Angela Brandt
Havre Daily News
abrandt@havredailynews.com
The next step is near for the planned visitor and cultural center at the Hill County Fairgrounds.
Officials from the Montana Department of Transportation said the project is likely eligible to receive funds from the Community Transportation Enhancement Program for preliminary engineering and planning.
Craig Erickson, director of planning for Bear Paw Development Corp., said he is waiting on the official response from MDT.
Great Falls-based CTA Architects and Engineers Inc. estimates the cost of the early planning at $21,329, of which $18,467 could be covered by federal CTEP money. The remainder would come from a local match.
Preliminary engineering will include what the building will look like, and the cost to build and operate it. The operations and maintenance costs will be the responsibility of the occupants of the center.
“The last thing we want to do is build a building no one can afford to operate,” Erickson said Thursday after a meeting of the visitor and cultural center committee.
The center would be built on a 3.2-acre site in the northwest corner of the Hill County Fairgrounds and would include a place for Montana Actors' Theatre productions, the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce and the fair manager's office.
Committee members discussed fundraising at the meeting. The main idea was a Monte Carlo theme dinner with a poker tournament, dancing, martini bar and silent auction. The committee will seek food and drink donations from companies for the dinner.
