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Polson begins replacing 100-year-old pipes

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POLSON — The Polson City Commission efficiently marched through several agenda items during last Monday’s meeting. 

At the top of the agenda was a contract with Mission West Community Development for economic development services, which will include marketing Polson Redevelopment Agency grants, helping property owners within the Tax Increment Financing district apply for funds and assisting the PRA with scoring and evaluating applications. The organization, based in Ronan, will also offer grant research and help identify and recruit new businesses.

“Since arriving in October, I’ve been looking to build a very strong and effective economic development team,” Polson City Manager Ed Meece told commissioners. “We don’t have the resources within our organization to do justice to that full time, so we’re trying to cobble together a team of professionals.” 

The contract with Mission West “formalizes the ways we’ll work together and gives us an additional resource,” he added. 

The contract approved by the commission pays $1,000 for 15 hours of work a month, at a rate of $65 an hour. Brenna Fulks, the organization’s Community Development Center director, will take the lead in working with the city. She’ll be working closely with Polson’s new community development director, Juan Escano, who joins the staff April 20. 

In related business, the commission gave Meece the go-ahead to allow the city, via the PRA, to team up with Mission West in applying for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct a feasibility study on locating a business accelerator and co-working space in downtown Polson. Both are designed to help fledgling businesses grow. 

The PRA will commit to paying $10,000 in TIF funds toward the project, and Mission West will match that amount if the application for $20,000 from the USDA is approved.

The commission also voted to allow Meece to sign a grant agreement between the PRA and Scottage Cakery for $6,149 to update building code issues before the owners relocate their bakery from the Cove Deli to its new home at 11 3rd St. W. 

Among other items that drew unanimous approval from the council: 

• The city awarded a bid to Western Municipal Construction for $1,658,772 for improvements to Polson’s sewer collection system. The cost, Meece noted, is $42,000 under the budget estimate.

The crew is ready to begin work in the downtown area, replacing hundred-year old clay sewer pipes. Root growth and land shifts have disrupted some of the joints, slowing the flow and causing leakage in some residential areas. As a result, Polson had the dubious honor of posting the highest number of sewer insurance claims for a city of its size in Montana. The total cost of the project is $2 million, which includes engineering fees; Meece noted that the project will be financed with a mix of state and local funds. 

• The city manager will sign an agreement with attorney Skyler Bagley of O’Neill Law Office to serve as city attorney and prosecutor for the next six months, following Clint Fischer’s resignation March 31. Bagley has already been serving as the city’s prosecutor. 

“My intention is to look for someone to perform all those duties in-house, at about the same rate we expend now,” Meece told the commission. “If that’s not feasible, we’ll come back to this issue.”

• The commission approved the appointment of commissioner Patricia Corrigan-Ekness as liaison with the Economic Development Council. 

Filing for municipal elections opens April 22 and closes June 21. The four-year terms on the Polson City Commission that expire at the end of 2021 are those of Mayor Paul Briney and commissioners Lou Marcello (Ward 1), Patricia Corrigan-Ekness (Ward 2), and Brodie Moll (Ward 3). Contact the Lake County Election Office at 406-883-7268 for more information. 

 

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