Lt. Gov. Cooney in Havre

Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney met with city officials to discuss local infrastructure needs and get a glimpse of work being done on Bullhook drainage on Second Street during a visit to Havre Wednesday.

"We knew there were some real specific infrastructure issues happening in Havre, and I wanted to take a look and meet with folks in the city," Cooney said after touring the construction site where box culverts are being installed in Bullhook, the drainage ditch which runs beneath the city and into the Milk River.

The construction is part of the $2.6 million Havre Storm Drain Project.

Cooney said the project is an example of the infrastructure needs communities across Montana are dealing with.

Cooney was in the area for a meeting of St. Mary's Rehabilitation Working Group. The group, which  Cooney co-chairs, is an organization of state and local stakeholders across north-central Montana aimed at seeking congressional support and funding to update the St. Mary Diversion in the Rocky Mountains that supplies much of the water that flows through the Milk River each year.

He also visited the North Central Senior Center, where he had lunch with area residents, briefly stopped by the Hill County Democratic Party Headquarters and met with city officials at Havre City Hall.

He later traveled to Chinook where he met with Chinook Mayor Keith Hanson and Harlem City Council member and former state Sen. Kim Hansen. He ended the day with  a Democratic Party dinner at the Red Whip Center on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.  

Cooney was accompanied by former state Sen. Greg Jergeson, D-Chinook, and Hill County Democratic Party Vice Chair Jacob Bachmeier. Bachmeier is seeking to unseat incumbent state Rep. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, in the race for House District 28 in November.

Cooney said the strength of local economies is dependent on the quality of the state's infrastructure.

"We can talk all we want about building the economy, but if communities can't keep up with the needs that the citizens believe are important, it's an uphill battle," he said.

Infrastructure spending has been a big issue on the campaign trail in the race for governor. Cooney, a Democrat, is the running mate of incumbent Gov. Steve Bullock who is fending off challenges from Republicans Greg Gianforte and Lesley Robinson and Libertarian candidates Ted Dunlap and Ron Vandevender in November.

Cooney decried the narrow defeat of the infrastructure bill at the end of the last legislative session. The $150 million bipartisan compromise spearheaded by state Rep. John Brendan, R-Scobey, would have paid for infrastructure enhancements with a mix of cash on hand and bonding. The measure, which passed the Senate, then died in the House, falling one vote short of the 67 needed to authorize bonding.

Republican critics said the bill included capital projects such as the remodeling of Romney Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman.

But Cooney said that the narrow defeat was politically motivated and done to deprive Bullock of a legislative victory.

Cooney met with Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson and Doug Kaercher, Havre's finance director and city clerk, before visiting the construction site.

"There is a lot of infrastructure out there that is in just dire need of being replaced," Peterson said.

He said that the city's stormwater, water and sewer systems and streets are most in need of upgrades. However, Peterson said, the city does not want to start repairing the streets until they have the money to fix the sewer systems that run beneath them.

"There' isn't anything that upsets people more than when you put a fresh coat of asphalt on top and you have to come back and dig a hole to fix the water," he said.

The city is tending the needs of the sewer system as best as they can, Peterson said who added that many of the city's sewers were built in the1920s and '30s.

Water valves have been in need of replacement, each of which can cost hundreds of dollars,

Before going to the culvert replacement, Peterson walked with Cooney down the Sixth Avenue where he pointed out the segment of Third Street now cordoned off by concrete barriers after a part of the street began to cave in two years ago. Cooney also was shown a hole in the Sixth Avenue.