[0:05] It's 11 o'clock. We'll get ready with
our regular public meeting September
[0:10] 8th, 2026. Do we have any public
comment?
[0:14] » I got a question.
>> Yeah, Bill.
[0:15] » Um, somebody a teacher emailed me
wondering
[0:20] was property tax changes or is there
less money for adult education?
[0:28] I don't think it doesn't affect at all.
>> Okay.
[0:31] » School funding bots the same they filled
up 100%.
[0:38] » That thank you.
>> That always come school always comes top
[0:41] list.
>> Well, it's several month they they get
[0:44] filled 85% automatic.
[0:49] » Okay. Any other public comment?
[0:54] Seeing none, we'll move down to
commissioner update.
[0:58] last few without too much going on. Um
he's in the office most times
[1:04] too many
[1:10] working backwards. Today we had the fire
call. We'll stay in stage one. We're
[1:14] going to do the copper water copper and
lead water testing block today.
[1:20] Last Wednesday we had our budget meeting
and finalized our budget
[1:25] and u I was at the Montana Petroleum
Association meeting in Billings.
[1:31] Very interesting topics um how really
important the oil industry is to the
[1:37] state of Montana's
[1:41] economy.
Main speaker was Ted TR. He was very
[1:45] interesting which there
pipeline people the owner of that.
[1:49] That's a private company.
Good.
[1:54] Let's do the thing for the law.
Is that it?
[1:59] » It's about the same as it has been.
>> What's that?
[2:02] » The budgets
>> our our budget uh well with House Bill
[2:06] 117 uh we're limited budget of the rate
of inflation. So our budget pretty much
[2:13] went up to 2.5% which 6%.
Our mills taxable value went up quite a
[2:22] went up. It's been about 32 to 34
million every since I started 10 years.
[2:28] 34 34,458.
So 300 34,4
[2:35] dollars per mill. So that's up. So our
mills can come down. So we reduced our
[2:41] mills on this budget and the budget will
go up just north two and a half%. And
[2:47] that's including a million dollars for
the cape highway and a million dollars
[2:51] for the AR
that
[2:56] two kind of extras.
[3:00] 1 million
[3:05] 1 million
1 million 1 million,000.
[3:13] So the the mills went up, dollar value
dollar values went up the mills. We were
[3:18] able to reduce our mills which was
always good to do. people within the
[3:24] rate of inflation of 2.5 are increasing
our budget and half of that increase of
[3:28] our budget is super
[3:33] it's amazing how much salary takes up in
our budget half that increase is solid
[3:43] right uh remain was in the yeah bill is
the uh pipeline the oil pipeline still
[3:53] » moving along.
>> Mr. Trude is Ted Trudy. He is the owner
[3:56] of that pipeline and they said it's
>> they had to do some more stuff for
[4:00] environmental things but they were kind
of planning on doing it anyway.
[4:05] » They're on track. They are okay.
Two year, three year three.
[4:15] And what about the fertilizer?
>> Anything? anything still waiting to get
[4:21] their own, but they're it's moving
ahead.
[4:26] » Moving along.
>> Well, good news, right?
[4:30] » Yeah, it unless the pipeline runs into
the fertilizer plant.
[4:36] » Uh I was in the office, you know, the
office last week. Uh kind of the same
[4:41] thing with Doug. Emails, phone calls. I
did visit with uh Daniels County
[4:45] Commissioner last week. Uh he was he was
wondering if we had an update anything
[4:49] on the pipeline. They're they're kind of
in desperate need for some
[4:53] infrastructure.
They they were going through their
[4:56] budgets too when they they had a tough
time
[5:00] u getting their budgets to work out. So
they're they're hopeful on the on the
[5:03] pipeline
taxes. Um few phone calls on the roads
[5:08] obviously harvest time which get kind of
beat up. So visit with Derek to look at
[5:13] some projects.
um trying to get some things caught up
[5:16] before weather sets in. But kind of a
just business as usual week for me, I
[5:21] guess. So, uh any other questions? Any
other discussion on commissioner
[5:26] updates?
Okay, seeing none, we'll move down to
[5:32] minutes. Minutes for the regular meeting
on August 25th. We have a motion.
[5:39] » A second.
>> Motion a second. Any discussion?
[5:43] Seeing none, all in favor.
[5:47] [snorts] Uh motion for the minutes for
the month of August 2026. Do we have a
[5:51] motion?
>> Motion, a second. Any discussion?
[5:57] Seeing none, all in favor? I
>> motion pass. Minutes for the special
[6:04] public meeting on September 2nd, 2026.
Do we have a motion?
[6:09] » I'll second it. Motion a second. This
was uh budget adoption resolution
[6:14] 2027-7. Any other discussion?
See none. We'll call for the vote. All
[6:20] in favor?
>> I motion pass. Two administrative
[6:23] issues.
Uh motion on Makeo Health Insurance.
[6:29] Have a motion.
[6:36] I'll make the motion to approve uh
switching our health insurance from JPT
[6:42] to Montana Association county's health
insurance
[6:46] effective January 1st, 2027.
[6:52] Okay, we have a motion. We have a second
[6:58] discussion. I have a second for
discussion.
[7:01] Okay, we have a motion and a second. Any
discussion on makeo health insurance?
[7:06] Uh changing from JPT to make health
insurance.
[7:11] » We we've been uh with JPT for quite a
while. I mean we're I'm not dissatisfied
[7:17] with them. I'm kind of concerned with
JPT. They uh as a group they lost a lot
[7:24] of schools because the they went to the
state health insurance state of Montana
[7:28] put together 300 million sure schools.
for health insurance and JP plead
[7:34] hospital on customers there
and uh say I've
[7:40] working with PO and the ladies within
the healthc care trust there's three ls
[7:45] there that do a really good job of
coming out to the counties and servicing
[7:51] the counties JPT we seem like they
always had to ask and send to them to
[7:56] come out I feel we'll have better
service with JPT the costs
[8:02] for the to the county they're if you
compare them headto head they might be a
[8:08] little higher right now but come January
or July 1 with JPT would get a 7%
[8:15] increase and this where will be from
January 1st to December 31st
[8:22] it's going to be a a lot of work to get
everybody switched over and some
[8:27] learning curve for everybody to get on
the plan they want to offer are still
[8:31] offered the plans 500,000 1,500
extended I 3,000 is it was there a
[8:40] little different but we have plans we
got to pick 500,000 high deductible on
[8:48] 3500 and then we'll have vision and dent
added back in with this we've done
[8:54] I think we'd be a lot better service
throughout the next 10 years with Nico
[8:58] as opposed to Jake
So, is this a 10-year agreement?
[9:04] » No.
>> Okay.
[9:05] » No, it's a year, but it's with JP. We
have to have a 90-day notice that we're
[9:10] going to be quitting them January 1st.
But I'm just talking in the long run in
[9:15] the future. I think a lot better service
get that questions answered. And drug
[9:20] costs are getting so expensive. Um,
got in with the National Association's
[9:27] drug program. I got something huge for
the future with cost of drugs working
[9:35] with the national association counties
and using their buying power in
[9:41] contracts that we can get through them.
So there's just various things that I
[9:49] push to change.
>> Have you heard from feedback from
[9:53] employees?
>> Nobody's really said anything to me.
[9:57] What have the employees even been
notified? It's
[9:59] » I sent out an email last week to the
department heads to share with their
[10:04] employees on on the health insurance
discussion.
[10:09] » So you had brought up that that uh there
was going to be an increase on the
[10:13] current one come July. What is the
increase then in January for
[10:19] I mean a year from now? We don't
>> you don't know that. That's
[10:24] » it was JPT in the last 10 years. It's
average 7%.
[10:29] » So being having worked on the other side
of the spectrum,
[10:33] um the county has one of the best best
health insurancees I've ever dealt with
[10:39] next to UPS in this county. I have never
seen an insurance where so many people
[10:46] have a zero co-pay on their prescription
drugs as the county does. And the the
[10:52] fight of getting drugs approved is not
near as hard through the county. And you
[10:58] have to remember that people that have
surgeons needed implant all that starts
[11:02] over with the new insurance. They got to
go through all the steps that they want
[11:06] them to do. they've got to go through in
even some health even a lot of
[11:10] medications people are on some people
can only take brand for certain things
[11:15] some people are on really expensive
um different medications some of them
[11:21] are like$9 $10,000 a month they have to
start all over with the step therapy and
[11:26] even diabetic medications they have to
start over I see it every year with
[11:31] Medicare plans people when they change
they have to start all over getting
[11:35] everything approved from their current
plan and it would be the same thing with
[11:39] this insurance. So that's something you
have to consider. And as far as
[11:44] prescription, I just can't,
you know, like I said, it's the best
[11:50] plan. We found units to UPS.
>> Yeah.
[11:53] » Having dealt
>> and we we haven't compared, you know,
[11:58] and that's the thing. I think these
gals, they can help out with all these
[12:03] issues that you're talking about and
hopefully get better.
[12:08] » You just I mean, you never know. It's
not It's tough to compare these
[12:13] » with the insurance companies. You don't
know what it's like.
[12:16] » Well, I mean, there's been people
fighting with this insurance companies,
[12:19] too.
[12:23] so much easier through this insurance
company versus Musk or even the health
[12:29] insurance that the hospital had
>> or you know it just
[12:34] » and that's why the state set up those
health insurancees must was terrible.
[12:38] » Oh, it's horrible. Used to be one of the
best in the state.
[12:42] » Yeah. But I would say
>> broke like it
[12:51] » and I think you visit a few Marlene and
I've had a few hiccups with ours. I've
[12:55] called
Gary continues to walk this through it.
[12:59] I mean I I personally and I' I've used
it. Trust me. Um I I don't have a
[13:05] complaint with the insurance that we're
on. I really don't. Um, I have visited
[13:10] as much as I could with some of the
other employees and everybody I've
[13:15] talked to had a serial complaint
um, with what we're currently
[13:22] » and I really don't have a dog in the
fight because I'm on two prescriptions
[13:26] and I can take generics, but I know a
lot of people that can and how it
[13:30] affects their lives. Well, and I'm I'm
two things for me. I I get and I didn't
[13:35] think of the the surgeries when you have
them scheduled, then you got to go
[13:38] through pre-authorization process again.
Um that's something that I didn't think
[13:43] of and I'm staring down what currently
um this is going to be a little bit
[13:49] higher. I don't think the amount I think
it's going to be 100 bucks a month if
[13:53] memory serves. Uh 80 to 75 to 100 bucks
a month uh higher with Mo than it is
[13:59] with Jake. I know we did give probably a
little bit more of a reduced rate
[14:03] because they didn't know we shop for
insurance. Um my big my big thing in my
[14:09] mind right now is kind of where you're
saying if it is broke don't fix it. The
[14:14] other side of me worries about the
unions if we haven't notified the unions
[14:20] um
are they on board with it and I talked
[14:24] to the two union stewards and I never
heard back from them. So, I don't know
[14:28] if they're okay with it or not, but that
could be that could be an issue with it
[14:32] as well. So, um I do wish these gals
look great when they sat in here. I
[14:39] think you help them through it. Um
[14:44] I just wish we had more time to get more
information. I mean, the information is
[14:48] there. Um I just wish we had the unions
on board with the change and more
[14:53] employees that would voice their
opinions. And I I I guess if you don't
[14:57] hear from them, you can sit and think,
well, 120 employees, it it really
[15:00] doesn't matter to them, but I would like
to have some information from some of
[15:04] the employees to say, "Please don't
change or yes, we need to make a
[15:08] change." And I I guess I kind of lean
currently with without having the unions
[15:15] on board. My my vote is to stay with JP
until we get a blessing from the union
[15:20] so they can raise some havoc with us. So
that's kind of where I'm at.
[15:28] » Is the coverage the same?
>> What's that?
[15:31] » Is it the same coverage?
>> There's what they said. They let us take
[15:34] like five plans, right?
>> Yeah. As much as Yeah, they're they're
[15:38] coverable as much as you can count.
Yeah. But their formulas you do, you
[15:45] know,
>> they they say they're better if you're
[15:47] when you add everything together, what
they give deductions on, you're going to
[15:51] come.
It means on the deduct
[15:56] some are way and some are all else. Two
things that stuck in my mind are two
[16:01] things that that and I view this from a
personal standpoint, right? They will
[16:06] cover up to $2,000 for a dental implant.
If I remember them saying correctly,
[16:12] where our insurance, JPT won't. So, if
you need an implant, um, Maker would
[16:17] cover a dental implant and and and JPT
won't. The other one is hearing aids.
[16:23] They have a $2,000 allowance for hearing
aids where JPT doesn't. The the gist I
[16:30] got from the gals when they sat down,
they're very, very comparable insurance.
[16:34] They said that there's some liability
for the uh for the person through their
[16:42] prescription coverage and I know for me
what I take I have never paid a dime out
[16:47] of pocket
>> for any of my prescriptions. Now I have
[16:51] had to go through some specialty and and
make some phone calls
[16:55] » to do. I I do know that, but I haven't
seen where we have
[17:02] where I've experienced an issue with the
prescriptions
[17:06] um for myself. So maybe there is for
some people out there. I they just
[17:13] haven't come and said anything to me um
on any of that. So
[17:18] » I would say 80% of what we dealt with
had a zero copay.
[17:21] » Oh, I mean I'm copay is going to be your
name brand.
[17:26] I' I've got one that comes in through a
specialty pharmacy little different. I
[17:31] mean, there are some hoops to jump
through to get it
[17:33] » and every insurance has those.
>> Um, but it's it's I think I just
[17:38] refilled it is 1,250 bucks a month and I
paid zero,
[17:41] » right?
>> Um, I I I know Jerry's on some that are
[17:46] a whole lot more than that through
specialty pharmacy and she pays
[17:51] couple of phone calls and you have some
days when you don't feel good. It's not
[17:54] fun to deal with that. But um
for me, I know I know the fight that's
[17:59] in front of me. I I know what I have.
>> How to get them set up for specialty
[18:03] climacy? It's it's easier than getting
it started.
[18:08] » For for me, I'm I'm afraid of the
change. I'm afraid of
[18:12] » formulary change. Is it is your drug
going to be on that formulary?
[18:18] » That's I guess that's where I'm at. I
don't know. You got any
[18:22] just
>> [clears throat]
[18:25] » was that
[18:30] so
going to be
[18:36] » I don't know any other discussion
>> the same like now you can basically go
[18:43] where you want to go you or will you be
>> you can't even go to St.
[18:48] You don't have to go to those place.
It's open to both hospitals. This
[18:53] insurance covers both places. You don't
have to go to that providers.
[18:58] » Yeah. Any new open
>> Yeah. You go to any that that is a
[19:04] benefit to these this group. You can you
can go to vill and
[19:11] overnight stays where you could.
>> Do they have any rider attached to the
[19:15] insurance? So if you have to go to a
center, excellent sale pay, mileage,
[19:19] room,
>> anything like that, the hospital had
[19:23] that on theirs. I know when we went out
to go to a female clinic, since they're
[19:28] considered a center of excellence, even
uh billings with Montana, they're
[19:35] considered a center of excellence.
They'll pay your room, your mileage.
[19:40] Like if you flew out to Rochester,
they'd pay your plane ticket. Oh, real.
[19:45] » Yeah. So, I don't know.
>> Well, I don't I guess I never tried that
[19:50] with our insurance. I guess that was
kind of
[19:53] » on ours. Just kind of by mistake
hospital.
[19:56] » Uhhuh.
>> Just a little rider in there. I just
[20:00] didn't know if this would have
>> I don't have enough insurance knowledge
[20:04] for you to know what questions to ask,
you know.
[20:07] » Um,
>> do they do the vote screen?
[20:11] » They do one one health screen. They
don't do they don't do the
[20:17] » they don't do the healthiest wellness
but they do the it start it's similar to
[20:21] an it starts with
>> starts with me
[20:24] » everybody in our office
[20:29] » it doesn't do the stuff that we have
[20:34] » doesn't
but that would be something I think the
[20:38] employees are all
>> all pretty like that so I think we would
[20:42] probably have to adjust to keep that
program
[20:52] and JPT came out with a thing where
they'll pay some of these GR1s
[21:04] and they said that from the time they
got the full insurance 18 months that
[21:10] price locked ts
there was something about when you go to
[21:14] a doctor's visit
that didn't that under 500 or something
[21:20] did it was covered
instead of having to meet your
[21:24] deductible first. I mean there was a few
things that I really liked about the
[21:29] Makeo health insurance. Uh to be honest
with you, I I think there was some good
[21:34] there was some good
points to it. I just don't have a I
[21:39] don't have a reason to dislike GP.
That's kind of where I'm at, I guess.
[21:44] So,
[21:48] any other discussion?
Any other discussion?
[21:54] Seeing none, will call to the vote. All
in favor signify by saying I.
[22:02] All oppose signify by saying I. I.
Motion fail.
[22:09] Uh, moving on. Road department request
to purchase two tractors and two mower
[22:14] attachments. Do we have a motion? Motion
to approve.
[22:18] » A second. Motion second. Uh before us, I
know last couple two three years. We
[22:26] have talked road foreman has talked
about updating
[22:30] uh the two tractors and two mowers.
Uh they're running some old 4630s, 4640
[22:37] series, some pretty old tractors and
some pretty old mowers. So we have
[22:41] before us two quotes totaling
uh
[22:48] 276
274,646
[22:55] and these are about a year out to to
take build.
[23:00] So, this will be for two tractors
equipped with two mowers. The tractors
[23:05] uh once they're built, they go right to
Diamond Mowers and they get equipped
[23:10] with the mowers uh from two two
reputable and two factory
[23:16] uh companies. It'll be a John Deere
6120E tractor with a 72 in side rover
[23:23] mower installed.
[23:27] Any other discussion? These are source
foil bids. So they are acceptable bids
[23:32] for it.
Nice.
[23:38] Any other discussion?
[23:42] » What type of mower are you getting?
>> Diamond
[23:45] » 72
[23:49] » rotary,
>> right?
[23:54] » Yeah.
[23:58] » Okay. Yes, we'll give you a call. Thank
you.
[24:00] » Okay, any other discussion?
Seeing none, we'll go for the vote. All
[24:05] in favor signify by saying I.
>> Motion passed. Uh moving on, road
[24:11] department request to purchase two
pickups.
[24:14] Have a motion. Make a motion to accept
the two new 2027 Ram 2500 fleet price of
[24:20] 52,191
for a total of 1043
[24:25] 82 for June.
2500
[24:29] approved cab.
[24:36] Uh any discussion?
>> Got a bit from high plains also, but you
[24:42] prefer the
[24:46] course we're comparable actually. I
think we're a little bit lower actually.
[24:52] Um I know visiting with Derek there are
some things that were getting a little
[24:57] outdated. Uh mower tractors obviously we
saw that uh vehicles.
[25:03] Um we are just a side note we are three
I think we're on the third season on our
[25:08] blades. Derek looked at the hours and he
said we can run at least another year on
[25:13] those blades uh two instead of updating
them as free if we did. I don't know
[25:18] what's coming down the line on that, but
said there's a lot of life left in those
[25:22] blades. So, we can be swapping one for
the other. I guess maybe not
[25:26] budgetarily, but
>> yeah, it's they're separate, but it's
[25:30] the um the blades we have are all about,
>> but these are these are a couple of
[25:36] things that that were needed. So, any
other discussion?
[25:40] Seeing none, we'll call for the vote.
All in favor?
[25:43] » Motion pass. Uh no claims. Moving on the
pay raises annual pay raise for dispatch
[25:49] employee uh Deleno Ear
motion
[25:54] second motion from a second. Any
discussion
[25:57] needs movement to uh grade two range
seven. All in favor?
[26:05] I motion passed. Uh annual pay raise for
library employee Amy Heler. We have a
[26:12] motion
second. Motion a second. Uh move into
[26:18] grade one, range three. Any other
discussion?
[26:22] Seeing none, all in favor?
Motion pass. Uh request for clerk of
[26:28] court employee Terresa Romo to move to
80% deputy. Do we have a motion?
[26:34] I'll say motion second. Uh this will be
putting her to 80%
[26:40] uh deputy rate instead of range. Any
other discussion?
[26:45] Seeing none, all in favor?
Motion pass. No new hires, no
[26:50] additional, no new business. Is there
any other business? Seeing none, I'll
[26:55] entertain a motion to close. Make a
motion to close. Second motion in a
[26:59] second. We are closing.