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City pursues growth policy update
Author: Eliza McLaughlin - Staff Reporter

City Pursues Growth Policy Update Eliza McLaughlin - Staff Reporter Townsend’s City Council agreed to move forward in the process of updating the city’s Growth Policy, during its Jan. 3 meeting.

Revision of the policy is well-overdue, as state law requires that the plan be updated every five years. The last time Townsend’s was revised was in 2010.

A letter from Jeremy Fadness, with Western Water Consultants (WWC) Engineering, was read to the council, detailing the importance of continually updating the city’s growth policy — beyond following the law.

“A growth policy outlines goals and objectives for the city in land use, housing, economic development, natural resources and city infrastructure and services,” Fadness wrote. “These goals and objectives are critical as they inform the city leaders on the direction the city wants to go.”

The council discussed securing a $15,000 community environmental enhancement grant to conduct a study before updating the policy. The city would need to pay $5,000 towards the study, according to Mayor Mike Evans.

“Same as we did back in the old day, 2010,” he said.

Councilman Matt West questioned whether the council needed to wait to receive the grant, or if they could continue moving forward with updating the growth plan.

Fadness, speaking via a phone call, told the council that it likely wouldn’t receive the grant until fall of 2023, and could then kick off the growth policy development in early 2024. It would then take six months to finalize the policy, he said.

Vickie Rauser told "MT 43 News" that approving a new growth policy would allow the council to be in the driver’s seat in terms of local growth, rather than being reactive.

Approval of a new Townsend Growth Policy will require a significant amount of public input, including public hearings, community surveys and more.

The council unanimously agreed to move forward with the update.

Recently elected Sheriff, Nick Rauser, attended the meeting, introducing himself and sharing several of his goals.

In the future, he plans to report to the council about things going on in the city, explaining that the office has dealt with several sexual assault cases recently.

Rauser also addressed the open positions at the Sheriff’s Office and discussed officer retention.

“It seems like nobody wants to be a cop anymore,” he told the council.

At the meeting, Rauser informed the board that he’d received eight applications for deputies to replace former-Sheriff Meehan.

Despite having empty positions, Rauser spoke about potentially creating a new position in the jail which would alleviate some deputies’ responsibilities and create an opportunity for jail employees to advance.

The Townsend City Council will meet again on Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m.