Missoula to bring pre‑trial supervision in‑house, adding three full‑time positions

The Missoula City Council on May 11 approved a plan to move pre‑trial supervision from a contracted county program into the municipal court by creating three full‑time equivalents and shifting existing professional‑services funds into personnel to cover the cost.

Court Administrator Carrie Dy told council the contract with Missoula County expires June 30 and that county employees running the pre‑trial program have accepted other jobs, creating a service continuity risk. "This would create three new full‑time employees in the current municipal court budget," Dy said, adding that the transfer is intended to avoid a break in services when the contract ends and to onboard new staff while winding down the county arrangement.

City Finance Director Lee Griffin described the move as revenue‑neutral reclassification of existing appropriations: departments may transfer funds between expenditure categories without increasing appropriation levels, and staff worked with central services and human resources to ensure timely recruitment. Council members asked about the program’s efficacy, how reminders and case‑management reduce failure‑to‑appear rates, and how performance will be tracked. Court staff cited Urban Institute analysis showing improved appearance rates with reminder and light case‑management interventions.

Council moved and unanimously approved the change, using vacancy savings and a transfer of approximately $268,000 from professional services into personnel lines to fund the hires. Councilors emphasized that future ongoing funding will be subject to annual budget processes and asked for metrics on failure‑to‑appear rates and case pendency to track program performance and any realized savings.

The court plans immediate recruitment to prevent any gap when the county contract terminates; staff said they would monitor the program and share outcome metrics with council.