Whitehall, MT

Community Development Board Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2008
Submitted by Terri Marx in place of Secretary Tammy Johnson

Chair Mac Smith called the meeting to order. In attendance were CDB members Mac Smith, Holly Harper, Taylor McQuesten, Tom Harrington, Marc Groy, Sue Patacini, Ann Smith, Roy McBride, Glenna Waltee and Terri Marx. Greg Corr of the Whitehall Ledger was a guest.

The meeting began with a reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Glenna suggested a few minor changes to the January 3, 2008, meeting minutes. Tom motioned and Terri seconded approving the minutes with the changes. There was no other discussion and the minutes were unanimously approved.

Holly motioned and Glenna seconded approving Marc Groy as the Whitehall Planning Board member on the CDB. There was no discussion and Marc was unanimously approved.

Holly reported that the Whitehall Town Council approved the CDB’s Vision Statement, Action Plan and Capacity Building Budget at its January meeting.

Updates on all the capacity building projects were given as follows:

• Glenna – Grant Writing Workshop: Will be in March or April on a Saturday.
• Holly – Community Party: Need to change the date as Horizon funds will not be transferred to the Town until mid March; tentatively moved to April.
• Terri – Walking Trails Road Trip: Will happen in April when there is warmer weather.
• Terri – Walking Trails Workshop: Tentatively will be held in April.
• Tom – e-Commerce Workshop: Will be held Saturday, March 22. Limited to 25 people, includes lunch. Tom will put article in newspaper to attract attendees. May not require all monies allocated.
• Holly – Animal Shelter Road Trip: Will go to Great Falls and Missoula. Group is applying for Jefferson County Metal Mines Grant to hire consultant for shelter.
• Holly – CDB Team Building Meal: Was held January 30.
• Rural Community Conference – Did not happen so monies allocated for that will go back in the pot for reallocation.
• Community Visibility on Website Assessment – Tammy was not in attendance, but Holly reports Tammy is working on this.
• Blog Maintenance – Tammy is also working on this.

There is approximately $1000-$1200 left in unallocated capacity building funds.

Holly reported that Dan Clark of MSU Extension hasn’t answered whether we select the grant recipient(s) of the $8500 Whitehall will receive in June 2008 from Horizons for actual projects or if they will.

Tom said we need a procedure for requesting the funds for the capacity building expenses.

Holly said the funds are already approved, so we just need to request funds from Darcy, Town Clerk. If we have changes over $500 on our budget items, approval must come from the Town Council.

Mac said the Town Council can approve changes in between Council meetings if we would need them too. He also said that there should be a small budget for the CDB for incidental board expenses. Mac said we also need a procedure for taking in money that we receive as grants.

Holly will talk to Darcy on how to account for capacity building expenses. Should it be one form for all of a project’s receipts? Roy and Glenna will also work with Darcy on income/expense issues.

Tom and Holly suggested other capacity building fund ideas to take place of Rural Communities Conference allocated capacity building funds that were not spent:

• Building Vital Communities from the Inside Out program on March 25, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Bozeman (5 E. Baxter Lane). $15 registration fee, includes lunch.
• Core Four Business Planning Course, a 12-hour entrepreneur development course that would be presented in Whitehall by Tara Mastel and Tom Harrington of the JLDC. Cost would be approximately $860 ($500 for scholarships, $160 for childcare/transport/elder care, $200 for meals and refreshments).
• Life Skills Adult Ed Class, an 8-session class for Head Start parents. Money needed would be approximately $150 for childcare, not for the course itself.

Holly moved we reallocate the capacity building funds for these projects and Tom seconded. All were in favor of adding these projects/funds to the budget.

Mac said the CDB should request that groups each have a list of what they are working on so we don’t overlap. All groups should also have contact info so others can help if interested.

Holly said that is essentially what our Action Plan is – to get a handle of what is going on and who you can contact if you want to jump in.

Glenna said we need other avenues of publicizing projects and events rather than just websites for those who don’t use the Internet or have Internet access.

Mac said the new Chamber office will be manned and open for people to get that info. He also said there is not much public participation at Town Council meetings, so that is why this board is important.

Holly suggested the Vision Statement and Action Plan should be laminated and put up in public places. Tom said we should get the Town’s blessing before doing that and that we have to make sure we communicate so we are not doing things on our own, since we are an advisory board.

Mac said the Town is behind the CDB and the Vision Statement, and that we should put all the CDB information and actions out to the public so they are aware of everything that is going on.

Sue said that Dave Cole had suggested to her that we should put up a sign listing all the ongoing projects with contact info for added visibility and a chance for other people to get involved.

Taylor said the Silver Tower Park would be a great spot for a sign.

There was a discussion on if any changes were needed to the Mission Statement and CDB Policies that Holly had drafted. Minor changes will be made and the policies will be called “Policies and Procedures.”

There was a discussion on the agenda and it was agreed that “Member Input” should be another section along with Old Business and New Business.

Items were then brought up that Holly will bring before the Town Council’s February meeting:

• CREBS wind development meeting will be held in Bozeman on Feb. 28 from 1-4:00 p.m. that a Town Council member could attend.

• Affordable Housing – CDB will facilitate getting a housing committee going and will host a meeting for persons interested in affordable housing. A good place to start is with those that signed up during the Horizons Study Circles. This committee would work with National Affordable Housing Network in planning a new NAHN subdivision in Whitehall. Tom and Tara would be working with this committee.

• Growth Policy – Marc said the Planning Board does not have a growth policy. They just take one project at a time and are also advisory in nature. They serve as a liaison between the city and county planning boards as well. Tom said growth policies are a statutory requirement for counties and cities, and without a policy the Town doesn’t have jurisdiction for anything beyond the town limits. Tom also said that although a growth policy is a planning board responsibility, the CDB should have input. The growth policy should not be a cookie cutter policy but should reflect what the community wants. Mac said lots of input should be put into the growth policy.

• Amended budget for Capacity Building Funds.

Glenna wondered what we will do with the results of the Whitehall Survey conducted in fall of 2007, and how we will incorporate that information into what we are doing. Holly said the results came too late to be used in writing the Vision Statement, but can help with the spending of the $8500 Horizons project grant and guiding in drafting a growth policy.

Mac questioned if we should apply for a Jefferson County Metal Mines Grant for creating and maintaining a Town website. Roy moved that we ask the Town Council if the CDB can apply for the grant, Mac seconded, and all were in favor.

Tom brought up three other town/county items for interested members to participate in:

• Jefferson County Library group needs Whitehall members to study a county growth policy (learned about this from Commissioner Ken Weber).

• Safety Fair steering committee; interested people should contact Tom.

• Jefferson River Rally, April 25-26 in Whitehall.

Taylor brought up something she and Roy had discussed earlier: In Shelby there was collaboration to combine a weight room and a teen center; could we do that here? Roy said the Whitehall Booster Club is discussing this idea. The old gym building could be renovated to serve more people, but it would require collaboration from many groups. Roy said in Shelby it was done with all donated funds and labor, and the school was responsible for building upkeep. Roy said it’s too early to jump in yet, that the first place to start is with the Whitehall School Board.