Mayor's notes

It has been almost six months since I assumed office as your mayor. I started the year by taking a city government course online through MSU in Bozeman and, recently, went to a budgeting workshop in Miles City. Both were very interesting and informative.

The council has had successful meetings, also learning about how city government, budgets, etc. work. The more we learn, the better we will be able to serve our community. I must thank Elston, Clayton and Kitty for keeping things running. Kitty, in particular, has learned a lot of things very quickly and is doing a terrific job!

Two items of concern for the community are Mormon Avenue and the Ekalaka Volunteer Fire Department.

Representatives of the Ekalaka Volunteer Fire Department and the council agreed at the May meeting that before any permanent resolution can be reached, we need to find out what the legal relationship actually is, including whether the town or the volunteers own the vehicles, equipment and other assets. Therefore, the council and the EVFD agreed that the town would file for a declaratory judgement. We hope to reach a resolution soon. The council has discussed options for a new fire department building, and it is something that we will be working on in the future.

The last engineering report stated that the water/sewer on Mormon Avenue is high priority. We are now waiting until the next legislative session to see if grant funding may be available to start the project. It will first need to be decided whether a new engineering study will need to be made. We also have consultant, Sarah Robbin, determining costs vs. rate increases. Repairs of streets and roads are only funded by grants or water/sewer revenues.

In October or November, the council had discussed options for Mormon Avenue. The town does not have the equipment or the man power to properly patch the street. Because the county has a qualified road foreman who has experience, we asked for their input as to the best way to repair Mormon Avenue. Their opinion was that we should tear up the pavement and put gravel. We have had a representative from Prince give us the same opinion. As the project was going to have a major impact on residents, the council felt that surveys to all who live on Mormon Avenue may give us a better idea as to how they feel about removing the pavement. Pam Castleberry and Jordan Reynolds were gracious enough to count the surveys and out of 35 surveys sent, the response was 50/50, plus a few straggling surveys. Because the vote was so close, the council decided that we should look into the project further. We have three construction companies coming to look at the street and give us their opinions. This is a busy time of year for them, so we are still waiting. The council also had other options presented to them at the last meeting and will be doing some research on that as well.

Other projects that have been discussed are making upgrades to the city park and Perso Park. A small playground unit has been ordered for the city park, and we have contacted a contractor to look at the Perso Park picnic area to give us a quote on making repairs to the existing gazebo and table.

I will continue to write an article for the paper every few months just to keep the community informed of the work going on with their city council.