Mayor Bill Cole | City of Billing official website
Mayor Bill Cole | City of Billing official website
1. GOSCMA – Kevin and I traveled to Williston, ND to attend the Great Open Spaces City Manager
Association annual conference (MT, ND, SD & WY). It’s been interesting to be in the center of the
Bakken Formation and how the boom and bust has impacted the city over the past several
decades. So far, we’ve met with our lead architect on our city hall project, toured their ~250,000
sq ft rec center, met with their Lieutenant Governor and a legislator, and will be seeing several
infrastructure improvements before returning Friday. Thank you, Jeff, and Cape Air, it was easy,
fast and inexpensive to travel to rural Montana in route to ND.
2. Budget Q & A ~
May 16, 2023, City Council Work Session
Building
Question: Can you provide a fee comparison schedule and calculation for building permits?
Answer: See attached report showing the permit costs for a typical single-family residence with a
valuation of $450,000 and a typical office building with a valuation of $1,500,000. Pages two and
three show the ‘typical’ permit case studies that we used for comparison with the actual fees the
owner/contractor paid for these two projects.
Question: Can we reduce building permits by a specific building type, or does it have to be equal
across all sectors?
Answer: Yes, the City can choose to incentivize certain building permit types and reduce or
eliminate building permit fees. However, depending on revenues and expenses, other permit costs
may need to be increased to offset the reduction. Further, building permit fees are around 0.5% of
the construction cost of a project, so would likely not provide much incentive.
Question: Can the Building Division offer a code review/ design assistance service and guidance to
downtown business and building owners seeking permits for new businesses or remodels?
Answer: Yes, the Building Division can provide education and code assistance, however, we do not
currently have a program in place and such an initiative would require additional resources and
staff time. We are working on bringing ideas for such a program to a future Council work session
for discussion.
ALSO please see the attached Permit Cost Comparison slides.
3. Next Week’s Meetings/Task Forces
a. Local Affairs Committee, Monday, June 12th 4:00 pm, City Hall Conference Room
b. Budget and Finance Committee, Wednesday, June 14th 9:00 am, City Hall Conference Room
c. Legislative Committee, Wednesday, June 14th 4:00 pm, City Hall Conference Room
d. Southside Task Force, Thursday, June 15th 6:30 pm, Hope Center, 425 S. 28th
4. From the PIO Desk:
More rain and flash flooding forecast for Billings
https://www.billingsmt.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=2488
BFD
Photos: Billings Fire Department graduates twelve new firefighters
Billings PD and Fire to Demonstrate New High-tech Drones 6/8 in Lockwood
https://realnewsmontana.com/ixp/628/p/billings-police-fire-drones/
Council
Remains of 27 buried at Riverside Cemetery on Wednesday
PW
Photo: Aerial view of Inner Belt Loop construction
Massive sinkhole among flood damage; City of Billings is working to fix
Billings crews clear flooded streets
https://billingsgazette.com/news/local/billings-crews-clear-flooded-streets/article_7a970828-
0244-11ee-90ba-e3f9d47194d1.html
Billings crews respond to flooded streets
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/billings-crews-respond-to-flooded-streets
Flooding
City of Billings issues rare weather advisory; more heavy rain and flash flooding likely
City officials warn of potential second round of flooding headed to Billings
Billings did you wake up to flooding? Please don’t call 911
https://realnewsmontana.com/ixp/628/p/billings-did-you-wake-up-to-flooding-please-dont-call911/
In other news…
‘Transformational’: Billings awarded EPA money for property clean up development
MDT seeks public comment on upcoming Billings area safety improvement projects
New survey seeks feedback on Billings Public Schools
Par Pacific acquires Exxonmobil’s Billings refinery
Original source can be found here.
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