Polson electees sworn in

POLSON — Polson’s new mayor and three new commissioners took their seats at the Polson City Council chambers on Monday.

Mayor Pat DeVries, Ward One commissioners Ron Boyce and John Campbell, and Ward Two Commissioner Judy Preston took the oath of office administered by Polson Judge Doug Olson during the regular meeting.

Incumbents Fred Funke and Mike Lies were also sworn in.

The first order of business for the new administration was to continue discussions on the placement of the impending wastewater treatment facility. The topic has been on the agenda for several months, and in its first action after discussion, the new council voted unanimously to OK $6,000 for further study of one proposed site so a more fully-educated decision could be made on the final site approval.

Before the vote, the commissioners had numerous questions of the proposed sites, which are now focused on “east” and “west” sites off of Kerr Dam Road near the soccer field complex. The west side site already contains the city’s wastewater lagoon system. The east side site would incorporate the old “Tamsco” building, which is owned by resident Mike Maddy but sits on land owned by the city.

Estimations given by consultants had pegged the cost of the west side site around $2-3 million, with the east side estimate around $1.7 million. But DeVries said those earlier cost estimates had been changed, and weren’t reflective of important factors like the rent and tax revenue income the city could lose by buying the building.

She said later she was not in favor of the idea of “remodeling” a site and was concerned about unseen costs that might include.

The commissioners agreed they needed more information about these factors before a site was chosen.

Among the commissioners other concerns were thoughts about how the headworks system, a project scheduled to begin this spring, would be incorporated at the various sites, the cost of utilities for the 20,000 square foot Tamsco building and the unknown factors that might bring up problems in building’s structure.

“You wouldn’t want to be blindsided if you have to do something else (during construction),” Boyce said.

Campbell made the motion to use $6,000 to further study the east side site and continue to proceed with due diligence on researching the west side site options.

Lies seconded the motion, which passed later by a unanimous vote.

Resident Tim McGinnis, representing the Riverside Terrace Homeowners Association, said he hoped the commission would choose the east side site. He noted that the discussions had not considered the value of the riverside property the current system sits on.

Building owner Maddy said at the meeting he would sell the building to the city at its appraised price. While he is not looking to sell it to anyone else, he said he hoped the city would move quickly to decide if it was an option because he may consider leasing it.

No timeline was set for when the study’s findings would be presented to the commission.

In other business, the commissioner passed the first reading of a “housekeeping” item to approve the use of tax increment revenue as a security for bond as a portion of the Streetscape Urban Renewal project.

The Monday, Jan. 18, meeting was moved to Wednesday, Jan. 20, for the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.