HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 9, 2009 MinutesLINKED MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY COMMISSION
BOZEMAN, MONTANA
March 9, 2009
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The Commission of the City of Bozeman met in the Commission Room, City Hall at 121 North
Rouse on Monday, March 9, 2009. Present were Mayor Kaaren Jacobson, Cr. Sean Becker, Cr.
Eric Bryson, Cr. Jeff Krauss, Cr. Jeff Rupp, City Manager Chris Kukulski, Assistant City
Manager Chuck Winn, Planning Director Andy Epple, Staff Attorney Tim Cooper, and Deputy
City Clerk Aimee Kissel.
0:00:14 A. Call to Order - 6 p.m. - Commission Room, City Hall, 121 North Rouse
Mayor Jacobson called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
0:00:16 B. Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence
Mayor Jacobson announced that tonight's moments of silence were in the honor and memory of
Tara Reistad Bowman who tragically lost her life Thursday in downtown Bozeman.
0:01:37 Special Presentation
Master Sergeant Mahn and Staff Sergeant Erickson gave a special presentation and presented a
plaque regarding a statement of support for the National Guard and Reserve. Master Sergeant
Carl Mahn said that last week presented an opportunity to see how well the National Guard and
Cities can work together during an emergency.
0:03:26 Public Comment
Mayor Jacobson opened public comment.
No person commented.
Mayor Jacobson closed public comment.
0:04:11 D. Consent
1. Authorize Payment of Claims (LaMeres)
2. Authorize City Manager to sign Change Orders No. 001 through No. 004 in the
amount of $23,728.00 for Fire Station No. 3 (Goehrung)
3. Authorize City Manager to sign a Contract with Montana Building Maintenance,
Inc. for Janitorial Services for Fiscal Year 2008-2009 for the City-owned Bridger
Park Downtown (Burns)
4. Authorize City Manager to sign a Water Pipeline Easement and Agreement and
a Sewer Pipeline Easement and Agreement for the Spring Creek Alzheimer Care
Development (Heaston)
5. Authorize City Manager to sign Public Access Easement for CFT Office Building
(University Way LLC) (Stodola)
6. Authorize City Manager to sign Change Orders No. 3 through No. 7 in the
amount of $23,343.44 for the Story Mansion Renovation (Goehrung)
7. Approve Commission Resolution No. 4152 Declaring the City Commission's
Intent to Consider Adoption of a Revised and Updated Growth Policy and set a
Public Hearing date for April 13, 2009 (Saunders)
8. Approve the Monthly Building Report for February 2009 (Risk)
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9. Approve Verizon Wireless State of Montana Term Contract for Voice Services
(Steele)
10. Ratify City Manager's Signature on FSS Purchase Order for Voice & Date
Services with Verizon Wireless, under GSA-FSS Contract No. GS-35F-0119P
(Steele)
11. Approve Resolution No. 4153, Ratifying City Manager's Signature on
Administrative Order No. 2009-01, and Declaring a Local Emergency for the
City of Bozeman Pursuant to MCA §10-3-402 (Kukulski/Ulmen)
0:04:18 Public Comment
Mayor Jacobson opened public comment.
No person commented.
Mayor Jacobson closed public comment.
0:04:35 Cr. Bryson
Cr. Bryson requested that item numbers 9 and 10 be pulled before the motion takes place.
0:04:47 Motion and Vote to approve Consent items D. 1-8 and 11.
It was moved by Cr. Rupp, seconded by Cr. Becker to approve Consent Items D. 1-8 and
11.
Those voting Aye being Crs. Rupp, Becker, Krauss, Bryson and Mayor Jacobson.
Those voting No being None.
The motion passed 5-0.
0:05:23 Cr. Bryson
Cr. Bryson asked that staff answer questions regarding Consent items 9 and 10, the cell phone
contract for voice and data.
0:05:47 Cr. Bryson
Cr. Bryson asked Mr. Steele to clarify whether the voice and data contracts under consideration
are the best deals available.
0:06:09 Brendan Steele, IT Director
Mr. Steele responded to Cr. Bryson's question saying they went through the state's contract to get
the best deal for the city and moved data services to a federal discount program.
0:08:13 Motion and Vote to approve Consent Items 9 and 10.
It was moved by Cr. Bryson, seconded by Cr. Rupp to approve Consent Items 9 and 10.
Those voting Aye being Crs. Bryson, Rupp, Becker, Krauss and Mayor Jacobson.
Those voting No being None.
The motion carried 5-0.
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0:08:40 Special Presentation - Update of Downtown Emergency
Mr. Kukulski presented some points about the tragic event that happened last Thursday.
Although we believe the loss of life could have been significantly more, we are saddened by the
loss of Tara Bowman and our prayers are with her family. We are not aware of any injuries
connected with this incident. We don't know the cause of this incident. Once the recovery effort
ended yesterday afternoon we shifted to determining the cause. Clean up operations is not yet
the focus. On the public side (infrastructure, streets, equipment) of this incident, property loss
was minimal, not to minimize the catastrophic loss on the private property side. Mr. Kukulski
showed photos to explain his points and show where the damage was done and which buildings
have had building and structural reviews, etc. He also explained which businesses were able to
re-open and what areas are closed or have limited access. Mr. Kukulski also explained what
areas will be closed off where Northwestern Energy has set up temporary gas service lines above
ground.
0:24:54 Mr. Kukulski
Mr. Kukulski spoke regarding communication and the use of the city web-site and Bresnan
Channel 20 to update the public regularly. He also spoke about staffing an information line until
midnight Thursday and Friday and throughout the weekend 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Meetings also
happened regularly, press conferences were broadcast live on Channel 20 and people all over the
world were able to watch the press conferences streamed on the internet. GIS and mapping were
also used throughout. Incident command functioned as designed. The interconnectedness went
exceedingly well both across city departments and with other agencies.
0:31:22 Chuck Winn, Assistant City Manager
Mr. Winn commented about the incident command system stating that it is not about rank or
title, but focuses on role and responsibility. All of the city agencies were involved in the process
and were able to identify what needed to be done and who was available to accomplish those
tasks regardless of the department they generally work in.
0:32:46 Mr. Kukulski
Mr. Kukulski explained that clean up coordination is one of the next areas. Clean up of the
public areas (streets, sidewalks) has been on-going and continues but we are down to just the red
zone immediately around the explosion. This tragedy for the most part took place on private
property. The city will continue to help coordinate clean up and work closely with those
property owners. The governor and representatives were here or in touch within hours of the
incident and the city would like to be a conduit to help property owners connect with those
resources and other programs.
0:41:07 Mr. Kukulski
Mr. Kukulski emphasized that it is imperative that private property owners contact their own
insurance companies and have their properties inspected and reviewed.
0:42:36 Cr. Becker
Cr. Becker questioned staff regarding reports of an evacuation of the Medical Arts Center.
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0:42:51 Chuck Winn
Mr. Winn said there was a reported odor in the Medical Arts Center building. Northwestern
Energy and the Fire Department responded immediately. It was related to a vent on a water
heater and while they were investigating they did uncover a pinhole leak in the gas delivery line
within the building.
0:43:38 Cr. Bryson
Cr. Bryson asked how we fund certain activities related to this incident.
0:43:58 Mr. Kukulski
Mr. Kukulski responded to Cr. Bryson by stating that it is premature to have that discussion but
our finance department is working internally and externally to determine what the costs are and
track those costs.
0:45:09 Rich McLane, Police Lieutenant
Lieutenant McLane stated that the public support was huge. There wasn't a time that the guys
went hungry. They saw lots of food, coffee, smiles, thanks and handshakes. Lieutenant McLane
said thank you to the public for the outpouring of support.
0:45:39 Mayor Jacobson
Mayor Jacobson realized during reflection that everyone knew what to do and it was obvious
what a team the city staff is. Mayor Jacobson stated how proud she was of city staff.
0:47:29 Cr. Bryson
Cr. Bryson was struck by how the coordination effort went off without a hitch and how City staff
made a conscious effort to make sure communication was an important part of incident
command and de-briefing. He also spoke about what a wonderful job all of the various
departments did and said it was great that the National Guard was called in. Cr. Bryson also
spoke about the tremendous outreach and support of the community.
0:49:23 Cr. Krauss
Cr. Krauss spoke regarding Mr. Kukulski's focus on a team concept and all the work he's done
over the last several years to get that concept across and how well it worked during this incident.
He commended Mr. Kukulski on his leadership. He also stated that he was impressed with the
job Chuck Winn did handling the press conferences and felt utilizing him was the right decision.
He also relayed how much Debbie Arkell and the public works team contributed to this effort
and commended her on her great judgment. He also mentioned the great efforts of the
administrative staff and IT.
0:55:52 G. FYI/Discussion
0:55:56 1. Determine dates for Planning and Engineering Work Session
0:55:56 Mr. Kukulski
Mr. Kukulski spoke regarding re-scheduling the budget presentations. The presentations will
need to slide several weeks so that departments can concentrate on the emergency situation at
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hand. He also would like the Commission to consider hearing more of those budget
presentations during the day.
0:59:12 2. Corps. Of Engineers - Stimulus Allocation for Bozeman Wastewater Facility
Plant
Mayor Jacobson spoke regarding a call she received last Friday from the Corp. of Engineers,
Omaha, Nebraska office. In their stimulus allocation there was $178,000 for the Bozeman
wastewater facility plant. This is reimbursable money and we will be eligible for things we have
already designed.
1:00:23 3. Community Support
Mr. Kukulski spoke about the community good will and outright expressions of appreciation,
food and assistance is why people work in public service. The acknowledgement of work well
done and at the same time being able to team up and partner and be bigger than any one self to
serve the community. The core values of this organization were created by the employees.
Those core values are what we see. Those values are why things went so well. Mr. Kukulski
thanked all the employees.
1:03:19 H. Adjournment
Mayor Jacobson adjourned the meeting at 7:09 p.m.
________________________________
Kaaren Jacobson, Mayor
ATTEST:
______________________________________
Stacy Ulmen, CMC, City Clerk
PREPARED BY:
______________________________________
Aimee Kissel, Deputy City Clerk
Approved on ___________________________.
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