Pandemic and ARPA funds discussed at county officials meeting

Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Berg said at a meeting of county officials Thursday COVID-19 continues to affect younger people in the community as cases steadily continue to crop up.

Berg said a possibility exists that these latest case may be the result of a variant, not just because of the age group it affects but because there seems to have been a noticeable shift in symptoms.

She said fewer and fewer people seem to be losing their sense of taste, but chest congestion and breathing difficulties appear to be more intense, and young people are being hospitalized because of it.

She asked that people not hesitate to get tested if they have these symptoms.

“If you have those symptoms don’t wait around a month to get tested. Please,” she said. “We’ve had a few of those.”

Berg also said there has been a noticeable decrease in the amount of people seeking out the vaccine.

She said the health department had a walk-in clinic this week and it only vaccinated 19 people.

However, she said, the department is working closely with the Rocky Boy Health Center and Fort Belknap Public Health to make use of their stores of the Pfizer vaccine, which recently received emergency use authorization for people 12 and older.

Berg said Rocky Boy and Fort Belknap have been offering the vaccine to young people in Hill County — Fort Belknap also is providing the Pfizer vaccine in Blaine County — but she’s hoping the storage requirements for the vaccine are changed soon so the department can store it themselves.

She said the department is also evaluating what the 2020-21 legislative session means for them and how they do their jobs.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean said she recently participated in a call that laid out some very basic guidelines for how funds from the American Rescue Plan can be used.

After the meeting, McLean and fellow Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said a great deal of unknowns still exist about how the money can be spent so for now they are just contemplating broad ideas until more guidance is provided.

During the meeting, McLean said the county will receive $3.2 million and she does have some ideas for where that money should go.

She said she’s interested in using it for revenue replacement and had her eye on Beaver Creek Park specifically, which she said lost a fair amount of revenue in lodge rentals over the past year and hopes that money can be used to fund some needed repairs to said lodge.

McLean also said she was also thinking about replacing and upgrading the courthouse’s air handler that regulates air quality in the building.

However, she said, department heads will know more about what they need than she does and asked them to think about what else the funds could be used for.

Berg said she heard Gallatin County was putting together focus groups of community members to get and idea of what they think their county needs which might be a good idea in Hill County as well.

McLean said she’s started the application process for the first half of the money and project proposals need to be submitted by the end of July.

Hill County Commissioner Jake Strissel also provided an update on the commission’s activities more generally, and said they are working with Bear Paw Development Corp. and Great West Engineering to fix the Cottonwood Creek Bridge which is in dire need of repairs.

Strissel said they are looking for ways to fund the project.

He said they are also working on the Milk River Levee project survey and are just waiting on a contract for it.

McLean also said the county is still in the process of looking for a superintendent of schools and a county sanitarian.

She also read an update about the county’s court that said that about 1,800 juror questionnaires were recently sent out to the public and they are working on processing them.

The update said a homicide trial will begin on June 8 and probably last until June 18 and asked that county employees try to leave parking spots open June 8 and 9 and not to park in handicap spots.

Hill County’s new Montana State University Extension Family and Consumer Science Agent Kati Purkett said the extension office has been fielding questions about crops and plants, and she is working on trainings.

Purkett said 4-H has their 2021 Great Northern Fair schedule outlined as well.

Hill County Building Manager Daryl Anez said the courthouse’s new security cameras and door locks are being installed and procedures will need to be put in place for times when the doors need to stay open outside of normal hours, like during elections.

Anez also said the chiller is up and running and seems to be working great after a few minor adjustments.

During his update, Mosquito District Supervisor and Weed District Coordinator Terry Turner mentioned that beavers have taken down a number of trees along the Milk River.

“Anywhere along the Milk River corridor, the beavers are getting in there thinker than heck,” he said.

Hill County Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong also renewed her request that work be done on implementing county credit cards for employees.

Armstrong said said and many others often finds themselves in situations where they need to purchase things for work with their own credit cards which complicates their payments and is a significant hassle to deal with through reimbursement.

Berg backed Armstrong’s request, saying she’s had to waste time with the procedural hurdles of reimbursing expenses from her employees using CARES Act funds that would be much easier to deal with if charged to a county credit card.

McLean mentioned that an employee recently had to be terminated for using a county gas card illegally which raises concerns about the prospect of county credit cards.

Armstrong said she didn’t really know how to respond to that, other than to say the lack of county credit cards puts employees in unfair situations and the issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

Officials also voted unanimously to change the regular schedule for county officials meetings to have them run on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. to it no longer pushes back the commissioner’s business meetings.

The next county officials meeting will be Wednesday, June 16 at 10 a.m.