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Good Monday morning. This week, we’re continuing local candidate interviews to help voters get acquainted with the people behind the names on their ballots. And stay tuned to the very end of this edition to get a bit more media-industry context following the big announcement of Lee Enterprises acquiring the Great Falls Tribune.
But first… heads up, Great Falls
Due to construction on Central Avenue, the route for Friday’s CMR homecoming parade will run along First Avenue North and Park Drive. If you’re wondering how that’s going to work, just ask Great Falls High School boosters about how the homecoming parade went this past Friday.
Commissioner candidates outline top issues
One seat on the Cascade County Board of Commissioners is on the ballot this fall. James Larson, who has served as commissioner since 2015, is stepping down from the all-Republican board.
The Republican candidate is Tom Lynch, who grew up in Great Falls after moving here at a young age. He told Montana Free Press that he served nine years in the Army and ultimately landed back in the Electric City, where he was an officer with the Great Falls Police Department for more than two decades. He retired last year.
If elected to the board, he said that budgetary concerns will be top of mind. He said that beyond essential government functions, including public safety, there are opportunities to review some expenditures.
“Even though the budget is balanced, there’s a lot of money being spent that shouldn’t be spent on things,” Lynch said.
Three operations that get county support have been topics of debate recently. Those are regional museums, libraries and MSU Extension services. Lynch didn’t say firmly whether any services should be kept or cut, but he said museums should be reviewed for their community benefits. He also said he supports MSU Extension services with or without county funding, but believes that the state of Montana should contribute more.
“One thing I will say is the way the extension office is designed, I feel the state needs to step up,” Lynch said. “The counties are paying the bills for this, and I’m all for paying to continue extension, but I think the state, if you look at the way it’s written, the state should be the one funding that and not the individual counties.”
He added that he wants to more closely examine the services provided by local healthcare systems compared with those of the City-County Health Department.
“You look at our City-County Health [Department], there are lots of services that are duplicated that can probably be cut back as well,” he said.
Among Lynch’s campaign contributors are Larson, the current county commissioner whose seat is up for election, and several current and former area Republican legislators.
The Democratic candidate in the race is Barbara Bessette, a public health and substance abuse prevention professional who served one term in the 2019 Montana Legislature representing House District 24.
Bessette grew up in Belt and participated in 4H programs. As an adult, she said her work took her into schools across the county.
“When I was a prevention specialist here, we did a lot of things in Great Falls, but I made sure I always got out to those county schools to do prevention services,” she said. “So making sure everyone in the county has a voice.”
Bessette said that the 4H programs, which are administered by MSU Extension, are important to preserve. She said she would look to support its funding. She also said that public health issues would be a way for her to apply her expertise in a bipartisan manner among Republican colleagues if elected.
“Really just ensuring that we’re listening and what we can do to work together on both sides of the aisle,” she said.
Bessette announced her candidacy in March on a public Facebook page, but she hasn’t posted about her campaign since. While she received $500 from the Cascade County Democratic Central Committee just after the June primary, she hasn’t spent money on campaign activities. She did, however, repay a $504 campaign loan he made to herself, according to campaign finance reports.
In June, Bessette took a job as a tribal liaison with the Montana Department of Public Health. The role of Cascade County commissioner is a full-time, salaried job as well. Bessette affirmed this when asked if she would leave her current job if elected.
“I would be a full-time commissioner,” she said.
Photo Op 📸
Here is an obligatory fall colors photo to go along with the milder weather we’ve seen lately. The National Weather Service is calling for warmer fall temperatures this week as the region works through this changing of the seasons.
Eye on Local Government 🏛️
Great Falls College MSU continues a trend of enrollment growth, according to the college.
There are 1,614 students enrolled at the college for the fall semester compared to 1,490 a year ago. The figures mark a positive start for new college CEO Leanne Frost.
“We are seeing growth from students across northcentral Montana and beyond who recognize the quality and value of a Great Falls College education,” Frost said in a press release. “Whether students are pursuing careers in health care, trades, business and technology, education, preparing to transfer to a four-year university or getting an early start through dual-enrollment classes, Great Falls College continues to provide accessible pathways for them to achieve their educational goals.”
The college is climbing back from a 10-year high in fall enrollment reached in 2017, when 1,691 students were enrolled. Enrollment was at its lowest in the fall of 2020 and has improved in five of the six years since.
Full-time equivalent enrollment, a metric used in budgeting and college funding, has also improved, reaching 949 this year. That measurement totals all the credits being taken in a semester and determines what enrollment would be if all students were attending full-time.
Great Falls in Brief ⏱️
Great Falls police and Cascade County deputies were involved in the shooting death of an armed man in Harlem Sept. 24, according to a press release. Blaine County authorities requested assistance from Great Falls-area law enforcement for an armed man barricaded inside a home. Authorities said that after negotiations, the man confronted officers. A woman was also found dead inside the home. The press release provided few details about who shot whom and said the man’s death was the result of an “officer-involved critical incident.” The event is under investigation.
The Great Falls Public Library is taking food donations in exchange for fine forgiveness through October. Fines up to $25 will be forgiven in exchange for donations of non-perishable food to benefit the Great Falls Community Food Bank. Donors can also put their food donation toward the fine forgiveness of a child with a library card.
Great Falls College MSU is hosting a free panel discussion about Montana’s conservation legacy Oct. 9. The event will include music from Sarah Deuter of Huson and panelists Gene Sentz, Bill Cunningham, Greg Schatz, Joan Montagne, Wayne Chamberlin and Joe Perry. The event is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the college’s Heritage Hall. More info is here.
From the MTFP Newsroom 📰
In case you missed it, newspaper chain Lee Enterprises last week announced the acquisition of the Great Falls Tribune.
The Tribune has a strong legacy in Great Falls, but that reputation has diminished in recent years as its parent company, USA Today Co. (formerly Gannett), reduced the paper to one local staff writer. There hasn’t been local community news in the Tribune in years, except for some local sports coverage. The paper’s social media pages often highlight local news from faraway states like Oregon.
Lee Enterprises has a big footprint in Montana. The company owns papers in Butte, Helena, Missoula, Billings and Hamilton. The chain has an active state bureau that focuses on legislative matters and a dedicated athletics-coverage brand, 406 MT Sports. But like many newspaper companies, Lee has been going through continued rounds of layoffs in Montana and across its properties nationwide, even after a billionaire became the majority shareholder early this year.
It remains to be seen how the new ownership will affect the Trib. A story in Lee’s Montana papers used the term “invest” seven times to describe the acquisition. The company’s communications manager didn’t respond to my question about staffing for the Great Falls paper.
