Lincoln Government Day meeting brief but informative

The first Lincoln Government Day meeting of 2024 Jan. 5 proved to be short and to the point, despite getting off to a slightly late start.

The start of the meeting was delayed for a few minutes as a camera was set up to record the meeting. A new law that goes onto effect in June, aimed at increasing transparency, will require the county to post video of their meetings in Lincoln and Augusta on line just as they do with their meeting in Helena. Commission Chair Andy Hunthausen said they are taking the opportunity over the next few months to test and refine their system before the law kicks in. Part of the new process means meetings will be a bit more formal as guest speakers and commenters will now need to step up to a lectern to speak.

Law enforcement coverage in Lincoln area addressed

Since last Fall, Lincoln has been without a resident Lewis and Clark County deputy or Montana Highway Patrol trooper. Last fall, Deputy Robert Rivera left Lincoln to take a position with the Sheriff's office in Helena, while former resident MHP trooper Jessie Short continued living in Lincoln, but moved to a job in Helena due to issues with local residents.

Undersheriff Brent Colbert addressed concerns about the deputy position in Lincoln.

Since Rivera's departure, Deputy Jeremiah Steiner had been driving up from Helena to serve as the interim Lincoln deputy. Steiner volunteered for the job until a full-time resident deputy could be hired, but has been sidelined recently after sustaining an injury on duty. He's expected to return to duty later in January.

"In the meantime, we send people from Helena up here. We also use the Wolf Creek position," Colbert explained, adding that residents should also expect to see Deputy Michael Hilfrich, who rotated into the Wolf Creek Deputy spot Jan 7, up here until Steiner returns.

Colbert said despite having 12 applicants for the resident deputy position and testing for them slated for early February, it may be quite a while before a deputy is living and working in Lincoln.

"Hopefully we get someone hired mid-March or so," he said. "What that means is probably a year from that time before we get someone up here."

Likewise, Montana Highway Patrol Capt. Justin Braun, who has been attending the Government Day meetings in recent months, said its unclear when there will be a new resident trooper in Lincoln. During the October Government Day meeting, Braun said it's difficult to simply plug a trooper into an area. "The training pipeline takes time. We are working on getting a replacement up here. We can't just re-assign someone up here. It's not like the military."

Although they'd been working to rotate troopers up here, he said Friday a recent resignation in Helena has exacerbated the situation.

"We try to send troops up here, (but) inevitably they get pulled back down into Helena," he said. "Particularly in the Helena area right now, we are more of a reactive police force than a proactive police force, which is not where we want to be. We want to have troopers out on the road, visible, trying to prevent incidents."

Braun said they will continue in their efforts to send people up here. "But as the undersheriff indicated, hiring law enforcement officers is a long process. It's probably not going to get alleviated any time soon."

Although MHP headquarters is aware of the issue and is taking steps to mitigate it, he said they're at the mercy of the system.

During the October meeting, when the issue was first discussed at length, Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council Chairman Zach Muse said he wanted to see the community to help with tempering some of the negativity and hostility law enforcement

"If they're doing something wrong and being hostile, obviously we need to report that and their superiors need to know, but if they're doing their job, that's good for Lincoln," he said. "It's good for our kids, who are our future."

Cold spot at Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council

At this month's meeting, Muse became the first speaker to step up to the lectern for a community council update. With little going on at the end of the year, the December UBVCC meeting was brief, but included a discussion about the Record Cold Spot sign,.

Louie Bouma attended to express his concern about the removal of the sign, which was located next to a shallow turnout along Highway 200 near Rogers Pass. The sign was removed following construction of a new Forest Service trailhead that provides better access to the Continental Divide Trail. Although it looks to some like the sign was simply taken down, the trailhead includes an informational kiosk with detailed information about the minus-70 degree reading at a nearby mine in 1954. Bouma felt there should be something along the highway denoting the record, which he called "bragging rights" for the community.

Muse followed up and found the trailhead does see a lot of use, but is closed in the winter due to snow removal concerns and lack of Forest Service staff to maintain the site.

Muse also discovered the forest service got the permit to put the original sign out on the highway, but the National Weather Service took over management of it since it was weather related. He got in touch with Corby Dickerson with the NWS, who he said has "taken the bull by the horns" and contacted the Montana Department of Transportation about the possibility of a new sign on the highway indicating the historic point.

Muse said Dickerson wants to do a trail from the trailhead down to the site of the cabin where the recording was taken, a distance of about a mile and is also working with the state to see about getting it put on the state highway map.

Muse also explained that the new fire well on the fire district property along Stemple Pass road is almost ready to go. The new well was put in after it became clear it would be more efficient than trying again to refit the well installed behind the BVD office in 2012.

Forest Service field work and late snow

Lincoln District Ranger Jim Yarborough weighed in on the record cold spot trail proposed by Dickerson, pointing out it will require an assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act. "We will take a look at all the effects and see how we can do the trail, and if it fits in the forest plan."

Yarborough also explained that the ranger district has had to re-arrange some of its priorities for this year. He said they are still looking to do some field work in the area of the Lincoln Springs subdivision, but the Ogden-Poorman country will be first on the list for fuels work. He explained when the team begins doing the NEPA analysis on the Ogden-Poorman area, they will also start the National Forest Management Act analysis on the Lincoln Springs area. NFMA analysis is required before moving on to the NEPA analysis for the area

Otherwise, he said snow is their big issue.

"We don't have any," he said. "Therefore the gates aren't open for snowmobile use yet. They will be open when we have enough snow. The problem now is we're going to get a bunch of cold before we get a bunch of snow, so there wont be a base for snowmobile use."

He said snow will come in time, and the district will open gates as soon as they can get snowmobiles out there without ruining them.

Public Works still looking for Lincoln operator, planning for bridge work in 2024

The lack of snow so far this winter has presented challenges for the Lewis and Clark County Public Works Department . According to Public Works Director Jenny Chambers they've found themselves in a "weird transition," having been prepared for winter. weather only to pull some of their equipment back out to do more grading and gravel work.

They are also still short a full-time district operator for Lincoln. Pete Dempster departed from the job last fall and the position has been open and unfilled since October. She said they've been"very, very light.on the applicant pool."

"We haven't really had that many even apply for the position," she said.

The job is posted on the Lewis and Clark County website. Requirements call for living within 30 miles of Lincoln and a minimum of five years experience and pays between $26.89 - $28.47 per Hour.

Despite the manpower shortage, Chambers said they have coverage up here with Ron McDunn for snow removal and have been shifting their senior operators up here from Helena.

Looking ahead to the upcoming busy summer, Chambers said Public works is gearing up for the work planned up here, including construction in June of a detour for a July fish restoration project by Trout Unlimited that will see construction of a bridge to replace a culvert on Stemple Pass road above McClellan Gulch.

Chambers said MDOT is still slated to replace the Dalton Mountain Road Bridge this year. She said project is expected to go out to bid in February for the replacement of the bridge.

The Dalton Bridge has been a source of ongoing local aggravation for several years since it was closed in 2016 due to structural concerns. It has been relegated to a single lane bridge since the fall of that year. Originally expected to be replaced by the county by 2018, it became part of the state's Off-System Bridge Replacement Program in 2019. Under the program it has been subject to new analysis, planning and oversight, which in turn led to seeing the project date pushed back several times.

The construction of the bridge is slated to last about four months, with a narrow window between July 15 and Sept. 15 to finish the in-stream work due to restrictions related to bull trout. During removal of the old bridge and construction of the new one, the Willow Creek and Dalton Mountain areas will only be accessible via Herrin Lakes Road, which likewise has been a source of concern due to blind corners around the lake.