JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS MISSOULA CITY COUNCIL APRIL 12, 2010 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting of the Missoula City Council was called to order by Mayor Engen at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers at 140 West Pine Street. Present were Alderwomen Hellegaard, Marler, Mitchell, Rye, and Walzer and Aldermen Childers, Haines, Houseman, Jaffe, Strohmaier, Wiener and Wilkins. Also present were Chief Administrative Officer Bender, City Attorney Nugent, Finance Director Ramharter, Public Information/ Communications Officer Merriam and City Clerk Rehbein. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of the regular meeting of April 5, 2010 were approved as submitted. SCHEDULE COMMITTEE MINUTES The following meetings were announced: No Meeting Plat, Annexation and Zoning Committee (PAZ) Wed., April 14, 2010, 10:30 –11:30 AM Administration and Finance Committee (A&F) Wed., April 14, 2010, 10:05 - 10:30 AM Public Works (PW) Wed., April 14, 2010, 8:15 – 9:00 AM Public Safety and Health (PSH) Wed., April 14, 2010, 9:05 – 10:00 AM Conservation Committee (Cons) Mon., April 19, 2010, after City Council meeting Committee of the Whole (COW) No meeting Budget Committee of the Whole (BCOW) No meeting Economic Development Subcommittee (EDS) No meeting Urban Wildlife Subcommittee (UWS) No meeting EIS Peer Review Subcommittee PUBLIC COMMENTS Jim Berkey, Community Food and Agriculture Coalition (CFAC), said this group seeks to address community needs related to food and agriculture in a comprehensive, systematic and creative way. CFAC‘s formation and mission was supported and ratified by Missoula City and County resolution in March, 2005. Last week CFAC released a report on the state of agriculture in Missoula County entitled ―Losing Ground: The Future of Farms and Food in Missoula County.‖ The report was a result of over two years of data collection synthesis and it‘s release couldn‘t be timelier. In the last 25 years Missoula County has lost 29,000 acres of working farms and ranch lands, along with agricultural heritage and opportunity for region self-reliance they support. The window remains to create a legacy of thriving farms and ranches while keeping alive the chances for Missoulians to choose a diet of healthy local food. People can find the full report through a link on the Executive Summary on their website. Mr. Berkey asked for some of the Council‘s time in front of the Plat, Annexation and Zoning Committee sometime soon so they can discuss the report and some of its recommendations. CFAC looks forward to the dialogue and the good work ahead of them to create a healthy, vibrant future for our local agriculture and local economy. Kandi Matthew-Jenkins continued with the flip-side of Child Protective Services and Senator Nancy Schaffer who was from Georgia was found shot to death in her home. Senator Schaffer was involved in many Christian causes such as ending abortions, stopping same-sex marriage; she was the president for Family Concerns and a daily commentator on an Atlanta Christian radio, Vice-President of the Georgia Baptist Convention, trustee of Tobacco Falls College, Republican nominee for Lt. Governor of Georgia, President of Eagle Forum and Eagle Forum National Chairman for Parents Rights. She continued to read Senator Schaffer‘s research and expose on the fraudulent flip-side of Child Protective Services. Ms. Matthew-Jenkins said she left last week‘s Council meeting with information that Senator Schaffer had been working with the grandmother, trying to get her grandchildren back and the children were sent to be with their father who was in the adult entertainment business. The following notes written by Ms. City of Missoula City Council Minutes –April 12, 2010 - Page 2 Schaffer‘s notes were read into the record: ―Within a couple of days the father was knocking on the grandmother‘s door and took the girls kicking and screaming to California. The father developed an unusual relationship with the former foster parents and soon moved back to the southeast. And the foster parents began driving to the father‘s residence and picking up the girls for visits. The oldest child had told her mother and grandmother on two different occasions that the foster father had molested her. To this day, after five years, this loving, caring blood relative grandmother does not even have visitation privileges with the children. The little girls are, in my opinion, permanently traumatized and the young mother of the girls was so traumatized with the shock when the girls were first removed from her that she has not recovered. Throughout this case and through the process of dealing with multiple other mis- managed cases of the Department of Family Services I have worked with other desperate parents and children across the state because they have no rights and no one to turn to. I have witnessed ruthless behavior from many caseworkers, social workers, investigators, lawyers, judges, therapists and others such as those who pick up the children. I have been stunned by what I have seen and heard from victims all over the state of Georgia. In this report I am focusing on the Georgia Department of Family Services, however, I believe Child Protection Services nationwide has become corrupt and the entire system is broken almost beyond repair. I am convinced parents and families should be warned of the dangers.‖ Ms. Matthew-Jenkins said she will continue this report next week. Mike Halvorson said he was at the City Council six years ago and had spoken about owning M&M on Brooks Street. He lost his business license because his sign was two feet too high. Six years ago he said the Bonner Mill would close and it did and he had said, ―God forbid Stone Container ‗s going to close‖ and it did. Roscoe Steel and Rail Link now have laid people off. He talked about a roundabout that the City put in that cost a lady $75,000. There are hundreds of empty commercial buildings in Missoula because of the difficulty as a business person. He‘s paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee taxes, insurances and had to deal with the City. Take into consideration jobs which is what is needed in Missoula. Get companies to come to Missoula and start worrying about the people that need employment because that‘s what will make people grow. He had told the Council what was going to happen and they did nothing about it. They continued with the bike paths, etc. How are 80-year-old people going to pay for the taxes and their houses when spending is continuing in a down economy? The Governor today had said that we need to drop the rent on the buildings we rent from landlords. CONSENT AGENDA (1 ROLL CALL VOTE) 1. Approve claims totaling $258,118.66. (Detailed Claims) (Chart of Accounts) (A&F) (04/13/2010) 2. Appoint Solomon Martin as the southwest area representative on the Historic Preservation Commission for the term commencing immediately and ending on December 31, 2013. (PAZ) 3. Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the settlement agreement pertaining to the litigation filed between the parties Stockyard Road Investments LLC vs. City of Missoula et. al., Cause No. DV-10- 95, filed in the Montana Fourth Judicial District Court. (PAZ) 4. Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign amendment no. 7 to the City/HKM Engineering, Inc. agreement for the Russell Street / South 3rd Street – Environmental Impact Statement Project in the amount not to exceed $83,478 contingent upon the city attorney‘s and Montana Department of Transportation‘s concurrence. (PW) 5. Approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement for professional services to DJ&A, P.C., for Lower Miller Creek road right-of-way acquisition in the amount not to exceed $18,147.50. (PW) Mayor Engen said, thank you, Ms. Rehbein. Anyone in the audience care to comment on any of the items on the consent agenda this evening? Seeing none, are there any questions or comments from Council members? Seeing none, we‘ll have a roll call vote on the consent agenda. Upon a roll call vote, the vote on the consent agenda was as follows: AYES: Childers, Haines, Hellegaard, Houseman, Jaffe, Marler, Mitchell, Rye, Strohmaier, Walzer, Wiener, Wilkins NAYS: None City of Missoula City Council Minutes –April 12, 2010 - Page 3 ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None Motion carried: 12 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Abstain, 0 Absent COMMENTS FROM CITY STAFF, AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, AUTHORITIES, AND COMMUNITY FORUM - None SPECIAL PRESENTATION Missoula Diversity Day Mayor Engen proclaimed April 12, 2010 as Missoula Diversity Day. PUBLIC HEARINGS Public hearing on an ordinance of the Missoula City Council, amending Missoula Municipal Code Title 9 Public Peace, Morals and Welfare to add chapter 9.64 entitled ―Illegal Discrimination‖ generally prohibiting discriminatory practices in the areas of employment, public accommodations and housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, age, marital or familial status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or military veteran; and amending section 2.94.030 entitled ―Percent for Art Program Established‖ section 5.82.080 entitled ―Nondiscrimination‖ section 9.12.010 entitled ―Housing Discrimination Declared Unlawful‖ and section 12.58.100 entitled ―Exceptions.‖ (Ordinance Draft 4—redline/strikeout version—04/10/2010) (Ordinance Draft 4--04/09/2010) (Legal Opinion 2010- 008) (memo) (A&F) Mayor Engen said, typically, ladies and gentlemen, we have…pardon me, I have a little bit of a cold…typically, ladies and gentlemen, we have a staff report from one of our staff but we have a number of folks sponsoring this legislation this evening so we‘ll have presentations from those folks to begin with as part of our staff report and in the interest of fairness, I had a request from folks who have led some of the efforts in opposition of the ordinance and I‘ve offered them time to speak as well in opposition to the ordinance in response to that staff support, and then we will conduct our public hearing where you all will be invited up and we‘ll talk to you a little bit about how we are going to proceed then, as well.