New Plains council members take their posts

It was the first regular Plains Town Council meeting for the two new members - J.D. Crabb and Lana Dicken - but they got right to work and actively participated with agenda items.

The council tabled four items at last Monday's regular meeting, but passed the Freedom of Information Act Resolution and the Voter Review Resolution. In addition, they selected John Sheridan to continue as the council chairman and assigned members to committees.

Chief of Police Brian Josephson announced the swearing in of new reserve officer Kenny Hamilton, which brings the reserve officer number to four. Josephson said he also has a reserve officer in training. Josephson passed on that for January, they had 44 calls for service, five arrests made, 76 warnings and criminal citations, numerous business and residential checks, and 11 other agency assists.

Mayor Joel Banham stated that in December the town pumped 3,131,000 gallons of water and sold only 2,223,800 for a 39% loss. In January, the town pumped 2,986,000 gallons and sold 2,684,000 gallons for a 10% loss, but he felt that would probably go up because they had a substantial leak on the corner of Cook Street and Carr Lane. He said that they are in the process of purchasing new computers for the clerks and the police department. The ones they have are 12 years old.

The mayor said the town is working with members of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District's River Rescue Division and the Plains Community Ambulance to discuss lifeguard training for the E.L. Johnson Memorial Pool this summer. He said that Seth Gibbs, who is with the fire district and ambulance, and Lyle Fisher of the ambulance service, have volunteered to become certified lifeguard trainers, which would enable the town to utilize local trainers to certify their lifeguards each year. The pool did not open last year due to the absence of enough qualified lifeguards, which caused a negative reaction in the community. The plan is to open the pool this year on June 3, according to Bruce Newton of the Public Works Department.

The council for the fourth time tabled the proposed ordinance on the parking of motor vehicles. Councilman John Roesler, who is heading the research on the ordinance, said he continues to use a similar ordinance from a larger city and he also wants to get input from the police department before presenting it to council for a vote. Banham suggested that the two new council members become familiar with it.

The Road District Tax issue was again tabled. Residents of the town voted the tax down by a small margin in an election last year, but Chris Allen, the interim mayor at that time, said the ballots didn't go to all the business owners and if it had reached them, it probably would have passed. The council is considering looking to pass the tax themselves, but it has been tabled for two months. Banham suggested that council members connect with the people in their wards to get an idea where they stand on the subject.

"It might be something the community actually would still be interested in for ongoing maintenance of our roads, but I think that's something for you to get out into the wards and see what people think about , as to whether we should put that on the ballot again this coming year," Banham told them.

He said that could be included in the June election. The council unanimously voted to table the Road District Tax. Deputy Clerk Jonalie Comeau said that two people said they were against the tax because they believe Sanders County should be helping with road maintenance. Commissioner Dan Rowan, who was in attendance, said that the county does financially help with some roads.

In unfinished business, the House Number issue was also tabled on a motion by Councilwoman Connie Foust. The mayor said that of the 587 buildings in town, there were 129 that had no address numbers on them. Twenty-eight had numbers, but were not readily visible. "The concern here is for emergency and also for public works to get those house numbers in a readable fashion and in a consistent place," said Banham, who added that it was something that could be tabled until they had an "action plan." He also mentioned getting help from the emergency services people.

Loren Fitzpatrick, the town attorney, completed a two-page resolution to establish a fee schedule for documents provided to the public. The resolution authorizes the town to impose fees to the public seeking records requests. The fees include the time required to gather the information and for copies. A black and white standard page would be 25 cents a page, color would be 50 cents and faxes would be $1 a page. Scanning fees would run from $2 to $15 and a flash drive copy (up to 8 GB) would be $20 each, according to the resolution. Staff time for the clerks would be $30 an hour and any legal reviews would be $225 an hour.

Dicken moved to accept the resolution. It was seconded by Roesler and unanimously approved. Cantrell wanted it to be known for the record that the FOIA resolution does not generate revenue for the town, but merely recoups expenses the town has in distributing the information. "I think we were all fairly careful about putting that resolution together to not make it burdensome for the public, to keep it available, but also to not make it burdensome for the city," said Banham.

The council again tabled the buying of a new lawnmower at last week's meeting, but held a special meeting this Monday with a 6-0 vote to purchase a Kubota diesel mower for $24,000. The meeting took only 15 minutes. The council looked at two diesels and one gas mower to replace their aging mowers. Newton said the present mower has over 1,600 hours on it and the backup one is over 30 years old. The mayor said their mowers work but are "relatively unreliable." Roesler favored the Kubota mower because of the readily available service, which would save the town time and money. Crabb said the diesel cost more, but would last longer and in the long run would save the town money, too.

Because a new mower was not in the budget and due to the expense, the council had to hold the special meeting to give the public the opportunity to voice any concerns. No one from the public showed up for the meeting. Cathy Emmett, the chief clerk and treasurer, said the funds would come from capital projects.

At their regular meeting the previous week, which lasted 50 minutes, the council also discussed Resolution 24-1, which calls for the election on the question of conducting a local government review and establishing a study commission to perform the review. The study would go to the public for vote in June. "If the voters decide in favor of conducting a local government review, a study commission comprised of three members shall be elected at the general election of November 5, 2024," the resolution states. If passed in June, the review funding would come from the town, not to exceed $10,000.

"The local government review is an opportunity for people in the community if they have concerns about their local government to do a study on local government. The upside of this is that it gives a little bit of community involvement," said Banham. "The downside of that is that it does cost the town some money," he added.

The state constitution requires that the local government conducts an election "once every 10 years to determine whether the local government will undertake a local government review procedure," according to the resolution. The residents of Plains voted the study down the last time.

Roesler, Cantrell and Sheridan will be on the public works committee and Dicken, Foust and Crabb will be on the budget committee. The town council will be holding a public hearing at City Hall on March 4 about a grant for the fire hall, 30 minutes before the regular council meeting.