Missoula County outlines public-safety facilities, growth planning and open-space purchases while flagging election and budget pressures

Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss told a Chamber of Commerce audience in Feb. 2008 that the county is planning a new public-safety building and a regional operations and training center while continuing open-space acquisitions funded by a voter-approved bond.

Curtiss said those projects come as county leaders monitor an economic slowdown and prepare for tighter budgets and busy election seasons. "We maintain a 12% cash reserve for the general fund budget, 8% for the public safety ... and 5% in all of our other accounts," Curtiss said as she described the county's fiscal approach.

The plan for a new public-safety complex would use county-owned land between Broadway and the existing detention center and would house the sheriff's department, the 9-1-1 dispatch center and emergency operations, Curtiss said. She described the existing dispatch space as inadequate, with a need for more dispatch seats and room…