Wallette, Buckles Address City Council Asking For Unified Policing Of COVID Mandates
Snowbird Billing Issue Settled
The Wolf Point City Council held its regular meeting Monday, Sept. 21. The meeting was accessible via zoom.
Following role call, a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance, public comment was offered by Cody McGill, who suggested a new public ordinance that would require any store in Wolf Point dealing in second hand goods or offering loans based on second hand goods to submit a detailed report of their purchases and activities at the end of each day to a free national database. He said the ordinance would assist area law enforcement.
Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board members Kaci Wallette and Dana Buckles attended the meeting and addressed the council. They reported that daily testing for COVID-19 is taking place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at both local Indian Health Service facilities for anybody (tribal or otherwise) who wants to participate. They said that the Tribes are only reporting IHS-eligible positive COVID-19 case numbers, which differ from the state or county testing figures.
Wallette and Buckles also asked for consistency in area policing and enforcement of mandates from Gov. Steve Bullock about social distancing and use of personal protective equipment. City attorney Anna Rose Sullivan laid out processes for enabling city and county law enforcement to compel residents to comply with tribal and gubernatorial mandates.
“We asked for more unified policing with regards to our tribal health board orders and tribal ordinances,” Wallette told the Northern Plains Independent. “Anna Sullivan states that they are capable of doing this once they get the go-ahead from county attorney Austin Knudsen.”
Knudsen has stated previously that enforcement of the governor’s mandates would be impractical and would leave the county open to possible litigation in the future.
Wallette and Buckles added that local IHS staff are seeking assistance from area and national IHS for testing and contact tracing. They also discussed reaching out to the governor for National Guard assistance.
The council took no action on the topic during the meeting.
During airport board reports, councilman Dean Mahlum reported that a tank was switched from regular gas to diesel fuel.
During park/recreation/cemetery/ tree board, it was reported that plumbing fixes needed annually at the city pool will be completed before the next council meeting. A possible vote on funding for irrigation at city baseball/softball fields was tabled until cost estimates could be gathered.
Greg Lukasik with Great West Engineering told the council that they would have to choose between development of capitol improvement plans and a new growth policy. The council voted in favor of moving forward with a capitol improvements planning grant. Lukasik also said that Maguire Iron would be working on water tank repairs through Sept. 27 at least.
Assistant clerk/treasurer Jhona Peterson addressed the council about the final resolution to the snowbird billing debacle. She said the committee charged with revisiting the issue has agreed to reduce fees and charges associated with recent changes to the city’s out-oftown (or “snowbird”) billing policy. Property owners with outstanding bills related to the canceled snowbird policy should contact the city to see about having some fees incurred over recent months abated. Mayor Chris Dschaak thanked Peterson for her hard work on the issue and said this would be the council’s final word on the subject.
Police Chief Jeff Harada told the council that the department has seen some cooperation from property owners regarding weedy lots. Dschaak said that the city is behind on patching city streets due to the pandemic. He asked that city residents contact the city to let them know about any spots that need addressing. He added that people should fill out their U.S. Census prior to the Oct. 31 deadline.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.
