SEELEY LAKE - The hot-button topic snow plowing in Dogtown will kick off the next Seeley Lake Community Council meeting, Monday, Aug. 8.
County Commissioner Jean Curtiss and Kristen Baker-Dickinson, head of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Clearwater Unit, will discuss where the county and DNRC stand in regard to plowing Dogtown streets next winter.
As the community may remember, last year the county announced that they would not be able to plow some streets in Dogtown. The reason given was that those roads were owned by DNRC and DNRC had not granted the county an easement. By law, the county said, they could not use taxpayer money to clear roads owned by somebody else without an easement.
DNRC’s position is that they would like to grant the easement, but by law, they have to charge full-market value for it. The price is based on the value of the adjoining properties. Those amounts turned out too high for the county and the two parties were at an impasse, which they are still trying to resolve.
Chris Stout, Chair of the Council last year, came up with a temporary solution for last winter: private donors and Dogtown residents would raise the money to pay the county for plowing. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation, an anonymous donor and Dogtown residents collected the $3,000 needed for Missoula County Public Works to keep the roads clear last winter.
As of this writing, the impasse between the county and DNRC has not been resolved.
Following the Dogtown discussion will be an update on the Council’s Traffic Project, a multi-year effort that proposes lower speed limits in Seeley Lake and more and better-marked pedestrian crossings. Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) has established two temporary pedestrian crossings in response to the Council’s request but so far no common ground has been found for lower speed limits. That issue may have to be decided by the Montana Traffic Commission.
Next will be a report on the two Candidates Forums which the Council will hold in September:
Sept. 19: U.S. Congress, Governor, Supreme Court Justice, Secretary of State, State Attorney General, State Rep HD 92.
Sept. 26: State Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Public Service Commissioner, County Commissioner, State Senate SD 46 and possibly Justice of the Peace.
The Council is still waiting to hear from a few candidates and the dates for some of them may end up getting changed.
Like always, there will be an opportunity for public comments on non-agenda items.
The informal part of the meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. next Monday, Aug. 8, at the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitors Center with pizza and sodas.
For further information please contact Klaus von Stutterheim, Chair, at 406‑210-8576 or kvonstutterheim@seeleylakecommunitycouncil.com
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