Council Discusses Proposed Fire Hall

The Glasgow City Council agenda Monday night included a new building for the Long Run Fire Department and two water issues.

Long Run firefighters have been shuttling between the City Council and the Valley County Commissioners, trying to get permission to add a new building at their current location on Lasar Drive. Long Run is a county fire department, but it has a long-standing agreement to maintain its fire hall on this piece of city land.

According to Mayor Dan Carney, Long Run was formed in 1988. Dan Taylor acquired a 40-by-100-foot building from the former Glasgow Air Force Base and a city-county agreement was signed allowing Long Run to use the city land for free, as long as it was for a fire hall.

In 2007 the agreement was rewritten to allow Long Run to build on the site, but this was never done. The use of the land was still without charge.

There was a call Monday for a vote on letting Long Run build on the site and the question of charging them, but Long Run firefighter Brian Austin pointed out that the 2007 agreement already allows for building, free of charge.

“I’m confused,” Austin said. “What we’re asking to do is what the paper says we can do. What is it we have to do (to proceed)?”

Carney said this is an issue between the city and the county, not with the fire department. The city is not going to charge for the use of the land. They only want to know what the plan is.

There is a leaky old building on the site that Long Run does not use. The Council would not mind if it were torn down to make room for a new extension to the fire hall, but they don’t want to pay for it.

Councilman Dan Durell interpreted a recent letter from the commissioners as a desire for the city to “kick in something.” The commissioners recently approved $36,000 toward a new building.

Councilman Becky Erickson said, “Land is something.”

The Council decided to give the new city attorney, Pete Helland, time to study the issue.

The water issues were a new ordinance and an agreement with Dry Prairie. The new city water rate, an increase of $5 to a base rate of $20, were approved on the second reading of the ordinance. The rate becomes effective on Nov. 7.

The mayor was to be given approval to sign the water supply agreement by which the city will sell water to Dry Prairie for its customers west of Glasgow. However, some refining of the agreement is needed.

Kimbal Goeke and John Kulzyck appeared before the Council seeking a resolution to a land survey problem that has festered for three years, even after two surveys. Lasar Drive is platted in one place but is actually built to one side of the platted route. Kulzyck blocked out the legal description of his land with cones on the road a couple of years ago and got a ticket. Goeke wants to sell a building but the road is platted to run under a corner of it.

“The whole problem is two attorneys who didn’t get along,” said Councilman Neil Chouinard.

Durell said the ticket should be dropped. Helland said if the departing city attorney, Dave Gorton, doesn’t deal with it by the end of the year, he would take care of it.

Richard Hood, project manager for Nemont in Scobey, spoke to the Council about renewing the cable franchise agreement with Glasgow. The agreement is 20 years old, he said, and technology has changed a lot. He proposed starting over with a new agreement, one that is not too different from the current one. A draft agreement will be considered at the Nov. 4 meeting.

Police Chief Bruce Barstad said the city’s new electronic speed indicator sign placed on U.S. 2 East is proving very effective. He is looking for grants to buy another, larger one.

Street foreman John Peterson said city crews are almost finished hauling 3,000 yards of millings to the walking trail at Sullivan Park.

Because of the federal government shutdown, grants for fire equipment have been pushed back. Long Run Chief Brandon Brunelle said it would now be a minimum of one year before they can get a ladder truck.