The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Blaine County Commissioners held a Public Hearing at the Blaine County Courthouse on Tuesday, October 11th to listen to a variety of professionals for the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation to create a special district to assist in their efforts to save the local pool. After the near hour long meeting concluded, the Blaine County Commissioners announced that they would not be making a decision at that time and would take about 10 days to render their decision. On Friday, October 21st at 10:30 in the morning the Commissioners voted unanimously to create the Chinook Recreation District. Blaine County Commissioners Frank DePriest, Dolores Plumage and Miles Hutton were all present through the entire proceeding and were united in their support.

The Chinook Recreation District will be identical to the areas of the Chinook School District. The next step will be to hold a Special Mail-in Ballot Election in January that will be paid for by the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation where the community will get their chance to vote. The Special Election will be for a $750,000 Bond that will be applied to the following in the District – Dwellings (homes), mobile homes and businesses. The cost of the bond to each taxpayer will be $49.90 Annually, or $24.95 each half for the next 20 years.

"We are grateful for the Commissioners to allow democracy to work the way it is intended. This will really be a make-or-break moment for us," stated Foundation Spokesperson, Heather DePriest. "A very exciting million-dollar grant that we are applying for is due in the spring of 2023 and is through the Montana Land Water Conservation Fund." DePriest adds that the Foundation's grant application sits in a pretty favorable position moving forward, "We have been told that our application is considered to be a strong contender for approval. So far, between cash funds raised, smaller grants and pledges, we have secured over $250,000 in our fundraising efforts, however the grant we are applying for is a 1:1 match for $1,000,000. The $750,000 bond we are asking for would secure our matching funds and enable us to apply for this grant."

The opportunity to apply for the grant is limited and to do so by the spring deadline is incredibly important, "The grant will not be available again until 2025/26," said DePriest. "With the $2,000,000, should we secure it, we will be able to fix the pool and the park and bring it up to safer standards. The bond money would not be used to cover the splash pad and the water slide but will enable us to apply for this large grant which would cover the repairs to the Pool and the Park. The Foundations main concern is to fix the pool before it becomes too late."

The repairs to the pool are considered to be urgent and delaying could only add to the expense, "According to our engineer, he believes we have caught this in time, and he believes the pool is still salvageable; if we have to wait, just replacing the pool would cost north of 3 million dollars. We are really just wanting to save the community money, and we don't want to see the pool reach that level of deterioration."

The Foundation had a large turnout at the public hearing and several professionals were in attendance to offer their expertise, "Interstate Engineering is who we have been working with primarily on the design and budget for this project. "They have several offices located in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Minnesota and specialize in pool repair," said DePriest. The Engineer the Foundation has been primarily working with is Kaden Bedwell, whom was in attendance at the public hearing. Also in attendance was the Foundation's Grant Writer Jennifer Pfau, of Lewistown. Pfau is an Award Winning Grant Writer receiving recognition for her public work done in local communities across the state and US. Also in attendance was Bond Council Attorney, Nathan Bilyeu of Helena. Mr. Bilyeau is who the County Commissioners will work with to oversee the bond district creation.

Paul Tuss with Bear Paw Development in Havre also spoke about how hard it is to get pools funded and shared his experience in helping towns face these challenges. Tuss went on to say this a very exciting opportunity for the people of Chinook and to have the chance to secure this grant is immense. Tuss also informed everyone in attendance that he knows of a pool in Montana that will not be open this summer because they weren't able to meet the needs of the pool and emphasized how important this issue really is for the community to stand behind.

"This is a very exciting time for us, the community of Chinook has a real opportunity to keep the pool alive and thriving. We are working our tails off in every way we can to get the funds necessary to keep it going. The opportunity to receive this grant is a phenomenal situation we find ourselves in to achieve our goal of repairing the Pool and fixing the Park," added DePriest. "One of the things we plan to do after we secure all the funding and get the work completed, is to create an endowment fund to prevent this situation from happening again in the future. We encourage everyone to ask as many questions as they can so they can be accurately informed of what we are trying to accomplish."

It is also noted that at the September City of Chinook Council meeting the Foundation received a letter of support to move forward with the bond and the mail in ballot.