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Cascade County presents new bid to abate longtime Sun Prairie property after court order
Summary
Cascade County staff told commissioners it will seek Western Sky Enterprises' $27,150 bid to abate longstanding community decay violations at 1500 Adams Boulevard after a justice court found the property a public nuisance and ordered abatement and a lien process.
Cascade County Board of Commissioners staff recommended moving forward with Western Sky Enterprises’ $27,150 bid to abate community decay violations at 1500 Adams Boulevard in the Sun Prairie area, saying the action follows a court order that authorized the county to abate the property and lien the parcel for costs.
Gary, a planning and GIS department presenter, told the commissioners the county received an initial citizen complaint in April 2023 and multiple subsequent complaints. He said the department verified violations of the county’s community decay ordinance and that the case was referred to the county attorney’s office. “The county attorney’s office charged Mr. Davidson with a public nuisance violation … Mr. Davidson entered a plea agreement to abate the community decay violations within 90 days,” Gary said, adding the owner did not abate the violations within the required time and the court ordered the planning director or designee to abate the violations and lien the property for abatement costs.
Staff presented three contractor bids to carry out the abatement: Olsen Construction at $23,519; Western Sky Enterprises at $27,150; and Steel Etcetera at $40,000. Planning staff recommended Western Sky Enterprises and requested the commission accept sheriff’s deputy standby at an overtime rate of $85 per hour, with an estimated 40 hours of deputy time, which staff estimated would add roughly $3,400 of administrative charges to be assessed against the property owner.
The planning presenter said the county had previously awarded the abatement contract to Olsen Construction on Jan. 14, 2025, under contract 25-01, but staff later determined it was not feasible to proceed with that contractor and asked the commission to move forward with Western Sky Enterprises under contract 25-43. The presenter identified the county’s legal authority to levy costs and pursue a lien as coming from the justice court order and cited Cascade County community decay ordinance 06-01d and Montana Code Annotated (MCA) section 7-5-109 concerning penalties for ordinance violations.
No formal roll-call vote or motion outcome is recorded in the meeting transcript for the recommendation to change contractors; the transcript shows staff presentation and a brief comment from one commissioner: “We’re still battling this thing, so I hope we will get it cleaned up soon.”
If the commission proceeds with the abatement, county staff said the abatement cost, sheriff standby charges and any administrative fees would be charged to the property and secured by a lien per the court order.
