RCC appoints new councilmember

RONAN — The city council chose a new councilmember out of three candidates during Monday night’s regularly scheduled meeting.

Tom McDonald, Elizabeth Smith and Scott Carey all submitted applications to fill the Ward 3 seat vacated by Ann Brower, who resigned after her term as Lake County Commissioner began on Jan. 1. McDonald was the only interested applicant to attend the meeting and was voted to fill the position unanimously.

“I’m looking forward to serving the city,” McDonald said.

Ronan Police Chief Dan Wadsworth was in attendance to ask for a budget amendment after his department received a Justice Assistance Grant (JAG). The award totals $16,236, and will be used to install state-of-the-art computers in every RPD patrol car.

“They’re the whole ball of wax,” Wadsworth said of the new equipment. “We’ll be able to access information on a vehicle before hearing back from dispatch. They are the same computers the [Montana] Highway Patrol has in their vehicles.”

Billie Lee and Gib Turner of the Lake County Community Development Corporation came before council to ask the city to host a public hearing on a grant the LCCDC is submitting on behalf of local company Outdoor Power Equipment. Lee said the company must hold two public hearings on the potential $500,000 grant, which she said would help the business create 103 local jobs by 2014. One such meeting was held in March of 2010, Lee said. OPE would match the $500,000 to jump-start the business, which creates CORE technology for handheld yard products. The council agreed to host the meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 27.

Dan Miller, of the city streets department, presented information on the possibility of new street lights along Round Butte Road. He said he’s looked into purchasing high-powered lights that would fit onto 9-foot arms. The installation of new lights would be put on existing poles, Miller said, and would stretch from the intersection on U.S. Highway 93 out west to the railroad tracks, with the majority on the north side of the street. More lights would be concentrated in the school zone and near crosswalks, Miller said.

“There’s a lot of foot traffic out there,” councilmember Don Smith said.

Miller said he’d look further into the cost and come up with a more detailed plan to improve the lights.

City attorney James Raymond addressed the council with information on property left to the city from the estate of Ray Bilile. Bilile’s attorney has offered three lots on Main Street and 3rd Ave., an area that Kevin Templer, of the streets department, said would make for a good parking lot. Some councilmembers expressed concern over the environmental quality of the soil on the property so Raymond said he would contact the attorney of Bilile’s estate to find out more information.

The Ronan City Council will next meet on Monday, Jan. 24.