box 567 or by dropping it off at City Hall. Rowan said he hopes to have someone in the position at the Feb. 3 council meeting.

Council members also approved going forward with the leasing of a new excavator to replace the five-year-old mini excavator. The old machine would be used as a trade-in toward the $62,161 excavator from Titan Machinery in Missoula. The council can't legally purchase the new gear because it wasn't approved in the budget, but it can rent one, and then allocate the remainder of the money in next fiscal year's budget.

Rowan said the new excavator is also a mini one, but bigger with a bigger bucket and would be able to go about 4 1/2 feet deeper than the present model, which would enable public works staff to reach some of the deeper sewer lines for repair and replacement. He told council that Titan Machinery offered nearly $25,000 for the town's machine, which would certainly depreciate if they waited, according to Rowan. He also believes the town would get a lot less if they tried to sell it outright, if they even got any offers. Public works wanted to utilize their mini excavator for last year's pool concrete removal to save money for the town, but it was too small and they had to use the contractor's excavator, which was the same size as the model they're looking at. The vote to lease and later purchase the new excavator was a 4-1 approval with only Foust voting no. Funds for the excavator will be split from the water, sewer and roads budgets.

Public works also has a new staff member. Earl Crawford quit to work for the county. Greg Makinster joined the staff to make it an all Greg team, which includes Greg Dicken and Greg Welty, the public works director.

The next council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., but a public meeting at City Hall is scheduled at 6 p.m. to review the town's wastewater preliminary engineering report.