Staff recommends City Council accept and approve the Memorandum of Understanding by and between the City of Billings, Yellowstone County, and RiverStone City/County Health Department.  

The parties to this MOU recognize the benefits of intergovernmental cooperation in furthering the collective interests of all, and the public that they serve, seeking to protect public health, safety and welfare. Within the City limits, there are unlicensed motels, hotels, and tattoo artists, all of which endanger the public as far as safe and sanitary conditions for use of these establishments. This MOU establishes the City Code Enforcement Division as the authorized representative and designee for the City/County Health Department to address licensure violations. The MOU is entered into under authority granted by Montana statutes and Billings Montana City Code.  Under the MOU, the Code Enforcement Division would identify and investigate unlicensed motels, hotels, and tattoo artists within the City limits, with the compliance goal of those businesses applying for the appropriate licensing through the City/County Health Department.  The Code Enforcement Division would only be responsible to the point of license application, when the City/County Health Department would assume the responsibility to complete the process. The Code Enforcement Division would not be responsible for any inspections related to the license application.

This partnership will further the ability of local agencies to address unsafe and unsanitary conditions in businesses that cater to the public in Billings and Yellowstone County.
 

All of the parties to this MOU will mutually benefit from this resource sharing.  More importantly, with these businesses properly licensed through the City/County Health Department, patrons, citizens, and visitors will all benefit as well.

City Council may:

• Approve the MOU; or,
• Not Approve the MOU, allowing unlicensed service businesses to remain operating in the City limits and endangering the health and safety of the public.

There are no negative fiscal effects to this agreement. The City Code Enforcement Division already addresses other licensure violations covered by City Codes and this added area of work is not expected to add significantly to the Division's work load. The parties to the MOU will monitor its application for the next year and see if any changes are needed.

By entering into this MOU, the parties will be able to bring unlicensed motels, hotels, and tattoo artists into compliance with the requirements of the City/County Health Department.