The Butte-Silver Bow Public Works Committee met in the Courthouse Council Chamber to consider Communication #2026-454 from Commissioner Eric Mankins, District #9, requesting a no-parking zone on both sides of Washoe Road in front of the Butte Family YMCA and a 15 mph speed limit on that listed section of Washoe Road. Members present were Chair Eric Mankins, Trudy Healy, Russ O'Leary, and Dan Callahan. After discussion, the committee voted to forward the speed-limit recommendation to the Council and to refer the no-parking zone request to the Parking Commission for review. Note: the raw transcript opens by calling the meeting for September 23, 2026, at 6:30 p.m., while the supplied meeting date is September 24, 2026.
Um I would like to call the public works committee meeting September twenty third, twenty twenty six, six thirty p.m. courthouse council chamber. Um in on our committee tonight, we have Trudy Healy is present. Russ O'Leary is present. Dan Callahan is present. And myself present. Tonight we have one communication number twenty twenty six four five four. Eric Mankins, Commissioner District number nine requests, Council of Commissioner, consider that both sides of Washa Road in front of the YMCA be designated as a no parking zone. And to consider establishing a fifteen mile an hour speed limit along the list section of the Washou Road. So seeing that this is my communication um for the last um seven years since I've been on um the commission, we've been working to try to get this. Um I think it was um Miss Hanson off of Hanson Road, Miss Harrington. Um Suzanne Evans started this many moons ago trying to with the um children playing outside there, cars parking, the visibility um was terrible. We continue to will I continue to field calls um for that section of road. Um with that I did reach out to Stephanie Feist, uh the director of the YMCA. I will read some of her comments into what she is looking for. She is um approving of this and is for this. I also reached out to a few of the members, Paul Babb, um also for this, um Colin Higgins also for this, and the president Jake Masters is also for this of their board at this time. So I know that um Stephanie her concerns were only at this time that um some of the things um she's already mentioned this to the staff, no more parking and looking for in this and seeing how this is going to be. She's have good feedback. Um also she was helpful if we should have some bullet points like proper clearance for traffic as well as nothing delayed emergency services. So I think with the emergency services that I think it's just common that I mean if there had to be something there they could park there. I I don't know what that would be um if she wasn't gonna make this meeting that she was definitely going to make it at the next meeting, but um we do have uh public work. Oh, there's Colin right there. Colin, would you like to come up and speak on this? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks, Dan. Uh thank you, Colin Higgins, uh owner operator of McKinsey River Pizza uh here in Butte America, and uh proud volunteer board member of the uh Butte Family YMCA. Um my family uses the uh the Butte Family YMCA. Um been a board member for uh going on seven years, uh, past chair as well. And uh I think you know, just looking at the general flow of traffic from uh Dewey to Hanson and uh coupled with you know having the Butte Family YMCA, the the foot traffic, the family traffic, bicycles, um, and then having Montana Dance works just uh around the corner from there. 15 miles an hour through there just makes a lot of sense, and I think it would just make the neighborhood so much safer and uh um I already drive you know between 15 to 20 miles an hour through there anyways, um, just because you never know when a little one is is gonna pop out of there. Um swim meets in particular, very high traffic through there, and uh I just think it makes a lot of sense and I appreciate you uh hearing me uh today. Thank you. Um thank you, Colin. Um so with um public works director neary here. Um would you like to like just talk on it a little bit and how this procedure would go or how we're doing uh thank you, Chair Mankins. So the 15 mile an hour speed limit change would go my recommendation to the council. The council have to approve the change, which we've been looking at it, and we've been, you know, since your communication came in, road department uh thing, Lisa. We've been looking at it, and it is request should be done. I mean, it's uh the YMCA parking lot is only ever a quarter full. If that I mean there's plenty of parking in the parking lot. All the other businesses, I don't think they use the street. I think they're all parking in their parking lots or in be the cutoff road between Washoe and Discovery Drive. Um the parking part of it, I didn't realize, but it has to go to the parking commission board. So I don't know if the council has to recommend that to the parking commission or if I can make that request. I'm not positive on that. So it'd be to the parking commission, and then they would send their recommendation, I believe, back to thank you, public works director neary. So I'm gonna look for um institutional knowledge with uh Commissioner Callahan on that.