2026-11-02 - City Council

Good evening everybody. It is 6:01 p.m. I'd like to welcome all council members and staff and members of the public to the November 2nd, 2026 City Council meeting. Before we get started with our agenda items, if you'll join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Right. Thank you very much. [staff], will you please do roll call for us?

All right, good evening. Roll call beginning with Anderson.

Uh present.

Becerra.

Present.

Campbell.

Here.

Craske.

Present.

Jones.

Present.

Jordan.

Present.

[name unclear].

Absent this evening.

Absent. [name unclear].

Absent this evening.

Absent. Nugent.

Present.

Ponton.

Present.

Savage.

Present.

Sherrill.

Present.

And we do have a quorum.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Council members, we do have minutes from October 26th, 2026. Does anybody have any questions or suggested changes for those minutes? Right. Not seeing any, then those minutes will remain as submitted. Thank you. Next up, we have our committee schedule for this coming Wednesday, November 4th. [staff], please give us some highlights.

Yeah, we have a regular um fairly full committee day on um on Wednesday. Just a reminder though that City Hall is closed tomorrow, November 3rd, for Election Day. So, if you have questions of staff, they won't be able to answer them until Wednesday.

Thank you very much. And for members of the public in the audience and those watching online, the City Council's Committee agenda and all committee um documents associated with those committees are found on this Missoula City Council webpage in case you're curious about that. All right. Next up, we have our special presentations and proclamations. And we're going to start with our neighborhood council updates. We do have an update from the Upper Rattlesnake Neighborhood Leadership Team. If you'll share your name for the record, I'll go ahead and turn on the microphone and it's it's all yours. Come on up and join us, please. Thank you.

[A neighborhood leadership team representative reported on the Upper Rattlesnake Neighborhood Leadership Team's recent topics: a Fish, Wildlife and Parks discussion of chronic wasting disease, a summer community social, updates on the Lolo Street Bridge widening, urban wildlife, emergency preparedness, trail extension planning, and upcoming Rattlesnake Transportation Committee meetings.]

Thank you very much for bringing those forward. So, I want to give the council an opportunity to make any comments or ask you if any questions. So, are there any council comments or questions that you'd like to share with the speaker? Please, [Councilor].

I just want to thank you for your service and for all that you do on the upper Rattlesnake Leadership Team. I apologize that I wasn't able to be at the meeting in August. We were out of the country, but I heard that it was really fantastic and you all always do a really great job of getting people there and getting people involved. And so, thank you for doing that. And

Thanks for the update. And we'll talk up more about chronic wasting disease.

Yes, we will. [laughter] We've heard too many horrible things about it, so we don't want it here, right?

Indeed. the speaker, thank you very much for your service on the

neighborhood. Yeah, absolutely. Nice to have you here tonight. Thank you very much. All right. Please, we'd love to have you.

[laughter]

All right, we do have two proclamations to share with you this evening. The first proclamation this evening is around Children's Grief Awareness Month. All right. It is shown on screen there. I'll go ahead and get started. Whereas 52,000 Montana youth will experience the death of a parent or sibling before their 25th birthday. And whereas many kids feel misunderstood in the wake of loss, thinking that their grief is invisible to those around them. And whereas all bereaved youth deserve support advocates supporting them as they navigate a world without their person. And whereas effective grief support can help prevent possible negative outcomes by teaching positive coping mechanisms and resiliency. And whereas recognizing this month serves as a foundation of support for grieving youth, shining a light on a national community of bereaved individuals, support service organizations, and community members. And whereas our community is committed to supporting one another, working to raise awareness of children's grief, and ensure that no child grieves alone. Now therefore, I Andrea Davis, mayor of the city of Missoula in the state of Montana, hereby recognize the month of November as Children's Grief Awareness Month. And we have a representative of the Tamarack Grief Resource Center to share a few words with us, please. Hi y'all. Thank you so much for proclaiming Children's Grief Awareness Month. We're really honored the city of Missoula has done this for a lot of years. Um Tamarack is celebrating 20 years next year, and 30 years of bereavement camps for kids. That's a lot of kids who have experienced the death of a parent, a grandmother, a grandfather, an uncle, a sibling, an important person in their world who didn't have to grieve alone because we are lucky enough to have support services in our community. We know that one in 10 kids will experience the death of a parent or sibling by the time they are 18 in the state of Montana. That is higher than national averages. We are so honored to do this work and to raise awareness for children's grief in our state. Uh Tamarack is honored to provide grief camps for youth, adults, and families. And we actually just hosted our family camp for about nine families on Flathead Lake a couple weekends ago. So, thank you so much for what you do for our community and thank you for shining a light on children's grief in Montana.

It's our honor, the speaker. Thank you very much and please give our sincere gratitude to all of your colleagues and volunteers and participants with Tamarack Grief Resource Center. It's such an incredible organization and really helps strengthen our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

for being here. All right. Now, we we can hear the parade, so Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead parade is happening, so you might hear some drumming outside. Um it's quite maybe appropriate for recognizing, shining a light, and um and celebrating um the people that we love their passing and recognizing those folks. Um yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Dia de los Muertos event behind the Headwaters Foundation. And if folks haven't had the chance, it's really been beautiful. The the Latin community in Missoula has um brought together a really incredible festival here, and they build a traditional ofrenda. And so, you have the opportunity to submit photographs of your past loved ones, and they're up on there in a community ofrenda, and it's really just such an exceptional opportunity, but also to celebrate Latin culture. So, um excellent food, wonderful Dia de los Muertos celebrations, and if you haven't had a chance to check that out, I'd highly encourage you to. All right. We do have one more proclamation to share, and this is in regards to Native American Heritage Month. We'll go ahead and share that on the screen. Whereas, the city of Missoula acknowledges that we are on the homelands of the Salish and Kalispel or Kootenai Bay people. We respect their tribal ways and their stories. We are thankful for their ancestors and for the people today. And whereas, the we acknowledge the ongoing impacts of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma that have resulted from historical injustice directed toward indigenous populations. And whereas, the city of Missoula strives to strengthen relationships with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, enhancing trust and understanding, and developing policies and practices that will aid in closing equity gaps and honor indigenous history, ongoing presence, and contemporary contributions in our communities. And whereas, we are committed to ongoing work with examples such as the renaming of the Higgins Street Bridge to the Bear Tracks Bridge in collaboration with Missoula County and the Montana Department of Transportation. Recognition through land acknowledgement at ceremonial events, interpretive signage to include indigenous place names and history, and meaningful contribution in publicly adopted planning documents. And whereas, American Indian Heritage Month was first proposed in 1990 and later changed to Native American Heritage Month in 1991 by George H. W. Bush with its roots starting from efforts by Red Fox James Blackfoot in 1914. And whereas, this proclamation serves as a reminder of the city of Missoula's commitment to honor our relationship with sovereign nations and indigenous peoples, to uphold trust treaty responsibilities, and to value the history and rich cultures of indigenous peoples as we recognize their pride, resilience, determination, and patriotism for this country. Now, therefore, I, Andrea Davis, mayor of the city of Missoula in the state of Montana, hereby recognize the month of November 2026 as Native American Heritage Month. All right. Thank you very much for allowing me to bring these proclamations forward. Nice to share some of the great things that are happening in our community and recognition for this month. That does wrap up our special proclamations and presentations and proclamations. And before we get to our public hearing this evening, we will take public comment for items that are not on the agenda. This is an opportunity for the public to provide comment on items that are not on the agenda, and this first 20-minute segment um will allow folks to speak for 3 minutes in total each allotted per speaker. And each person may speak once per city council meeting concerning items that are not on the agenda. Any action item, of course, we welcome public comment on on that agenda item and action item. In-person comments do take precedence, and sign-up is required. That was out in the hall there. Um it follows a first-come, first-serve basis, and then we will take a second period of public comment for items that are not on the agenda at at the conclusion of all regular business and continue until all comments have been taken. So, with that, I'd welcome up any public comment for items that are not on the agenda. Anybody in the room? Okay. Not seeing any. I'll go ahead and go online here and see if we have any hands raised online. And I'm not seeing anybody online, either. And no sign-ups on the on the sign-up sheet. Okay. That wraps up our public comment for items that are not on the agenda. So, next we'll move to our public hearing. We will this evening a resolution to annex and zone the subject property located at England Boulevard. And we will start with a staff report. This is item 6.1 for folks that might be following along along on the agenda. So, we'll start with a staff report. We have [staff] that is joining us remotely and I believe we'll go ahead and take it away.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh good evening and good evening counselors. My name is [staff]. I'm a staff member with the city's community planning development and innovation department. And I have a brief slideshow and discussion for you. So, um as the mayor indicated, we have a petition before us for annexation of property located at England Boulevard and zoning upon annexation to limited urban mixed-use zoning. Um annexations can happen happen a number of ways under Montana law. Montana code annotated title 7 chapter 2 provides um for the various methods. City Council has authority over all additions to the city limits. City Council has broad authority to impose conditions and a public hearing, which is taking place right now, is required. Uh in terms of annexation annexation methods, the typically typically the city um accepts permits, so it's voluntary annexation to annex into the city limits as opposed to other methods like um the city reaching out and grabbing property or having property that's wholly surrounded by the city limits and things like that. So, this is our most common method of annexation and an established partnership with the landowner. So, the property itself um is located Did you just see my screen switch?

You know, we didn't. No. And it's in present It's not in like slideshow mode, so maybe if put it in slideshow mode, you'll have a

Yeah.

chance to see it with it moving forward.

All right. I've tried that.

Okay. No problem if you need to close it out, [staff], and and restart the presentation. Take your time.

Thanks.

Sure.

It doesn't want to go from the beginning.

Okay.

Stop sharing.

See it advancing now?

All right. Woo. Thank goodness.

It's Yeah, maybe if you can head back to being slide number two. You're on slide number three, which is property.

Yes. So, um right. This is what I was just intending to show you. Uh again, there are multiple ways to annex. The city typically uh accepts annexation petitions. Now, are you seeing it it's move over again, that the slide switch?

We're still on slide number two.

Jeez. On my screens, I it's moving.

Okay. I know this is not your first rodeo. I'll look to [staff]. Is that a question we might need to run by IT?

Uh you can also try um sharing inside the Teams meeting and and scroll down to the PowerPoint option.

Okay.

In PowerPoint live, it might have the last thing you had up.

Get there. All right, are you seeing a screen?

We are.

Good. Okay. Well, for some reason it's not wanting to transition to slideshow, but I think this will work for our purposes here tonight.

Okay.

Um, okay. So, I apologize for the technical difficulties. But, um this is the slide that I was mentioning, multiple ways to annex. And then moving on to the subject property. Uh, the subject property is a 7.32 acre area of land. Uh, it's located along England Boulevard. England is to the south. And it, the property is approximately 800 ft west of Reserve Street. Uh, it is just to the west of the uh, commercial center where there's Ross, TJ Maxx, REI, etc. Uh, the property is developed along the southern end along England Boulevard with large storage buildings. Uh, and a portion of the recreational vehicle park campground. There's also a small sliver of land that runs up the western property boundary. Um, just adjacent and actually to the east of the residential subdivision that you see with Connery Way, with Saxony Place, that's the Pleasant View subdivision. So, on the map before you, the pink area is land already within the city limits. So, you can see that the property is almost wholly surrounded by by property within the city. It's curious that the remainder of the mobile home park and RV park was annexed into the city limits in 1980, but for some reason this area, the 7.32 acres, was not annexed, and I have not been able to been able to discover why that is. But, in any event, here we are. So, the property owner has expressed an interest in redeveloping the RV park, not the mobile home park to the north, but the RV park to the south. Um and in this area, the RV park is supplied with water from city water main, and also the waste water from the site does run into the city's sewer mains, but the the lines, sewer and water lines, as well as streets, um and other facilities within the subject property do not currently meet city standards. And so, um when the property is redeveloped, in this case the annexation property, the the RV park, then as through our building permit process, the city can require upgrades to city standards. So, that means bringing streets, sidewalks, sewer, water, storm water, etc. up to city standards, and that happens upon redevelopment. But, there is one issue. So, we're not requiring um upgrades to infrastructure, at least not recommending it at the staff level to city council, but there is one improvement that we feel needs to be made, and that is currently the fire department has indicated that the property it is not adequately served by um by the existing water supply system, and so the staff recommends that one fire hydrant be installed on the subject property, um within a public access and utility easements, and that is memorialized in one of the recommended conditions of approval. In 2019, the city adopted an annexation policy and this policy provides guidance on where and under what conditions the city should prioritize areas for annexation. Uh the map here is the annexation policy map and it shows that the property is located within annexation area A. Annexation area A indicates that the property largely meets the city's annexation guidelines. And the annexation policy states the city should prioritize the areas within annexation area A for annexation. The property is also located within the city's utility services area boundary and the urban growth area which are also prioritized for annexation. And as I mentioned previously the city is almost entirely surrounded by city limits and annexation would fill in gaps left by previous annexations contributing to the logical growth of the city. And again the annexation policy says these types of areas should also be prioritized for annexation. The 2045 Our Missoula Land Use Plan is the comprehensive plan for the city of Missoula and it divides the city and the surrounding area into place types. So a place type is a descriptive planning category that defines the intended physical character building form, intensity, and mixture of uses for specific areas. The 2045 Land Use Plan identifies the property as being within the urban mixed use place type. So this place type or these areas are primarily commercial in nature with neighborhood and community serving businesses and services. Residential uses are certainly allowed but they're not prioritized. Buildings within this place type are predominantly medium to large commercial type structures with some medium to large dwellings as well. Uh the land use plan states care should be taken in managing transitions between commercial and residential. And also that where these areas evolve to more mixed use environments, so a mixture of commercial and residential, they should retain their focus on serving the communities commercial needs while gradually integrating residential elements. The city has zoning districts that correlate to the different place types. And I will note that in the urban limited urban mixed use place type, there is only one zoning district that correlates with that, which is also called the limited urban mixed use zoning. So this zoning district allows all building types, including residential, mixed use, civic and general or they're called general buildings in the in the unified development code. So those are large standalone structures, not residential. The limited urban mixed use zoning allows for a wide variety of land uses, including household living, healthcare facilities, schools, and a whole range of commercial uses like you'd see along Reserve Street, for example. And this zoning district does not actually permit recreational vehicle park parks as a permitted use. However, the recreational vehicle park is considered a legal existing development under the unified development code title 22, where such uses may continue to be repaired, maintained, and even expanded, or have a substitution of use. So essentially it's grandfathered in and can be, like I said, maintained, etc. So there's no concern with the RV park not complying with the zoning. And then staff has recommended seven conditions of annexation. As I mentioned earlier in this presentation, the city has has um I guess quite a bit of leeway in in requiring conditions of annexation when the city agrees to provide services. They can require things of the developer, and as city council has seen it could range from installing or dedicating rights-of-way, installing sewer and water facilities or streets or things like that. But in this case, we are recommending seven conditions of annexation. The first two are quite basic. I mentioned already that the petitioner or the developer in this case shall install a fire hydrant within a municipal utility easement. That's number one. And the second is that the petitioner shall file a notice with the clerk and recorder stating that the city council has required this easement and fire hydrant installation. The purpose of the second condition is if the property were to be sold in any any future purchaser would um be notified through a title report or similar that a uh hydrant will be required. And then condition number three, this comes from our public works department. Really what we're trying to do is set the property up for future developments uh or redevelopment I should say and future connectivity into the surrounding street network. So um condition number three is that the petitioner shall dedicate right-of-way along the western boundary. It's 30 ft of right-of-way along the western boundary of the property and um the it's just an easement so no improvements are being required but the idea is that if redevelopment occurs when redevelopment occurs that future connection can be made to various city streets. Um the developer's agent the developer's agent expressed some concern when he originally saw this condition and so city staff and and the developer's agent have been discussing some of these conditions. This is one of them where they requested some changes and they requested to make this a and you can see the underlined area um of the condition. So the easement is intended for future connectivity. Basically we're clarifying what this easement is really all about and its purpose. So it's intended for future connectivity. Any existing encroachments such as for example mobile homes that might be that might be a portion within the easement or fences or yards, things like that do not have to be removed. Um and so any encroachments can be can remain and is not available for public use at this time. And the changing condition is memorialized in what's called memo number one which I which I distributed or uploaded to eSCRIBE last Friday. And Ron has reviewed this and said that this is acceptable. Then condition number four, um this simply requires again, it's a small right-of-way area or an easement area, I should say, to allow future connection to the west. So it's 30-ft east-west by 63-ft north-south. Um condition number five, this is similar. Again, we're trying to set the property up for future development by extending easements that are within the Pleasant View subdivision to the west onto the subject property. Um again, no development of the streets would be required, but we're trying to set this up for future connectivity and traffic dispersal when and if the mobile home, sorry, the RV park is redeveloped. And so these would require um extensions of the Soho Avenue and Concord Drive easements um from across the subject property essentially, um ultimately extending over to Tina Avenue. That's the cul-de-sac street that you see to the east. And then condition number six, this is another one where we've had some back and forth um with the developer's agent, the developer's agent, um where um which says now, as memo as memorialized in memo number one, that the petitioner shall either dedicate to the city of Missoula a right-of-way easement extending the alley that's located west of the property about 80 or 90 ft north of England Boulevard through the subject property or shall provide a future 1 ft uh limited access easement to allow one vehicle or sorry, not one vehicle, one access onto England Boulevard. And so, the idea with the originally extending the alley was so that there wouldn't be more approaches onto England Boulevard, that access to structures could come from an alley extending to the east to Tina Avenue. Uh but Ron said, and I think fairly, that you know, they we they don't know exactly what's going to be built on the RV park area fronting on England, and so we thought it it would make sense to at least have one access, um because again, the limited urban mixed-use zoning allows for a wide variety of uses. So, for example, there could be a coffee shop or a brewery or or small restaurants or any number of um types of commercial uses that are intended to serve the local community out in the Pleasant View area and the apartments to the south, etc. So, um city staff thinks that makes sense and recommends the council adopt the amended condition as memorialized in uh memo number one. And then finally, condition number seven. This is a requirement for the developer to dedicate additional right-of-way along England Boulevard to the city. And so, um the reason is this is considered the street England in this location is considered a community mixed-use street, which has just over the specification is to have just over 100 ft of right-of-way. Currently, um there's only I think it's roughly 40 ft of right-of-way running from the center line. So, we're requesting or conditioning annexation on additional right-of-way being um being submitted or dedicated, I should say, to the city. And so, nothing would really happen within the right-of-way right now, but there's the potential You all know what traffic's like at the intersection of England Boulevard and Reserve. And so, at some point it may be necessary, especially as this area develops, to have a center turn lane along England in this location. And so, the idea is to get some additional right-of-way at this time in the event that the city would like to expand England Boulevard to provide a center turn lane or something along those lines. And so then next is the motion. And so this motion is just slightly amended from what you have in the staff report. So it's the motion is to adopt a resolution to annex the subject property zone upon annexation to limited urban mixed use subject to the recommended conditions of approval as modified in memo number one based on the findings of fact and conclusions of law in the staff report. And then if I could just touch on one more thing or well, I'm not sure. I I guess I can wait for counselor Becerra if if she would like to discuss you know potential development on the subject property and what might that look like or could look like in the future at the Land Use and Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday. That was a question that came up and so maybe I'll just hold tight right now, stop sharing my screen and go on and I'm happy to take any questions that you'll have.

Okay, thank you very much, [staff]. And counselor Becerra, you had a question for for [staff]?

Yeah. Yeah, thank you and I did get a response from [staff] and I really appreciate that. And you know, it might be worth for you [staff] to maybe mention this just for the public record, but my question had to do with the zoning and the potential development densities for the site and and as it relates to potential traffic issues in this area. We already know that it's congested at times. So I just wanted to get a better sense for what what level of development especially residential development could happen here which would trigger additional uh traffic potential improvements to infrastructure. It looks from our conditions of approval that we we are meeting um we're putting in place the mechanism so that in case we need to um have additional right-of-way or additional um a center lane on England Boulevard that um we have the right-of-way for that, but I just wanted to put that into context and um you know, get get some sort of idea of what potential development could happen here in the future. Thank you.

Uh if I could just address that briefly.

Please.

Um first of all it's really hard to say what development might look like because there are so many parameters, so many different variables in the in the equation. Like for example um how high the the developer would like to build the buildings. They can go up to 60 ft in this district. Or what types of development in terms of let's say residential, you know, there could be some commercial, there could be some residential um etc. that that any developer would like to build or thinks that there's an an appropriate market for. So um but what I've done is just some kind of back of the napkin math here and so um this is a very speculative development scenario where you can see that I've extended the street easements across the property um as required in the conditions. Those are shown in red. The building setbacks from the streets, from the property lines, etc. are shown in blue. And so you know, um the total gross area and this is only looking at the RV park area. This has nothing to do with the mobile home park, but I just thought I'd give you I have an example of what what could happen on the property. So um the gross square footage is 393,168 sq ft. And so you know, there's no perfect kind of rule of thumb or equation for how much area is needed for, you know, what percentage of the property in other words would be in setbacks, in easements, in streets, and landscaping, and things like that. But, I've used 55%, you know, it really can vary again depending on the type of development. Oh, and also parking. So, that's a huge variable in terms of, you know, if there there would be street parking available, but if there were large multi-family structures, which can be built in this limited urban mixed-use district, um then there might be quite a bit of of um on street not on street off street parking. So, parking lots that are built. And so, anyway, there's no perfect uh way to look at this, um but I've used 55% for easements, setbacks, parking, and landscaping. So, that brings us down to 176,926 square feet, which could be area for homes. So, I'm just looking at residential development. And I Googled today the average um apartment size in the city of Missoula, and uh the answer I received is 832 feet. So, if you do the math, um it comes up with 212 dwelling units. But again, there are so many different parameters, there are so many different variables that go into the equation that it's just hard to say. So, this is quite speculative, and I just like to um I guess emphasize that. But, at least it provides an idea of what could potentially be developed there.

[Councilor], do you do you have a follow-up for [staff]?

I don't. I just wanted to say thank you, and I completely appreciate the fact that this is just speculation, but I think it's always good to have some some sense for what it could happen in a piece of property. So, I appreciate that, [staff].

Great. Thank you. [Councilor], your question is definitely fitting for a goes along with the initial presentation at least with the give it a good idea. I'd like to follow our typical procedures, and make sure we have the opportunity to offer um any addition to the presentation by the sponsor before we come back for other council questions. I do see we have some counselor hands raised. So, does the sponsor have representative of the sponsor have any additional items that you'd like to present as part of the the project?

[The developer's representative spoke: the applicant agrees with the conditions of approval, has had discussions with staff, and has proposed to extend three roads from the Pleasant View subdivision to Tina Avenue and extend Tina Avenue to the north.] Well, great. We do have some council members with their hands raised with questions. [Councilor].

Thanks Mayor Davis. Thanks for the presentation, [staff]. And appreciate that last slide there. Just trying to compare and contrast what could be permissible today under the county and what could be permissible hypothetically if this parcel is annexed to the city with a zoning designation of neighborhood residential in the county based on some cursory research, it seems that that's pretty comparable to limited urban mixed use, like you know, triplex, quadplex apartment buildings with no maximum homes per acre density. Um I don't expect you to be an expert in in county zoning, but is it fair to assume that with comparable zoning in the county, the developer could develop something very similar to what you had on your last slide, even if this is not annexed in the city. Is that a fair assumption?

[staff]?

You know, I I think we'd have to talk with public works cuz typically, you know, if if there's going to be redevelopment on the subject property, we're going to want to make sure that the sewer and water systems are up to stuff, even if it's when they in the county. I think we would want to take a a good look at that. So, yeah, I I but I do think, you know, with a cursory look, it is somewhat comparable in terms of the density types of residential development um that could go there. Although, I believe that our uh limited urban mixed-use would allow for more intensive, you know, apartment type structures, larger structures along those lines, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. One additional?

Certainly.

Um and key Can you just confirm and maybe this is best for [developer's representative]. Um do we know how many the number of RV spaces that are on this parcel, and can we confirm if there are any like residential manufactured homes on this particular parcel, cuz it does seem like, according to the map anyway, between Kevin and Julie streets, it does just seem from like the aerial photography that there might be manufactured homes on this particular parcel. Can someone just confirm that?

Thank you for your question, [developer's representative].

Good, counselor. So, I I do know there are about 80 mobile homes in in the the mobile home park to the north. Um I I don't know how many probably around 80 give or take a couple dozen of RV spots in the RV park. And uh so, along the the west edge, there are there are nine mobile homes and one RV spot and those would um need to be moved and uh [staff] and I have had the [clears throat] owner have and I have had many talks about this. Uh the plan would be to try to move those folks into uh the the the trailer court. He would do his very best to make sure that they're um relocated in the same location.

Councilor? Thank god I'm okay for now. Thank you,

Okay, you bet. You're welcome. [Councilor].

Yeah, thank thank you, Mayor Davis, and thank you, [staff], for that presentation. Um I guess I just wanted to I I think follow up on um [Councilor]'s question and just see if we can get a little bit more of a response related to the um the the person who sent the email um about the impact on the long-term residents. So, I think it's nice to hear that we're going to try and move them, but I'm curious if we can give a little bit more information about those folks because we have seen quite an impact on our local mobile home parks due to development and um you know, it is a is kind of one of the last vestiges of of really truly affordable housing and so, I'd love to see if we've been able to reach out to this person who sent the email and if there's any more information that you can um provide either [a resident] or to the developer. Thank you.

Okay, thank you for your question. Who would like to take that? Would you want to start with that, [developer's representative], or

This is very important to to to the owner and obviously to the people who live there that they can continue to live in this location as as long as they possibly can and I mean, it may be who knows, years before um these 10 units will have to move, but and we haven't talked to any of those people or I don't know if [staff] has or not. I mean, they're his tenants. I don't know yet, but uh um you know, maybe after this after this process, so we'll be able to talk to them, um, and see what their thoughts are and try to find spots in the trailer court to to put them. We'll do the best the very best we can cuz it's not fun to have to move, you know, cuz you're renting or whatever. So, we'll do our best to keep those folks in the trailer park.

Okay, thank you for your response. Appreciate that. [Councilor], any follow-up?

Um, just a comment. Um, can I make that now or shall I wait?

How about you hold that until we come back to comments. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. [Councilor]?

Yeah, I'm wondering if [staff] or maybe, um, [staff] could answer this. And I think I know the answer, but just to confirm that, um, should this, uh, property develop, would that trigger a, uh, traffic study or, um, some sort of traffic analysis, impact analysis at the time of, um, building permit approval or how would that work in order to know how to address the the increase in traffic in that area?

[staff], do you want to take that? I know that [staff] is on. I'm sure he's ready to answer that question as well, but how about [staff], we start with you?

Sure, I can give it a try. Um, [staff] with CPDI. Um, the public works mobility department has the ability to require a traffic impact study to understand, you know, when a development proposal comes in. Typically, the trigger is when 200 vehicle trips per day are anticipated from the new development. So, 200 additional vehicle trips per day, uh, public works can require a traffic impact study and those studies, uh, typically look at intersections that would be impacted by the new traffic. Obviously, the volume of traffic, times of day, turning movements, things like that. So, public works has wide latitude, uh, once we expect 200 or more vehicle trips per day from any development to require more detailed information.

Okay, you're welcome. I don't see [staff]'s hand raised, so I'm assuming that's an adequate response, [staff]. Thank you, but if there's anything you wish to add, please go ahead and raise your hand and we'll make sure you have an opportunity to provide that. All right. [Councilor].

Uh thank you, Mayor Davis. Uh question for the developer rep. Um you mentioned having to move eventually these 10 um homes and hopefully to other places within the the uh trailer court. Are there 10 open s- um kind of trailer slots right now or is there a normal course of you expect one every 2 years or

No. Unfortunately, I don't know the the exact number, but what we will what we would do is a is an inventory and find out first of all, how many spots are there. I think there's about 80 from a when I looked at it on the air photo. And there are some empty spaces. I don't know how many. Um but we will do our best to move those folks into these vacant spaces. Sorry, I don't know the how many, but I can find that out.

Okay. Thanks.

Sure.

All right. Thank you. Any additional council questions? Okay. Not seeing any additional council questions, we'll then go ahead and get the motion on the floor and we'll open up the public hearing. Uh our land use and planning chair, [Councilor].

Thank you, Mayor Davis. I move City Council adopt resolution to annex the subject property located at England Boulevard and legally described [legal description omitted] as shown on exhibit A and zone upon annexation to LU-MU limited urban mixed use subject to the conditions of approval as modified in memo number one based on the findings of fact and conclusions of law on the staff report.

Excellent. Thank you, counselor. This does open the public hearing and we'll ask for any public comment on this agenda item. If there's any public comment on this agenda item in the room, please come on up. And [staff], we have a public comment coming up now, but we'll go ahead and take [staff]'s uh if there's a clarification that you'd like to make, [staff].

Thank you, mayor. Uh just one clarification. Is the motion also mod- as modified in memo number one, the conditions modified?

Yes, it is. Yes, [Councilor] made sure that he read that aloud. Thank you for checking. Appreciate that. Thank you so much. All right.

[A resident spoke on the effects on current tenants and campground users, the loss of lower-cost housing and emergency lodging options, and asked the city to look for solutions, including on excess city land.]

Thank you, the speaker. Thank you for your comments. Anybody else in the room wish to make public comment on this agenda item? All right. Not seeing anybody in the room, I think we had a hand raised online, but I don't see it raised any longer. Any public comment online?

[An online commenter, a renter, asked why the conversation does not start with affordable single-family homes.]

the commenter, thank you very much for your comment and I'll see if any counselors pick up your question there, but thank you very much for your comment. Appreciate that. Thank you. All right. Any other comment online in regards to this item? I don't see any hands raised. All right, that wraps up the public comment for this agenda item and it then wraps up the public hearing and we'll bring it back to counselor questions and comments and counselor Jordan, your hand is raised.

Thank you. Yeah, I would like to um pose the commenter's question to staff if that's all right and then I have a comment I'd like to make.

Certainly, that sounds great. So, [staff], we'll start with you, please. Thank you.

Sure. So, um I think the reason that we don't start the conversation doesn't necessarily start with single-family residential, um you know, detached although the commenter mentioned affordable, you know, the zoning that is that goes along with this planning designation of limited urban mixed-use allows for a whole variety of different types of businesses, uh homes, every ranging from single family, so that's certainly allowed in the zoning, but also up to larger apartment buildings and apartment complexes. So, it's it's not really this is private property, of course, so it's not really the city's decision as to exactly what's built on this property. The city provides a pallet of options, uh a menu, in other words, and any development has to meet the city's requirements, uh but a developer, you know, that there's a private market component of this where the developer gets to choose what they believe the market will support and so, um while we can nudge, guide, cajole, um and even set up the rules and and guidelines, you know, for certain types of development, ultimately, the city doesn't um have total control over what's developed in any particular location.

Thank you, [staff]. Do you have any follow-up questions, uh [Councilor]?

Just a just a comment if I can.

Certainly, you bet. Go right ahead.

Yeah, thank you. Uh yeah, thank you for that um explanation, [staff]. I do think that um a lot of folks are still trying to wrap their heads around how things work in the city and that yes, when it's private property, we don't have a lot of sway at all as the city about what the developer can and cannot build. Um but just tailing on with that um you know, I would really like to beg the developer to find a way to ensure that the folks who are long-term stays at that property will continue to have a place to stay. Um we can't make them, but um our city values are that we are aiming toward permanently affordable housing and making sure that homelessness is short and only happens one time. And um we certainly like to have developers that come and develop projects that keep our values in mind as a city and we do really value um the folks who who need lower-income rental opportunities. Um it gives our town a lot of diversity and keeps it interesting to have folks across the spectrum as our neighbors. So, just would like to implore the developer to do whatever they can to make sure that those residents can stay on the property. Thank you.

You bet. Thank you for your comments, [Councilor]. And I'll just uh dovetail off of what you said just as a resource um in case [developer's representative], you or the owner of the property are not aware, the um there's an organization that is statewide, um NeighborWorks Montana. They have a resident-owned communities program where they help residents that live in manufactured home parks acquire the parcel and um become owners of that park. The city of Missoula has partnered with NeighborWorks on a number of different park acquisitions in town where there was a willing seller and um and those folks are now the proud owners of their parks and they can undertake different, um, improvements and things of that nature. I'll just mention that in case you're not aware of it and, um, just to dovetail off of what [Councilor] mentioned. Thank you. Uh, [Councilor].

Thanks, Mayor Davis. Um, I I appreciate [Councilor]'s comments and having grown up nearby, uh, in Westview, the idea of having to move your home is is not lost on me and I understand how scary that is. So, I also would like to just echo that sentiment and implore the developer to, um, you know, use the relocation options that are available, um, that being said, specific to the annexation, I think the reality is that, you know, without annexation, this property could still be developed under the current, you know, guidelines that are just in the in the county zoning structure. So, with that, I I get that change is, you know, potentially concerning and, you know, I've also heard concerns about traffic and those things are not lost on me. So, with that, I think, you know, having this annexed, this additional 7 acres into the city does give us a little bit more flexibility like with the right-of-way easement on England for potentially a little bit better traffic configuration. So, um, I do understand the concern, but ultimately I think this does give us a a bit more latitude and some more levers to pull from the city's perspective. So, ultimately I'll be in support tonight.

Okay, thank you for your comments. Do we have any other council questions or comments on this item before we hear a roll call vote? All right. [Councilor]?

Uh, thanks, Mayor Davis. I, um, appreciate the conversation back and forth and, um, I I this parcel is wholly surrounded by the city and it's in our annexation area. I think it'd be, um, for the reasons [Councilor] mentioned, I think that it makes sense to annex it. I would like to know the answer to my question about the the 10 units though. It seems like something, I mean disrespectfully, that you probably should have had an answer for before coming tonight. Um just because if people see that their homes are being annexed and they're going to have to move as part of the condition of annexation if they're finding out about out about it through this process, I think that's unfortunate. Um and actually I think it kind of gives a bad name to a lot. So, I'm disappointed in that. Um I think that the the broader comments so about the trailer park and and places like that being some of the last refuges of affordable housing in Missoula is very real. Um the 80 units of the camping I think that if they wanted to turn that into more of a trailer court, I don't know that it would be easy to do given current regulations and zoning. Um probably just current regulations around health and safety. They definitely couldn't get as many in as are in the um current trailer park, which I want to note for the record is already in the city. And so, just this conversation is kind of interesting cuz the trailer park is already in the city. The uh uh RV park portion of it is what we are annexing. Um and uh my father-in-law actually grew up in that uh trailer park out there. So, um you know, lots of uh lots of good things I guess came from there. We'll go with that.

Thank you for your comments, [Councilor]. Any others? All right. Not seeing any then, that does wrap up the council deliberation. Appreciate that. Thank you. And we can do a roll call vote, please, [staff]. All right. Voting on our public hearing this evening, the resolution to annex and zone the subject property located at England Boulevard. Beginning with Anderson.

Yes.

Becerra.

Yes.

Campbell.

Yes.

Craske.

Yes.

Jones.

Yes.

Jordan.

Yes.

Nugent

Yes.

Ponton

Yes.

Savage

Yes.

and Sherrill

Yes.

All right, and that passes unanimously. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you to the staff, [staff] and to the developers representative, [developer's representative], for coming down and answering questions. That does wrap up our single public hearing on our agenda this evening and we'll move on to the next agenda item. We don't have any new business, but we we will move on to our consent agenda. This is agenda item number nine. Items on the consent agenda were approved in city council committees to be placed on the consent agenda to save time at council meetings by voting on them as a package. The city clerk will read them aloud and will invite community comment on the consent agenda before council votes. Uh counselor Jordan did send out a list of uh points and then several questions. Um parks and rec director uh Yoshioka had a chance to respond to that late in the day. Given that, I am going to assume, counselor Jordan, that you'd like to separate this item. Um and I would like to bring that to um committee reports if uh assuming that there may be no objection. Is there any objection to that move? Okay. So, we will hear item 9.2, which is the construction services agreement with Dakota Playground for the park on North Scott Street, and we'll hear that under the appropriate committee, which is climate conservation and parks. That is uh 10.1.B. So, item 9.2 will be moved there. In the meantime I believe that we can go ahead and hear the remaining item that is on the consent agenda. All right.

Short consent agenda, one item. Uh we have a motion to approve accounts payable or claims for check stated November 3rd, 2026 in the amount of $1,882,283.26.

All right, thank you very much. That is our only item on the consent agenda. Do we have any public comment on that item? I'm not seeing any in the room and any online. Not seeing any online either. We've already separated the one item. [Councilor]?

Yes, thank you, ma'am Mayor. I just comment on 9.1.

If you're going to be commenting on 9.1, then I'll go ahead. Um, just reviewing the rules on the council adopted rules. Um, if you'd like to move that and make comment on that item, we'll move it to uh, a committee report just like we did with 9.2. If you'd like to just say that your comment is that you're willing you wish to vote um, uh, cuz you don't support it, fine with that. But if it is comments in which other councilors may wish to provide additional comments that will have to move that to committee reports. Is that what you wish to do?

My apologies then. Um, yeah, committee reports.

Great. Then we'll go ahead and remove that from the consent agenda. Um, and despite that being approved in committee, we'll move that to consent agenda. That will be in the budget and finance committee report. So, [staff], we do not have a consent agenda this evening. Thank you very much. Okay. So, next up under regular business under committee reports, we'll hear both of those items. So, item 9.1 was just what we had reviewed. [Councilor].

Yeah, thank you, ma'am Mayor. Appreciate it. Um, I apologize for finding this late. I literally found this just minutes before we started here. Um, but there's a expenditure of $18,714 from HDR Engineering. This is rather difficult to find. I had to go by the uh, accounting code to get up, but it's a water main project related to the downtown stamp project. Um, that said, um, I am going to be in support uh for what was item 9.1, but the AP invoice uh for November 3rd, 2020. I'll be in support of including HR engineering contract cuz it appears it has to do with the water main replacement uh for downtown. [staff] is dealing with that based on the accounting code, and I feel that's a project that needs to happen anyway, despite my opposition opposition to the downtown cam project itself.

Okay, thank you for your comments, [Councilor]. Any other comments from council members on that item before we take a vote? Public did have an opportunity to comment on that item under consent agenda. All right. Then we'll go ahead and do a roll call vote, please. Or actually, I believe we can go ahead and do a voice vote on this item. Thank you. All right. Your uh voice vote on the item that was previously 9.1, the accounts payable. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

And any opposed? And that passes unanimously. Okay, thank you very much. Next item under committee reports will be um under climate conservation and parks committee, and this is again the construction services agreement with Dakota Playground for the park on North Scott Street. Um [Councilor], I'll go ahead and turn this over to you prior uh to any additional information that can be provided by our parks and rec director, who is here in the audience this evening and is a resource to answer additional questions.

Great. Thank you, Mayor Davis, for that. Um as I mentioned in my email, I had a constituent who reached out to me, and that's why this kind of came up last minute. And I think that um first of all, um Director Yoshioka, thank you for your responses. Um I did miss the exhibit A um and was as I have I've had a look at it. I I what I really just want to point out um is that through no malfeasance, I believe, um we continue to to not engage the ADA community when we're creating ADA spaces. And I understand that we did have licensed landscape architects who specialize in inclusive park design. I think that's still just different than talking to members of our of our disability community and um it's kind of becoming a theme for me to bring this up um that we need to have members of the ADA community on our walking audits, on our bike audits, on our decisions for playgrounds, on um sidewalk features. We need to continually engage with members of the ADA community and um I also don't want to be dismissive of all the work that parks has put into this project. Um I know that everyone means well and that they all work very very hard. Um and I think it's just a new idea for us to really always remember that we need to reach out to members of the of the disability community when we're making decisions on their behalf. Um and that is what I wanted to speak to today and I um believe that I will be in support of this tonight. I just wanted to be on the record saying we need to do a better job of of talking to members of the disability community when we are making decisions about them. Thank you.

Thank you, [Councilor]. [Councilor].

Uh thank you, Mayor Davis. Uh question for our Parks Director. Uh as you're coming up to the microphone, curious if you could just uh outline for us what the public process was to um get to this park design.

Thank you, [Councilor]. My name is Marina Yoshioka. I'm the Parks and Recreation Director. So, the public process involved It was part of designing the master plan for the park and it involved numerous sessions with the neighborhood. And the neighborhood, we do design charettes to gather ideas and feedback and make sure that the park includes design elements that are important to the neighborhood. And so some of those key elements in this design was a zip line. It was an inclusive swing set and it was the poured-in-place um surfacing. Just want to make sure I'm saying that correctly. Yeah, the poured-in-place surfacing. And so those items, in addition to being universally accessible design, those were like key items requested in the um the RFP.

Follow up?

You bet.

So on those charrettes, it how does the park staff narrow it down? Cuz I assume there's all kinds of wild ideas at these things. Anybody who who wants to come be part of it gets to give their ideas. So curious how they narrow it down.

That's a great question. So part of it is done with a bunch of different activities and there's pictures and there's stickers and there's um feed like little groups get together to collect um input and feedback. And then all of that is compiled and we're really trying to strike a balance. It's really important that our playgrounds, our play spaces, and our parks are inclusive and provide something for everyone. And a playground is a multi-faceted type of environment. Um it provides not only activities for different levels of mobility, but also for neuro-diverse members of our community. It includes sensory experiences. There's different types of play. We have a managed imaginative play, communicative play. Um there's a list of like six of them. Social um experience. And so all of these are different elements that are incorporated into the playground. And so that's why we consider this to be an inclusive design because each of those elements is incorporated and really provides something for everyone depending on what the need is for that person.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your questions. Any additional questions from council? Right, not seeing any additional questions. Thank you. You wish you good. Appreciate that. I will look to our climate conservation and parks committee chair, [Councilor], to put the motion on the floor.

Um, could I see the question actually? I I just wanted to um uh Marina had responded to some questions early I I didn't know if you wanted to add anything more from your responses to the questions before we go ahead and put the motion on the floor. I don't have a specific question. Okay, I just wanted to give you that opportunity.

Here she comes.

I just want to emphasize that the current design exceeds minimum ADA standards. Thank you.

Thanks, I appreciate that. And I'll go ahead and put the motion on the floor floor now then. Um, I recommend that we approve and authorize the mayor to sign an agreement with Dakota Playgrounds in the amount of $445,446 for manufacturer, freight, and installation of playground equipment and safety surfacing for the park on North Scott Street.

Okay, thank you very much. I separated this item or we separated this item before there was an opportunity for public comment. So, I'll ask if there's anybody in the room that wishes to make public comment.

[An online commenter from Ward 1 spoke on the playground design: that the structures should be usable by people with wheelchairs and other mobility devices, citing the city's adopted parks plan and the federal grant resolution commitments to universal access, and objected to a federally funded design she considered inclusive only with conditions.]

Thank you for your comments this evening, the speaker.

All right. Any other public comment online? Not seeing any. That does wrap up our public comment for this agenda item and I'll bring it back to city council members to see if there are any additional questions or comments before we take a roll call vote. All right, not seeing any. We'll go ahead and do a roll call vote on this one, please. All right, voting on what was formerly 9.2, the construction services agreement with the Coda playground for the park on North Scott Street beginning with Becerra.

Yes.

Campbell.

Yes.

Craske.

Yes.

Jones.

Yes.

Jordan.

No.

Nugent.

Yes.

Ponton.

Yes.

Savage.

Yes.

Sherrill.

Yes.

And Anderson.

Yes.

That has nine in favor, one opposed. The motion does pass. Okay. Thank you all very much and thank you for coming down this evening, Ms. Yoshioka. All right. That wraps up our committee reports this evening. So, we come back to public comment on items that are not on the agenda. We haven't had a chance to make public comment on items that are not on the agenda. Now's your opportunity.

[A resident spoke about the Dia de los Muertos procession, an upcoming Indigenous art fair, her property tax bill and urban renewal contributions, and thanked Council for the domestic violence education sessions.]

Thank you the speaker for your comments and I who do hope the Department of Revenue has set aside rebate program for folks like yourself that did not meet the initial deadline for the homestead exemption. Please visit the Department of Revenue webpage. While it will require you to pay your current property taxes until that rebate comes in that adjustment should be made. So just want to make sure that I'll point you in the right direction that information is easy to find.

Sure, absolutely. You bet.

Great. Any other public comment for items that are not on the agenda? All right, and I don't see any hands raised online either. Oh, just got a hand raised and then down. Any public comment online? Oh. Okay. All right, that wraps up our public comment for items that are not on the agenda and um my comments from the mayor this evening are simply that tomorrow is voting day. If you haven't had a chance to submit your ballot, please know that of course you can't mail it at this point, not even when the US Postal Service was quicker could we get it there in one day. Please bring it down to the election office on Russell and also noting that on the Missoula County election webpage are locations for in-person voting. I will say here that as a partner, a local government partner, Missoula County elections does a fantastic job of free and fair transparent elections and just wishing everybody the best. As was previously noted, because it is a federal election, public offices are closed city offices are closed tomorrow and will reopen business on Wednesday. Okay, that is the the main of my comments and I'll pass it on to council members to see what general comments you may have. [Councilor].

Thank you Mayor Davis. Couple quick things for me. I wanted to just uh repeat a little bit of my comments from last Wednesday and first thank [Councilor] for putting together I think what was a phenomenal 6 hours of um conversation and really education for for us and for the general public on domestic violence and some of the real challenges facing victims and I think it was important to kind of put into the community conversation the the obstacles and the challenges to reporting and then even once something is reported just the the extreme pressure that's put on victims to recant for many different reasons and I would encourage people back and and watch those two communities of the whole the last two weeks uh because I think that it's a a tremendous topic that needs to be discussed more. So um I appreciate that. I also um want to acknowledge that um the law enforcement community in Montana uh had a tremendous loss that I believe we will find is directly related to domestic violence and I have not spoken to my colleague [Councilor] but I'm certain he's going to speak to this in his comments tonight. So um I just want to acknowledge uh that the reason we need to have those conversations publicly is because um we need to take every warning sign and and indicator of domestic violence seriously because almost every uh violent instance or death related to domestic violence had warning signs or misdemeanors or other things associated with that. So um those are two very serious topics and I'm going to pivot really quickly and just congratulate the Sentinel High School Spartans, both the boys and girls soccer teams won state titles in Missoula on Halloween. And I believe both teams were actually undefeated, which is incredible to me. But the um the girls team chose to play on their home field at Sentinel High School and played in the afternoon and I hear it was a great game. My wife and daughter went over and watched. And then I think kind of cool and shows great community infrastructure investment. The state title game for the boys was actually at night under the lights out at the field at Fort Missoula that Parks and Rec owns. So good to see cool things happening in the community on public investment. So congratulations to the Sentinel Spartans, both the boys and the girls teams as well as I think their golf team won state earlier as well.

Hey.

Oh. Great. Thank you for sharing all your comments this evening.

[Councilor].

Thanks. I'll pass for tonight.

All right, you bet. And [Councilor].

I just want to echo um [Councilor]'s comments about and thanking [staff] for putting on what was I think it was closer to 7 hours over 2 weeks. Um and normally, you know, some of some of the of those longer meetings can feel really long, especially when they're informational presentations and this one didn't. It felt that it was a critical issue in our community that we all really got some continuing education on and I I really hope that the public will will watch that and those two meetings, two separate Wednesdays and I think it's just important that we all understand it and understand that it's different than at but it stays in my mind from from it was really the coercive control element of it. Um that that can be it can be very very difficult for for to spot and to really understand. So I'm thankful for everyone in the community that is working on this issue and um I think [clears throat] it was one of the detectives had a stat that the and it was mainly women this not all women um that have experienced some sort of domestic abuse in our community would fill the Grizz stadium. And we are not that big of a community and I just keep picturing how many people that feels like.

Thank you for your comments, counselor.

[Councilor].

Thanks. Um thanks for the nice comments about the domestic violence forum. I feel like I honestly didn't do that much except shepherd a few people and staff took the idea and just ran with it and I was um blown away by the experts in our community in terms of judiciary, attorneys, crime victim advocates, um counselors, University of Montana professors who agreed to do this and just brought their A game. Uh they just did a fantastic job and it was really interesting information and some just the complexity of this issue um and then legally how different it plays out. I thought that was a fascinating and good for awareness. Um Several times it was mentioned that it is so important to get these cases to trial within 90 days if there is a a uh some level of assault, domestic violence because after that the case starts to fall apart because of the the interpersonal dynamics which makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Um Keeping the perpetrator away from the victim so that further harm doesn't happen. Um I think all of the information about strangulation was fascinating and that it can cause it even if someone is not um if it doesn't kill them, but if they're being strangled, the harm it can cause long-term is significant. So, I feel like it's an evolving area in which we are continuing to learn so much, but I was appreciative that folks really brought incredible information and and now I feel like every weekend there is a new high-profile incident across Montana that is happening and we just we just keep keep score, don't we? And um see what we can do better. So, thanks to everyone for that. And in the local sports arena, I just want to say that both Sentinel and Hellgate volleyball teams have gotten a birth at state and Big Sky is in a playoff to get a birth. So, it would be really awesome if all three volleyball teams um go to state. I haven't been tracking uh the smaller schools. Sorry, didn't have time to do that, but um go team.

Thank you very much, [Councilor]. [Councilor].

And thanks so much, Madam Mayor. And [Councilor remarks on the Eureka community and the incident there.] as [Councilor] says, this seems to be a fairly uh regularly occurring thing and um just thankful that we had the opportunity to learn what we were able to um and just really want to um uplift the people in our community who are really going above and beyond. I think that one of the things that was really um kind of stuck out with me was how little is mandated to be learned about this, especially in various positions. Um and when it's such an incredibly complex and yet prevalent issue in our society and how, you know, it's not mandatory that if you're a judge that you have to sit and be an expert in this or you know, if you're you know, at any of the positions that potentially could um interface with the both perpetrators and especially the victims and just how we are so blessed in this community to have people like [a detective] and [a judge] and just who really have taken this issue and and try to figure out how they can lean in and make it better in within the capacities of their their work that they're doing and they're really going above and beyond what you know just as kind of standard operating procedure in their positions and are really leading the way and then taking the time to then share the knowledge that they have like [a detective] was talking about how he goes and teaches at the law enforcement academy and just you know we Missoula it's one of the things that makes Missoula truly an amazing community is the people who live here and the way that they just lean in so much to their various callings and it just kind of takes all of us to do those things so appreciative of all of that um and want everyone to lean in to their civic duty tomorrow to vote if you haven't like you said turned in your ballot yet don't mail it but you can go drop it off at the elections office um and there they usually try to on election day make it pretty easy with people out there and there's you know all sorts of important elections up and down the ballot and as we all have seen who you vote to represent you matters and so we have Montana's always within the top five in the country for voter turnout so Montanans know how to exercise their voices and hopefully continue to do so thanks Thank you very much for your comments [Councilor]

Thanks Mayor Davis your comments on the homestead exemption were spot on just a reminder for everybody to definitely double check the Department of Revenue site to make sure you are enrolled I think something you can do is if you didn't get the exemption but you would have otherwise qualified in 2026 you can apply for that and if approved I think you're automatically enrolled for 27 so definitely worth taking a look there um and then as some of my other colleagues mentioned I just also wanted to and then as some of my other colleagues mentioned, I just also wanted to take a second to extend my the members of the community up in Eureka um and the officers from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and Eureka PD uh including um a deputy sheriff lost his life in the line of duty uh last few days. It's um truly unimaginable tragedy tragedy and heart goes out to the to the families and to the members of the community.

Indeed. Indeed.

Indeed. Thank you, [Councilor]. [Councilor]?

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor. And yeah, I appreciate the comments of my colleagues with regards to that incident in Lincoln County and uh a deputy sheriff up there as well as um officer from Eureka PD who was injured. Um this is something that is going to affect that department and that circle that family circle within the department for quite a number of years if not decades. And if you know, having my experience that I've had with Sanders County and the time I had worked up there um law enforcement in those smaller communities is very tight knit. Uh you rely on each other. You rely on different jurisdictions uh to back you. Um a lot of that stuff they took for granted here in Missoula. You know, as far as like watching each other's back and going to calls like this. Um you know, you rely on the a broader law enforcement community in those smaller towns and um in this particular instance I I think what we'll find is um Lincoln County, Eureka um [staff] PD uh Fish Wildlife and Parks, Highway Patrol, everyone that's within that circle up there is going to feel effects for this for quite a long time and it's going to take uh quite a bit to to pull through that. So, my heart goes out to that circle, the circle Lincoln County, Eureka, city of Eureka, our law enforcement community out there, as well of course, the the family of the fallen uh, deputy. You know, when I still work for the PD, I I found that you would hear about incidences like this from time to time, you know, you know, we've had other officer deaths, you know, in years past and it really makes you think, you know, leaving for your shift and going to work, it really refocuses you as far as, you know, what could happen from, you know, potentially could excuse me, happen from one day to the next and not to take one day to the next for granted in this line of work. Um, because I mean, you don't know what that night's going or that shift's going to bring you. Um, when you go out and um, suit up uh, for duty any particular day. So, um, yeah, I just I think it's just important for everyone to be aware in that regards that, you know, we we need to offer our prayers and our thoughts of course for um, that that circle of um, law enforcement up there and the family for the fallen deputy. As I understand that he was brought here in Missoula for a as as part of the death investigation. You know, that's another unfortunate piece of this, you know, because we strive to give peace, you know, for the family and we want to support and we'll uplift the family. The law enforcement community in that area and indeed all of Montana I found is very supporting of the unfortunate situations like this and we lift each other up and we're all one family, but uh, to work through the family, be it parents, be it significant others, and work through that situation one day at a time is important and I I I think the state of Montana and greater law enforcement community does it better than most other places um around the United States. Um with that I'll pivot slightly and talk about Veterans Day coming up. It looks like this is the last meeting we will have before Veterans Day, which is uh of course on November 11th. Um so I just want to give a shout-out to everyone who's serving, currently serving, wherever they may be serving overseas, be it the Middle East, or South China Sea, or here in the United States, or wherever they may be abroad, and just keep those folks in our thoughts and [Councilor named service members, including family members, who are currently or recently serving.]

Thank you very much for your comments, counselor. Appreciate that. [Councilor].

Um as previously mentioned, if if uh uh tomorrow's election day, just wanted to add a little bit of extra information, and that is that um the polling places are open until 8:00 p.m. So, tomorrow go to the elections office if you haven't um mailed your ballot, and um they're open until 8:00, so even after work you can go and drop it off. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Good reminder. And [Councilor].

I'll pass. Thank you.

You bet. Uh online, [Councilor].

I'll pass tonight. Thank you.

Sure. You bet. All right. Thanks thank thanks to all council members for your comments, and and certainly um you know, I I I'm amazed at sometimes how these issues that we um talk about and hear here in these council chambers are connected, and um the domestic violence forum that was held again um big appreciation to all of those that participated in our community that are in that field or touched this issue one way or the other. And to [Councilor] for making this a priority. Uh awesome opportunity to see both of those sessions online. It's fully recorded and available for anybody to go take a look at those, um both the 21st and the 28th of October um during the committee of the whole. [The Mayor extended sympathy to the community of Eureka and the families affected.] Um we heard tonight when um we were listening to the children's grief awareness month proclamation and Miss Smith said that Montana has a higher number than average of Montana children that are experiencing grief and we we talked about this incident that happened in Eureka um [The Mayor referred to a recent serious violent incident in Missoula.] And um and it's good that we keep an a light on this, that we continue to find ways in which people can uh work through their grief, especially when they have lost a loved one. Um we have talked in this chamber and read proclamations in regards to uh gun safety and gun awareness as well in Montana and the proximity to guns and our rural nature with not having as much access to behavioral and mental health care and supports leads to often some really challenging situations and the more we talk about it, the more that we raise awareness around it, uh the more we can do about it. And so I appreciate serving with all of you as colleagues as we continue to work on some really challenging situations together and make our community safer for everybody. Um and so with that, that does conclude all of our business this evening, all of our comments. Want to thank everybody for coming down and participating and I will adjourn our meeting at 7:45 p.m. Thank you.