Commissioners to apply for grants for county improvement

Editor’s note: This version corrects that the Hill County government is working on the planning portion of a federal grant, not the building grant itself.

The Hill County commissioners met Thursday morning and discussed what to do if they received funding from the planning portion of a federal grant, for which the commission is working on applying.

The commission is applying for the planning portion of a building grant, a federal rural transportation grant of $1.5 billion, from which each entity can request is $25 million. Also, a state can receive $150 million.

County Commissioner Mark Peterson said Hill County qualifies for the grant because it meets the definition of rural which is any city or county with less than 50,000 people, he added.

“It’s not an easy grant to get,” Peterson said.

Peterson said he wanted to have numbers on the planning portion of the grant by the end of May.

“I’d like to get started on this. I’d like to take a shot at it,” he said.

Peterson said the county would not be required to match the funding amount with their own funds.

“I think this could be a big win for the county if we could get this,” he added, and the motion to move forward was carried unanimously.

If Hill County was awarded the grant, Peterson said, he would like to gravel certain roads and overlay others with asphalt. Peterson said he was also looking at fixing Old Post Road.

He added that he got an estimate from a local company on how much it would cost to gravel roads, and he was told it would be $60,000 per mile.

Peterson said he has inquired as to whether or not the county can contract the gravel work out to another company or if they can purchase equipment, but because of the government shutdown, he hasn’t been able to get a response.

Two resolutions were brought before the commissioners. Resolution 19-2576 asked the commissioners to appoint a special deputy county attorney.

Hill County Attorney Karen Alley said the special deputy county attorney is being brought in regarding a search warrant for a vehicle related to a case that is currently ongoing in Valley County.

“The pending litigation criminal matter is actually in Valley County and so Dylan Jensen, who is the Valley County attorney, requested that he be appointed to review the return of personal property in the search warrant in the 12th Judicial District because it affects this criminal matter in Valley County,” Alley added.

Resolution 19-2577 also requested a special deputy county attorney. Alley said the resolution would ask an assistant attorney general to assist on a homicide case. She added that the assistant attorney general has more expertise in the homicide field.

“It’s a complex litigation. It involves a homicide. Lots of expert witnesses, lots of evidence to go through. It’s better suited for their level of expertise given the nature of the case,” Alley said.

Both resolutions passed unanimously and Alley said there would be no cost to the county for bringing in the extra assistance.

Commissioner Mike Wendland said the commission should set a fee for the sale or leasing of lots within the Ag Industrial Park, which is on U.S. Highway 87 near Fort Assinniboine. He added that in the past, multiple parties have expressed interest in the park, but no fee was set.

He said the industrial park has water, electrical and gas capabilities in place already and has fire protection provided by Havre Fire Department’s Rural Fire 1 District.

The proposal would set a price of $5,000 per acre for purchase or $1,000 per acre per year if someone wanted to rent the land, Wendland said.

“Something like this is very beneficial for everybody involved,” Peterson said. “We’ve looked at the rates. We’ve talked with Bear Paw Development about the rates to try and make sure we’re doing things consistent with the community.”

Wendland said they checked with Toole and Cascade counties’ industrial parks and tried to come up with something that was similar or acceptable.

The motion was made to pass the proposal and was carried unanimously.