Cascade County will abandon trash site, build a new one next door

In December, James Bumgarner locked the gate on the Belt-Armington solid waste dump site that serves residents along the Highway 89 corridor east of Great Falls. Nearly six months of lease negotiations with Cascade County had turned to rubbish.

“From my standpoint, if you’re in good-faith negotiations, you don’t start making threats,” Cascade County Commissioner Joe Briggs told Montana Free Press Tuesday. “You don’t lock the property, keeping neighbors out. That makes me wonder what kind of long-term relationship we’re going to be in.”

Now the county plans to build a new dump site just over the fence from Bumgarner’s property. And it will seek a loan for up to $300,000 to build it. When Bumgarner learned about the new site location, he made what might be his final offer to the county: Just buy his site that’s already developed.

“When a permanent solution is that they’re going to lease the land next door, well they might as well buy my site,” Bumgarner told MTFP Tuesday.

The county decided to go in a different direction and on Tuesday approved a contract with the adjacent property owners, James and Shirley Warehime, to lease space for a new dump site. The county also approved a resolution to apply for a loan through a state program that will help build the site and fund upgrades across the solid waste system, which includes eight dump sites and the High Plains Landfill. This comes after the county approved a 45% increase in solid waste fees last fall.

That the county would abandon a dump site and take out a loan to build next door vexed some residents who spoke at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

“I’m confused on how this makes sense for the Cascade County taxpayer,” said Jon Hepfner during the meeting’s public comment segment.

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Cascade County leased the Belt-Armington solid waste disposal site at the former location for at least a decade. County Commissioner Jim Larson owned the property before selling it to Bumgarner in 2021. The lease agreement maintained a $1,500 annual fee until 2023 when Bumgarner started negotiating a higher fee. According to a timeline shared by Bumgarner, in July 2024 Cascade County proposed a 10-year lease that maintained the $1,500 fee. Bumgarner proposed a five-year lease at $4,500 annually.

According to Bumgarner, he was close to an agreement with the county in December, but the two sides remained deadlocked. Because the lease had expired the previous June, he locked the gate at the site. Through an attorney, Bumgarner then pitched an offer of $1,500 until July 2025 to give the county time to find a new site. A deputy county attorney wrote back, “The commission does not wish to negotiate any further and does not accept this counteroffer,” according to emails shared by Bumgarner.

For the past two and a half months, county residents who used the Belt-Armington dump site had to drive to the next-nearest location. For many, that was the Stockett dump site 23 miles away. Others took their trash to the Monarch site. Belt Mayor James Olson said he fielded quite a few calls about the situation. Even though residents within Belt get curbside trash pickup, people in the greater Belt region called to voice concerns.

“I think there’s probably quite a few of the county residents who are frustrated with the distance,” Olson said.

Briggs said that the county moved quickly and “put the word out” to find a new site. It got in touch with the Warehimes, who own multiple plots along the Highway 89 corridor. The key location just happened to be next door to Bumgarner’s land.

“They were willing to do a 20-year lease, which was critical in our cost equation,” Briggs said.

For the lease with the Warehimes, Cascade County agreed to a graduated fee schedule with annual payments of $2,000 through 2030, followed by $2,500 through 2035, $3,000 through 2040 and $3,500 until the end of the contract in 2045.

That is less than Bumgarner’s $4,500 proposal, but the county also has to spend money to build the new dump site. On Tuesday, Public Works Director Les Payne estimated those costs to be around $100,000. The county will apply for a loan of up to $300,000 for that project, as well as other maintenance needed across the system.

The costs of paying off that loan will vary based on how much money the county takes out at once. The state loan, a variable-interest program known as INTERCAP, allows borrowers to draw funds as needed after getting approval for a maximum amount. Still, debt service is likely to cost thousands of dollars annually.

Public commenters during Tuesday’s commission meeting said that a new site was the wrong decision given those costs.

“We have to sometimes put our egos aside and put what may be a personal preference aside to what’s best for the community and what’s best for the taxpayers,” said Chad Schearer during public comment. “And from a business standpoint, if I sat down and penciled this out, there’s no way I’d look at doing another lease with all the additional costs involved.”

Bumgarner also made a public comment, reiterating that he’d be willing to discuss selling the dump site to the county. Commissioners passed the contract with the Warehimes without discussion or comment.

With the new site contract approved, Briggs said the county will work quickly to build the new dump site. It’s unclear who will pick up the tab to restore the former site on Bumgarner’s land. A lease agreement shared by Bumgarner does have language related to restoration of the land “upon termination of this agreement.” The same language appears in the new contract with the Warehimes. But county officials haven’t been clear on that responsibility.

“That is not really determined at this point,” Briggs said. “There’s a question about that.”

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