City Council Moves Prosecutor Services to County Attorney Office
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
City Council Moves Prosecutor Services to County Attorney Office
MT 43 News Staff
City Council members approved an interlocal agreement between them and Broadwater County to hire County Attorney Cory Swanson to handle prosecutor services for cases filed in the city.
At their regular meeting on Sept. 19, Swanson gave a history of prosecutor services for the city. He was the city-county attorney at one point after which Peter Simon took over the city attorney job. Now that Simon can no longer handle the load of both civil and criminal services, Simon has bowed out of handling criminal cases for the city. “It makes sense for the county attorney’s office to take on the criminal cases because we already work closely with the Sheriff’s office and many of the city cases turn into felonies, so we get them anyway,” Swanson said.
Swanson continued he is trying to attract another deputy county attorney, so the added revenue will help with that. The city will pay Swanson’s office $1,525 per month. He pointed out that his office will give a quarterly report on the office’s services. The interlocal agreement will be revisited annually to determine if it works for both offices.
City Fire Department Captain Andrew Herrick addressed the issue of requests for road closures on Broadway by various organizations. After a communication breakdown between the Rural fire department and the City fire department, the Rodeo parade this summer almost didn’t happen because no barricades were in place, or was a permit from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT) in place. “We scurried around, found barricades and got detour signs in place for the parade to proceed, on the day of the parade! We suggest the council request any organization that wants to close the street contact MDOT themselves for a permit. Also, we would like them to be in direct contact with City Fire Chief Shawn Simon so we can be prepared,” he said.
At this time City regulations request the organization contact the city office, then the city office contacts MDOT for a closure permit. Mayor Mike Evans pointed out that for this year’s high school homecoming, the permits are in place to close the street. The council okayed high school students to paint bulldog paws on Cedar, Spruce and Pine Streets near the school.
The council took Herrick’s information under advisement. In other business, the council approved an airport hangar lease for Brian and Teresa Foster. They also approved the resignation of Public Works Director Tim Rauser. Please see the separate story for details.
