Page 14 - Flathead Beacon // 4.6.16

NEWS
CITY BEAT
WHITEFISH
City Residents Could Face ‘Signi cant’ Water Rate Increases
A study commissioned by the city of White sh suggests signi cantly raising water and wastewater rates in the com- munity to compensate for in ation and the cost of a new water treatment plant.
“Every now and then you need to look at your rates of service,” said City Man- ager Chuck Stearns, who added that White sh hasn’t increased its rates in more than a decade.
The report issued by Advanced Engi- neering and Environmental Services, Inc. suggests raising the rates over the course of a decade. While regular water rates will increase anywhere from less than one percent to about 35 percent (depending on the location in the city and the use), wastewater rates would be set to skyrocket if the city decided to implement the increases. According to the summery of rate projections, wastewater costs could increase anywhere from 50 percent to more than 100 percent. The increases would mean a home owner in White sh that pays $31.82 a month for wastewater now would be paying over $60 by 2026. Stearns said those rates have in ation increases included in them. Stearns said how much a homeowner pays for water services varies greatly depending on where they live in the city; for example,
FLATHEAD COUNTY
Judge Rules Against State Over School Choice Program
A Montana judge ruled that the state cannot exclude children attending religious schools from being awarded scholarships under Montana’s School Choice program.
In his ruling released March 31, District Judge David Ortley said the state Department of Revenue likely over- stepped its authority in excluding religious schools as a “quali ed education provider.”
Ortley said the state Legislature did not explicitly bar such schools from the program when it passed Senate Bill 410 last year. The law, which went into e ect in Jan- uary, established tax credits of up to $150 for donations to private scholarship funds.
At issue is whether a rule established by the Revenue Department prohibiting the use of those scholarships at faith-based schools is constitutional.
The Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law rm advocating for school-choice programs, sued the agency in December on behalf of three Montana mothers with children enrolled at Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell.
FLATHEAD COUNTY
County Denies Amendments to Dockstader Bridge Project
In the latest step of a years-long debate over a bridge spanning from Flathead Lake’s north shore to a private island, the Flathead County Commission voted April 4 to deny the developer’s latest round of amendments to the project’s permit.
The amendment, heard in front of the commission
PABLO
Inspection Station Opens Early to Defend Against Aquatic Invasive Species
With nancial support from the BNSF Foundation and the Flathead National Forest, the aquatic invasive species inspection station in Pablo opened March 30.
The Flathead Basin Commission will operate the station on U.S. Highway 93 with support from the Confederated Sal- ish and Kootenai Tribal Council. The sta- tion will be located at the intersection of US 93 and Division Street on the campus of Salish Kootenai College.
The station in Pablo is the third in Northwest Montana to open early this year in an e ort to prevent aquatic inva- sive species from in ltrating lakes and rivers. State law requires all motorists hauling watercraft — from trailers with motorboats or in atable rafts to canoes and kayaks perched atop cars and pick-up trucks — to stop at inspection stations. Most inspections take fewer than ve minutes but failure to stop could lead to a $135 ne.
The other two stations opened in Browning and at Clearwater Junction near Seeley Lake.
news@ atheadbeacon.com
Flathead County planning director Mark Mussman told the commission that the utility lines that would be necessary to light the statues were not part of the orig- inal project, nor were the guardrails.
Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she opposed several aspects of the permit amendment, including the idea of cross-bracing structures beneath the bridge, because it would inhibit water travel beneath it, and the waterways are public.
“The dock features are substantial and should have been in the original permit,” Holmquist said.
Commissioner Gary Krueger agreed, noting that the proposed dock “doesn’t meet the criteria we have set forth, there are numerous things that don’t t our reg- ulations.” Commissioner Phil Mitchell said he couldn’t support such an application because it changed the orig- inal permit so drastically.
“The parties have done a very, very poor job [of] pre- senting this [project] from day one,” Mitchell said.
In response to the proposed dock that is already eight feet wider than regulations allow, Mitchell said, “I don’t know why this is even being asked.”
Opponents to the bridge, the Community Association for North Shore Conservation, led a lawsuit in Flathead County District Court against the county and the com- mission, claiming the commissioners unlawfully issued a permit for the bridge in 2011 without notifying the public and hearing input from all sides.
Currently, the project developers have until June 1 to nish the bridge’s decking before the permit expires. The commission approved the most-recent permit
extension last June. news@ atheadbeacon.com
if someone lives above the current water plant they pay more because of the addi- tional energy required to pump the water to them.
The need to increase water rates is due to a new water treatment plant the city hopes to build in coming years. Stearns said that facility could cost upwards of $20 million.
Stearns noted that the rate increases in the study by Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. are just suggestions and could be lower if the city gets grants for the new wastewater plant. The rates will be the subject of a public hearing later this year.
LIBBY
Council Tries to Work Through Divisions
Two city councilors are frustrated with how Mayor Doug Roll is conduct- ing the town’s business and said that it is negatively impacting the community. But the mayor said the councilors are new and are still learning the ropes of city government.
Dejon Raines and Brian Zimmer- man have both raised concerns about Roll’s leadership style in recent weeks, speci cally how he has single-handedly canceled meetings. For years, the coun- cil has had a meeting the rst Monday of every month and a second work meeting
toward the middle of the month. How- ever, since last year, Roll has frequently canceled that second meeting.
“There is a feeling amongst some mem- bers of the council that we’d like to have a second meeting every month because we have a lot of city business to address and it’s tough to t it all in one,” Raines said.
Even after Roll has canceled some meetings, Raines and a few other coun- cilors held them anyway, although they are not o cial meetings.
Among the issues Raines said need to be addressed are the re depart- ment’s sagging roof and the con rma- tion of Libby’s new city attorney (who was appointed by Roll earlier this year on a temporary basis). Raines and Zim- merman said these are pressing issues but Roll told the Beacon that he believes they can all be addressed at the regular meeting. He also said that while the city council meeting at the rst of the month is a requirement, the mid-month meeting is not.
“They don’t really understand the process because they’re new,” Roll said, defending his decision to cancel some recent city council meetings. Raines and Zimmerman both joined the council within the last year.
NEWS
COUNTY BEAT
14
APRIL 6, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Crews continue work on the bridge to Dockstader Island. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
on April 4, sought to add cross bracing to the bridge’s existing pilings, as well as adding a 32-inch guardrail, statues for the bridge’s abutments, and lighting for those statues.
Another addition included adding another slip to an already-approved boat dock, as well as a completely new octagonal dock that, when added to the amendment, was already eight feet wider than county regulations allow.
The bridge, which runs from the mainland to Dock- stader Island, has been a controversial project, started by Jolene Dugan and her father, Roger Sortino. The county approved the lakeshore construction permit in 2011, and that permit has been extended at least ve times since.
The commission allowed 15 minutes of public com- ment on April 4, and all but one of those who spoke opposed the amendment.