Plains fire hall grant denied

The Town of Plains was denied a request for an $87,000 grant that would have enlarged the volunteer fire department building and given the firefighters more space. Town officials were recently notified that the application did not follow the grant requirements, but that they could try again.

"We got word about two weeks ago that our project was rejected because the grant was only for maintenance and repair of existing buildings, so the plans to add on with new construction was outside the scope of the grant," said Mayor Joel Banham, who was told they could re-apply for the project. The mayor and council held a special hearing to get input from the community last Monday before the regular council meeting on what the public would like to see done with the grant money, if approved. Only a handful of residents showed up for the hearing.

HB-355 is a $87,000 state grant that required the town to come with 25% ( $21,750) for a total of $108,750. The council first approved going for the grant in December under then Mayor Chris Allen. "When I took over as mayor we went ahead and applied for the grant to fund the remodel and addition to the fire department building," said Banham. At last week's meeting, it was determined that the HB-355 could be used on roads.

At the special hearing, Councilman Chad Cantrell moved to table a vote on re-applying for the grant until they get clarification on whether or not they can split the grant money on different projects. The motion was unanimously approved. Depending on the time table, the council might have to hold another special meeting for the vote. Otherwise, they would wait until the July meeting.

Banham wondered if they got the grant, could they then manipulate the budget to still do the fire hall with about $50,000 from the streets and roads budget. He said they could use the grant money on a road project and use some "budget gymnastics" to try to update and renovate the fire hall. The mayor said there are plenty of street projects that need work. Councilman John Sheridan brought up the idea of doing the road in front of the school, which he said is in need of repair. Roads the council is considering included: Blake Street from the old jail to the ambulance barn, Johnson Street, 4th Street from 2nd Avenue to 4th Avenue, and replace and repairs around the corner of South 4th Avenue and West 4th Street.

"We got denied that grant because a building addition was not allowed; it's to repair existing systems and we kind of thought that would fall in line with that, but it didn't, so we do have the opportunity to re-apply for that grant," said Banham. "We do need to do some repair on the existing fire hall and some expansion so that our volunteer firefighters for the city aren't putting on their gear with running trucks in front of them with the exhaust. They really do need some repairs in that fire hall," said Banham, who added that they would like to give them more space and possibly add a bathroom and shower for decontamination purposes.

In the mayor's report, he said the pool was heated and ready to go. They had 10 lifeguards in training last week. The pool opened on Monday, June 10.

The Parking of Motor Vehicles Ordinance and The Review of Chapter 4 Ordinance billing were both tabled again. In new business, Sanders County Tobacco Education Specialist Karren Mckinzie offered to provide the council with no smoking signs for its two public parks and educational tracts on the dangers of smoking and vaping. She said that of the three local parks, only the fairgrounds park had a no smoking sign. She offered signs for the other two.

"It's just really, really important that we try not to have second hand smoke around children and other people," she said. "I can only bring education and awareness on tobacco issues and the Clean Air Act in Sanders County. If at all possible, I hope we can get signs put up in the other two parks in Plains. Thompson Falls has them in all of their city parks," she said.

Plains resident Ron Robinson spoke up in the public comment period about his disapproval of the county's efforts to restrict smoking in the public parks. "A smoking ordinance, really, outdoors? How much more control are we going to give up to the city or the police or the country for crying out loud?" asked Robinson, who said he periodically smokes a cigar. "We start in the parks and the next thing we have a city wide smoking ordinance. I'm dead set against it," he said.

Banham said there are no nonsmoking areas in the town's parks. "Perhaps the council may consider designating a nonsmoking area in one of the parks, but I'll have to get their thoughts on that," said Banham.

The no u-turn ordinance along the Plains downtown main street was brought up by Gene Crabtree in the public comment period. Banham said there have been a lot of comments about that on Facebook and he admitted that it's a confusing issue. He said the police chief has ordered signs that will read no left hand turn to park for traffic traveling west to east. "The reason that it's deemed important is because that's a public highway that gets a tremendous amount of traffic on it," said Banham. He noted that it's a traffic problem, especially in the summer, because it creates a traffic complication on a road that already has "way too much traffic in town." He noted that the vast majority of all those police stops are warnings. He said the police department in the last year gave 30 written warnings and only six citations, which is a $25 fine.

Also at the council meeting, Tracy Scott was reappointed to the police commission for a three-year term. Before moving to Plains, Scott served as a reserve officer with the Missoula County Sheriff's Office during the 1980s and 1990s. Banham said Scott did a good job in his last term. He was unanimously appointed by the council.