County commission says it has a lot of irons in the fire

At a Hill County Officials meeting Wednesday Heather Sinclair was introduced as the new director of the Hill County Council on Aging, and, along with providing their reports, county department heads were reminded to maintain a respectful workplace.

Hill County Commissioners Jake Strissel and Sheri Williams said the matter of workplace respectfulness had been put on the agenda by Commissioner Mark Peterson, who was not at the meeting, and the former said he’s not sure what Peterson specifically wanted to address.

Regardless, Strissel asked everyone to make sure people are being respectful of each other regardless of department and later said they should ensure proper communication and to communicate issues according to the chain of command.

He also related a request by Hill County Auditor Kathy Olson, who had not shown up to the meeting yet, that people with county credit cards make their necessary purchases locally if possible.

He said he understands that things are often less expensive online than they are locally and that departments are trying to spend taxpayer’s money as responsibly as possible, but they should be purchasing items from the county’s tax base whenever possible.

Olson showed up later in the meeting and said she thinks doing that is important.

After that, officials provided updates on their departments’ various activities.

Strissel said the commission has a lot of irons in the fire, as they are trying to make sure the RSID 29 and 30 lift station is properly upgraded and work on the Milk River Levy continues.

The levee, which was completed in 1957, was designed to prevent destructive flooding that often devastated the area.

Havre and North Havre flooded fairly regularly, sometimes severely, before the levee system was completed.

However, after inspections in 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the levee did not meet their standards. Problems with the levee include structures being built too close or against the levee and trees growing on it.

If the levee isn’t certified by the Corps, people determined to be in a floodplain will be required to buy flood insurance, a significant financial hit for many in the community.

At the meeting Strissel said the commission is continuing to work with Great West Engineering and the Army Corps to make sure the levy gets certified.

Strissel said he, with the help of the Montana Office of Public Instruction, and some local school officials have been helping fill the void by Hill County Superintendent of Schools Vicki Proctor, who has been ill and unable to preform many of her duties for the past five weeks.

Strissel said he never realized how much work the position is and he hopes for Proctor’s speedy recovery.

Williams said they are also working on upgrading the Hill County Courthouse heating-ventilation-air conditioning system, and she has been helping at the Council on Aging and attending Rocky Boy tribal council meetings, so there is a lot going on.

She also said the commission is hoping to get the county’s new website up and running as soon as possible and announced that the commission would be out of the office next week to attend a convention.

As for other departments, Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln said her office is working through a significant backlog of cases, and they just seem to find more of them all the time, so they are extremely busy.

Lincoln said her office, along with a team of multidisciplinary partners is looking for a new location for their children’s advocacy center as well.

She also said she will be in Missoula soon doing interviews for deputy county attorneys.

Hill County Clerk of District Court Kathie Vigliotti said her office, with the help of the Hill County Sheriff’s Office, is trying to contact jurors, and she appreciated the sheriffs’ help.

Hill County Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger said her office is swamped, and she has two relatively new employees who are in serious need of training, which they will receive next week, so she will need to do some work remotely.

Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg, also the county’s health officer, said they have this year’s flu vaccine at the department and should be getting in the latest COVID-19 vaccination next week.

Berg said insurance should cover the new COVID-19 vaccine and the uninsured have access to state-provided vaccines, so there should be no cost.

She said the department got a new grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials that will allow them to partner with early childhood intervention to promote disease prevention and mitigation, especially for COVID-19, so they will be working with Early Head Start to do that soon.

Mosquito District Supervisor and Weed District Coordinator Terry Turner said he is meeting with a state specialist soon to address phragmites, a reed that is an invasive species in the area. He also said their drone is being fixed after a malfunction caused it to crash last month.

He said they’ve been shorthanded recently but he’s had some great people helping fill the gaps.

Unfortunately, he said, the warm temperatures are keeping the mosquitos around longer than ideal, and there are still some pockets of Hill County that are seeing unusually high numbers of them.

Montana State University Hill County Extension Agent Colleen Pegar said there will be a board member training at the 4-H Chuckwagon Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. put on by the Local Government Center. This training, she said, would be great for anyone serving on a board, or interested in doing so.

Extension Agent Kati Purkett said she is working on getting a schedule set up for a youth awareness mental health program at Havre High School.

Purkett said she is also working on setting up 4-H end-of-year celebrations and preparing for the 4-H program’s next year.