Department heads review local operations: hiring, facilities and city growth-policy notice

Department heads covered routine county operations and community items before and after the insurance presentation.

Staff announced they will advertise an operator vacancy and discussed timing for newspaper and Facebook postings. Department representatives described coordination with the sheriff's office about moving a shooting range to a portion of the new landfill property to keep public traffic away from the range and to allow excavations outside licensed landfill boundaries.

Staff also reported several personnel updates: Kevin submitted his resignation and will depart for a position at Montana Tech; Cherry from juvenile detention is returning to county work and staff are arranging a workstation move; and the county will onboard multiple new police officers over the next two weeks.

Planning staff noted the city's growth policy draft (about 309 pages) had been released for a 30-day public-comment period and is posted on the city website and at the college. Separately, staff discussed sewer access issues that required a lift station and drove additional costs on a property where the old building location and grading made direct sewer connections impractical.

Staff mentioned a potential grant application to help fund an automatic underground cemetery-irrigation system (engineer estimate discussed in the meeting suggested about $1.5 million for the sprinklers and larger infrastructure like storage tanks could be cost drivers). The county will continue to develop grant paperwork and community support for that project.

The meeting closed with routine coordination notes and reminders about upcoming hearings and events.