Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay.

Good morning, all. I will call the Tuesday, August 25th Board of County Commissioners meeting to order. Chris, will you do roll call, please?

Commissioner Halls.

Here.

Commissioner Chilcott.

Here.

Commissioner Burroughs.

I'm here. Commissioner Chilcott, will you lead us in the pledge this morning? Public comment for those participating via Granicus, you may call 406-375-6513 in order to provide your public comment. Contracts for services.

Before we break into the fair, the public health nurse sent me a micro purchase National Defense Authorization Act Section 889 representation that needs to be approved, and this is tied to the WIC grant. I don't really see a place where there's a signature, but it just asks for a name.

It's covered telecommunications equipment or services and reasonable inquiry. looks primarily about telecommunications and video surveillance equipment. So, Mr. Chairman, I would move to approve your signature on the Micro-Purchase National Defense Authorization Act representation form for public health. Second.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve the Micro-Purchase National Defense Authorization Act equipment.

It's form 889, is that right?

Form 889. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. And Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries.

So, Mr. Chairman, we have a number of Fairbender contracts. We have a contract from 406-3D, Fairbender Dean Knutson, the Bitterroot Valley Youth Rugby Club, Humana, Choice Aviation, Northwest Bees, Bitterroot Beacon Radio, no Fs given clothing, LLC, and LifeWave stem cell innovation. I would move to approve those vendor contracts as presented.

Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve the fair vendor contracts as listed. Is there any public comment on that motion? Any further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries.

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the fair sponsor agreements with J&J Excavating, Baker Family Farms, Montana Refrigeration through stock growers and Engel & Volkers Realtors.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the fair sponsors as listed. Is there any public comment on that motion? Any further discussion? Question, Jeff? Aye. Greg? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries.

Mr. Chairman, we have some year-round event contracts. We have four gun shows, February of 27, June of 27, September of 27, and December of 27. We have Bitterroot Health in November of 26. Groves has two contracts in October of 26. Sheriff would like to use the Carnival Lawn on August 3rd of 27. Goal Boats has two boat shows in September of 26 and Bitterroot Rotter's Car Show on July 23rd and 24th. I don't have a year on that. I assume that's 27. I'm going to say it's 27. Move to approve.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the year-round events as listed at the fairgrounds. Is there any public comment on that motion? Any further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. And Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. Fair contacts are complete. That brings us to commissioner reports.

Yeah, you and I have that thing talking about the four to six-year term.

Yeah, at the Republican Women. That's this afternoon. Yeah, late morning.

Late morning, yeah. Very good. I didn't do anything on resolutions committee for MACO yet.

That's tomorrow, I think. Oh. I was tentative on it because I have an engagement tomorrow, but we'll see.

I have done that. So it's just a Zoom meeting where they're going to go over? Yeah. Is that for the whole committees or just? Just for the chairs. Chairs? Yeah. Okay. That's tomorrow at 9. I might try and just at least be on the Zoom call and hear it.

Very good. We are ready for claims, yes.

This is the three on the FY26, and this is FY27. That signature page is just on there. Oh no, this one didn't print out. You guys will sign right there.

All right, very good. So we've got claims.

For FY26 and FY27.

Yeah, both. Move to approve the FY26 and FY27 claims as presented. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to approve the fiscal year 26 and FY27 claims as presented. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question, Jeff?

Aye.

And Greg? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries.

Did you find or get a receipt for the propane?

Check and see if I got it. So we didn't have a signature sheet on this.

Not very long.

I got it this morning.

I have a print sheet on my set. Or I mean a sign.

Yeah, I had given him. I had. He gets the special one.

Only about three months and we can stop wasting all that. Taxpayer money on paper and printing costs. Such a pie hole. And the bloated salary, too. Save a lot of money. That pie hole just keeps yapping.

I am listening to nonsense.

We'll be flush after this.

Thank you.

Good to see you, Verona.

Was Julie coming over for the Brownfield thing? OK. So the next thing on our agenda is the discussion with a possible decision on the Brownfield program for the airport. So to clean up our mess at the airport, as far as the old daily ditch buildings and whatnot go, we have... a chance to use some brownfield loan money and grant money probably enough to do most ever all of it don't they come out and do the assessment but it's not what you get first as they pay for the assessment and that she she said that we had already contracted for the assessment and the assessment was done with the exception of lead paint It's the only thing that didn't get done.

I wonder if they would have done asbestos as well.

They would have, yes.

So they already came between the time we did asbestos. They've already, the Brownfield program already came out and did their assessment.

No, we paid an independent contractor. We paid an independent contractor.

No, I understand. But I'm saying since the independent contractor did asbestos, the Brownfield studies happen.

They haven't happened yet, but that's what Julie's. But they can happen. She heard what we're doing out there, and she was looking for some options for us to fund it, and she found Brownsfield, but they will have to do an assessment for lead-based paint out there, and then we can, some of it will be a direct grant, some of it will be a low interest loan.

For the remediation if it's out there, but the study, because they're doing a study, they were already here for something else, right? That's right.

That depending on how the project morphs in the dollar amounts, you were talking about the property across the road as well?

As well as across the road, the farm property.

Yeah.

But the study, when I talked to Julie, my understanding was the group that does the study is already in. the study for our properties, our property, then we can take that study and do with it as we want.

So she's doing this over here and this is in that record. Okay. Do you think we need action to move forward with it?

I think we should just ask Julie

We will ask Julie to move forward with the Brownfield project. Then next is our airport loan grant and that is sent to us by Lance.

Yes.

We got a state fiscal year 27 grant, came available in July. We'll fund the 5% share on the pavement maintenance project. The other 95% will be FAA funded. The local share in the maintenance project should be less than a dollar. I like that. That's good. So we need to execute the grant award agreement. And I would move to execute the grant agreement with the state, is that Aeronautics? Montana Department of Transportation Aeronautics program with your signature, Mr. Chairman.

Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the grant application from Montana State Aeronautics. Is there any public comment on that motion? Further discussion? Question, Greg? Aye. Jeff? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Does Dan have any of this? Yes. We have next on our agenda is update with Human Resources Department.

I'm not sure if he's ready, but...

Let's, maybe we should pause for a few minutes. Okay.

Okay.

Okay, we will reconvene with update from human resources. Welcome, Elizabeth.

So these are fair short-termers.

What's this pay rate versus the other ones?

The security is a flat pay rate.

Oh, that's a security? Yeah, that's a security. Okay. Is today 25th? Sure.

the resignation for training stipends and then the person that they're going to.

That's interesting. Is there more coming on this?

wouldn't be the training type. And they've all got a term date automatically at the end of the year. Then we redo it.

Do they get longevity at all, or it's just a flat rate?

Oh, really? That's the way of it sometimes.

I'm good. I just miss the ballet as well.

I don't think it's necessary. Oh, yeah. It probably doesn't. We have both our signatures on them. We've got both of them on us.

The name plates? We have so many different people. We must have a whole door full.

I just stacked them there in case he came.

Do you want to recess for a few minutes?

OK, we will reconvene with a review and a possible decision on the approval of the Big Corral Park Master Plan. First off, I would like to thank Bob Kahn and Gary Leese for their work on this. It was a big challenge to get this done, and they did a fine job. And so I just want to commend them for their hard work on this very nicely done plan. And what we have before us is resolution 4814, the adoption of Ravalli County Big Corral Park Master Plan. 4814? 4814. Is that in our meeting docs?

The plan is. I just didn't have the resolution. The resolution?

Yeah, no.

No, OK.

Resolution's not in our meeting docs.

the mics on, sir?

I believe so. Maybe I'm not close enough.

You need to eat it.

Yeah, eat it. Get it. Okay.

Do you have a motion or are you going to go to public comment? Let's go to public comment.

Is there any public comment regarding the master plan?

I'd say move forward.

Thank you, Paula. Mr. Chairman, move to approve resolution 4814, establishing the Big Corral Park master plan.

And I will second that motion. It has been moved and seconded to adopt Resolution 4814, Adoption of the Ravalli County Big Corral Park Master Plan. Is there any public comment on that motion?

Is there any further discussion? Just appreciate all the work on the park board, especially Bob and Gary. I mean, you guys have been at it a long time, and John and all you folks that have been doing this for a long time. It's a... Thankless work, and we know you guys do a lot with a little. And from this side of the table, we appreciate all your efforts. So thank you.

That is very true, and thank you. Call for the question, Jeff. Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries. The master plan is adopted by a resolution 4814. Thank you. And with that, is there any public comment on items not otherwise on our agenda? Anybody? This is the last sentence of our agenda for the day.

It's items not on the agenda. Any item not on our agenda. Anything you want to get up to the mic and say, you're good to go.

You got free reign. Hearing none.

Skip Chisholm, Hamilton. Regarding all of the property from Marcus all the way down to Golf Course Road in between Kurtz and Big Corral, as time goes on in the future, development prospects and the ability to subdivide and market different pieces of property from point A to point B and from point C to point D The possibilities are numerous. And the one question I would have about it, at the end of all of it, before anything can finally be done, how much say does, in this case, it would be daily ditches have to say about and what kind of, power would they have over making sure that all water above and below ground, especially above ground with their historical and designated ditches, for quality and quantity of water flowing from south to north, and at least two, in some cases three ditches, How heavy is that to make sure that that be kept as proper as it should be in the future? How much weight does that carry at the end of the day?

it's significant. And the reason why is under state law, we have a requirement to mitigate those significant impacts to irrigation infrastructure. So, uh, making sure that downstream water users remain whole through that development. Uh, so it's significant, but there's also ways to mitigate some of those impacts. And so I think as long as they've got adequate mitigation for those impacts, um, that's what we do. And it's the same, whether it's a road or any other local service impact, uh, well septic permitting through DEQ. So.

That, that ditch along the park was, was I believe the first irrigation canal on record. Uh, it's, it's been there a long, long time. And, uh, We will do what we can, and Daily Ditch will certainly do what they can to maintain that and make sure that it's viable into the future.

And, sirs, if there was ever in the future, I'll say a movement, however it would be created, behind the scenes or with meetings, to in fact sell that park, Would you tell us the steps that would have to go through? And because that park is owned by the people of Ravalli County, it's supposed to be stewarded by the people on the park board. And how solid is it that the people of Ravalli County will own that park and have something to say about it if it ever was considered to sell it? Thank you.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. You want an answer to that? Yeah, please.

Oh, I'm sorry.

We can answer that real quick. So what we've done in the past when we have what we call surplus property, this is a little bit different in Parkland. I guess we would first need to make a determination that it was no longer necessary for county business. Then we would get an appraisal, go through a process of selling that property. That would obviously not happen without probably some... If you're talking about selling parkland, you're probably going to have... If there's significant interest, you're going to have some significant public meetings associated with that. And I would say... If we saw significant community interest in selling or not selling that, I mean, that would definitely heavily be considered in the decision-making process.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Jeffrey John, and I'm asking if you would consider dedicating the park. And I have a copy, a legal document for you to review. It's a draft. and there's been some, a little bit of changes. I did email Jennifer about this draft, and I have a copy for both of you with exhibit A, but I'm asking you if you'd consider dedicating this park so it'd be registered as a public park in the county of Montana, because it's not dedicated, it's just named. So I will give you this documentation. I hope you consider dedicating this park.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that has public comment?

Yeah, I've got a question. And this is exhibit A. Yeah, my name is Brian Reed.

And it's mostly just, I guess, for my education. There's no pump on there to irrigate any lawn, grasses, or anything. There's a well, but there's no pump. I heard there's talk about $25,000 grant to kind of put infrastructure in for the development of the grass, the lawn, lawn differentiated from the prairie grass that's there. I don't know, just my education, know anything about that?

The well on the park, I think the Park Board approved the development of that well, the continued development. So those details, I don't have those in front of me, of course, but they're working on it.

Okay, good. All right. Thank you. Gary.

We've got an initial meeting as soon as this adjourns to start working on the possibilities of what and how we want to develop that well, what it'll take, what we can do. We've got a motion approved at the last park board meeting to ask for Commissioner approval to spend up to $25,000 to initiate activity for a utility control center, which would probably include some of the infrastructure needed to develop that well. So it's in action, it just takes time.

It's work in progress.

Afternoon, George Korn. I'm not sure what this dedication is. So you're not taking any action on that? We are not taking any action on that.

It's something that we will review. Certainly. And should we decide that we want to do that, then we will have a public meeting, public hearing, whatever the law takes. That's what I assume. Thank you so much. Thank you. So... One more, okay, thank you.

Jeff Jones, I just want to tell you guys thank you. And I hope that any decisions that you make in the future about Big Corral Park would be considered how the people have really worked hard in doing this and trying to get it accomplished. And always keep them in mind. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Is there anybody else? We can look into the statute, but when I look at the statute referenced for dedicated parkland, it looks like that statute may have been repealed by the legislature at some point because I don't see 716-2324 in code anymore. It looks like that was repealed at some point. We'll ask our attorneys and see if we have statutory authority to dedicate parklands.

Okay, anyone else? Harry Brunette on this end. Welcome back. I thought you were retired, but I see you're here. I haven't seen you in four months. He usually hides from me when I come in. He goes in a different office. Good to see you. I just was out there, and I talked to Harry. Harry is the guy that's supposed to have everything up to snuff. Number one, write a note down. Does he have insurance on that property? Right now, liability. He needs a million dollar liability on that property.

That is part of the lease agreement that we are working through right now with Harry.

Right, OK. His fifth wheel, they're living in it. They're hooked up to unpotable water. Somebody better check that. Get the health department out there. So I talked to Harry. I said, don't get your stakes driven in because Not everything is developed yet or show. But what's the first thing when we see when we drive down Cursed Lane? We see Big Corral Park, and there sits another junkyard. Every place he's been, he's got a junkyard. He's got two more trucks and four more cars to move down from his place he's at now. The place he was at behind that was right across the fence from the from the city cemetery in Corvallis. He had that house leased from the guy.

Are you talking on the park adjacent to the park?

You drive right in there. He's parked right where I mowed and sprayed all the weeds. Excuse me for spraying the weeds. But I got a letter for that. But there's no weeds there. But anyway, there's so many things to find out. And that just disrupted it. The guys that were here, I couldn't make it that day. I went out and helped Gary finish up on pulling the fence posts. But I've been out there with picking rocks, doing mowing, spraying, whatever it had to be done to clean the place up. And I drove around there and saw those vehicles, and I knew exactly where they came from. It makes me sick.

Thank you, Harry.

But my three minutes are up. But there's a lot of work to cover before... Because what he's got there, it's not the park that we're dreaming about. It's not the park we want in our heart when you drive around that corner and see that. But I think we better do a background check, because every place he's been, he's left a string of trash at every place. That's coming from my heart. And where I live, I'm Dan's neighbor. So my place looks like a junk pile right now, because I'm by myself trying to maintain it. But anyway, it's... I'm going to do all I can to make the park go. But there's so many things, like I told Paula, like building your house, you have to make a solid foundation to start with. And our foundation, the whole end of it, has collapsed out to the west. Thank you.

Skip Chisholm. I just want to say what Gary just said is exactly correct, and it's like, Every couple of days, there's another piece of equipment. And it's obvious. I go by it every day, sometimes twice, depending on my schedules of what I'm doing. And it's pretty obvious.

Where are you talking now? On the park or is it an adjacent parcel to the park?

See if we're talking about the same thing, Gary. With the cement bridge, and then there's a building, and there's a big fifth wheel hooked up being lived in, and then there's a slew of, and it seems like they keep adding, different kinds of little RVs of different types, and activities that are other than the lease of the building. Is that how you see it, Gary? I'm aware. But other than that, it's an accumulating, mushrooming situation of stuff that probably If one of you were driving home, like when you drive home, Dan, you might, Commissioner Hulls, you might drive right by it sometime and just see it. So you get a snapshot of the beginning of it, and we'll see how it metastasizes. Thank you. Thank you, Skip.

I'll drive by on my way home.

For the record, of course, my name is Jeffrey John. I think we have the remedy for this situation, and it's all written in that ordinance that you guys are going to review. If you pass that ordinance, it would remedy any of these problems we're going to have with the park. Thank you very much.

Wish I could get the pictures from my phone onto here. I've got the pictures here of the last three places he's been, of the poppy that he left and what he left it like. And these are the vehicles here that he still has to move down. The old fire truck, the old fire truck, the old army trailer. He hooks the Army trailer on behind the fire truck, and that's what they go camping in with their canoes and stuff on top of it. But they're coming down. But he's not moved out of that place yet. But I've got the pictures of the inside of the building where everybody worked their butt off to clean it and sweep it and clean it. You'd never know it was the same building. It's just that kind of guy. Has anybody done a background check? checked with his other leases, the people he's leased the buildings from. And he doesn't have a pot to pee in. He wanted my motor home. I offered it to him for $5,000. They were going to take it. And then he said, well, how about $2,500? I says, all right, you take it for $2,500. He wanted me to repair it on my property. I says, because the gas tank plugged up. It's a Ford, and it's under a motor home. Never see it. Now he found this one here. I don't know who he found that one for. I thought he was remodeling. But he's living in it. And he's just, we need to do a background check on him. Because I looked in there today. There's enough mats to fill that corner right in there. That's where he's going to train the kids. And the rest of it's just junk. Old barns that he saved from 1800 or whatever. But I think we better check it. Somebody has to do it. He could pull it over and park it by the old dairy on the other side. It would look like it's in place with all the other junk cars and stuff out in the weeds, but not where it is. Not when we just cleaned out all up, picked all the rocks, sprayed it, property lined it, everything. But like I say, it hits me right to the heart.

Just like to point out that if the commissioners could please just pay attention to that. And because that park is owned by the people of this county, to make sure that you keep the bar high and the screws tight on how it gets used by somebody that's leasing and make sure that there's real tight parameters on what they can and can't do otherwise, just like leasing a property for a residence. They're going to kind of do whatever they damn well please. Instead of, and then see if somebody tells them they can't. Instead of letting them know right up front so we don't have a problem that just takes off and then we got a bigger problem to fix. Thank you.

Switching to a different topic. First, total agreement. The entrance of our park is important to us. What that looks like, it draws people in or it turns them away. Secondly, we've been talking about grants and things like that. What grants do we need to bring before you and what things before the park board to go forward in application for this master plan?

Any grant that you apply for, we should be aware of. Most granting entities are required. We'd go to the park board first. And then to you guys. The park board will review it and then come to us.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah. There's a process.

Yes, there's a process. Thank you.

Thank you. Any further public comment? Okay, we have a motion on the floor to approve Resolution 4814, Adoption of a Raleigh County Big Corral. Did we do that on public comment? It's not on the agenda. Oh, this is on an agenda. Okay. All right. I'm sorry. We're at the end of the meeting. Any further public comment? I got lost. Move to adjourn. We are adjourned.