Park County commissioners approve grants, FEMA alternate-project request and a series of MOUs; hire county HR candidate

Park County commissioners on April 8 approved a slate of funding applications, agreements and procurement steps intended to support transit safety, youth mental-health programming, road and flood recovery work and county operations.

The commissioners voted to apply for two Park County Community Foundation grants — a Windrider transit camera system for a new passenger van and operational funding for the Communities That Care program — and approved a separate emergency management performance grant submission covering 50% of the county’s emergency management budget. They also authorized submitting an alternate project request to FEMA for the Trail Creek 2023 flood project, signed memoranda of understanding allowing the City of Livingston to use county property for radio hosting and to store roadway milling material, approved covering a small grant shortfall for a sandbagging machine from Public Works funds, and accepted the HR hiring committee’s recommendation to appoint Marissa Reddington to a county position.

Why it matters: the actions free small local grants and federal dollars to be used for equipment, services and staff costs without increasing ongoing county obligations in some cases; the FEMA alternate-project path lets the county use a modest federal award more flexibly rather than undertake a federally prescribed repair that likely would not be fully funded.

Grant applications and community programs

County staff presented two Park County Community Foundation grant applications. Kristen (county staff, grants) said Windrider is requesting $4,000 for a camera system on a new passenger van, and Communities That Care requested $20,000 toward an $80,000 operating budget; she said there is no county match for either request. "Just to follow the math and as indicated in the executive summary, there is still no county match, when Windrider is requesting 4,000, and the remaining balance for that system comes from grant funds that we get from Giveahoot donation. And then for CTC, that request is 20,000. Their budget is 80,000. The rest of that is grant funded through 2 other grants," Kristen said.

Commissioners voiced support for the two programs. Commissioner Vermillion said he had "sat in on" Communities That Care meetings and called its work on youth mental health "really important." Commissioner Collins and other commissioners spoke in favor of Windrider’s service.

Emergency management performance grant

The board addressed an Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) submission that county staff said covers roughly 50% of emergency services budgeted costs. Commissioner Wells said the $47,000 county share required under the current budget prompted hesitation and asked to postpone: "Since 47,000 dollars of this comes out of our budget, I would like to table this until I can sit down and talk to Erica, our finance director, about it a little bit." County staff and other commissioners said the grant had already been submitted and that the county is required by auditors to approve it at a commission meeting; the board ultimately voted to approve the EMPG submission.

FEMA alternate project request: Trail Creek flood repairs

County staff described a FEMA alternate-project request for the Trail Creek 2023 flood project (DR-4726, project number 735295). Staff said FEMA had determined an undersized culvert would need a like-for-like replacement but that permitting and floodplain requirements make that route infeasible and costly. Staff provided figures: the FEMA award for the project is $36,407.96; floodplain permitting alone is estimated at about $17,000, which would leave roughly $20,000 available for actual construction if the county followed the federal repair track.

Matt (public works staff) summarized the trade-off: using the alternate-project option would allow Park County to apply the funds to other road-and-bridge uses (including equipment purchases) that avoid the extensive federal permitting process. "Additionally, the $36,000 we have, we'd have to go through all the FEMA steps of the permitting, advertisement, everything, just with floodplain permits are running about $17,000. So of that 36, we only have $20,000 to actually have a contract to do the work. So instead of doing that, we can do an alternate project, and then look at doing either replacement or upgrading of that crossing at a later date ourselves and then doing it in a much more efficient manner without having to go through all those federal government steps," he said. Commissioners voted to submit the alternate-project request.

MOUs and county equipment

The board signed an MOU allowing the City of Livingston to use space at 50 Water Tower Avenue to host radio equipment for public works; the commissioners approved the MOU without a county charge. Commissioner Watts moved to sign the Livingston MOU; the motion carried.

Staff also presented an MOU with a private landowner to store asphalt millings from a planned Montana Department of Transportation project on U.S. 89 North. Staff said the arrangement would allow the county to accept millings for free, store them for up to a year and later reuse them for road base and recycling operations. Commissioner Wallace moved to approve the MOU with Bonnie Slongo for storing millings adjacent to Walnut Road; the board approved the MOU.

Sandbagging machine

Staff said a Park County Community Foundation grant would cover roughly 95% of a sandbagging machine purchase but that the equipment cost had increased. Matt said Public Works would cover the remaining shortfall of a "couple [of] thousand dollars" from the Public Works fund. The board approved procurement and Public Works’ covering the shortfall.

HR hiring

An HR interview committee including county staff and Justice of the Peace Clay Hurst recommended Marissa Reddington for an open county position; the board accepted the hiring committee’s recommendation.

Other items and county updates

Commissioners also formally approved canceling a pause on a USDA-funded community wildfire protection plan update after staff said reimbursements were being processed and work could resume; authorized staff to continue floodplain regulation updates and subdivision-regulation work; and approved meeting minutes for November and December 2024. Travis Horton, the county’s new health department director, introduced himself and said he had been on the job nine hours.

Votes at a glance

- Apply for Park County Community Foundation grants (Windrider camera system and Communities That Care operations): motion approved. (Presented by Kristen.) - Approve Emergency Management Performance Grant (FY25/26) submission: motion approved after a commissioner requested tabling to consult the finance director; staff noted the grant had already been submitted and auditors require board approval. - Submit FEMA alternate-project request for DR-4726 Trail Creek (project 735295): motion approved. (Staff presented FEMA award $36,407.96 and estimated permitting costs of ~$17,000.) - Sign MOU allowing City of Livingston to host radios at 50 Water Tower Avenue: motion approved. (Moved by Commissioner Watts.) - Sign MOU with Bonnie Slongo for storage of roadway millings adjacent to Walnut Road: motion approved. (Moved by Commissioner Wallace.) - Approve purchase of sandbagging machine and cover grant shortfall from Public Works funds: motion approved. (Public Works to cover a few thousand dollars.) - Accept HR hiring committee recommendation to hire Marissa Reddington: motion approved. - Approve meeting minutes for Nov. 20, Nov. 26 and Dec. 10, 2024: motion approved.

What wasn’t decided or remains to follow

The board did not alter the county’s policy decisions during the meeting; several items rely on future staff work (permitting, equipment procurement, grant reporting and floodplain permit coordination). Commissioner Wells’ request to meet with the finance director before approving the EMPG raises the prospect of additional internal follow-up even though the board approved the submission at this meeting.

Meeting context

The meeting was a regularly scheduled weekly Park County commission meeting with multiple staff presenters and commissioners participating. Several items involved technical trade-offs (FEMA permitting and alternate-project options) and small dollar allocations to equipment and operational grants. Public comment was limited and included praise for road crews and community concerns about the county fair discussed later in the meeting.

Ending

Commissioners adjourned after concluding the day’s agenda; follow-up items include procurement steps for equipment, further permitting work for flood repairs and continuing grant-management tasks.