[7:01] Mayor, I do believe Mayor Toe will be absent this evening. Thank you, sir.

[7:32] It is six o'clock, and I will call the

[7:35] Mozilla City Council meeting of May 17th to order. This is a Zoom webinar. There are a number of

[7:42] instructions that allow you to participate in this meeting of the seeping. Those are on your screen now. If you're

[7:49] participating via a computer and can see the screen. If you're dialing in you can certainly participate

[7:56] as well. You're raising your hand by pressing star nine and muting and unmuting using star six

[8:03] and I'll recognize phone callers by the last four digits of their phone number. I will note

[8:12] for the record. It appears that Ms. West, Ms. Mr. Hess and Ms. Bacera and Ms. Anderson are absent.

[8:23] Mr. Hess is here. My apologies.

[8:28] All other council members are present. We have

[8:32] minutes of the meeting of May 10th. And without objection, I'll be approved.

[8:39] Seeing none, we will move

[8:41] We're going to our schedule of committee meetings.

[8:44] Okay,

[9:08] tonight we're scheduling our committee meetings for May 19th.

[9:12] Just like the city council meeting tonight, these meetings are being held via Zoom webinar.

[9:17] If you go to the city's main webpage and click on that meetings tab in the middle of the page,

[9:23] it'll take you to agenda central for all of the city's meetings.

[9:27] And the agendas for each of these four committee meetings are listed there.

[9:32] And if you open up that agenda you'll find out all the information about how to join the these meetings either the computer or the telephone.

[9:43] And so here we go.

[9:45] The latest and planning committee will meet from one o'clock to two o'clock on Wednesday, May 19th.

[9:52] uh the uh administration of finance committee meets from 215 to 245 parks and conservation

[10:00] committee will meet from 3 o'clock 320 um and there's been a slight change to public works

[10:06] that got a little bit longer um from the schedule that we published on Friday it's 25 minute

[10:10] meaning now it starts at 3 35 and goes until 4 o'clock thank you to 3 by any changes to the committee

[10:19] be scheduled for this week.

[10:23] All right, seeing none, we will move on

[10:25] to the public comment portion of our agenda.

[10:28] This is your opportunity to comment on items

[10:30] not all square on your agenda.

[10:33] We'd ask that you keep your comments to about three minutes.

[10:38] And going to the audience, we have Mr. Decker.

[10:50] Thanks, Mayor.

[10:53] My name is Josh Decker.

[10:54] I'm a resident award one.

[10:58] I don't need to tell any of you that Missoula is in the midst of a housing crisis.

[11:03] I'm calling to at this point beg you to take immediate action on some things that can stop the occurrence of what amounts to evictions month to month leases are being terminated at an alarming rate in town.

[11:21] And rents are being raised at a rate that amounts, you know, the rent increases amount to an eviction themselves. Some folks are facing 20, 40, 60, even 100% rent increases with 30 days notice.

[11:36] And that is an eviction for a Mizzouli and that's a member of the working class.

[11:45] I would beg you to implement strict harsh and restrictive regulations on Airbnb to increase the housing stock.

[11:57] I would beg you to rework the operating procedures associated with TIFF funding

[12:06] so that it is used primarily and exclusively as a source for affordable housing.

[12:12] I would beg you to implement immediate rent freezes and rent control.

[12:23] I would beg you to

[12:27] institute inclusionary zoning with a plan to litigate its legality knowing that it is not,

[12:34] not, you know, strictly legal in terms of the statewide legislation, but Council has

[12:40] introduced plans before that involved the prospective immediate litigation, such as with

[12:52] Board President von Lossberg's Second Amendment restrictions in the Zula.

[12:57] I would beg you to eliminate previous criminal history as a disqualifying factor for folks seeking

[13:13] rentals.

[13:14] If folks have served their time, then their debt to society is paid and they shouldn't be impugned

[13:24] in their housing search, out beg you to form a temporary safe parking space, similar

[13:33] to the temporary safe outdoor living space, so that folks that find themselves newly

[13:39] homeless have a place to park their vehicles at the very least, that that involves relaxing

[13:48] taxing, camping, restrictions, and what not, that's fine, do it immediately and I would beg council to immediately form a collectivized background check that is housed in some department, some housing department of the city so that folks can have a on file background check,

[14:12] check credit check for landlords to access so that they're not subject to multiple forty and fifty dollar application fees in their fruitless search for housing in the 1% vacancy market.

[14:27] And that's about three and a half minutes, Mr. Becker.

[14:30] I implore you to take action on any and all of those items.

[14:36] Thank you. Have a good day.

[14:38] Thank you.

[14:42] And Hannah Kosoel.

[14:45] Hi there. My name is Hannah Kosoel.

[14:48] I'm a resident award for in August.

[14:52] I'm here to share my housing story as well.

[14:54] In August, I'll be celebrating two years of residency in Mozilla.

[15:00] And doing that by moving into my third rental in my time here, somewhere in Montana, as we all know, is a joyous time of river floats and huckleberry foraging. But for so many renters, it can also be a season of dread filled with hours and hours of priceless hunting, crunching the budget just to make ends meet as you're going to put down yet another security deposit on a place that you're likely not able to stay at for more than a year. My roommates and I currently live in the university district

[15:29] in a house that's been made into three separate units.

[15:34] We have not yet been given written notice,

[15:36] but in conversations with our landlords

[15:38] after a steady stream of unmasked contractors

[15:42] on our property,

[15:43] we learned that our landlords will be moving

[15:44] into the whole home

[15:46] that will eliminate three rental units in town

[15:49] and displacing seven young adults as well.

[15:52] Knowing that housing will only get worse

[15:54] as student leases come to an end at the end of summer.

[15:57] I recently made the decision

[15:58] to pay double rent for the next few months just so that I can make sure I have a place that's secured

[16:03] in town. I also work in housing on a city level and I'm helping distribute funds for the emergency

[16:09] rental assistance program in Montana. I'm keenly aware of how universal this need for affordable and

[16:15] secure housing is in our community. Not only have I helped tenants apply for assistance but I've

[16:20] helped employees at property management companies also apply for this current round of funding.

[16:25] Yeah, no one is bent from this at all.

[16:30] And reflecting on the recent state legislative session,

[16:33] I was inspired by initiatives like House Bill 533

[16:36] and Senate Bill 241.

[16:40] Both of these would help ensure refunds for rental application

[16:43] fees and increase returns on security deposits as well.

[16:47] However, I was really disappointed to see that both of these died in committee

[16:51] and that a bayonet inclusionary zoning was something that passed through the legislative session.

[16:56] So today I'm here to ask the council, how can we support mentors,

[17:01] OAs in our community and especially in the next upcoming months

[17:05] as the federal eviction moratorium will come to a close

[17:08] and families are going to experience a rapid decrease in income

[17:13] with the end of unemployment funds in our state as well.

[17:16] So I look forward to these answers, these future discussions

[17:20] and thank you for your time.

[17:22] Thank you.

[17:23] And I will note the record that Ms. West and Ms. Anderson are in attendance.

[17:30] Daniel Carlino.

[17:34] Thanks. Can you hear me?

[17:35] We can.

[17:36] Great. My name is Daniel Carlino.

[17:39] I'm a resident board three for the meantime.

[17:42] And I'm also actually running for City Council on board three to help represent renters

[17:47] and take urgent action on our housing crisis.

[17:50] And I'm just here today to also comment about our housing crisis and hopefully to just help push person solutions.

[18:00] Like essential workers in Missoula, just really can't afford to live here anymore.

[18:05] And for example, with my job, I work with different young people in town who have a few different mental disabilities and just kind of go throughout their day with them.

[18:13] And I'm still just bringing home enough to basically half my pay goes towards rent each month.

[18:21] And it's just making it really hard.

[18:24] And last week my landlord gave my brothers and roommates and I are 30-day notice to leave our house.

[18:34] And just trying to find somewhere to rent in Missoula right now.

[18:39] especially in Ward 3 if I could still try and run for office if run for city council there is just almost impossible.

[18:47] Every rental I've called just already has dozens of applicants like by the day it's posted and 30 days just isn't long enough for Muslims.

[18:56] And I hope to, you know, see our essential workers and artists and people that make Missoula, Missoula, be able to stay here.

[19:03] I feel really lucky to get to live in Missoula and we're just all here to comment to ask City Council to put in regulations to help with housing.

[19:14] We cannot build our way out of the housing crisis with, you know, quote, quote, like affordable housing units and took like different housing projects, we can't build our way out without regulation on housing.

[19:29] So that's what renters of Missoula are trying to ask of you all.

[19:34] Josh Decker mentioned a bunch of, you know, you know, good actions.

[19:40] And I'm hoping that you all can find something that you can do immediately to help renters in Missoula.

[19:46] One thing that came to mind for me is all that I think it's over $40 million that the city and county are getting for federal.

[19:54] COVID really funds, that would be, this would be a great time to help use those to subsidize rent or help with people's housing.

[20:03] And I'd also like to see TIFF funds not go towards, you know, billionaire companies anymore and go towards subsidizing housing or building shelters and fully funding.

[20:13] Things like the new YWCA shelter, but rather not seeing millions go to the wrong places.

[20:20] So we just need, we just need you all to do something, please, for us for renters and for people that are struggling in our community before it's too late.

[20:30] So we're hoping that City Council and the American implement some housing regulations, maybe limiting Airbnb's, maybe using TIFF or the COVID relief funds to help with housing, or just you all probably know the best, but we need you to do something more, please.

[20:46] before we all get kicked out in

[20:48] Missoula. So I'm hoping to get

[20:49] to stay in Missoula, but I'm

[20:51] definitely on the edge of, you

[20:53] know, I have to find somewhere

[20:54] to live in the next few weeks.

[20:56] And it's pretty unlikely to find

[20:59] something like that unless

[21:00] unless you know somebody that

[21:01] will let you live at their place.

[21:03] So please do something.

[21:06] You know, we need to start viewing

[21:08] housing as a basic human right.

[21:10] And that needs to be shown through

[21:12] policies and city ordinances that you

[21:15] all pass. So let's please not let the greed of landlords and the greed of

[21:19] developers take over our city and drive out the people that make Missoula

[21:24] Missoula. I know we all love this place and I would really like to see us do

[21:29] something to see you all do something to help with housing before it's too

[21:33] right. It was

[21:39] four minutes. Thank you, Mr. Carlin. And the baby Warren

[21:55] I would love to share my experience a little bit as a renderer and as well as someone who has experienced gender-based harassment and to bring some light to how those things overlap in Miss Elizabeth's housing crisis that based so many of us.

[22:13] I am a young woman who lives alone and earlier this year I was pretty seriously harassed by an adult male neighbor.

[22:24] I had a peeping tom. I was screamed at. My door was constantly banged. I received very unwelcome letters.

[22:32] was a police department to which I was told that he sounded like a nice guy, and I really

[22:38] credit older person, but Von Lasberg for his help in navigating the situation.

[22:43] I admittedly found it to be embarrassing as someone who ran the women's resource center

[22:48] for two years at the University of Montana to find myself in a position where I felt so

[22:52] helpless.

[22:53] Repeatedly, I was told, well, why don't you just move?

[22:56] Well, why don't you just move?

[22:57] There were so few available rentals.

[23:01] I was so underserved by our public safety softholds.

[23:05] And, you know, it was really disheartening.

[23:09] And I think it's, there was a lot of contention

[23:12] last year when considering there was a low-place

[23:14] department budget.

[23:15] I think that a lot of the direction that was taken

[23:18] when considering Theresa budget was a look at crime

[23:22] in our community, a study of criminology in college.

[23:24] I think that a major crime that takes place in our community that all of us can agree is wrong and such a stain on our community is gender-based violence and harassment.

[23:35] And I think I come to you just so disappointed as someone who felt so underserved, who has been in that position.

[23:41] And whilst I also witnessed throughout this past week, the rates that took place on

[23:46] Broadway Island for our neighbors were living on house, and I think that, unfortunately,

[23:51] I feel like people who experienced under-based violence and harassment have been scapegoated,

[23:55] not just in Missoula County, but across our country to elevate police budgets when people

[24:00] in those situations can't count on them to protect them and keep them safe.

[24:04] And I really do acknowledge the wonderful work that has been done through TIFF with

[24:10] the Y2BCI with Powerola Center with a bunch of collaborative community partnerships,

[24:14] but I just come with the thought that it feels very disproportionate, the amount of

[24:19] spending that's being spent.

[24:20] And I think that we're diggering ourselves in a deeper whole, incidentally, when we incentivize

[24:26] development, people in my neighborhood are being priced out of our rentals, making us predisposed

[24:32] or vulnerable to homelessness.

[24:34] And even if we got a job at one of the developments, for example, in my neighborhood, it looks like

[24:38] hotels, but it looks like a lot of things in other other neighborhoods. None of us compare

[24:42] rent, cleaning hotel rooms or working in the front desk. For example, I live really

[24:47] close to the H.C. hotel. So, you know, I think that we're in a very circular issue here

[24:56] with how we address TIFF, and I just would really like to strongly encourage more accountability

[25:01] with TIFF, more thoughtfulness, because I think that we're unintentionally contributing

[25:05] to a problem that is costing us a lot more to fix and we could have ever imagined.

[25:10] And then again, I really want to say I appreciate Elder Percent Van Lossberg for his helping me

[25:16] navigate that situation earlier this year. Thanks so much.

[25:20] Thank you.

[25:23] Sarah Ibus.

[25:28] Hi, my name is Sarah Ibus. I'm a resident of Ward 6. I saw on today's agenda that housing was

[25:36] on the agenda and given our city's emerging actions against people experiencing homelessness.

[25:42] I thought it was a good time for me to make my voice heard. I'm specifically offering comment

[25:46] on actions taken on May 11th and 12th by the Mizzoula Police Department and Mizzoula Parks and Rec.

[25:52] On these days people experiencing homelessness were forcibly removed from enhancements

[25:57] along with the islands on Broadway Avenue. The action was taken without consult or support from

[26:02] community organizations like the Hope Rescue Mission and the Poverla Center.

[26:07] It is shameful to hear that Missoulu Police Department resulted to using force specifically

[26:11] shooting at least one person with rubber bullets and destroying the belongings of many other

[26:15] people.

[26:17] It is unsurprising to literally anyone that the people involved were angry and acted as such.

[26:25] It was a very human reaction to public officials acting in a dehumanizing way and it was a very

[26:31] human reaction in the face of loss, displacement and powerlessness.

[26:36] While there is a definite need for solutions that offer safe spaces for people experiencing

[26:40] homelessness, I cannot stress enough how villainizing and dehumanizing the city's actions

[26:46] and language has been over the last week.

[26:50] Mayor Angus office has said that these actions were taken for the public good, but it appears

[26:54] to be a heavy-handed attempt at protecting his tip-funded park project, not because the

[26:58] Mayor Ashley cares about the health safety or well-being of people on the island.

[27:02] Mayor Endan has specifically shifted blame to the Mozilla Police Department and to

[27:06] Mozilla Parks and Rec.

[27:07] But it has his office and this council's responsibility to offer a just solution for

[27:12] what happened.

[27:14] I'm requesting formal follow-up from this council or from my specific council member, Ms.

[27:18] Paseca.

[27:20] Specifically, I want to know what was the involvement of the mayor's office?

[27:23] who authorize Mizzoula Police Department and Parks and Rec to take this action and to use force.

[27:29] What portion of the current city and police budget is set aside for forceful removal of homeless

[27:34] encampments? What's homelessness in Mizzoula used to increase police budgets? Why were vested

[27:41] organizations like Hope Rescue and the Pavarelo Center not involved? And finally, who is working to

[27:47] seriously address Mizzoula's housing shortages and provide long-term shelter for people

[27:52] experience in homelessness. Thank you. Thank you and Kenzie.

[28:05] Hi all, can you hear me?

[28:07] We can. Thank you. Brilliant. Hello, my name is Kenzie Carter. I am a resident of Ward 3

[28:14] and I am just here to chat as it's been a theme of the evening. I'm here to talk about housing.

[28:25] I know that Missoula faces a housing crisis, I've been dipping my toes in the world of affordable housing over the past six months and have been rapidly absorbing the infinite amount of information that there is.

[28:37] It seems to be never ending and I am really appreciative of everyone on this call and off this call who's helped me kind of figure figure this stuff out.

[28:46] That being said, the housing crisis is doing one of two things to our renting population, it's either actively displacing members of our community due to rent increases and lack of livable wages or it's holding members of our community hostage and barely affordable and often undesirable and or dangerous living conditions due to the fear that they won't be able to find another place to live in this like wonderful mountain town that we call home.

[29:10] I have been a renter facing uncertainty.

[29:15] My rental was sold out from under me a couple of years ago without much warning and searching for housing even then was utterly slow rushing.

[29:24] I'm currently in a stable, though undesirable position housing wise, but I do not take that for granted and know that if I suddenly needed to find housing, I simply wouldn't be able to.

[29:36] I also understand that there are measures being taken by the city to address the crisis.

[29:41] I'm really genuinely thrilled about the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the resident oversight committee.

[29:47] Those are heartening actions that will dealt with some positive impacts on the housing situation. And I'm also aware that.

[29:53] Um, tip has been used as Maggie and Daniel noted, um, for some.

[30:03] I'm also aware that most landlords tend to all lives on the state level and it's difficult

[30:08] to navigate as a municipality. However, I would encourage you, beg you, as Josh did to

[30:19] think creatively and with untethered imagination when it comes to our housing crisis. I know that some ideas were listed earlier.

[30:28] and I am also appreciative of all the person merits interaction in a Facebook

[30:35] thread that I was privy to it was it was encouraging to see that interaction.

[30:41] Anyway thank you all for listening and yeah that's that's all leave you be.

[30:48] Thank you

[30:54] and the view.

[31:00] Hi can you hear me?

[31:02] We can.

[31:02] Thank you.

[31:03] Okay.

[31:03] Thank you Mr. Mayor.

[31:04] I am commenting, I'm here to comment also on the housing crisis, and I want to start by saying I'm here in solidarity with the renters and the most vulnerable.

[31:17] But also, I'm here as someone who's approaching my 20th year of living in Missoula, and someone who's had several professional positions in town.

[31:29] I have a good job in Missoula and when I go on Zillow right now, there's about three

[31:38] apartments that fall underneath the housing burden line of 30% of my income and one of

[31:45] them is a studio and I've lived here 20 years, I've raised two children in this town and

[31:50] in some ways, I'm exactly the type of person who the promise of public policy and the promise

[31:57] of, like, growth policy should be trying to keep. And as I'm trying to buy a house, there's

[32:09] absolutely no way I can stay in Missoula. There's just none. My children are not able

[32:15] to find rentals. And this crisis reaches levels that are beyond just the most vulnerable.

[32:22] And so, in addition to being here in solidarity with the vulnerable, I just want to mark that the housing crisis climbs higher in some ways, not that it's any bigger priority, but without some sort of drastic action.

[32:41] And, and soon, people who have been here for decades are not going to be able to continue to be here.

[32:49] Like, I have a roommate. I have a professional position and I can't afford to live alone right now.

[32:56] Much less my children being able to find reasonable accommodations.

[33:02] Oh, thank you.

[33:04] Oh, I'm a resident of Ward 3.

[33:06] Thank you very much.

[33:07] of

[33:11] the Andy Housel Council

[33:16] a couple of comments tonight one is I want to tell you

[33:24] about my neighbor who lives a few houses down from me in a duplex I have been

[33:31] lucky enough to have lived in my home for 12ish years and that neighbor has

[33:38] been there almost 16 years as of the end of this month she and the children that

[33:43] she raised on this street will be unhoused.

[33:46] They will be living in the best of circumstances

[33:51] at this point.

[33:52] They will be living in a camper moving

[33:55] nightly in order to avoid harassment

[33:57] from the police around town.

[34:00] Well, she continues to find a way

[34:01] to get her children to their high school

[34:05] and continues to get herself to her two jobs.

[34:09] When my neighbors and I organized the right letters

[34:12] to the property owner to request that her lease not to be ended. Again, this is not eviction

[34:21] in the formal sense, but it is an eviction.

[34:27] He has said that he sees this as an opportunity

[34:30] for her to go find somewhere else, but he wants to do repairs on the place. Well, over the last

[34:36] 16 years, he hasn't wanted to do repairs on the place. And there's a way that if the motivation was

[34:41] to keep this neighbor in her house, he could easily find a way to do those repairs and keep her there.

[34:49] That is clearly not the goal. The goal is clearly to have her removed to do the repairs and then to

[34:55] rent it out for more. So I understand and I am told repeatedly by members of council that the authority

[35:03] that council has is limited. I understand that. I also understand that there is a lot of good work

[35:09] that has happened over the course of the last two years, especially with regard to things

[35:14] that we will one day get to benefit from. Some of the things that are being built now,

[35:20] unfortunately folks who are unhoused or looking for new rentals are not able to benefit from those

[35:25] things because they're still in process. So that leads me to the next thing I'd like to say,

[35:31] which is we need to end the completely absurd policing of our unhoused neighbors.

[35:40] I got a call from a woman yesterday who said my trailer was was towed. I've been getting

[35:47] harassed by the police every night. I can't move it every night because I don't have the hookups

[35:52] to drive it to a new location and park it somewhere else. So then I get all of this

[35:57] leave harassment and they told it somewhere miles out by the airport, the smoke jumper center,

[36:02] and now I have to go get it. This is where I'm living, because I don't have housing.

[36:09] I have this voucher, but I don't have any apartment that will accept this voucher right now.

[36:14] So all of it from, and then she says to me, well, I also can't get it because I have

[36:21] These, you know, homeless charges, so for using the power in an outlet that doesn't belong

[36:27] to me, for, I mean, we need, in the meantime, while we're addressing this housing crisis,

[36:34] there are things that you can do, because I know that there's a pretty nice relationship

[36:39] between the mayor's office and the police department.

[36:41] So to spend this absolutely unnecessary policing of our unhoused neighbors, being homeless is

[36:49] not a crime. So whether it's bathroom, laundry, power, parking outside of somewhere, sleeping

[36:59] in your car, we need to completely end any criminalizing of that behavior, because it's only

[37:07] going to increase all over the city. In campments, those are people's homes. Those are human beings

[37:15] who deserve the same dignity and respect that you get every day when you walk down the street.

[37:21] They deserve it too.

[37:22] They don't deserve somebody coming in there and forcibly removing their things, their

[37:26] few possessions, and treating them like trash who are an eye sore for the Missoulians that

[37:31] you are trying to draw to this town.

[37:33] So I beg you to, while trying to address this housing crisis, three people who do not have

[37:39] housing with the respect and dignity they deserve.

[37:42] Thank you.

[37:43] So thank you and Mr. Angelo.

[37:52] Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

[37:56] My name is Mark Anderlich. I live in Ward 2.

[38:00] And Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

[38:04] and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

[38:09] all proclaim housing as an essential human right.

[38:13] If you were to look at those two documents, you would see being a landlord is not a human

[38:19] right.

[38:20] So let's keep that in perspective.

[38:23] And I'm not going to repeat what a lot of other good comments made, but I would suggest

[38:30] the following four things before we do become Jackson Wyoming.

[38:35] One is to suspend no camping ordinance.

[38:38] as Andy had just said it's ridiculous to criminalize this and more and more

[38:45] of people that I know as well and are living out of their campers and are

[38:51] having to evade detection and whatnot. We should we should do much better than

[38:58] that. I think also absolutely should ban criminal background checks. I know a

[39:07] woman who's looking for a place, she's been straightened out her life. She says,

[39:13] why am I going to try because I'm not going to be able to get this place because I have a criminal

[39:18] background. That's not acceptable. Third is the deposit, even in a homeward home, they ask for

[39:29] deposit a fee for applying for even looking at the apartment and that should be banned as well.

[39:38] And the last would be and this is more aspirational. I think that there's got to be some way

[39:45] of instituting rent control because right now the market is driving people out of Mozilla.

[39:55] I think

[39:59] in its place. So thank you very much. I know this is a difficult issue, but this is an emergency.

[40:06] I can't believe how many people I have heard who have been evicted out of their homes.

[40:11] So landlords can raise the rent and rent to more people coming in with money apparently.

[40:18] So thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Andrew. And seeing no additional general public comment

[40:25] We will move on to our consent agenda.

[40:29] Items there were approved unanimously in the City Council standing committees.

[40:34] We consider these items all at once on Monday evening to save a little time.

[40:38] Ms. Raybine will read the list of consent agenda items allowed and will take comment and discussion for council numbers before we vote.

[40:46] Ms. Raybine.

[40:49] Thanks, Mayor.

[40:49] again tonight's consent agenda is pretty short, we only have three items. The first is to approve

[40:55] the city's accounts payable for checks dated May 18, 2021, in the amount of $879,320 and 62 cents.

[41:08] Number two is to confirm the mayor's appointments to the affordable housing oversight committee as

[41:15] follows Jerry Stiffarm as a community member with a term to be June 1st, 2021 through May 31st,

[41:25] of 2024. Misty Brown as a housing nonprofit member with a term to begin June 1st of 2021

[41:36] through May 31st of 2023. Riley Jacobson as the first alternate with a term that also begins on June

[41:44] first 2021 and that one ends on May 31st of 2022 and finally number three is to confirm

[41:53] the mayor's appointment of James McCay to the downtown business improvement district

[42:00] as a representative for zone two for a term that begins on June 1st 2021 and ends on May 31st of

[42:10] 2525.

[42:11] Thank you, Ms. Raybine.

[42:12] Questions or comments from councilmembers?

[42:14] Mr. Ramos.

[42:16] Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[42:17] Can we please divide the question and vote on item 5.1 separately due to another $20,000 going to Franken's Kool-E for the water litigation?

[42:26] Yes, sir.

[42:27] Thank you.

[42:28] Seeing no additional comments, anyone in any of the attendees could comment on consent agenda items.

[42:37] We'll see no hands up there. We'll have a roll call vote on item 5.1 please. That's very bad.

[42:46] Okay, that is the accounts payable.

[42:52] Consent agenda item number one, Anderson. Yes.

[42:58] Contos.

[43:00] No.

[43:01] Yes.

[43:03] Yes.

[43:04] Yes.

[43:05] Yes.

[43:07] Yes.

[43:11] Marin.

[43:12] Yes.

[43:13] We're almost.

[43:15] No.

[43:18] Cheryl.

[43:19] Yes.

[43:22] Vesica.

[43:23] No.

[43:24] Fun.

[43:25] Last bird.

[43:26] Yes.

[43:27] West.

[43:29] Yes.

[43:32] And would it any of you like to change your vote?

[43:35] that is eight i's and three nays and one absent and item one is approved uh and on items two and three

[43:44] please on the rest of the consent agenda uh contos yes harp yes yes yes jones yes merit yes

[44:01] Yes.

[44:02] Ramos.

[44:03] Yes.

[44:04] Carol.

[44:05] Yes.

[44:06] The seat.

[44:07] Yes.

[44:09] A Mossberg.

[44:10] Yes.

[44:14] West.

[44:15] Yes.

[44:17] Anderson.

[44:19] Yes.

[44:24] Vote on that is 11 eyes on an absent.

[44:26] And a consent agenda is approved.

[44:28] We have no comments from city staff,

[44:30] words, commissions, authorities,

[44:31] nor the community forum this evening.

[44:34] Or do we have any special presentations?

[44:36] We do have a number of public hearings in state law.

[44:38] on our own council rule set guidelines for gathering public comment and formal way on a variety of issues and following staff report on these items, a council will have an opportunity to consider the merits of the motions.

[45:00] In COVID and likely beyond, we will continue to hold these public hearings open for a week so that folks may comment beyond the seafing. And council will take final action on these items, generally speaking of their next regular meeting. Our first public hearing, the seafing is on a municipal court ordinance. And our staff presentation begins with Mr. Bickel and is supported by our court administrator.

[45:37] I have a prior presentation so if you hang on a moment I will share my screen and

[45:59] if you are seeing the presentation yes we are yes sir.

[46:03] All right I'll dive right in.

[46:05] So the public hearing tonight is related to Senate Bill 127, which passed the session's legislature.

[46:12] SB 127 eliminates the ability of a municipal court judge to appoint part-time assistant judge.

[46:20] This bill is effective one year after passage and was signed by the governor on April 10th 2021,

[46:26] which means we have to enable 10th 2022 for implementation. However, while currently,

[46:34] May of Missoula, municipal court has two part time assistant judges, one is 0.85 FTE

[46:39] judge and one at 0.75 FTE judge, but these part time assistant judges have to be replaced

[46:47] by elected judges under this bill.

[46:52] But while the effective rate of this bill is one year out, the only municipal election within

[46:57] this time frame is the 2021 election this November. And filing opened for that last month.

[47:06] State law doesn't provide for special elections for officials that really intended for

[47:11] ballot initiatives. So in order to comply with the elections deadline, the mayor sent a letter

[47:16] to the county elections administrator with the intent to create these judges' position to make

[47:23] sure they were available at the time of filing. And then tonight we're holding a public hearing

[47:30] on an ordinance for a council to formally create the two new elected positions.

[47:40] So the ordinance

[47:41] establishes three judges effective January 3rd, 2022. So Judge Janks is in department one and so

[47:48] that that he will be on the ballot with judge and retirement and then departments two and three

[47:54] were are also being created by this ordinance. The other matters that the ordinance yield with is

[48:01] to set the procedure for a chief judge selection. So state law provides for the judges to select a

[48:09] chief judge among themselves and if they do not agree the chief judge is the one with the most

[48:14] seniority. However, since we're going into a election where we'll have three judges all with the same seniority, we've put in that if they if the judges don't agree that judges with the most seniority will be the judge with the most votes.

[48:29] And then also the ordinance establishes the duties that are the same as in the MCA.

[48:38] So Chief Judge maintains the central court docket, requested jurors for jury trials,

[48:44] and supervises the court personnel and administration.

[48:48] These positions are reckoned be full time based on the known capacity issues in the court.

[48:54] However, MCA 36106 does any at the time for the courts to be in session, so this actually

[49:03] infers that these elected positions have to be full time anyway, but, you know, regardless

[49:09] of the capacity issues, it seems that I think we have to read that there would be full time

[49:14] regular judge positions.

[49:17] For fiscal impact, the scoremals result in an increase of .4 FTE are probably around $50,000.

[49:25] So not a significant cost to the overall municipal court budget or a city budget.

[49:30] But during the FY22 budget process, we'll have to consider some other items related to this.

[49:38] Staffing needs will have to review the staffing needs of two new electric judges,

[49:43] you know, in previous committee meetings I talked about the needs for potentially more judge clerks in order to do what they added full time judges.

[49:53] And then we'll need to formalize the establishment of third courtroom and we're working on plans for that and we will look at that in the budget process.

[50:04] And then finally, just the calendar.

[50:09] This is the calendar that we've been going through in order for the adoption of this.

[50:15] Ordnance tonight's the public hearing and so final consideration on the on the ordinance would be next Monday.

[50:21] And with that, I would be happy to take any questions.

[50:25] Thank you, Mr. Bickel.

[50:27] And with that, are there questions or comments from.

[50:45] I think that's just a really important thing for people to remember. There are a lot of things kind of coming that we are required by legislative action.

[50:57] But my question I think for you is and if you said this I apologize the chief judge position so it would be how often would that be something that was reviewed and considered for a change I just think that as we have three new judges coming in.

[51:14] You know that that could be.

[51:16] be important. So will you speak to how that will over the years be reviewed and reconsidered?

[51:25] If I recall correctly and I'm looking at Mr. Nugent's tile as well that the judges

[51:32] can do this at least annually I think is under what the code says but I think they can

[51:38] and take longer terms at their discretion.

[51:43] May I have a follow-up, Mayor?

[51:46] Yes, ma'am.

[51:47] Thank you.

[51:48] And so will you speak a little more

[51:50] to what being the chief judge means?

[51:55] Well, the chief judge, among the things that they do,

[52:02] they set the dockets, call for the juries,

[52:06] but the big part is really,

[52:07] Well, I think is the administration of the court personnel, so the chief judge will be essentially the head of all of the personnel and administrative matter matters, you know, dealing with the budget personnel issues, those type of things.

[52:24] Often that is, you know, today, you know, most of that is delegated to the court administrator.

[52:31] but having the chief judge is important so that, you know, the court administrator has that, you know, one chief that person is answerable to.

[52:43] Thank you.

[52:44] And I will tell you that this ordinance is crafted based on some experience in cases where there is no chief judge we have seen in other courts.

[52:59] in the zoo of significant conflict between two sitting judges.

[53:08] It creates tremendous stress for staff.

[53:14] It's inefficient, ineffective, and very painful.

[53:18] And this is already complex enough by virtue of the fact that we have a branch of government that is supported by a general fund budget that is controlled by another.

[53:29] or branch of government, yet we have some limited ability

[53:34] to influence how that branch of government operates.

[53:38] So, this is about as clean as it gets, I think,

[53:43] in terms of being able to point that chief judge

[53:47] and having that single point of contact

[53:50] and executive authority in the court, Ms. Mayor.

[53:55] Thanks, thanks, Dale, for, I know

[53:58] that you had to act really quickly to pull this together.

[54:00] So I appreciate your work on that.

[54:01] And I want to say I appreciate all my colleagues listening

[54:04] to me over the last couple of weeks.

[54:06] Ask a lot of questions and opine on this topic.

[54:11] So one more thing, Dale, I guess, if what

[54:15] seemed to be maybe a little bit of a conflicting information,

[54:18] one of the things that we heard from the core administrator

[54:23] was that the municipal judges need time off the bench to prepare which totally

[54:30] totally makes sense I totally get it. And I'm just trying to put that together

[54:34] with the information that you just gave us about how state losses that they

[54:37] have to be on the bench from 9 to noon and then 1 to 4 every day is I mean is

[54:44] that a limited amount of time enough for the needs that the core

[54:50] administrator was talking about.

[54:53] You know, I really can't speak to that.

[54:56] I think Tina is a panelist.

[55:00] She may be able to answer that question,

[55:02] but that, you know, so that,

[55:05] you know, so I really don't know how that

[55:07] requirement works relative to, you know,

[55:10] time to prepare and those type of things.

[55:13] Maybe I could just add a little bit more framing

[55:15] around my question if I could mayor.

[55:18] Just to say, is it our anticipation that all three of the judges are going to be on the bench for those hours every day of the week, every operating business day?

[55:30] So I think I think that Ms. Reineke can certainly clarify for you. I think court needs to be open. I don't think that judges are on the bench.

[55:41] All of that time, but Ms. Reineke, you can you can fill in blanks because you know what you're talking about.

[55:46] Sure, in an ideal world, we would have all three judges on every bench, every day, staffing

[55:56] that will be a bit of a challenge because it also involves city attorney that if a

[56:02] judge is in a courtroom, we may need the city attorneys in there.

[56:05] Right now, the way we operate, we interpret the law is that if an officer, if an officer

[56:15] calls and wants to bring someone someone in on a warrant. Any time between about eight and four thirty we will see them. If we don't have a judge on the Bennett on the bench right at that minute, we will see them.

[56:30] So what we do anticipate is three judges with three benches that those court rooms will be booked right now.

[56:40] Now the, right now the way the courts are calendar, we do not have enough time on the calendar

[56:46] for people who just want to come in and see the judge on the ticket they just got.

[56:54] Right now those public, those initial appearance walk-in times are very limited.

[57:01] A person can only come in Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon, or all day Friday and for a lot

[57:09] of people that is just not enough time. So we we have needed full-time judges for a long time.

[57:16] So this is a it's a bit of a painful move figuring out where to put all this. But in the end,

[57:23] it will definitely we are we are at capacity now. And we have a big case load to move forward.

[57:31] heavily impacted by COVID.

[57:35] During COVID, if people fail to appear,

[57:38] we did not suspend their driver's licenses

[57:41] for failing to appear, and we did not put out a rest warrants.

[57:45] As we return to normal or a version of hybridized normal,

[57:50] we will start taking some activities

[57:53] almost fail to appear to get people into court to resolve their case.

[58:08] I just wanted to clarify a little bit. I've been on council for six years. I know there's a couple of other counselors who've been on for this is their eighth year.

[58:20] And during my time on council, I've seen the court gradually expand and I think we've tried to be super careful with.

[58:27] from taxes of course and to that's why we've had these part time judges as we

[58:33] were expanding very carefully trying to accommodate the extra needed capacity

[58:38] but we're with the legislative changes we're past that we can't have part time

[58:42] judges so we're putting a position where we we've had 2.6 judges and we're

[58:48] going to have 3.0 judges and so that's we don't get to try and tailor that

[58:54] But that budget, we just have to go with three at this point based on the legislative action. Is that right?

[59:04] Yeah, I mean, I think the argument made that council could say that we're only going to add one more judge, but I would really caution that because I think we would think the volume in municipal court is such that I don't think two judges could accomplish it.

[59:22] And then we'd start getting into issues of not staying

[59:28] compliant with a lot related to speed trial and those

[59:30] type of things.

[59:31] So I think we're at the volume.

[59:33] In fact, our medium term plans

[59:36] that actually are expecting a fourth musical court

[59:38] treasure as we start planning for a future space.

[59:41] We're actually trying to think of that already.

[59:45] One of the things that while we're looking at is going

[59:50] It'll be general fund funded and primarily property tax funded.

[59:54] They're, you know, fines and might increase a little bit related to three judges. A lot of work on that through the budget.

[1:00:00] But really, it will be mostly just general fun property taxes that we'll pay for this. Thank you. Mr. Newton.

[1:00:09] Just a very minor clarification. The state law requires that the judges select the chief judge at the beginning of each calendar year. So it's one year. And then they have to go through the process again. Thank you, councilor. Appreciate that.

[1:00:29] All right, seeing no additional questions or comments from

[1:00:33] council members, this public hearing will remain open until next week.

[1:00:37] And if thank you, Mr. Bickle, I'm going to try to keep you will move on to

[1:00:41] our second public hearing of the evening and that is on ordinance amendments for

[1:00:46] the Affordable Housing Citizen Oversight Committee.

[1:00:50] And Ms. Harris shares you have our staff report this evening.

[1:00:54] I'm

[1:00:58] just going to share my screen.

[1:01:05] Can

[1:01:14] you send that?

[1:01:17] Great.

[1:01:18] Thanks.

[1:01:19] Thank you.

[1:01:20] I appreciate being here to walk through a few key opportunities to strengthen section 3.24.80.

[1:01:30] 0.080 of ordinance 3.6.

[1:01:34] like getting all my decimals mixed up, excuse me, ordinate 3663, the Affordable Housing

[1:01:45] Trust Fund, which pertains to the Affordable Housing Citizen Oversight Committee.

[1:01:50] First, I'd like to thank Marty Raybine, the city clerk for her guidance and

[1:01:55] encouragement on the best way to move forward on the challenges and opportunities we've

[1:02:00] I identify that I'm sharing with you tonight.

[1:02:04] So just a brief background.

[1:02:06] The Affordable Housing Trust Fund was adopted by ordinance in July of 2020.

[1:02:12] And the ordinance outlines among other key elements of the Trust Fund's foundation, the structure of the oversight committee.

[1:02:20] And a primary focus since the adoption.

[1:02:24] has been seeing the oversight committees were a process that involved the public and upheld the values reflected in the ordinance and resolution.

[1:02:32] That the committee will include people who reflect Missoula and a diversity of race experience economic condition and housing backgrounds.

[1:02:40] We held open recruitment for five weeks in January and February.

[1:02:44] very marketed broadly and received 44 applications, demonstrating in part how invested

[1:02:50] Missouliens are in being a part of solutions for growing and changing housing needs.

[1:02:56] A subcommittee of the committee of the whole was established to conduct

[1:03:00] interviews, and I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to council member Jones, council

[1:03:07] member Basera, council member Mera and county commissioner Slotnik for their investment

[1:03:11] of time over six weeks to conduct 33 interviews throughout

[1:03:19] this process we've identified a few key

[1:03:22] opportunities to strengthen the ordinance as it pertains to the oversight committee. The three key

[1:03:28] opportunities are that the original ordinance language precludes alternate members from voting

[1:03:34] when a regular member is absent or a position is vacant. That term start dates were set to begin in

[1:03:41] January and end in December, which significantly limits

[1:03:45] appointed members' terms with spring appointments,

[1:03:49] and that the number of community member positions

[1:03:52] was set to one and does not reflect the community interest

[1:03:56] and application responses we received during recruitment.

[1:04:02] We're proposing four changes to section 3.24.080

[1:04:08] and the changes are as follows.

[1:04:11] The first change is to structure alternate positions as alternate one and alternate two,

[1:04:17] and allow alternates to vote when a regular member is absent or a position is vacant.

[1:04:23] This change is found in subsection A. The second change is to set terms to begin following

[1:04:29] appointment and expire in alignment with the term limit, and this change is found in subsection

[1:04:35] and see. The third change is to add one additional community member position, which will

[1:04:41] increase committee membership to 12 with 10 regular members and two alternatives, and

[1:04:49] this changes found in subsection A and B. And finally, we're proposing to change the

[1:04:56] name of the oversight committee to the affordable housing resident oversight committee to reflect

[1:05:01] our inclusive values and be representative of the full community and the name

[1:05:06] changes found throughout the amendment document

[1:05:12] and if the amendments are

[1:05:14] adopted the committee membership requirements will change as outlined the

[1:05:18] committee member roles will increase to 12 total with four community member roles

[1:05:24] two of whose households are currently receiving or have in the past two years

[1:05:30] received some form assistance in securing or maintaining their housing.

[1:05:36] And if adopted future appointments will be made as follows.

[1:05:39] City Council will appoint five members, four regular members, and the second alternate.

[1:05:45] Mayor will appoint three members, two regular members, and the first alternate.

[1:05:50] And the Board of County Commissioners will continue to appoint one member.

[1:05:55] And the ordinance timeline is outlined here with the public hearing today.

[1:06:02] And the final consideration on next week.

[1:06:08] And the proposed motion is on the slide. I'm happy to answer any questions.

[1:06:14] Thank you, Mr. Shares.

[1:06:17] There are no hands up in the attendance. A number of council members are worried that I neglected to ask for public comment on the previous item again, there were no hands up.

[1:06:30] So I want to straight to council questions.

[1:06:32] Council members have questions.

[1:06:39] All right, seeing none.

[1:06:43] We will take this item up for final consideration next Monday evening

[1:06:49] and the public hearing will remain open.

[1:06:52] Our third public hearing this evening is on request annex and rezone.

[1:06:58] Inventory Subdivision Phase 3-A in our staff work this evening is from Mr. DeGradpre.

[1:07:03] Can you give me Mr. Mayor and Councilors, I'm Dave DeGradpre with Zool Development Services.

[1:07:11] Can you see my share screen?

[1:07:14] We can, we just don't see anything on it, Mr. DeGradpre.

[1:07:31] I'm working on it.

[1:07:32] One moment please.

[1:07:35] Looks like progress is being made.

[1:07:38] There we are.

[1:07:42] So, this is the public hearing for annexation and zoning of phase 3a of the Invermier sub-division.

[1:07:51] Development services received a petition from Dr. A. Klem, the property owner, to annex

[1:07:57] the property.

[1:07:58] Tonight is the public hearing and on the annexation and zoning and the Languies and Plenty Committee

[1:08:03] Well, take this up at its meeting on Wednesday at 1 o'clock.

[1:08:09] In terms of annexation law, the parameters that you have, Montana code annotated provide

[1:08:14] several opportunities or ways for people to annex into the city limits and for the city's

[1:08:20] boundaries to expand.

[1:08:22] City Council has authority over all additions to the city boundaries and also may impose conditions

[1:08:27] of approval.

[1:08:29] The city must provide services to annex property in a way that's commissarate with other property within the city limits, and also as I mentioned, the public hearing on zoning and annexation is required.

[1:08:41] So the proper stuff is in a developed residential neighborhood, it's between Miller Creek Road on the east side and the Vista Boulevard on the west side, it's in the Miller Creek neighborhood in Ward 5.

[1:09:00] This is the fourth phase in a phase subdivision consisting of 11 residential losses in the last phase.

[1:09:09] The preliminary approval occurred in 1999 and all previous phases have already been annexed into the city lines.

[1:09:23] So in red, you can see the city limits, the property itself is wholly surrounded.

[1:09:33] And here is a copy of the subdivision flat.

[1:09:36] The final plat was recorded on May 5th.

[1:09:40] This is actually a subdivision that was approved initially, back in 1999, it was getting preliminary approval by the county commissioners,

[1:09:46] was the county commissioners, but each phase has been annexed four time upon five.

[1:09:55] In the subdivision, there are 19 residential lots.

[1:09:58] They range in size for about 13,000 square feet to about 30,000 square feet.

[1:10:02] Through the center is an extension of Drake Lane, that connects to the existing Drake Lane.

[1:10:07] and also there's a street section called Invermier Parkway, and then there's a park located right

[1:10:16] about here about three and a half acres that has come in in phases. The park is currently,

[1:10:22] there's an agreement between the city, the county, and the homeowners association regarding the park.

[1:10:28] There's also an improvements agreement whereby the sub-divider is under contract to install improvements

[1:10:34] to the park that will ultimately be maintained by the Homeowners Association, but the city and the county also have authority over

[1:10:41] over park improvements and can can require maintenance and things like that. But there's a contract that's already in place and

[1:10:49] all park improvements under the improvements agreement that exists have to be made by late January of next year.

[1:10:58] Similarly, there's an improvements, not all of the improvements for city streets, city water,

[1:11:04] sidewalks and city sewer have been made to date, and there's an improvements agreement

[1:11:08] to make sure that those things happen. There's financial security that has been set aside,

[1:11:13] and this is on file with city officials and also the county clerk in the court.

[1:11:20] And

[1:11:20] the purpose of that, of course, is to guarantee that those improvements will actually be made.

[1:11:26] This is a SNP from the city's annexation map in our annexation policy. You can see the subject

[1:11:31] property right here, toward the center, that's an annexation area, the lighter yellow color

[1:11:40] is existing city limits already. So, annexation area A is significant because it's an area

[1:11:47] that the city has decided largely meets the city's annexation policies. When I talk about annexation

[1:11:53] policies, we have an adopted annexation policy at the city of Missouri that prioritizes annexation

[1:12:00] of properties that are within the utility services area, which this is, that contribute to

[1:12:07] a logical growth pattern by creating orderly and continuous municipal boundaries.

[1:12:12] And also, we prioritize properties for annexation that fill in gaps left by previous annexations.

[1:12:18] So this property meets all of those criteria.

[1:12:25] First, let's meet up from the city's growth policy map.

[1:12:28] The couple of important points here, first, the growth policy designation of future land use map

[1:12:35] recommends residential low density development of one to two acres per dwelling unit.

[1:12:43] And it also relates or also suggests that there are two appropriate zoning districts,

[1:12:48] R20 and R40. In this case, R20 is proposed for the subject property upon annexation.

[1:12:55] And the density is approximately two dwellings per acre, which aligns with the growth policy recommendation of residential low density.

[1:13:06] There is a snippet of the county zoning map, you can see that there are subject properties currently zone C, R, R, 2, the county zoning and the city zoning are quite closely aligned here.

[1:13:19] The county zoning also recommends development of up to two dwellings per acre on city water or on public facilities.

[1:13:27] So in this case, it would be city, water and sewer and that's just like the county growth policy and also like the

[1:13:33] Sorry, it's just like the city's growth policy and also the city zoning

[1:13:37] The same uses are allowed and in a comparable density

[1:13:43] And then here's a snip from the city zoning map

[1:13:46] You can see all the way around the property is r20 again. That's what's proposed here tonight

[1:13:51] For the subject property. There are some open space type park areas

[1:13:57] and lighter shade here in green,

[1:13:59] but surrounding the properties are 20,

[1:14:00] again, that's consistent with what's proposed here.

[1:14:05] So what I want to say in a law and our zoning ordinance,

[1:14:10] there are three criteria for annexation

[1:14:12] that you all have to consider.

[1:14:14] The City Council has to consider for annexation,

[1:14:16] and at least one of these criteria has to be met.

[1:14:18] In this case, I think there are two that are clearly met.

[1:14:23] First is that a, that land uses that are comparable

[1:14:28] Critical to the land use is authorized on the county zoning classification would be applied upon the city annexation.

[1:14:36] I talked about the comparable density allowed under the zoning, both the city and the county have their closely aligned.

[1:14:42] So I think after criterion A has been met, also C. I showed a slide of the growth policy that recommends residential load density,

[1:14:51] one to two dwelling units per acre and so that is consistent with the zoning that would be applied here as well.

[1:14:58] So, I think they're...

[1:15:00] There are a couple of different avenues for the project to be annexed under the annexation criteria that we have. And then finally, today is simply, it's a public hearing and informational item. It is not, the vote will not be taken tonight. Final consideration will be a week from tonight with, again, additional discussion on Wednesday. But staff's recommendation is to adopt a resolution to annex and incorporate within the city boundaries, the subject property.

[1:15:29] and zone the property, R20 residential based on the findings of fact in the staff report.

[1:15:36] And tonight, in addition to myself, David's salvage from City Parks and Rec is here.

[1:15:42] I think there are maybe some questions that come up about the parks and things like that.

[1:15:47] I know he is willing and able to answer those questions.

[1:15:52] So with that, that concludes my presentation, Mr. Mayor.

[1:15:56] Thank you, Mr. Grandpray.

[1:15:59] And do we have anyone representing applicant this evening?

[1:16:04] Who would like to speak?

[1:16:10] Mr. Johnson.

[1:16:11] Yeah, I am here representing the applicants, but I don't really have anything to add.

[1:16:17] Thank you.

[1:16:19] I see no hands up among attendees to comment on this proposed annexation.

[1:16:26] Questions from council members.

[1:16:27] Ms. Anderson.

[1:16:30] Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor.

[1:16:33] I realize that we will be hearing this in public, sorry, land use and planning on Wednesday

[1:16:38] and so I will save the majority of my questions for them for then, but I do want staff to

[1:16:43] come prepared to discuss myself representing this ward have had numerous conversations

[1:16:50] with the current residents of the Inferior Subdivision who are frustrated to say the least at

[1:16:57] the lack of development happening to the park that was supposed to be there quite some

[1:17:03] time ago. And I realize that there's an improvement agreement in place that would cover

[1:17:10] the cost of the developer decides not to but to get that development agreement they had

[1:17:16] to submit a chart showing their timeline for development of the park and we are sitting

[1:17:22] here on may 17th and we are still we are very far behind on that and so I want to

[1:17:28] know what options there are we cannot condition to reason but we can condition

[1:17:32] annexation to move that park along I don't want to wait until January of

[1:17:39] 2022 to cash in the improvements agreement. I want to see what options there are

[1:17:44] so Mister Jim pre if you could come. I'd like to hear a little bit more about

[1:17:48] that in land use and planning on Wednesday. I feel as though the developer is not

[1:17:54] living up to their end of the bargain on the initial plan for this so I just

[1:18:00] want to put that out there that we'll be discussing this more on Wednesday.

[1:18:03] Thank you.

[1:18:04] Thank you, Ms. Anderson. Further questions or comments from

[1:18:07] council members?

[1:18:08] Ms. Hart.

[1:18:10] Thank you, Ms. Raer. The question for Dave or Mr. Johnson

[1:18:14] here tonight. I think we've heard a lot of

[1:18:17] comments tonight from our community about concerns about finding a place to live.

[1:18:24] And I know this is just an annexation with a small upzone if you will to one or two dwelling

[1:18:30] per acre. Is it possible that we could actually request the developer to upzone to a higher density

[1:18:37] for future use or long-term use?

[1:18:46] Well, you know, that wouldn't actually comply with the growth policy.

[1:18:50] The growth policy has a recommendation of one to two dwelling units per acre, which

[1:18:56] is in a line with the R20 zoning that's proposed.

[1:18:59] You know, I suppose at some point that could change.

[1:19:02] These lots are sizable, you know, the smallest one.

[1:19:05] I think it's 13,000 square feet, I'm not mistaken.

[1:19:11] You know, at some point in the future, some of the, and up to 30,000 square feet, so at some

[1:19:15] point in the future, those thoughts could be maybe further divided on a, it'll probably

[1:19:20] be on an individual way, individual basis if they wanted to add additional homes.

[1:19:24] BDUs are also a possibility, I think, so there are maybe some options, but I wouldn't

[1:19:29] suggest that we take a different action than what's proposed at this time.

[1:19:35] Appreciate that.

[1:19:37] Mr. Nige.

[1:19:45] Just as further clarification, for Heather, this method of annexation and zoning,

[1:19:51] I mean, at the time of annexation is the expedited method of annexation that allows an annexation to occur without going to the planning board.

[1:20:02] It is possible that if you had an annexation that didn't comply with the three conditions that Dave identified that you send the annexation proposal to the planning board for recommendations as to what.

[1:20:19] The zoning should be however in this instance I think Dave would have some heartburn also about the growth policy and how you're going to mesh that with the growth policy.

[1:20:30] But just so you know there are alternatives it's just this uses the expedited alternative for annexing and zoning at the time of annexation.

[1:20:42] Well, I'm planning board to have some heartburn of running a file of growth policy as should council that's kind of that's kind of the foundational document here but that is subject to change so something to keep in mind as we move forward.

[1:20:59] Seeing no additional virtual hands in the air council will take this up again next week and the public hearing will remain open. Thank you, Mr. Grandpray.

[1:21:11] Our final public hearing this evening is on another annexation and zoning request. This is at Fox Den court and Alex item has our staff report this evening.

[1:21:25] Thank you very much.

[1:21:27] Pulling up the presentation. Can we see this okay?

[1:21:29] We can take it then you can hear me great. Can

[1:21:36] we still see that change from my side?

[1:21:40] Perfect. Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is Alex item. I'm the associate

[1:21:45] planner with the permits and land use division of development services and I'm here this evening

[1:21:50] to present an annexation petition that was submitted by Lynn Edens with Montana Northwest

[1:21:54] Company on behalf of the property owner Joshua Green requesting annexation into the city of

[1:22:00] Mozilla and zoning upon annexation of fairway view addition plan unit development for point two acres of land.

[1:22:07] This annexation is the result of a boundary line relocation request through subdivision exemption between a property within the city of Mozilla at 4190.

[1:22:17] which is also a lot three and a property within Missoula County at 3946

[1:22:24] box 10 court, which is for excuse me law a one the boundary line relocation and annexation are to resolve a current encroachment issue between the two properties.

[1:22:36] So the regulatory authority and parameters that for today is through the Montana code annotated title seven, which provides several ways to add land to municipalities.

[1:22:44] municipalities. City Council has authority over all additions and man pose conditions. The city must provide services to the annex property and a public hearing on zoning and annexation is required.

[1:22:57] So outlined in the blue star is the subject property, which is you can see is on the south eastern side of lower Millicoot road and the west side of Millicoot road and the red areas on this map are all indicating the current boundary of the city limits.

[1:23:12] So kind of a more close-up of the project area, outlined in blue is the parcel which is

[1:23:21] law A1 and that's the current county property.

[1:23:25] Law A1 contains one detached house and two detached accessory structures.

[1:23:29] The red outlined parcel is law 3, which is within the city limits and contains one detached

[1:23:34] house.

[1:23:35] In the area identified in green is the subject property which we're calling portion A and

[1:23:39] that's to be annexed.

[1:23:40] And that is currently part of the Missoula County parcel as a result of the boundary line relocation and annexation portion A will be incorporated into the city of Missoula.

[1:23:53] Here is an exhibit just kind of more clearly showing what that means. So, again, this is the county parcel right now and this down here is lot three, which is the city parcel.

[1:24:04] And this is the little dotted area and this is portion A to the annex into the city Missoula boundary.

[1:24:10] You'll know if there's a little hashed area here that's an existing no build zone on

[1:24:15] lot three, lot three, and there's also no access strip, which they're proposing to extend

[1:24:21] onto portion A if annex into the city of Missoula.

[1:24:28] So here's a snippet of the annexation policy map, the subject property it's outlined in

[1:24:32] the star, and it's located in the green areas which is annexation area A, which are areas

[1:24:37] that largely meet annexation guidelines, and then surrounding it to the side is the yellow

[1:24:42] areas and that's just identifying where the current city limit is so the annexation policy is that

[1:24:53] to provide for orderly development including the efficient delivery of municipal services and to

[1:24:59] develop and developing areas that protect public health and safety. This would contribute to the

[1:25:04] logical growth pattern. I mean the city limits are all adjacent currently. The annexation should

[1:25:09] also comply with the growth policy which I'll get into in just a moment in the annexation should

[1:25:14] would provide the same level of service and infrastructure as other parts of the municipality and it should also prioritize annexation of areas that meet current city standards, including not limited to water, sewer and transportation infrastructure.

[1:25:27] So for the arm as you know city growth policy as you can see the subject property is located in the yellow area, which identifies the residential low density land use designation.

[1:25:38] areas designated as residential low density are designed to support one to two

[1:25:42] dwelling units per acre with varying parcel size. When portion A is added to the

[1:25:47] city parcel at 4193. The parcel will increase to just under one acre which

[1:25:55] actually will make the parcel more compliant with and conforming to the growth

[1:25:58] policy. Here's the current zoning map. The current county zoning for a lot A1 is

[1:26:05] CRR 2, which is a residential county zoning district.

[1:26:10] CRR 2 promotes a single family residential environment

[1:26:13] in areas by, excuse me,

[1:26:16] in certain areas,

[1:26:17] served by adequate public water and sewer systems

[1:26:20] and promotes a residential city consistent

[1:26:22] with the availability of public facilities

[1:26:25] and with the physical limitations of the land,

[1:26:27] specifically planning a development

[1:26:29] and playing variations on courage

[1:26:31] to further the intent of this district.

[1:26:33] And the current city zoning for a lot three is the fairway view planned unit development.

[1:26:39] This PD has various sub districts, a lot three specifically is located within the single

[1:26:44] family residential, which is a sub district that only allows single family dwellings and

[1:26:48] accessory uses.

[1:26:52] So the proposed zoning as a result of the boundary line relocation, annexation and zoning

[1:26:57] upon annexation, portion A, will be within the fairway view addition planned unit development.

[1:27:04] So

[1:27:07] the zoning criteria with annexation zoning classification at the time of annexation must comply with one of the following and this annexation complies with a and C.

[1:27:17] So a is to authorize land uses comparable to the land uses authorized under county zoning classification that applied to the property immediately before it was annexed into the city.

[1:27:26] And this applies to this annexation request because plan new development and plan variations are encouraged to further the intent of the CRR2 county residential zoning district.

[1:27:36] and see be consistent with the land use and zoning recommendations for the subject areas

[1:27:41] set forth in the growth policy. And so this criteria applies to the SANExation because

[1:27:46] the proposed fairway view addition planning development is in a line with the growth policy

[1:27:52] land use designation. There's one condition of approval for the SANExation and that is the

[1:28:00] applicant shall file the amended plot subject to the conditions of approval for the subdivision

[1:28:05] exception within 180 days of annexation approval otherwise the resolution to annex and the zoning

[1:28:10] upon annexation of the property shall become no one void and the property will revert to the

[1:28:15] original status in the county of Missoula. This condition came about primarily to tie the annexation

[1:28:21] with the boundary line relocation so that when the annexation is approved then the boundary line

[1:28:26] relocation is approved they have 180 days to file that amended plot and if they do not then this

[1:28:34] And there's no action item this evening. This is here for reference.

[1:28:39] And that concludes the presentation. Thank you.

[1:28:43] Thank you, Ms. item. And seeing no hands up in the attendees box.

[1:28:51] Questions or comments from council members.

[1:28:57] Right. Seeing none, this public hearing will remain open as well. We have no additional public hearings this evening.

[1:29:03] but we do have a number of items for final consideration.

[1:29:06] These items were considered over the course of the week.

[1:29:12] And the public hearing on each is now close.

[1:29:17] Our first item for final consideration is a rezoning on river road.

[1:29:24] And Mr. Hess, if I may trouble you for a motion.

[1:29:28] there

[1:29:32] with me there.

[1:29:38] So I moved that on second and final reading we adopted ordinance to reason the subject property located at 2103, 2103 and a half, 2115 and 2105 and a half river road, legally described as that as that part of what 24 cobbin and didn't

[1:29:56] from subdivision and a parcel of land lying in 2020.

[1:30:00] Section 4 of Coppinin, Dinsmars, Orchard Holmes, edition, located in Section 20, Township 13, North, and Range 19, West, Principal Meridian, Montana, from RT10, residential 2-unit townhouse, to RT5.4, residential 5.4 2-unit townhouse, based on the findings of fact in the staff report. And that motion is in order, especially on the motion, Ms. Mayor. I just want to say I'll be in support of the

[1:30:29] this motion, the change that this is going to affect on the ground is phenomenal. A large

[1:30:39] number of the lots that are around this existing parcel are, while it is zoned RT10, those

[1:30:48] lots are already non-conforming and are much smaller than the RT10 zoning would allow.

[1:30:54] So I it's not going to change very much in the way that this neighborhood has already been developing and the the height limitations are the same the setbacks are the same.

[1:31:06] So I think that this is a good application for this property and I'm in support.

[1:31:14] If it was Marit for the discussion,

[1:31:19] seeing none, we've had a public hearing while I roll call vote.

[1:31:27] Hey, on the ordinance, I think we're at heart for the roll call.

[1:31:33] Yes.

[1:31:35] Yes.

[1:31:37] Jones.

[1:31:39] Yes.

[1:31:41] Marit.

[1:31:42] Yes.

[1:31:44] Ramos.

[1:31:45] Yes.

[1:31:47] Cheryl.

[1:31:47] Yes.

[1:31:50] Yes.

[1:31:52] Yes.

[1:31:53] Yes.

[1:31:54] Yes.

[1:31:56] West.

[1:31:57] Yes.

[1:31:58] Anderson.

[1:32:00] Yes.

[1:32:01] Contents.

[1:32:03] Yes.

[1:32:04] What do you like to change about?

[1:32:06] That's 11 eyes and one absent.

[1:32:09] And the motion is approved.

[1:32:12] Our second item for final consideration.

[1:32:18] I move that we approve the group living conditional use request for a hogan senior living located at

[1:32:27] 228 to 34 and 246 south south 6th street west in accordance with the Zoolocity zoning ordinance title 20 sections 20.10.020.

[1:32:57] I think that this is an innovative type of housing. It's going to provide a diversity of housing options, particularly for seniors.

[1:33:09] And this is our second group living conditional use that we've seen in the last year.

[1:33:19] And I think that it's a trend that I look forward to watching and assessing how well they work.

[1:33:28] I think, like I said, there I think it's an innovative way to deploy housing that is reasonably dense.

[1:33:36] provides a diversity of housing type and provides an option for seniors who may be looking to downsize and have more affordable options for remaining within the core of our community.

[1:33:49] So I'm excited about the project. I think it's really worth noting that the adjacent the adjacent church was instrumental in getting this project off the ground as far as selling this lot with the intention of the development of senior housing.

[1:34:08] And so I support this. Thank you.

[1:34:15] I will note for the record that this housing is available to people who are 55 and older.

[1:34:23] I am one of those people. I am an older adult, Mr. Hess, not a senior.

[1:34:31] Mayor, I'll note that this is enabled by the housing of older persons act of 1995.

[1:34:38] five. I apologize for the nomenclature. Just fine, Mr. Hess. Ms. Merritt on the

[1:34:48] move. Thanks. I'm also in support of this. It's an innovative idea and I want to thank

[1:34:55] the developers for bringing it. They've been very thoughtful in this development. And

[1:35:00] I also want to note the large number of letters of support that we've received from the

[1:35:06] public which is great. A lot of times when people are trying something new in land use that they

[1:35:14] get a lot of negative comments because people are concerned of something that's unproven

[1:35:19] perhaps. So we've got a lot of great feedback from people and I appreciate that.

[1:35:25] Ms. West.

[1:35:29] Thank you. I am also in support of this project and we'll echo much of what has been said

[1:35:36] that already, I think we have in the past gotten

[1:35:40] at least annual updates from the Ms. Elizabeth Senior Center

[1:35:43] and we are often, we are aware that our community is aging

[1:35:50] and that there are limited housing options

[1:35:55] for folks who are older persons, we'll say.

[1:35:59] And I think this is a really innovative way

[1:36:04] to bring a new housing type to the market and hopefully build community and support folks and I also just wanted to mention that the developer deconstructed most of the buildings that have been removed from the site thus far and I just wanted to highlight that because it's.

[1:36:24] I think it's important and it needs our goals and I want to applaud them for doing that. Thank you.

[1:36:32] Thank you, so this is in my neighborhood is just a few blocks from where I live. There has been a lot of public comments. I wanted to first of all just say that in committee on Wednesday, we did have a big discussion regarding what the conditional use covers the bottom line is if this changes to any type of a, for example, a group home that would have a special purpose such as a health assisted facility.

[1:36:59] There will be a further conditional use hearing on it, but right now this is for seniors, 55 and older if their application is approved or otherwise just people who want to live there.

[1:37:12] I have two, I'm an older person in that category and after having spent the entire weekend on yard works, there are some very appealing things about this project.

[1:37:22] But I just want to address a few issues. There's a lot of public comment and I appreciated people thinking about this, taking the time. It is a paradigm shift. This is a change.

[1:37:35] There are six parking spots plus one disabled parking spot for basically 36 units.

[1:37:43] So that is a shift, but I think it is workable with the resources in that area.

[1:37:50] I hope that the church and the Presbyterian Church has a large parking lot with, I think, 36 spaces.

[1:37:59] And I hope they have conversations with how to efficiently have a symbiotic relationship and make that work well between these two entities, the church and this group living home, which I know the church has been very supportive.

[1:38:12] So I don't doubt they can figure out some good ways of making it work so that it works for everyone.

[1:38:18] I also wanted to note that, frankly, the on-street parking simply surrounding this block is quite

[1:38:25] extensive. I think there are 10 spots simply on the corner that this building has where it sits.

[1:38:34] There's also other sections of the block north on the north on Hazel on the east side of Hazel.

[1:38:42] There's diagonal parking over on the other side of the block where Mertle is on the east side of the street.

[1:38:49] There's diagonal parking, so there's actually a lot of parking.

[1:38:52] There's a lot of breathing room.

[1:38:53] It will impact the neighborhood.

[1:38:55] I don't want to gloss over that.

[1:38:56] There will be less on-street parking, but I'm hoping people make it work.

[1:39:01] And honestly, I for years now have been talking about wanting the parking commission to take a holistic look at the hip strip at the university district.

[1:39:11] And as more density goes in, I think the need increases.

[1:39:15] And I hope that's a conversation the parking commission has at some point to make a better system for having parking for commercial entities on hip strip as well as residential entities.

[1:39:27] So that's that's the future that I see there and I hope I hope that happens. I also wanted to comment that a lot of the public comment we received.

[1:39:36] Well, some of it went to how the dynamics will work within this group living.

[1:39:42] And I don't think it's our purview as city council to dictate who will clean the communal kitchen down the down the hall, but I have no doubt that the people that live there will work it out.

[1:39:54] And it's it'll be a new situation, but they're going to figure it out and I'll handle it.

[1:40:00] The last thing I want to say is that the reason why this is a new idea and I think why our community and local government is so receptive to it is because it's cheaper for people to live there.

[1:40:15] So instead of having a full apartment with all amenities, you'll have basically a partial apartment and then some of the amenities will be communal amenities down the hall like kitchens things like that.

[1:40:28] So it's cheaper and for seniors on fixed income, this can be a real bonus to be able to live in a central part of the city and have and be and pay less rent.

[1:40:38] and we certainly heard a lot at the beginning of this meeting about rental prices, so there's a

[1:40:46] method to the madness. There's a reason why we're entertaining this type of idea now because we

[1:40:50] need to figure out how people can live and have a good quality of life in the zoolah and this is one

[1:40:55] of those ways we're going to do it. So I think we'll all be curious to see how it works out and I'm in

[1:41:01] favorite. Thank you. Ms. Herk. Thank you. This really is a fairly novel concept for

[1:41:13] our community. Group living may have been something from the 60s and the 70s and here we are,

[1:41:19] all these decades later, realizing that the land used patterns of the past have pushed us to

[1:41:25] the areas that we have to explore because there is no other better option. Earlier we talked about

[1:41:32] about a news matter that has a lot of sizes that are 13,000 to 30,000 per feet.

[1:41:40] And here's one that we're going to be talking about, hopefully, housing 36 individuals.

[1:41:47] Very different kind of living arrangement.

[1:41:49] And I think this is something that from my time sitting at the piano at the Missoula Senior

[1:41:56] Center and then having conversations with those very thing seniors, there are a lot of folks

[1:42:02] that are pressed to have place that they can afford

[1:42:06] and a place that they can actually feel

[1:42:09] and enjoy one another's company.

[1:42:12] And I think this presents an opportunity

[1:42:13] for people to downsize from their homes

[1:42:16] and create an open up some housing stock for families

[1:42:19] that right now are really hard pressed

[1:42:21] to find housing elsewhere.

[1:42:23] So crudos to the developer and their team

[1:42:27] to try something fairly innovative

[1:42:29] and within reach of the school and and church for that matter as well as big

[1:42:34] different ice cream because it's all right there and I'm fully in support of

[1:42:41] this project.

[1:42:44] So you know further discussion I do have a hand up in the attendees

[1:42:50] box column.

[1:42:55] Thanks I just wanted to say thank you for hearing this project and

[1:43:00] And thank you for hearing the discussion

[1:43:02] at the beginning of this meeting.

[1:43:04] Those these topics are all related

[1:43:05] and just wanna say thanks.

[1:43:07] This is Colin with MMW Architects.

[1:43:09] Thanks.

[1:43:11] Thank you, Colin.

[1:43:13] And with that, we have had a public hearing

[1:43:15] and we'll have a roll call vote.

[1:43:23] Okay, I think we started this round with Hess.

[1:43:27] Yes.

[1:43:29] And Jones.

[1:43:31] Yes.

[1:43:33] Merit.

[1:43:34] Yes.

[1:43:35] Ramos.

[1:43:36] Yes.

[1:43:37] Yes.

[1:43:37] Cheryl.

[1:43:39] Yes.

[1:43:40] The Seaka.

[1:43:41] Yes.

[1:43:42] Von Lossberg.

[1:43:44] Yes.

[1:43:45] West.

[1:43:46] Yes.

[1:43:49] Anderson.

[1:43:50] Yes.

[1:43:51] Contas.

[1:43:53] Yes.

[1:43:54] And Harp.

[1:43:55] Yes.

[1:43:57] And would any of you like to change your vote?

[1:44:01] As eleven eyes and one Emson.

[1:44:03] And, important me, the motion is approved.

[1:44:08] We have no additional items for final consideration.

[1:44:12] The seed name will move on to communications from the mayor.

[1:44:19] Our council meetings are fundamentally business meetings and that they don't create opportunity for meaningful dialogue in many cases or exchange of information with the residents.

[1:44:31] We serve, so we sort of hear a side or a side and we absorb and we're not in a position to react or converse or in some cases correct and in other cases applaud.

[1:44:55] And that's unfortunate.

[1:45:00] And maybe someday I will figure that out, but I haven't. Today, and I've been working at it for almost 16 years now. What I do know is that we do have some opportunities to talk with each other, and we do have some opportunities to work with each other. I appreciate the folks who participated in the public comment portion of our meeting, our meeting this evening, and talked about the challenges facing not only renters, but folks seeking to purchase homes in our community.

[1:45:28] and we have been working on these issues for a very long time and they have been exacerbated

[1:45:35] painfully by a global pandemic. But I do know that this body is responsible for much

[1:45:43] and controls little. But what is within our control, we will endeavor to change and modify

[1:45:53] and make better. There were a number of suggestions this evening that in another state perhaps

[1:46:03] another world based on the legislation that came through in Helen of this session. There are

[1:46:12] great ideas. They are not within our reach and they are very unlikely to ever be in our reach in

[1:46:20] Montana unless there's a market change in who gets elected and sent the state

[1:46:25] house to represent communities like the Zua and others around the state. So some

[1:46:30] of those ideas are simply off the table. What is on the table is I hope a

[1:46:37] conversation or two and the continuation of the program that we have in play

[1:46:42] a song investment in affordable housing which unfortunately is

[1:46:47] as a function of as a function of the the nature of construction approval and now is further jeopardized by increases in material costs and labor shortages.

[1:47:01] There's a there's a perfect storm here that I think we're writing out but what we can do is continue to make those investments through tiff and through other programs.

[1:47:12] I think I'd be remiss in not emphasizing that the first place that place was like the YWCA and the power yellow and any nonprofit housing developer attempting to create inventory to serve.

[1:47:27] low-to-moderate income resilience come to is the Missouri Development Agency and

[1:47:33] that redevelopment agency opens its arms to those proposals and invests in

[1:47:40] them heavily and to every degree possible and now we're moving into the

[1:47:47] business of actually purchasing land for the purpose of housing and

[1:47:50] developing housing. Again, it's slow and it's painful, but TIF continues to do much

[1:47:58] more good work in that arena. And frankly, those projects that some folks don't like

[1:48:04] very much are putting money in the banks so that we can do these other projects. There

[1:48:09] is a means to an end there. I don't object to those projects, but I get that some people

[1:48:14] do. But fundamentally, if you can look beyond those objections, I think you can't recognize

[1:48:19] is that those projects are fueling the engine of affordable housing in our community and I think it's important to remember that.

[1:48:30] One of the things that I intend to do is, is arrange a summit of, of, of property managers in the, who are associated and landlords who are associated through the western.

[1:48:45] my kind of language association to have a conversation about what we might be able to do collaboratively

[1:48:51] and cooperatively to anticipate some of these changes to better understand why some property owners

[1:49:00] are making the choices that they're making and to understand if through our ARPA funds and through

[1:49:05] those funds at Mesula County and some other resources we can make a change and help alter that

[1:49:13] decision or or expand that decision space so that that an economic eviction which is really what

[1:49:20] is happening does not occur. That's a function of subsidy and if we have resources and we are

[1:49:30] allowed through treasury guidelines to deploy some of the ARPA money to temper that. I like that

[1:49:39] a lot and I think that's worth pursuing. So we'll get on that case almost immediately and I

[1:49:47] have had conversations with my colleagues at Missouri County about this very thing and what our

[1:49:53] opportunities are through ARPA and there are some once in a lifetime opportunities and this is a once in a

[1:49:58] lifetime situation. I also have to suggest that that there are not only two sides to every story but often six

[1:50:09] seven or dozens and when we talk about police harassing anyone, I think we need to be really careful about those characterizations.

[1:50:26] When police officers are responding to a camping situation, that is a subject of a resident complaint.

[1:50:35] That resident has opinions and rights and responsibilities in the same way that the folks who would like to allow camping everywhere have.

[1:50:50] And we have laws on the books and we are responsible for meeting the demands of those calls for service.

[1:51:00] in my experience, those calls for service are not harassment.

[1:51:07] Cops don't like to make those stops.

[1:51:09] Cops don't like to have those conversations, but they are required to.

[1:51:14] And I can tell you.

[1:51:16] I have likely as many anecdotes around cops reaching out into their pockets for gas money or.

[1:51:23] Or or into a petty hash at the police department to fund a hotel room for someone as as other folks do for cases of what they call harassment.

[1:51:40] There's a balance strike here and we are in the business of balance and I understand that advocates are advocating and that is entirely appropriate.

[1:51:49] I don't get hired to advocate. I get hired to make challenging decisions with all of you

[1:51:55] and to strike a balance that makes sense for our community. And I don't think we're in a position

[1:51:59] to seed public land to camping. That's not where we are today, and we can't see public land

[1:52:08] that is in floodway. That is not set up for providing sanitary conditions for campers.

[1:52:18] And it was never intended for camping.

[1:52:22] Having said that, I do believe that we have a path forward for creating more sanctioned camping areas.

[1:52:29] And I believe while those sanctioned camps have been disastrous in some other communities, they have not here.

[1:52:37] the folks who tipped up the temporary outdoor space have been expert in the management and

[1:52:47] operation of those facilities and and have had success in finding folks permanent housing. The

[1:52:56] way to fix the way to fix homelessness is to create housing. In the short term, the best we're

[1:53:03] going to be able to do this temporary housing. In the long term, we can and will, I believe, create

[1:53:10] sustainable supportive housing for folks who require considerable level of service in order

[1:53:20] to maintain their lives and be safe and healthy. And other cases will work to create with partners

[1:53:28] housing that is affordable for more resilience. This is tough. We ain't alone, we're not the only

[1:53:35] community experiencing this crisis today. That is cold comfort, but we can also find ideas and

[1:53:45] opportunities elsewhere. And I will tell you that I believe we're much farther down a path of addressing

[1:53:53] this crisis than many of those communities are because we've been thinking about it for a very

[1:53:58] long time. We live in a desirable place that I hope remains desirable for everyone and safe for

[1:54:05] everyone. So short version as I appreciate the comments, some of which we simply can't do the

[1:54:13] some of which we are taking to heart and will endeavor to employ and we're going to take some new steps

[1:54:19] as well to try to put a dent in the immediate pain and suffering that people are experiencing in our

[1:54:26] community. With that, I will move on to general comments from council members and

[1:54:31] this heart is in the top left corner of my screen where we're starting this evening.

[1:54:37] Thank you. I appreciate those comments, Mayor. I think we all know we have a huge

[1:54:44] lemon in front of us.

[1:54:47] So I guess I kind of wonder what truly is within our power.

[1:54:51] If we don't have the ability to fork back or shift to panic plates and create more land and we also are limited by a state legislature that we aren't allowed to use inclusionary zoning nor do we have the ability to step in and put ceiling on people's rents or prevent people from being evicted.

[1:55:13] So then I get that comes back to what we do actually have power over.

[1:55:17] And I appreciate you mentioning the use of tax increment financing as one of those methodologies.

[1:55:25] But I would also like to pursue the idea of what we can do with our own zoning as well as our growth policy.

[1:55:35] And I know with our growth policy was just created back in 2015, so we're only six years into this.

[1:55:40] but I don't know how long these policies are supposed to last

[1:55:43] before we are faced with a huge, sorry, housing crisis

[1:55:52] and not do anything about it.

[1:55:54] So I would like us to really kind of think

[1:55:56] about re-examining that and looking

[1:55:59] at where there are neighborhoods that have 30,000 square foot

[1:56:03] locks, what we can do a little bit differently

[1:56:07] to make room for more people.

[1:56:08] And I think we, I don't know when, whenever is going to be the best time except for today and to start moving that needle forward.

[1:56:18] And I think it's, we are woefully behind if we, if we intend in any shape or form to really address our communities need.

[1:56:29] Otherwise, we're going to lose our teachers, our firefighters or police officers, our barista, our restaurant tours.

[1:56:35] all of them are within that 40 to 80 percent of AMI and it's they can't afford to live here.

[1:56:42] And if they can't have to travel in our each direction, well was on us. Thank you.

[1:56:50] The shots.

[1:56:55] Thank you. Yes, thanks for the comments, Mayor. That was well put.

[1:57:01] On a different topic for a minute, I did want to announce that there is an open house this Saturday.

[1:57:08] at the native prairie which is located in between the mazillion building and the river.

[1:57:13] The open house on May 22nd, Saturday will be held from between two to four o'clock and

[1:57:20] the, we have many volunteers who diligently maintain that and they'll be giving an open house,

[1:57:27] they'll be giving tours, talking about the different plants that are there. It's really quite

[1:57:31] fascinating and this is this is a little snapshot of what our valley looked like many many years ago

[1:57:39] before it was developed with the native plants so it's a special thing and and regarding the

[1:57:46] topic of the day and the topic of always I think on city council affordable housing I appreciated

[1:57:53] the comments this at the beginning of the meeting it I would say the entire time I've been on council we've

[1:58:00] been talking about affordable housing. And I think there are many counselors who are

[1:58:06] beyond concerned about this and highly aware of the fact that we simply don't have a lot

[1:58:12] of tools to address this and then to go through the last legislative session when we lost

[1:58:18] some of the few tools that we had and then to see scenarios where creative ideas were floated

[1:58:24] such as using money from the trust fund, the coal severance trust fund to go towards housing

[1:58:32] tax credits and seeing that shot down is just painful and beyond frustrating and frankly

[1:58:39] pretty tone deaf, if you ask me of the legislature, to not give us more to work with when we've had

[1:58:46] this affordable housing issue continuing to become more and more serious and then have it simply

[1:58:52] blow up in front of our eyes with the pandemic. So I think a lot of counselors are beyond frustrated.

[1:58:59] We too would like to do a lot more, but we're going to have to focus on what we can do.

[1:59:04] And I'm a very common sense practical person. I'm not going to waste a lot of time talking about all

[1:59:10] the things that I can't do. I think we talk about what we can do, and I'm very glad we've got TIFF

[1:59:15] and have frankly set up a strong MRA program over the past few decades. So we've got that in our

[1:59:21] back pocket to work with. And I think we're going to keep working on it as best we can. The

[1:59:27] other thing is I'm spending a lot of time on meetings regarding homeless and the forecast is,

[1:59:35] we're going to have a big increase in homeless. I think it's already started frankly and people

[1:59:40] who do not have housing. So, which I have been thinking for the last year, of course, this is

[1:59:46] going to happen because people who have less resources are getting hit harder by this pandemic.

[1:59:51] So, as a community, I hope we start having conversations more about, I mean, I see a lot of public comment.

[2:00:00] People don't want there to be people in Missoula without housing. They want them to go away. They want them to be somewhere else. It isn't, it isn't possible. And we're going to have to figure out how as a community, we take care of the people that live in this community and we do a lot of that, but we can always do more. And that, that includes people who are renting. And we are seeing and hearing some pretty severe stories of incredibly steep rents going up.

[2:00:30] And I think it's a good idea to start having some community conversations.

[2:00:35] I understand it's legal. I understand the market supports it, but it nonetheless is a good conversation to have about how do we take care of our people in this community. So I hope that's a constructive conversation and Mayor and I think you're the best person in this community to lead that. So let me know how I can help. Thank you.

[2:00:58] Mr. Santos.

[2:01:04] Well passed. Thank you.

[2:01:06] Ms. Visita.

[2:01:08] Pass as well. Thank you.

[2:01:13] Sir Mr. Lucien.

[2:01:23] Did I get on? Okay.

[2:01:25] I just want to in response to Heather.

[2:01:29] The growth policy by state law is supposed to be reviewed at least every five years.

[2:01:36] So you are you do have tools available to try and keep your growth policy more current.

[2:01:41] and one of the main tools the city council has to address density is zoning regulation so that's

[2:01:51] another area where the city council might want to give some thought so growth policies typically

[2:01:58] are to be for 20 years but there to be revised or reviewed excuse me reviewed at least every five

[2:02:05] five years and zoning density is a major tool that the City Council has to address residential

[2:02:12] density.

[2:02:15] Thank you, Councillor.

[2:02:18] Ms. West.

[2:02:22] Thank you, sir.

[2:02:23] I'm going to toggle between screens here for a second.

[2:02:27] So I did actually want to reference Montana State Law, which defines who has authority over

[2:02:34] Landlord and tenant relationships. That was set forth in the Montana Residential Landlord and tenant act of 1977 and it was further.

[2:02:46] I guess refined to expressly prohibit local governments with self-government powers from basically regulating anything related to landlords with the exception of a few things that are

[2:03:02] called out in state law and that is also in Montana code annotated and I want

[2:03:12] to bring this up because I think it's really important that people who have

[2:03:18] these stories share them in spaces and with people that can actually affect

[2:03:22] their lives for the better and while I think it's I mean it's important for all

[2:03:27] of us to be aware what's happening to all of our neighbors I think we are

[2:03:31] aware and we feel equally powerless to do anything about it. I think the things we do do

[2:03:40] are creative and within the things that we are allowed to do. For example, we are working

[2:03:49] on creating a centralized background check system that's called out on page 40 of our housing

[2:03:55] policy my guess though is that it isn't something we could make mandatory for landlords to use

[2:04:02] I think people would have to opt in and I guess I would encourage people who have these stories

[2:04:12] to share them with those that could actually make changes on the state level by either enabling

[2:04:19] this as a power for self-governing entities or by actually making changes to the landlord

[2:04:26] can and act itself. And so all just most of our delegation I think is you know in support

[2:04:36] and aware and that we should reach out to the republicans, republicans especially that

[2:04:47] that represent Missoula because they are in the majority and we would need them to enact

[2:04:52] any sort of change. So those are House District 92, Mike Hopkins,

[2:04:58] House District 96, Kathy Whitman, House District 97, Brad Cheetah, and in the Senate, Senate District

[2:05:05] 90, whoops, no 47 and that stands Solomon. I think it is really important that our state

[2:05:13] level representatives here, what we hear because we need them on board for, you know, to make

[2:05:22] some of these really big changes that would allow us to make housing in Missoula something

[2:05:29] that's more accessible and more attainable to a broader sector of people. So I'll just leave

[2:05:35] it there and hope that the same folks that come and reach out to us also reach out to the

[2:05:43] people that can actually make a difference on this subject.

[2:05:47] Ms. Murray.

[2:05:51] Thanks, and I appreciate mayor, your convening group involving the property managers and landlords.

[2:06:02] That to me, that the most one of the most important things is to keep people who are currently housed,

[2:06:10] to keep them in their housing. It's going to be it's I mean it's better for them

[2:06:16] period but I can't imagine the stress of getting evicted or having your

[2:06:22] rent raised so that you're just having a financial affection even if it's not

[2:06:25] a legal eviction. In this age where we've got less than 1% vacancy rate in

[2:06:33] So keeping those people who are housed in their homes is key and I would be happy to help in any way possible with that, you know, a year ago when the pandemic first started a number of my colleagues here on council

[2:06:53] will sign a letter addressed to the property managers and landlords of this community asking

[2:07:01] them to please consider whatever actions they could to help keep people housed and I

[2:07:08] continue to think that that is the most important thing. I wanted to mention a couple of things

[2:07:13] that are available to landlords. So the Montana housing emergency rental assistance program

[2:07:19] is not just for renters landlords can apply for that money and if you need assistance in doing that you can contact the state.

[2:07:31] And there I understand that there is also an employee at the Missoula Food Bank who is assisting renters with filling out the application necessary to get that assistance and perhaps they can help the landlords as well.

[2:07:44] That money for renters you can also apply for assistance with your utilities through the Montana housing rental assistance up to $300 for past due utility bills.

[2:08:03] And then I wanted to mention one other thing.

[2:08:05] So our friends and neighbors at Homeward have a position in their organization who's a landlord liaison and his name is Alex Ramzig.

[2:08:19] And that position was designed to assist landlords with renting to people who maybe have higher barriers.

[2:08:29] And that is really important. So if you're a landlord out there and you're having trouble with a tenant or you just are nervous about renting to someone who has affectionate voucher or any other type of barrier.

[2:08:46] that landlord liaison position is there to help you through that there's actually a risk mitigation fund that I know that I've heard it from some landlords that they're concerned about renting to people who have something in their background that might be concerning that risk mitigation fund is available if you become one of the property partners with through the landlord liaison office.

[2:09:14] So please let's let's do our best to keep our Missoula residents who are housed in their homes. That's the best thing that we can do for people.

[2:09:28] Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and thank you to my fellow colleagues, especially Miss West, I think it's really important.

[2:09:34] And I know when most of us, I won't speak for everyone, myself, when I ran for City Council,

[2:09:41] I did it because I wanted to help my community and I wanted to give back and I was excited

[2:09:46] to take into this role and figure out the ways in which I could affect change and make

[2:09:50] a difference in people's daily lives.

[2:09:52] And we've been able to do that, but what the thing that has surprised me the most in my

[2:09:56] time on Council is the size of our decision making box.

[2:10:00] We are trying to be creative within the box that we are given, but we are limited by the rules set forth.

[2:10:10] You know, we are a city within a county within a state within a federal government or a bigger country.

[2:10:15] And we have all the different levels of law and who controls what.

[2:10:20] And we get sound to us, even though we're the most accessible, we're the ones you run into at the farmers market, the where we have on.

[2:10:28] And this our decision making box is surprisingly small and I know it is a source of frustration,

[2:10:34] especially around land use in this issue.

[2:10:37] And to couple that with the infuriating last legislative session that felt like day in

[2:10:44] day out was an attack on Missoula and some of the things that we were trying to do and some

[2:10:49] of the creative things we were trying to do, I mean, they actually called it out on the

[2:10:53] legislative floor saying, well, we're doing this because Missoula did X.

[2:10:57] It was incredibly frustrating and when talking with my fellow friends who are legislators

[2:11:02] I would ask them if they would hear from the public the way that we hear from the public and they don't and

[2:11:08] So to miss West Point, you know

[2:11:10] We want you to come to us and want you to share their stories and know that we share that same frustration

[2:11:15] And we will continue to do what we can in the decision making box

[2:11:19] We have with the limited tools we have that feel like they're getting smaller and smaller and we will advocate and share your

[2:11:27] stories, but you also need to take your stories and share them with members of the legislature because

[2:11:32] they're the ones who can really affect change, especially around some of these, you know,

[2:11:36] what seemed to be very common sense changes around landlord tenant law that would seem, you know,

[2:11:42] like it would make a vast difference without costing anybody anything and we can't do it. And

[2:11:48] with last legislative session, somebody asked for all the members of the majority party

[2:11:55] who were landlords to stand up and it was an incredible amount of landlords who

[2:12:02] represent Republican legislators or who are Republican legislators. So you

[2:12:06] start putting the pieces together and it's no wonder that it makes it harder for

[2:12:10] us who are trying to do the right thing who are trying to do the thing by the most

[2:12:13] people that are you know laws and rules are not going to be easier. So with all my

[2:12:20] I ran over. I appreciate the mayor convening a committee. I do think the stories I'm hearing about people who are experiencing 50% rental increases is just, you know, the mayor is going to be more diplomatic than I am, but that is criminal. When your rank goes from $1,095 to $1,195 and that's the first time you've seen a rental increase in the landlord tries to pass it off as like, oh, well taxes are going up.

[2:12:48] We didn't raise taxes last year in the Missoula city.

[2:12:51] So they're just trying to take advantage of the fact that we have a low vacancy rate

[2:12:57] and they know they can squeeze the market.

[2:12:59] And that is just not how things should be done here in Missoula.

[2:13:03] So the mayor will typically take this on and I'll be cheering on his efforts.

[2:13:08] But I'd like to transition quickly to a happier note.

[2:13:11] The Helgate band, I know Gwen would have said this, but she had lots of other important

[2:13:16] things to say. They are raising money for their food truck. They are doing outdoor concerts

[2:13:21] on Thursday nights. If it doesn't snow this Thursday, they may be at Big Dipper from 7 to 8.

[2:13:29] But they will definitely be there the following Thursday. My husband and my family and I went

[2:13:34] last week. And it was so much fun. We got ice cream. We got to see people out and about.

[2:13:41] you know these kids are obviously having a wonderful time playing amazing

[2:13:46] music is one of the cool things about Missoula so come out support our local

[2:13:51] band support our local business see your friends and neighbors and I encourage

[2:13:56] you this Thursday and following Thursday from 7 to 8 at the Big Dipper so

[2:14:01] thank you everybody and for the adults you knew a little time tonight and Mr.

[2:14:11] My comments would be largely redundant with yours and my colleagues, but I would highlight the points that Heidi made.

[2:14:19] These are important stories to share.

[2:14:22] And I want to honor the people who shared those stories. It's difficult to do that.

[2:14:26] We've been hearing this in public comment. We've been hearing it, you know, in email and in discussions.

[2:14:32] I'm appreciative for the stories. And I would highlight Heidi's point about.

[2:14:36] but state legislative needing to hear these stories as well.

[2:14:41] I've always been someone who likes to get in the weeds and work issues.

[2:14:47] The mayor mentioned sanctioned camping and doing some further exploration there.

[2:14:54] I think it was brave of some of the staff folks to propose.

[2:15:00] I was a temporary safe outdoor space. I was in some of the earliest conversations around that and was supportive then and have expressed my support for further exploring that to the mayor. And, you know, we'll keep working. The other solutions available to us. Thanks. Mr. Rebels. I will pass. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Sure. Yeah, thanks. I don't want to be redundant either. So I don't want to.

[2:15:28] I appreciate everyone's comments.

[2:15:31] This is a really complex problem of housing prices

[2:15:35] and people experiencing homelessness.

[2:15:40] I read an article recently that was talking about

[2:15:43] the federal tax base and talking about like in the 60s

[2:15:47] corporate taxes made up 35% of the overall taxes collected

[2:15:53] by the federal government.

[2:15:54] And today it is 7%.

[2:15:57] We can point to pulling back from what we're doing locally and what we can do locally.

[2:16:04] We can point to wages not keeping up, the cost of medical care and the lack of insurance,

[2:16:09] the cost of child care, not to mention what I personally am experiencing as an outrageous

[2:16:16] price tag for college education, all of these are contributing factors.

[2:16:22] I guess I would just say, you know, I like to be hopeful and I could go down a rabbit hole in this and talk about some of the predictions for the increase in homelessness that they are thinking that we are going to experience nationally.

[2:16:41] which is the normative of it is really just kind of hard to get my head around.

[2:16:47] But I do hope that with the incredible wealth disparity that we're experiencing in this country,

[2:16:54] the, you know, cosmic political divide paired with this pandemic, this will somehow push

[2:17:01] us past what is a flawed theory of Reagan era economics and to understand that this

[2:17:09] struggle down effect is not work, it has not been working, and I hope that this change

[2:17:14] is coming on a national level, and I hope that the prediction of a 40% increase in homelessness

[2:17:21] nationally, when the LA had 14% they were absolutely in crisis. That was about five, six years ago,

[2:17:30] they were reporting a 14% increase. So I do hope that one thing that might come out of it other

[2:17:38] than a lot of suffering is that we will be forced as a nation to push past what has been a flawed

[2:17:45] era in the economics and I just I appreciate the mayor's comments I appreciate my colleagues

[2:17:51] comments and I feel like this we are committed to doing what we can and what our side boards allow

[2:17:59] in the city of Missoula.

[2:18:02] Mr. Hatch you're back and clean up.

[2:18:06] Thanks there's not much to clean up mayor there's been a lot of good points and I really

[2:18:10] appreciate it. It's it's an

[2:18:15] interminable problem that is so frustrating.

[2:18:18] You know this this legislature watched as the median price of a home in

[2:18:22] Mozilla went up by over a hundred thousand dollars in the last year. And this

[2:18:26] legislature didn't do a damn thing about it.

[2:18:29] They watched as rents increased by double digit percentages in Mozilla and in

[2:18:33] other parts of the state and this legislature didn't do a damn thing about that.

[2:18:37] they watched as families and students and seniors and our

[2:18:41] houseless friends and neighbors are hurting as a result of the

[2:18:45] pandemic and this legislature didn't do a damn thing about

[2:18:48] housing and it's shameful.

[2:18:50] And so I appreciate I appreciate my colleagues words tonight

[2:18:55] and I appreciate mayor your collaborative cool headed approach.

[2:19:01] It will serve as well.

[2:19:06] I'm a little more fired up than I usually am because we're in an untenable situation because this legislature didn't do a damn thing about housing.

[2:19:16] So we'll do what we've always done. We'll get back on the horse. We'll keep working to try to chip away at this problem.

[2:19:25] It'd be nice to have a little help over here with some policy assistance with some financial assistance.

[2:19:29] But we'll we'll go it alone if we have to we'll get more creative with implementation of a place to call home.

[2:19:40] And necessity will continue to breed innovation around here.

[2:19:44] So we'll do what we can and we'll do it together.

[2:19:50] And I look forward to working with all of you on it. Thanks.

[2:19:53] Thank you all.

[2:19:56] We don't have any committee reports to see me, gentlemen, or do we have any new business?

[2:20:02] Are there any additional items to be referred?

[2:20:06] Seeing none of those, any miscellaneous communications, petitions, reports or announcements.

[2:20:13] Seeing none of those as always in particular, the Cion, I'm sorry, Mr. Bon Asher.

[2:20:19] Sorry.

[2:20:19] All right. One miscellaneous announcement. I have expressed this before, but just wanted to make official after consulting with Marty and Emily Harris shares that my design me in my council president role for that spot on the affordable housing trust on oversight committee will be my colleague Heidi West.

[2:20:40] I've spoken about why she's the perfect representative from council to fill that spot.

[2:20:46] I won't belabor that point.

[2:20:47] I'm grateful that she's willing to serve.

[2:20:49] So I just wanted to make that official.

[2:20:52] Thank you, Mr. Bon Osberg.

[2:20:54] Seeing no other virtual hands in the air as always, in particular, the seeding, I thank you

[2:21:00] for your service.

[2:21:01] And we will be adjourned.

City Council Meeting

Agenda

Transcript