07/29/2024
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected].
Calumet’s Montana Renewables project remains in court
The international engineering firm Burns and McDonnell claims Calumet owes more than $17 million on its contract to convert part of the Great Falls refinery to a biodiesel plant.
In court filings, Calumet argues that Burns and McDonnell overbilled and performed “subpar” and “defective” work on the massive project, which cost more than $230 million. Burns and McDonnell accused Calumet of public grandstanding.
It’s all part of a lawsuit filed in Cascade County District Court over the biodiesel conversion, which led to the creation of Montana Renewables as a spinoff organization from Calumet.
Burns and McDonnell filed the lawsuit a year ago, but the case remains active while the parties try to sort out their differences through arbitration. In its filing, Burns and McDonnell claimed that Calumet paid some $214 million on its contract but left unpaid just over $17 million. In June 2023, Burns and McDonnell filed a construction lien against Calumet for those unpaid funds.
Calumet and Montana Renewables responded with a number of allegations, including that the engineering firm “treated the project as a piggy bank” and overstaffed, overbilled and in some cases double-billed for the work. The company says that its own internal audit turned up more than $25 million in bills from Burns and McDonnell that were “wholly unsupported.” Calumet says that Montana Renewables removed Burns and McDonnell from the project in May of 2022. The plant came online in November of that year.
Burns and McDonnell responded with a sharp-tongued brief of its own. Attorneys wrote that Montana Renewables “has used its opposition as simply a public platform to besmirch Burns and McDonnell’s good reputation.” The company maintains that Calumet’s allegations are baseless. A 2021 press release that announced the partnership has been scrubbed from Burns and McDonnell’s website.
District Court Judge David Grubich put the case on hold earlier this year while the two parties go through arbitration. Representatives for Calumet and Burns and McDonnell declined to comment.
Photo Op
A red sun prepares to set over the Missouri River on July 22. Smoke attributed to Canadian wildfires pushed air quality in the Great Falls area into unhealthy territory during the first half of last week.
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
3 Questions For
This summer, Heather Hoyer officially became superintendent of Great Falls Public Schools. Hoyer rose through the ranks from teacher to principal and then to district administration over nearly 30 years.
Can you summarize what this summer has been like for you at the start of your term as superintendent?
This summer has been busy but smooth. I spent June working hard with the other executive directors to reallocate the tasks assigned to my former position. We used my transition to the superintendency as an opportunity to evaluate the need for three executive directors. Several COVID-19-related tasks, specifically funding and data collection, were removed from one of the executive director’s responsibilities. This allowed us to make the necessary reallocations and reduce an administrative position. On July 1, I officially transitioned to my new role. One of the benefits of “growing up” in a school district (I have been here since 1996) and working in multiple buildings at various levels is that I know my leaders, teachers, support staff and buildings well.
Starting with established relationships has been important to me. Tom Moore was a great mentor and spent time “showing me the ropes” before he left, so my background knowledge of this position is deeper than that of some new superintendents. When I don’t have the answers, I know who to call and lean on. I have a great team at every level who want what is best for the district, and they are always willing to step up and help.
How are staffing and curriculum shaping up at the CORE School at Morningside?
I am happy to say that the CORE School at Morningside is fully staffed with mentor-level teachers and specialists, as well as college students who will serve as aides and paraprofessionals. In fact, we already have a waiting list for the next cohort of college students who would like to learn in this setting. The excitement is contagious.
The curriculum we will use at CORE is the same as that used in every other elementary building. It is important to us to provide consistency in curriculum across our district. We use the same process to review, adopt and implement. Currently, math is being reviewed at the district level and is making great progress. Where CORE differs is in the expectation and frequency of utilizing our community partners to enhance what the Board-approved curriculum provides. Our teachers are reaching out to community partners to help provide unique, enhanced experiences for CORE students.
What is one other new development at GFPS that students, parents and residents should know about?
While many folks think that summer is meant for school vacations, it is an incredibly busy time for the district. We have multiple academic programs that either reinforce skills or enhance previous learning for hundreds of students at all levels, not just the traditional high school summer school that many people associate with summer learning. Our food service also continues to provide students with breakfast and lunches at several locations in our city. Great Falls Public Schools never stops serving students. This is not a new development, but it is significantly ramped up. One new thing that has helped grow these opportunities is a legislative initiative called the Innovative Educational Program Tax Credit. Thanks to our generous community, we will be able to enhance educational opportunities through experiential models, in ways that our general budget could not support.
We are still in the planning stages, but this is a wonderful and new opportunity to transform traditional classroom experiences. Beyond all of this, our buildings and grounds team is doing amazing work in the buildings, getting them ready for school and facilitating improvement projects like playgrounds, full bathroom remodels, library remodels and roof replacements. We will pack a year’s worth of large projects into three months so our schools are ready for staff members and students when that first bell rings on August 28.
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
- A water main break in northeast Great Falls prompted a precautionary water boil advisory and usage restrictions for some Skyline and Riverview neighborhoods. As of Friday, the boil advisory was set to expire on Tuesday, July 30, and the usage restriction was to expire on Friday. Water tests found no harmful contamination, per a city press release.
- The Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine held a white-coat ceremony for the incoming Class of 2028 on Thursday. One student, 24-year-old Great Falls native Matthew Houlihan, congratulated the work of his classmates and hopes to help underserved populations. “I believe that service is the highest calling in life,” he told Montana Free Press.
- A high temperature of 103 last week broke the record for July 24, according to the National Weather Service. Cut Bank, Havre and Helena also saw record triple-digit temperatures that day.
- Mayor Cory Reeves took to Facebook on Wednesday to say that he disagreed with the Great Falls Housing Authority’s decision to remove screen doors. “…my initial thoughts are, I’m not impressed with this policy change,” he wrote in the post. Read MTFP’s coverage here.
- The Montana State Fair is up and running at Montana Expopark. There’s too much happening to list here (rodeo, carnival, horse racing, food and music), but the hours of operation are noon to 11 p.m. on weekdays and noon to midnight on weekends. Weather forecasts predict highs in the 80s and 90s rather than 100s.