Plains considers mask issue

The Plains Town Council passed five motions at its monthly meeting at City Hall last week, but the mayor and four council members present spent some 20 minutes on something that was suggested by a resident at last month's council meeting and tabled it until next month.

Mayor Chris Allen put on the agenda the idea of the town having some type of written declaration or statement, possibly an ordinance, that allows for people in Plains to decide for themselves whether or not to mask up if the county again comes up with a mandate requiring people to wear them. At the September council meeting's public comment period, Loren Hutnik of Plains said he heard rumors of a mandatory mask mandate coming back and that perhaps Plains should become a mask free zone. Others at the meeting agreed.

The town attorney, Loren Fitzpatrick, told Allen that it might be a good idea if the town council were to create some type of mask free zone and leave it to the individual. Businesses could still require customers to wear masks, but they could also allow them to go without masks, even if the county requires them. During the COVID pandemic, the county required masks, but several Plains businesses refused to make people wear them and the sheriff said he wouldn't enforce it.

"With this measure, it would be up to the businesses and the people whether to wear a mask or not. Businesses could still require masks of people entering their establishments. This is basically leaving it up to individuals and individual businesses to make the decision themselves, as it should be," said Allen. The mayor said he believes that if the council went forth with this, it might mean the attorney writing an ordinance on the subject, although he added that it wouldn't necessarily require an ordinance. The mayor said he brought up the subject in order to give the council the opportunity to decide whether people would have the choice in town to mask or not or leave it up to the county or state.

Councilman John Sheridan made the motion to move forward with the mandate "to make a mask mandate to allow residents and businesses in the Town of Plains the option to mask or not, even if the county requires it."

Councilwoman Connie Foust agreed that it should be up to the people. "Not everybody should have to wear a mask ever again," said Foust, who seconded Sheridan's motion, although she would like to see the motion wording improved Sheridan and Foust voted in favor of the motion while Councilmen Chad Cantrell and Garrett Boon voted no. With the tie, the council then unanimously voted to table it until next month when all six council members would be present. Councilmen Joel Banham and John Roesler were absent Monday.

The mayor asked the council to consider approving the Road District Tax, which failed by three votes in a recent election. Allen was disappointed with the vote, but was more aggravated that the town paid some $5,000 for an election where 60% of the voters didn't bother to cast a ballot. He said the town didn't legally have to put it to a vote, but instead it could have been a council decision.

"I am putting to the council right now that because of the apathy and spending money on elections that people don't vote for, the council has the opportunity, if they choose, to go ahead and vote to have a road district formed or continued and then if the people of the Town of Plains decide they don't want it, they would have to overturn that by a vote," said Allen, who was also frustrated that business owners who live outside the town limits, but still pay taxes to the town because of their business, didn't get the opportunity to vote because they never received ballots. The county told Allen that they would have had to specifically request a ballot. The mayor said he wished he'd known that because the business owners want to see the infrastructure taken care of and he believes they would have voted in favor of the road tax.

Cantrell made a motion to table the decision until they get information from the county on when it would show up on the people's taxes. Sheridan seconded the motion. Cantrell, Sheridan and Foust voted yes and Boon voted no. It will be revisited at the November meeting.

In old business, the council also tabled the possible Parking of Motor Vehicles ordinance until all six council members are present next month. It was Roesler who brought up the problem of vehicles parking in the street and sometimes causing a blockage.

The council unanimously voted to move forward to partner with the ambulance service to help them get a new ambulance. Larry Neilson of the Plains Community Ambulance Service requested that the town partner with the organization in order to get a low interest intercap loan from the state to purchase the new vehicle, just as the town did years ago. Neilson said that of the four ambulances, three are out of service with mechanical problems. Rehbein Ford is working on one, but if the problem is more serious than initially thought. It might need a new engine, which would be around $23,000.

The town assisted the ambulance service twice - in 2000 and 2007 - said Allen. Neilson said a new ambulance doesn't come with the internal equipment, but he believes most of the gear they have could be transferred into a new vehicle. He said the ambulance service is a volunteer organization and is funded through Sanders County and by billing patients. He also told council that in his 12 years on ambulance, this is the first time he's had this many vehicles down.

The council passed a motion to give the Plains Public Library, which is operated by the county, permission to place signs on town property. Librarian Cindy Thomas asked the council for two town sites on which to place visitor information center signs directing people to the library, which would have racks of brochures and pamphlets. She said there would be no cost to the town, but she can't apply for the grant until the town agrees to have the signs on its property.

The council unanimously passed the second reading of the Decay Ordinance amendment, which dealt with fines for those in violation of the ordinance. The ordinance amendment goes into effect 30 days from Monday. Council also unanimously voted to destroy old records that have been stored in the City Hall basement and voted to place six surplus items up for sale, including a slip tank with a minimum bid of $100, a sander with motor with a minimum bid of $150, a 12-foot two-axle trailer with a minimum of $1,000, and three items with no minimum, including mower parts, a push mower, and a water pump. In addition, it voted unanimously to have the surplus property near the old lagoon appraised after the easement situation has been settled.

The council also agreed to look into a request by the Plains Lions Club for a spot along the greenway to plant an evergreen tree for Christmas decorations. The club takes part in the town's annual Christmas event and wants to put in a real tree instead of a cut tree, like they had last year. It blew over and had to be righted by members of the Plains Paradise Rural Fire District. Steve Spurr, the club president, said they can't use the one next to the Rocky Mountain Bank reader board because it's too large.

Shauna Firestone, president of the Plains Pickleball Association, gave the council an update on its endeavor to construct a pickleball court. The association found that there were pickleball courts in other communities being shut down due to complaints about the noise. She said they are presently looking into other sites, rather than where the old tennis courts used to be at the E.L. Johnson Memorial Park. They've decided not to build there because it would all have to be inside a building. However, the association is not yet canceling its MOU with the town because it would impact its requests for funding sources.

The mayor reported that the Parks and Recreation Committee decided not to participate in the Arbor Day Grant because it was too cumbersome. "For the $850 they had far too many hoops and slipshod things that you had to take care of in order to qualify for the grant, so we decided to let that one go," said Allen, who added that they are still looking at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation grant. Allen told the council that the sludge removal from the old lagoons was complete. "There was a lot of sludge that went out to Hafner's fields emptying out the lagoons. I guess that's very valuable fertilizer for the property owner out there," he said.

In Police Chief Brian Josephson's report, he said that they had 21 hours work by reserve officers in August and 37 hours in September. In one traffic stop, his reserve officer chalked up a DUI and in another had a drug bust that resulted in the seizure of methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, suspected cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms, said Josephson. "This drug bust occurred while using grant funds to pay a reserve officer to work extra traffic enforcement," he said.

In the mayor's report, he said that in September, the town pumped 8,516,000 gallons and sold 5,913,600 for a 31% loss. Allen believes it was the result of three substantial leaks.