Committee formed to explore resort tax
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
POLSON — A resort tax made an appearance on the Polson City Commission agenda at the March 23 meeting.
Commissioners heard a request to form a committee to review, research and discuss the possibility of placing a local option (resort) tax on the November 2015 General Election ballot.
“The resort tax option is available to cities with a population of 5,500 and less, so at some point we will be opted out of this just naturally,” Mayor Heather Knutson said, adding that Shrives had done a good job with a summary of what the idea is and why the city is discussing it.
“This is a tool that communities have to use, especially tourist communities … to be able to gain some additional funding to help with infrastructure from outside of the community.” Knutson said.
Knutson added that the commission is not necessarily pushing the idea forward, but the committee needs to take the time to get community input and make a recommendation to the city commission.
The commissioners voted to form an economic development committee, consisting of five to seven members and one or two council members. Shrives suggested other ex-officio committee members.
In other business city commissioners approved the annexation and zone change of the Polson Youth Soccer Association, Inc., at their March 23 meeting. The 20-acre site is located adjacent to the Beauvais-Decker Catholic Cemetery. The YSA will be putting 8.5 acres into direct use with four competition soccer fields, viewing areas, a concession stand/bathroom building, warm-up and parking areas. The remaining 11.5 acres will set aside for the future development of soccer fields not set aside for residential or commercial development, according to the city’s contract planner Erica Wirtala.
The property is zoned medium density residential but it didn’t quite fit with the uses allowed in that zone, so YSA was asking that the zoning be changed to highway commercial zoning. A special use permit would be needed and will go to the city/county planning board on April 15.
During city manager comments, Mark Shrives, Polson’s city manager, reported he meets monthly with the Lake County Commissioners. Shrives discussed unresolved problems with the Skyline Drive project, which is still under Lake County’s umbrella and hasn’t been transferred to the city.
In executive session, the city commissioners evaluated Shrives’ performance as per his contract, which calls for a yearly assessment. Knutson prepared a written evaluation from information gleaned from surveying city department heads and the full commission to recognize things that are going well and discuss things that may be improved.
The commission went over the evaluation, questioning, adding and deleting items before asking Shrives into council chambers.
After executive session, the commissioners reconvened the meeting and reported on the outcome of their evaluation.
Shrives performance appraisal report read, “Overall we believe Mark is working toward the betterment of our community and is representing our city in a professional and effective manner. He has a broad skill set and experience base that has served our city well. He can effectively handle multiple detailed issues at the same time while moving projects forward.”
The commission identified details for Shrives to focus on during the coming year. These include issues such as working on communication with employees, city commissioners and the public, and operational improvements such as developing a system for reporting project status to commissioners on a more regular basis.
The commission recommended a 1.7 percent raise effective immediately. City Financial Officer Cindy Dooley spoke up and asked commissioners to stay the raise until the next fiscal year begins due to budget concerns. The commissioners complied and changed the motion so Shrives’ raise will begin at the start of the new fiscal year.
The complete agenda and attachments are available online at www.cityofpolson.com. Click on council meeting on the left side of the page and then find the meeting date and choose agenda.
The next commission meeting will be held April 6 at 7 p.m. at Polson City Hall.
