08/12/2024
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.
Outsourced November election printing likely to cost more
Elections officials scrambled to find an alternative service earlier this year when the county printing office’s sole employee quit while the school district’s spring ballots needed to be printed.
The county did find an alternative printer to get ballots out, but it came at a cost. Great Falls Public Schools administrators laid out the impact in a July letter to Cascade County commissioners. Ballot printing expenses were $17,416 in 2024, which was an increase of $10,799 over the previous year.
The overall cost of the spring school district election was $77,686, and it cost just under $46,000 in 2023. In the letter signed by Superintendent Heather Hoyer and Director of Business Operations Brian Patrick, school officials pleaded with the county to get its print shop back up and running.
Unstaffed but not yet closed, the fate of the print shop has become another point of dispute among county commissioners, split along familiar lines. And with a big general election coming up in November, it appears that printing duties will be outsourced. Commissioner Joe Briggs said that the county will likely go with Nebraska-based Election Systems and Software for printing the fall ballots.
But he also said he sees benefits to reopening the print shop.
“Our elections administrator feels strongly that having the print shop is going to be a long-term asset to her because of the issues of printing,” Briggs said. “Control of timelines is a big thing with elections.”
Election-related printing has been the biggest service for the shop, but it also prints any official paperwork the county might need. That could be tax records, jury notices, or health department notices. The print shop has also done some contract printing for the city of Great Falls.
It doesn’t run a deficit, though much of the revenue comes from other departments in county government. Annual financial reports show that the print shop posted a $48,602 profit in 2023 and a $22,000 profit in 2022.
Though the print shop has supported elections for years, it got political early in 2024. In February, Commissioners Briggs and Jim Larson voted to remove oversight of the print shop operations from the duties of the clerk and recorder, Sandra Merchant. The vote happened the same week that commissioners selected Terry Thompson as elections administrator — another responsibility that was removed from Merchant’s purview.
Commissioner Rae Grulkowski opposed both votes, and her alliance with Merchant has created a division in county government. Grulkowski has been skeptical about keeping the print shop open, most recently during a July 25 commission meeting to discuss the operation. As first reported by The Electric, outsourced routine print jobs have cost 115% more than in-house printing.
Grulkowski didn’t return calls for comment. During a commissioner work session on Aug. 7, she asked for more discussion about the shop.
“It’s in the air that this is happening,” she said, “because we did not make the decision to keep the print shop.” With the fall election printing likely to be outsourced at a higher cost, the discussion over the print shop may not pick up until next year. A job listing has not yet appeared on the county’s web page for the open positions, and by then, the makeup of the commission will look different after Grulkowski lost her primary bid in June.
Legal Notice
The Ivy at Great Falls, once the state’s largest nursing home, has dropped a last-ditch effort to ask the courts to halt its forced closure.
The Ivy lost its Medicaid and Medicare participation following years of poor inspections and safety violations. While the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services terminated the participation, state-level agencies also have some oversight for licensing and other matters. In response to the forced closure, The Ivy sued the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services in July and asked a judge to stall the transfer of residents to other facilities, a process that was already underway.
On July 26, District Court Judge David Grubich denied The Ivy’s application for a temporary restraining order to halt the transfer of residents. In his order, Grubich was skeptical that residents would be better served by staying at The Ivy.
“In this situation, the hard reality is that the patients may suffer irreparable harm whether they remain at The Ivy or if they are forcibly transferred to other facilities,” Grubich wrote.
On Aug. 6, The Ivy filed a notice to voluntarily drop the case.
Working under a provisional license, The Ivy has been working to move more than 100 residents to other facilities. Its Medicare and Medicaid participation ended on July 9. The home’s poor inspection record dates back years and led to more than $235,000 in fines. Specific cases included poor wound care, patient dehydration and nutrition issues, and one episode in which a resident fell in a janitor’s closet that had been left open.
Giving Back
Dean Jardee, development director for United Way of Cascade County, stands in a school bus that stores school supplies during an Aug. 8 donation drive. This was one of three school buses set up in Great Falls for Stuff the Bus, which collects school supplies for schools across the county. Buses were set up at the Walmart and Target locations in Great Falls.
Stuff the Bus is an annual campaign for school supplies that are distributed to schools in Great Falls and surrounding Cascade County communities. Jardee says they were able to fulfill supply orders for six area nonprofit organizations as well. This year, the drive benefitted from a $7,500 donation from the Oakland Family Foundation, Jardee said.
On Aug. 9, volunteers worked to “unstuff” the supply-laden buses to deliver the goods to schools.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
- The Great Falls Public Schools Board of Trustees voted on Aug. 5 to work toward a high school baseball program for boys. Trustee discussion focused on finances with budget deficits on the horizon. Ultimately, trustees approved baseball with adoption to begin during the spring of 2026. The board amended its resolution to require private fundraising to cover startup costs and the first three years of operations. School board documents estimated startup costs to be $40,000 to $50,000 and the annual operating costs to be $90,000 to 100,000.
- Property owners in the Monarch and Neihart areas of the Little Belt Mountains can apply for Emergency Forest Restoration Program aid through the USDA. The funding restores land damaged by natural disasters. In this case, it was the May snowstorm that leveled trees and caused widespread damage.
- By a 4-1 vote, the Great Falls City Commission approved the use of up to $400,000 in tax increment financing for renovations to the Mansfield Theater. The work will include ceiling repair, elevator repair, and new seating. The TIF funds will complement additional money from the Montana State Historic Preservation Grant program and the Montana State-Local Infrastructure Partnership Act.
- A new sculpture by artist Alex Smithson is up along River’s Edge Trail at Garden Home Park. The unique chameleon took seven months to build, according to Smithson’s social media page.
- Recently retired Great Falls Police Department captain Rob Moccasin will begin a new role as the neighborhood council liaison, the city announced. Moccasin spent 30 years with GFPD, and he will now help facilitate the functions of Great Falls’ nine neighborhood councils.
3 Questions For
Permanent Change of Station (PCS) is a big deal for military families who move to Malmstrom Air Force Base and Great Falls. Lisa Sapp is the school liaison specialist at Malmstrom, and she works as a link between the school district and the military community to ease the transition for school students.
Can you briefly describe your work in the school liaison program?
School liaisons are the primary point of contact for all preK-12 engagements, challenges, concerns, and education programming components, including special education, state-level representation, and education community partnerships. We are committed to outreach, advocacy, and partnership initiatives that generate real-time solutions for military-connected students as they transition across installations stateside and overseas. I am able to support all branches of the military, active-duty, guard/reserve, and military retirees living in Montana.
How often are new students joining the district, and how many new students are you working with this year?
The Permanent Change of Station (PCS) season starts kicking off in early spring and reaches its peak during the summer, so right now is my busiest season! However, we do have families trickling in all year round, which can be challenging if they arrive in the middle of the school year.
Numbers continually fluctuate, but on average Malmstrom has 1,600 military children attending public, private, and virtual schools, and we have an active homeschool population. I assist incoming families in navigating their educational options and advise them on state laws and local policies and practices to help them find the best fit possible for their children.
What can people outside of the Malmstrom community do to create a welcoming environment for new students and families?
I often call our local school systems our military welcoming committees, as they are often one of the first contacts made when our military members learn they are PCSing to a new installation. Often, those initial interactions with the community can formulate immediate perceptions of an area before they even arrive. I would encourage the community to remember that when military members reach out for information and assistance, those first impressions matter and to be as patient and positive as possible. Transferring installations and repeatedly packing up families and lives is a stressful but integral part of military service. Your kindness and understanding go a long way in making the process better for military families.
Photo Op
Fog rolled into Great Falls along with cooler weather last week. These birds of prey find rest at Siebel Soccer Park during one foggy morning.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.
