SME Breaks Ground

Even though the rezoning lawsuit is not yet settled, SME broke ground yesterday on their coal-fired plant.

According to County Commissioner Joe Briggs, they cannot erect structures but they can do earth-moving activities.

Tim Gregori claims that "SME has arranged a significant piece of financing from commercial banks for the initial work, but the financial package for the entire project is being put together in phases". Of course, he would not elaborate as to which banks are involved.

He also indicated that the city of Great Falls is not directly involved in the construction of the plant, but "they may move in as they so desire".

Considering that the city evidently has no more money to squander on this debacle, it doesn't seem logical to think that they will be "moving in" any time soon.

But then again, it wasn't a logical deal to begin with.

Flu Shot Clinic

PSA from Kate Marone, Emergency Response Planner:

Hi everyone,

Please find the attached and feel free to distribute- this is not just a clinic, but an exercise for our staff and volunteers to distribute vaccine in an emergency, like a pandemic. I invite all of you to attend and provide us feedback for improvements to our plan. AND if you are looking to help out and volunteer your services, please let me know!

Thanks-
Kate

Kate Marone
Emergency Response Planner
Cascade City-County Health Department
Direct: 406.791.9278
Fax: 406.454.6959
kmarone@co.cascade.mt.us

Make A Difference Day

October 25 is Make A Difference Day and this year you can help Grandparents Raising Grandchildren by donating food items for Thanksgiving:

Another Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting

Neighborhood Council 7 did not have enough time to cover all of their agenda items last night (10/13), so they have scheduled another meeting for this month:

Friends;
As you know, we had to postpone a few urgent items from our meeting last night in order to give the GFPD the opportunity to give their briefing on gang activity in Great Falls. I certainly found the presentation eye-opening, and think that was a worthwhile use of our time.

However, there are a number of items we need to address. Accordingly, we will have a second meeting in October, as we discussed last night. The pre-release center has confirmed that we can use their meeting room, so we have booked the space. Our agenda for this meeting is below.

Thank you again for your time and commitment to making the lower North and South sides of Great Falls a wonderful place to live, work and play.

Yours,
Aaron Weissman

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, October 22, 2008
Great Falls Pre-Release Center Meeting Room, 1019 15th Street N
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 13 MINUTES

NEW BUSINESS
Request to conduct worship services at 525 1st Ave N; Heartland Community Fellowship
Discussion on reassignment of downtown police officer and BID petition
Discussion on downtown parking
Community Concerns

OLD BUSINESS
Gibson Park Lighting
Weed and Seed Project
Report on rally in support of downtown grocery store
Community questions on admission of sex offenders to Great Falls Pre-release Center
Other Old Business

REPORTS
Council of Councils
Other Reports

OTHER BUSINESS

ADJOURN

Next meeting November 10, 2008—Longfellow Elementary Cafeteria

Parking Advisory Commission

Purpose
Advises the City Commission, City Manager, and Community Development Staff on matters related to parking issues within the Parking Districts.

At last week's City Commission meeting, we heard many comments from folks who do not want the parking fees increased downtown and who have problems with parking meters period. Some folks went so far as to blame all of downtown's problems on the meter issue, which Commissioner Bronson disputed.

We also heard from a member of the Parking Advisory Commission, who, from the looks of it, is the only member left who was appointed by the city. The terms of the others have expired.

According to this member, this commission has not met on a regular basis for quite some time and the problems didn't just start after April 2008.

Here we have an issue that for as long as I can remember has always been a sore spot and the committee that should be helping hasn't been meeting on a regular basis and currently doesn't even have enough members to form a quorum.

I checked the City Commission agendas since January 2008 (just to be safe) and there was not any mention of appointing anyone to this commission to fill the vacancies that occurred after April 2008. Why not?

I commend downtown businessman Phil Kiser (whom I do not know) and a few others who came to the meeting with some ideas rather than just criticisms.

Because of the budget, Commissioners Jolley, Bronson and Rosenbaum voted in favor of the increase, but they are all willing to give downtown 30 days to come up with an alternative plan for their review.

Let's hope the plan includes a working Parking Advisory Commission.

Shot In The Fannie Mae

The history of a financial disaster.

ECP October 2008 Meeting

ECP normally meets the first Monday of the month, but last Monday night was the City Commission meeting so their meeting was rescheduled to tonight:

When: Monday, Oct. 13 at 5:30pm

Where: Civic Center, Commission Chambers

Agenda:

Preliminary financials through August 2008

Accept September minutes

Public comments

Term expirations

Vice-Chair position

Neighborhood Councils - Week of Oct. 13, 2008

Four Councils are meeting this week:

NC#7

When: Monday, Oct. 13, 6:30pm

Where: Community Rec. Center at 801 2nd Ave. North

Agenda:

See here.

NC#1

When: Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7:00pm

Where: Meadowlark School Library

Agenda:

Possible Pre Release sex offender program

Committee reports

Neighborhood Concerns

NC#3

When: Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7:00pm

Where: CMR Shop building

Agenda:

Special meeting to learn about a proposal from CMR reps. who are proposing installing an electric-producing wind tower on school property for educational purposes.

NC#8

When: Thursday, Oct. 16 at 6:30pm

Where: Great Falls Pre Release Women's Annex

Agenda:

Possible Pre Release sex offender program

Committee Reports

Neighborhood concerns

Councils 7 and 8 are looking for candidates to fill vacancies in each of these locations. You must reside in the respective neighborhood and be a registered voter. If interested, contact Neighborhood Council Coordinator, Patty Cadwell, at 455-8496 or at pcadwell@greatfallsmt.net.

Update to Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting

Friends;

I have been informed that the police department presentation on gangs will likely be a 1-1/2 to 2 hour presentation/discussion. There are a number of issues that we need to discuss in addition to this presentation.

Therefore, I ask your cooperation with our meeting on 10/13. The presentation from the board of the Pre-release (which should only take 10-15 minutes) will take place before the presentation by the police department. However, I ask that you hold your questions for the pre- release board members, and submit them to the pre-release in writing.

In addition, I will be presenting a proposal to hold an additional meeting in October to discuss the rest of our agenda for New and Old Business (to include the downtown police officer, Gibson Park lighting, etc., the seating of a replacement Neighborhood Councilor, etc.)

Will this be agreeable?

Yours,

Aaron

Neighborhood Council 7 - October Meeting

Friends;

Attached is the agenda for the Neighborhood Council 7 meeting this coming Monday, October 13. You may notice that I have moved New Business above Old Business; this is an attempt to allow guests and presentations to come earlier in the meeting.

We have a marathon agenda scheduled for this meeting. We are talking about a lot of very important issues and I would like to ensure that we are able to have a good discussion on each issue, and that we don't finish in the wee hours of the night. While I would like to make sure that we maintain the informality of our meetings, please limit your comments to allow all participants to speak.

Thank you,
Aaron Weissman, Chairman

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, October 13, 2008
Great Falls Recreation Center, 801 2nd Avenue North
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

Northside Neighborhood Watch

APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER MINUTES

NEW BUSINESS
Candidates to fill open seat at Neighborhood Council 7
Presentation on Gang Awareness; Great Falls Police Department
Presentation on admission of sex offenders to Great Falls Pre-release Center proposal; Pre-release board member
Discussion on reassignment of downtown police officer and BID petition
Discussion on downtown parking

OLD BUSINESS
Gibson Park Lighting
Weed and Seed Project
Report on rally in support of downtown grocery store
Other Old Business

REPORTS
Council of Councils
Other Reports

OTHER BUSINESS

ADJOURN

Next meeting November 10, 2008—Longfellow Elementary Cafeteria

Political Action Group Being Formed

I just received this information a short time ago:

There is a group being formed to help establish a clean government in Great Falls and to support political action projects. The purpose of the group is to:

1) seek people to run for public offices.
2) support people who are willing to run.
3) help out with public education, election processes, and fundraising.

When: Saturday, Oct. 18 at 9:00am

Where: Morning Lite Coffee House, 900 2nd Avenue North (next to Opportunities, Inc.)

Parking Fees To Increase

Maybe. At last night's City Commission meeting, which lasted for more than 3 hours, the Commission voted 3-2 to increase downtown parking fees. Commissioners Jolley, Bronson and Rosenbaum cited an out-of-balance budget as to why they voted for it.

Even though the increase was approved, the Commission told opponents that they are willing to hear other suggestions. They acknowledged that they had heard several good ideas during the public hearing and told folks to get together and present an alternative program as soon as possible.

New rates will take effect in 30 days unless another program is approved.

Power Payments To SME

It's been awhile since I have posted the 2008 payments to SME for power. Here is the update:

Neighborhood Councils - Week of Oct. 6, 2008

Two councils are meeting this week:

NC#2

When: Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 7:00pm

Where: West Elementary School cafeteria

Agenda:

Conditional Use Permit request for the Collins Mansion

Candidates forum

Neighborhood concerns

NC#9

When: Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7:00pm

Where: Room 106 at the South Campus of Great Falls High

Agenda:

Discussion with Pre-Release board members and Department of Corrections about a possible sex offender program at Pre-Release

Committee reports

Neighborhood concerns

Council 9 is also looking for a member to fill a vacancy. You must be a registered voter and live within that neighborhood. If interested, call the Neighborhood Council Coordinator, Patty Cadwell, at 455-8496.

Meeting Times Changed

For all of you who attend or watch the City Commission meetings, next week's meeting has been changed to Monday, Oct. 6.

The ECP board, which normally meets on the first Monday of the month, will meet Oct. 13.

Celebrate The New Downtown IGA!

Friends;

Please join us at the IGA parking lot TOMORROW, 2 p.m., for a rally to welcome Rich and Rita Chadwick to our neighborhood!

Rich and Rita are providing hot dogs and pop; it should be a wonderful afternoon! By the way, the weather report is NO LONGER calling for rain tomorrow.

Yours,

Aaron

House Approves Bailout

The House passed the $700 billion bailout by a vote of 263-171.

Registry For Stolen Bikes

From Aaron, Chair of Neighborhood Council 7:

Traci at the Northside Neighborhood Watch just forwarded on a valuable link; http://www.stolenbicycleregistry.com/

This website will track stolen bicycles in an area. As we have periodic spikes of bicycle thefts in our area, I encourage you to make use of this site. Also, if you have a bike stolen, I encourage you to list the serial number on this site. Perhaps it will help you get your bike back!

Aaron

$100 Million Increase

According to KRTV's report on yesterday's hearing to dismiss the lawsuit brought by MEIC and landowners over the rezoning of the HGS property, SME indicated that these "delays" have now increased construction costs to $900 million.

Why didn't the Tribune report this "new" amount in their article about the hearing?

I think a $100 million increase to a project the city is still committed to is worth noting.

ECP Audit Update

According to this article in today's Tribune (finally), City Manager Greg Doyon has asked the city's contracted auditors to place "special emphasis" on ECP during their annual audit of the city's books.

According to Mr. Doyon, "people have asked questions that I think need to be answered".

Thank you Mr. Doyon for listening and taking action.