Town council lets adult probation back to Plains

PLAINS – The town council met Monday night to discuss a variety of issues from bringing adult probation back to Plains to building their own dog kennels and hearing two concerned citizens discuss lots they hoped to purchase.

As the meeting began, Mayor Michael Brinson informed the council he had terminated Police Officer Logan Martin without cause and before his probationary period ended. Mayor Brinson and the council hired on Ethan Harvey, the town’s former reserve deputy, as the new police officer for Plains.

In last month’s meeting, the council had decided to stop the adult probation meetings that took place at the town hall on the first Wednesday every month due to loitering and the amount of people who chose to smoke cigarettes outside of the building, yielding many complaints.

Sandy VanSkyock, who has been working in the area for 12 years came to the council, hoping they would allow her and her offenders to use the building once again.

VanSkyock explained she works with adult felony offenders from sex offenders to those who have committed rapes and murders. According to VanSkyock her model for working with the offenders is different from anywhere else in the state.

Working in small communities, VanSkyock meets face to face with her offenders in monthly meetings. In one day, she will travel from Plains to Hot Springs and to Dixon, visiting all of her offenders – typically seeing 76 people in one day.

The office she used within the town hall served important for a number of reasons. For one, VanSkyock would have access to Plains Police Chief Shawn Emmett who would assist in male UAs. She also had access to a bathroom for UAs and transports in case of any arrests.

She explained as a state employee, everywhere she worked had to be accessible by disabled people, allowing them access into the building.

After having a hard time finding a building that was handicap accessible, VanSkyock stressed the importance of having a place that fits the state’s requirements.

“The last few months we’ve met out here in the parking lot because I can’t find a building, I can’t find a space that provides all the state requirements,” said VanSkyock.

She explained a benefit to her service in Plains was accessibility. In places like Missoula, Kalispell and Great Falls, offenders have to travel to the county seat for their meetings, sometimes a task that can be hard to accomplish.

“We have a huge county and….here I go to our people,” said VanSkyock, explaining the people she works with are often limited by resources and many do not have a driver’s license.

“I know that it’s hard to reverse a decision that you made but I beg you to really think about it,” said VanSkyock. “I’m here for 34 minutes, one day a month.”

After hearing her story, the council reversed their decision and allowed the vital service to continue in the city hall as long as the offenders did not smoke in front of the building.

Solving that issue, the council moved on to a decision of whether or not to continue paying $60 a month for dog kennels they hardly use.

The town is currently planning on building their own dog kennel by the end of the year but for the time being, uses one outside of city limits to house any dogs that need to be collected and held.

After a situation occurred earlier this year where a dog attacked the kennel owner, problems arose and now the town decided having its own kennel would be a good idea.

“Since we had the situation we haven’t collected a dog and we’re still spending the money monthly,” said Mayor Brinson.

The council made a motion for Emmett to look into how much it would cost to keep a dog at the veterinary clinic in town, in case a need would arise, until the town’s kennels were built, tabling the situation until more information was discovered.

A few minor adoptions and changes were made: one including adopting the resolution for the 2014 tax levy. The council decided to change the job description for the janitorial position from a temporary part-time position to a permanent part time position.

The council then began to talk about the town’s setback rules on a lot where a taxpayer was interested in building a house.

The ordinance caused some confusion by using the word generally and the planning board had decided there was not enough information to decide whether the building adhered to the city ordinances.

After a more in-depth look, the council decided to grant a variance to the person hoping to purchase the lot, allowing the future garage to sit closer to the street than the city ordinance stated. That decision would later be vetoed by Mayor Brinson.

The council heard yet another property problem as Mark Dragovich asked the council for an exception to move a trailer he recently bought to another lot within Plains.

Due to an ordinance that was passed, only trailers built after 1986 could be moved in and around town. The trailer that was purchased was older and although it was grandfathered into the land it currently sat on, it was not supposed to be moved elsewhere..

Although Dragovich planned to put a foundation down and turn the mobile home into a permanent dwelling, he would first have to remove the wheel axle, tongue and forfeit the title of the mobile home – something the county would be in charge of.

Since the issue was added onto the agenda last minute, the council was unable to act on it the same night and planned a public works meeting on October 17 at 7 p.m. to hear the issue out and look at the current ordinance in place to see if Dragovich was able to move his trailer.

The meeting ended with an update from Mayor Brinson about the cameras that will be installed at the EL Johnson Memorial Pool Park. Mayor Brinson said that cameras should be up and running within the month.

As the meeting opened up to public comment, resident Vinny Daniel expressed his disappointment with the council because of the variance they granted on the property. Daniel said seven years ago, the council did not grant him a variance on a property he planned to build and he had to change his entire building plan.

After Daniel was heard, Larry Fletes expressed his concerns on the sidewalk that bordered the town hall, which he claimed caused a hazard to those walking on it.

Town attorney Richard Gebhardt advised the town to paint the problem areas on the sidewalk red to help address the liability although he said this would not and could not be a permanent fix.

Plains Town Council meets on the first Monday of every month and their next meeting is scheduled for November 4 at 7 p.m.