1/27/2025
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to [email protected].
Less than half of the accessibility projects detailed in 2017 have been completed
Less than half of the city’s facilities, parks and transportation services meet disability and accessibility standards, according to a recently updated city checklist.
The checklist, formally known as the city transition plan, was created in 2017 by a consulting company hired by the city to help identify facilities that need to be brought up to ADA standards. At the beginning of each year, the city updates the list of nearly 2,300 projects that need to meet compliance.
Last week, community development planner Ellie Ray and city housing coordinator Anne Pichette presented the most recent findings during the ADA compliance committee meeting. The plan showed that most projects have yet to be completed.
While city officials are working to make the 106-page document easier to read, Montana Free Press counted about 660 completed projects.
When the list was initially created, a timeline of three phases spread across 10 years was developed to allow staff, department directors and the community to check the progress of each project, but no hard deadline was established, city staff told MTFP.
“The [timeline] is not actually a fixed point per se. We are making headway and becoming better compliant,” Ray told MTFP. “If we don’t have the entirety of this transition plan completed due to lack of funds from the general fund or whatever to address the issues that remain, we can at least demonstrate that we are trying to substantially comply, and we are working toward that.”
During the committee meeting, Jacob Krissovich, who sits on the city ADA committee and is a member of the disabled community, questioned the status of the transition plan and the consequences if the city couldn’t complete the projects.
When asked if any city funding would be at risk if the list couldn’t be completed, Ray told MTFP that the city doesn’t receive federal funding to address the compliance issues. Instead, money comes from the general fund, which is mostly local taxpayer dollars.
However, while the plan tracks the status of each project and the cost estimate, Ray said it’s just one part of the city’s efforts to address accessibility issues. City staff and leaders are continuing to concentrate on compliance work, she said.
“Within the past six months to a year, the city manager has stated very vocally that this is a priority area,” Ray said, “which is why we’ve been ramping up our efforts working with different departments to get them better engaged and understand what the requirements are and how it impacts each of their respective departments.”
Public Notice
Open lands open house: The city of Helena will host an open house on Thursday, Jan. 30, to discuss proposed open land projects for 2025. The event will take place in room 426 at the City-County Building, 316 N. Park Ave., at 5:30 p.m. City parks and recreation staff will present the recommended projects and discuss public comments submitted from December’s open house. The public will be able to provide input until Feb. 14. Visit the Be Heard Helena website for additional information on the open lands projects.
5 Things to Know in Helena
Fire Station 3 update: In a city meeting last week, Fire Chief Jon Campbell updated the city commission on the progress of building a third fire station after voters approved a bond to fund building the facility last year. City staff said they are nearing a contract agreement with Dowling Architects of Helena, which the commission would need to approve, to develop a cost estimate and a schematic design. Campbell said the station will be located on the corner of Custer Avenue and Kelleher Drive north of Costco, and construction is tentatively expected to begin later this year.
Water treatment plant update: City public works director Ryan Leland also updated the commission on the progress of the Tenmile water treatment plant that shut down this past winter for renovation work. While construction work is progressing, Leland said he can’t give an exact date of when work will be completed. This report comes after Commissioner Andy Shirtliff asked for the update after receiving questions from the public. Leland reminded the commission that city water, which is temporarily being treated at the Missouri River treatment plant, is safe to drink and use, despite the taste and odor that is caused by organic material in the water.
Helena airport gets another Denver flight: The Helena Regional Airport Authority announced last week that United Airlines has added a third daily flight to and from Denver. The new flight is scheduled to depart from Helena Regional Airport at 5:39 p.m. and will arrive at the Denver International Airport at 7:32 p.m. Flights from Denver will depart at 2:55 p.m. and arrive back in Helena at 4:47 p.m., according to the airport’s press release. However, the flights won’t be available until May 22.
Clean Slate Clinic: The Montana Legal Services Association will host a free “Clean Slate Clinic” to assist low-income Montanans in removing prior misdemeanor convictions from their criminal records. The association announced last week that it will offer the services in Helena, Bozeman and Billings from March 24 to March 28. To participate, people will need to register with the association online.
Local restaurant named as a semi-finalist: The James Beard Awards released its list of the 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award semi-finalists, and Helena’s The Union is nominated for “Best New Restaurant.” The Union, owned and operated by the Old Salt Co-Op, opened its doors last year at 361 N. Last Chance Gulch and offers Montana-raised and processed meat and other locally sourced ingredients. Award winners will be announced on June 16.
3 Questions For
As Good Samaritan Ministries waits for its new shared location to be completed to house a women’s and family shelter and the peer-run homeless support center Our Place, officials and staff considered whether the center would need to shut down its operations in the interim. That was until the Helena-area Habitat for Humanity executive director Jacob Kuntz offered up the non-profit’s vacant building. Kuntz spoke what Montana Free Press about the temporary agreement to help Our Place. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.
MTFP: How did Habitat for Humanity and Good Samaritan Ministries devise the plan to house Our Place?
Kuntz: We have that old building on National Avenue that used to be the location of the Habitat Restore. Two years ago or about, we moved to our new location over by Lowe’s, and we put the older building there up for sale. It’s been on the market and hasn’t sold.
[GSM executive director] Theresa Ortega had looked at it in the past, but then when I saw that article a few weeks ago in the [Independent Record] about how they had lost the lease, and they were going to be out by January, I reached out to her again because the old building is just vacant. It just seemed like, well, we have an old building and this program needs a space and they were able to work it out with the city fire marshal and everybody.
MTFP: How long will GSM use the building and what did the agreement look like?
Kuntz: We have been looking to sell the building because the proceeds from the sale are going to be invested in the land development project we’re doing in East Helena, Rose Hills. We’re hoping to sell it, but in the meantime, the commercial market’s been a little bit tight because of interest rates. It’s an old stone building from 1885 and it’s in great shape, but you need kind of a specific, business or entity that would work right for that situation. It takes a little bit longer.
It worked out for both of us because they are basically covering our carrying costs for the building, or our rough costs just for holding the building. So it works for them and it worked out for us as well.
MTFP: Why is having Our Place continuously open important to Helena?
Kuntz: So housing is on a spectrum and you have basically organizations working to support people experiencing homelessness on one end and then we’re [Habitat for Humanity] working on affordable homeownership options on another side. So we know these organizations because these are critical needs in communities.
Transitional housing and housing for people experiencing homelessness, emergency shelters isn’t our specialty or our expertise, but we, of course, support that because it’s such an important part of our community.
So this was kind of a no-brainer. They needed a space, we had a space. If that space had not been available, we would have had these people who were experiencing homelessness out on the street during the day, unsheltered in the worst part of winter, and Good Samaritan Ministries with Our Place would have lost their staff, so it was just kind of a win-win.
Crime Watch
The jury trial for Kenneth William Greene is set to begin on Monday, Jan. 27, at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse, according to Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney Mary Barry. Greene, who was arrested and charged with one count of deliberate homicide for allegedly killing an ex-partner last summer, is facing no less than 10 and up to 100 years in prison. Judge Mike McMahon is presiding over the trial.