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Volume XXXVI, Number 14
A new plan
Stevi looks into refinancing water and sewer bonds
By Michael Howell
Members of the Stevensville United Methodist Church combined a memorial to the old Fellowship Hall, which is scheduled for demolition, and groundbreaking celebration for the new building planned to house the Sapphire Early Learning Center, a combination daycare/early learning facility (modelled on the Head Start program) that will serve infants to 12-year-olds.
Methodist Church holds symbolic groundbreaking
early.
being regulated as a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CECRA), or “state superfund,” facility. Currently, IP, the lead liable party at the site, is conducting the investigation and cleanup under the oversight of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). IP also plans on testing out some new technology for containing and potentially disposing of the toxic materials. Historically, ditches located
near the operations area of the facility drained north and combined with the Waddell Ditch north of Bunkhouse Road. During historical investigations between 2011 and 2012, limited soil and sediment samples within and adjacent to the Waddell Ditch were collected and analyzed for PCP and dioxins/furans. However, while evaluating the available information in
area. He said he was hoping to do more together with the Stevensville School in terms of coordinating their curriculum to make for easier transition for students when they enter the Stevensville school system, as many students do. DoBell said it was great
to be back in the valley and he looks forward to working with the Lone Rock community. He encouraged any parents with questions about anything at the district to contact him at the school, 777-3314.
He told the council that if the town agrees, he would proceed to put a package together and put it out to bid. The actual bids received may not match his estimates, but the town has no obligation to accept the bids. He told the council that they could refuse the deal at that point if they didn’t like the bids. “If I didn’t think that these were realistic savings, I wouldn’t be knocking on your door about it,” said Osowski. Councilor Bob Michalson said it sounded like they had nothing to lose by trying. Mayor Brandon Dewey said that was his reasoning as well. See STEVI, page 3
See SITE, page 4
DoBell new Superintendent at Lone Rock School
By Michael Howell “Out with the old. In with the new.” Church member Dean Diers recounts some memorable experiences that transpired in the old Fellowship Hall now slated for destruction to make room for the new Sapphire Early Learning Center, as Pastor Sarah Merchant looks on.
Pastor Sarah Merchant and church member Ben Longbottom (who helped build the current hall back in 1989) took shingles off the north wall of the Fellowship Hall and people wrote down memories of the old hall and prayers for the new building. They will be hung in the new building “like Tibetan prayer flags on Mount Everest.” Others were taken home by members as keepsakes and reminders.
mber Reme in n to tur lot al your b
According to Osowski, the deal works pretty much like a homeowner refinancing their home when interest rates drop low enough to make it worthwhile. He said the costs of refinancing are rolled into the refinancing package so there is no up-front cash cost to the town. The savings are achieved by making the same payments which pays off the loan early, creating the net savings. Osowski said he ran a preliminary analysis of the Town of Stevensville’s bonds and thought the town could save about $700,000 in the sewer bond refinance and another $200,000 on the water bonds. The sewer bonds, he said, would be paid off 12 to 13 years early and the water bonds would paid off a couple of years
New technologies may be used at ‘state superfund’ site near Darby After expanding its water sampling activities in 2019 related to the environmental contamination at the old S&W Sawmill site north of Darby, International Paper is moving forward in the development of a Feasibility Study Work Plan which will serve as the roadmap for evaluating cleanup operations at the site. Environmental contamination from the historic sawmill is
A symbolic groundbreaking ceremony was held recently at the Stevensville United Methodist Church (SUMC) to celebrate the proposed building that the congregation plans to erect after demolish-
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The Stevensville Town Council gave the go-ahead at its October 8 meeting to Brian Osowski of AMKO Advisors to generate an analysis and proposal to refinance the town’s water and sewer bonds. Osowski works for a registered municipal advisory firm that started in Fargo, North Dakota but has recently expanded into Montana. He told the council that his company has recently helped the city of Red Lodge, Montana refinance its USDA bonds for water and sewer and were able to save the town about $2 million in its water bond payments and another $1 million by refinancing the sewer bonds.
By Michael Howell
By Michael Howell
ing the current Fellowship Hall. The new building will house a newly formed non-profit organization called the Sapphire Early Learning Center. Chairman of the church’s building committee, John Fisher, explained some of the details of the project. He said it probably
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
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all started back in February when SUMC Pastor Sarah Merchant had a conversation with Laree Jessop, who owns and operates the Bitterroot Early Learning Center in Corvallis. This led to a meeting between Jessop, Merchant and Fisher in which the three agreed that it was worth investigating the
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possibility of having an early learning center in Stevensville. They worked up a proposal for creating this type of educational daycare and presented it to the church congregation in March. “The need for it is really great,” said Fisher. He said less than 40% of pre-school children have daycare or childcare with early learning opportunities available. The congregation gave them the go-ahead to at least investigate the possibility and a building team was formed. The current Fellowship Hall was built in 1989 and was attached to the existing historic church building. The plan is to demolish the current building and construct something of about See METHODIST, page 3
Stevensville High School teacher Robert DoBell has left his teaching job to become the new Superintendent in the Lone Rock School District following the resignation of former Superintendent Scott Stiegler last August. DoBell served as the Stevensville High School VicePrincipal for four years and then as Curriculum Director for K-12 for another eight years before moving to Three Forks, Montana where he took a job as Principal of the 6 to 12th grades for two years. He then served another four years at Three Forks as K-12 Superintendent. His career was temporarily interrupted for a year when he returned home following the death of his father, aunt and grandparents. He was subsequently hired as a history and social studies teacher at Stevensville High School before being offered the Superintendent position at Lone Rock. “I always have liked Lone Rock School,” said DoBell. He said the staff at Lone Rock was wonderful to work with and he enjoyed the fact that he was still part of the greater Stevensville
Lone Rock School Superintendent Robert DoBell.
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