Decisions made for Polson

POLSON - The Polson city council made headway on two issues Monday during two public hearings preceding a regular city council meeting.

The first hearing concerned allowing the Polson city library to become part of the North Lake County Public Library District through a single issue, mail-in ballot during the next election. During the regular meeting, the council approved the resolution.

A successful vote in November would give the library more funding and the ability to provide a larger range of services while adding quality to the ones already offered.

The library was started in 1912 and has grown to about 8,000 card holders in 2009. Currently, the library is funded primarily by the city of Polson and gifts. Without an increase in funding, the current resources will continue to dwindle.

"Libraries are free to use but not free to operate," presenter Jake Block said.

The libraries budget is about $275,000 now and would increase to about $448,000 as a cost to the public living within the designated zone, with an annual cost of about $41.83. It was decided that the geographical boundaries would fall in conjunction with the Polson school district.

This will give the library sustainable funds while being able to maintain the building and enhancing and expanding library services.

Proposed additional expenses with the larger budget include providing dedicated funds for current collections, increasing online subscriptions, implementing programs and materials for kids, evening hours and more computers.

"Without the library district, services will be reduced," Block said. "None of the additional services will be possible."

In the second public hearing of the night, a preliminary engineering report was presented by Scott Anderson of Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers on the city of Polson's water supply, storage and distribution system.

He analyzed the current system, saying that the problems he found were water supply, storage and distribution.

To fix the supply problem, the city can construct a new well on the east side of Polson to help the high demand. Another part of this problem is water use that is unaccounted for. He said that leaks and broken or absent water meters are the cause of this and can be fixed.

Anderson also suggested to stay involved in water rights discussions while working on the other two problems as well.

To help the storage issue, rehabilitating the main Skyline storage tank will be needed. It is in need of repair and maintenance that cannot take place right away because it would need to be shut down to do so. Once the new tank is completed, the older one could be taken out of service for maintenance.

Connecting the Skyline storage to the west side of Polson will also solve some problems.

To better distribute the water, Anderson suggested installing larger water pipes in the downtown area while also eliminating some of the hydraulic restrictions throughout the city.

In order to fund the solutions, Anderson said grants and loans will be a big part of the financial options.

"I'm sure you're all aware of this but the economy isn't well right now," he said.

Funding will come at the cost of taxpayers and the amount will depend on the funding of the project. If no grant funding is received, it will cost about $6 a month where as if 50 percent of the project's cost is covered by grants, it will cost about $3 dollars a month.

After the two hearings, the regular meeting was called to order. The council rejected the motion to schedule a public workshop on the sewer treatment plant in order to clear the air with the public over the proposed options.

In the next agenda item, the council voted not to purchase the Meridian building for a future sewer treatment plant.

The council appointed George Mahoney and James W. Redmond as golf board members and approved the request to waive the open container law during the Cruisin' by the Bay car and bike show August 6-8 with the blessing of Polson police chief Doug Chase.

City Manager Todd Crossett and City Attorney James Raymond were both absent from the meeting in order to spend time with their children who were on spring break.