Missoula County commissioners approved on Dec. 4 the FY2026 operations and capital budget items for the John Engen Local Government Building, including hazardous‑materials abatement, ADA entrance upgrades and backbone systems planning, and agreed to a brownfields abatement agreement to use city brownfields revolving loan funds and a state grant to cover abatement costs.

CAO Chris Lansbury described the historic building’s condition and noted the county and city co‑own the property through a special district. Lansbury said the FY2026 package would allocate roughly $2.8 million for hazardous‑materials abatement (with about $1.9 million from the city brownfields revolving loan fund and a state grant of about $857,000), roughly $350,000 for ADA improvements covered by a state grant (with a county share of about $274,000), and approximately $927,000 to begin backbone design; later backbone work was estimated in preliminary terms at about $13 million.

The board voted to approve the FY2026 operations and maintenance budget, capital improvement project budget and the brownfields abatement agreement, authorizing work to begin on abatement, ADA access upgrades and backbone design. Lansbury and commissioners thanked staff and city counterparts for coordination on the project.

Public comment at the hearing was limited; no substantive amendments were made to the budgets approved on Dec. 4.