Commission hires assistant attorney, approves special use permits
Berl Tiskus
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POLSON — During their May 19 meeting, Polson City Commissioners revisited the impact fee question and voted unanimously to increase impact fees to 50 percent of the amount that could be collected under Ordinance 663. The impact fees were lowered to 20 percent in 2013 to stimulate building.
Impact fees are collected on all new construction and are distributed to the city sewer, water, parks and fire departments. For a normal detached home, the fees, at 100 percent, would be $7,173.60. Commercial fees are figured per square foot.
Commissioners also approved Polson City Attorney Rich Gebhardt for a one-year contract extension. Gebhardt just completed a six-month trial period and expressed interest in cutting down on the prosecution side of the city attorney position. As a solution, Polson City Manager Mark Shrives recommended the commission hire Josh Morigeau as Assistant Polson City Attorney for a 13.5-month contract.
Gebhardt will be handling primarily civil issues as well as overseeing and working with Morigeau on prosecution issues. Gebhardt and Morigeau will each be paid a retainer of $2,000 per month, or $24,000 per year for a total of $48,000. The previous city attorney was paid $43,000 per year.
Dave DeGrandpre, Land Solutions LLC, came to the meeting to keep commissioners up to date on the Polson Development Code rewrite.
DeGrandpre said he’s about to take the comprehensive draft to the City/County Planning Board. From June to November on the second and fourth Tuesdays, the planning board will hold work sessions on the draft, giving the community a chance to comment before and after planning board meetings. After November, DeGrandpre said the board would start the adoption process, and he anticipates it should be completed in January.
In other business, commissioners unanimously passed three requests for special use permits sent them by the City/County Planning Board with a recommendation to approve. The special use permits were:
• Western Montana Medical Clinic, Missoula, requesting a permit for construction of Lake House Crisis Center north of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center at 13th Avenue E., between First and Main Streets.
• VG Properties, Kalispell, for construction of a Valley Glass store at 109 Ridgewater Drive
• CAP Polson, 935 S. Main Street Ste. 201, Greenville, S.C., requesting a permit for construction of a Walgreen’s Drug Store between Murdoch’s and Eagle Bank.
Acting Polson City Manager Karen Sargeant said the walkway under the Armed Forces Memorial Bridge is open to bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
She has also been holding Incident Command System training sessions for the commissioners, the mayor and several city staffers.
The next city commission meeting will be held on June 2 at 7 p.m. at Polson City Hall.
