C.F. manager asks council to cut his salary

Columbia Falls City Manager Bill Shaw thinks the City Council should cut his pay.

"I am voluntarily requesting that the city council agree to reduce the salary for the city manager position by an annual amount of $7,500," Shaw wrote in a memo accompanying an information packet that council members will use for tonight's city council meeting.

"This reduction should proportionally commence with the next pay period and continue until we agree that the revenue resources of the city improve."

His recommendation stems from a review of revenues for the city's planning office and building code department. Revenues, he said, will be 'substantially below" last July's estimate.

Planning revenues coming into Columbia Falls coffers throughout recent boom years in construction and subdivisions - around 2005 and 2006 - had reached around $100,000, Shaw said Friday morning. They started declining in 2007 and dropped off drastically in 2008.

He said that he doesn't expect to see them reach even half the level of the high-revenue years during this fiscal year.

With such low revenues from planning and building inspections, Shaw said budgets for both departments will have to come from the city's general fund.

In other business, the council will:

n Hear a presentation from Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright, who plans to build relationships with the city, answer questions, and cover issues important to the park.

n Consider the planning board's recommendation to approve a zone change request from light industrial to residential apartment zoning on land east of Meadow Lake Boulevard that sits between U.S. 2 and the green box site on Best Way. An out-of-state developer reportedly wants to build an assisted living facility.

n Consider amending an ordinance on discharging firearms in city limits so that a planned rendezvous that would include black-powder weapons could be held.

n Consider the interlocal agreement setting up participation in the countywide 911 emergency dispatch center.

Tonight's meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall.