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Fallon County

T IMES May 29, 2020

BAKER, MONTANA

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Budget forces city to close Montana prep rodeo championships ride into Baker Recreation Department By Brad Mosher

bmosher@countrymedia.net

The City of Baker is looking at ways to cut a looming budget shortfall as revenues have fallen because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of the global oil market. At its May 20 city council meeting the City of Baker announced that in addition to recent layoffs, the Recreation Department would be closed Friday (May 22). Mayor JoDee Pratt told the council that the city has to make a lot of changes in order to try to meet a budget shortage for the next fiscal year. The mayor said that she met in the commissioner’s office a few days earlier to address the possibility of getting some funding from Fallon County to help with the budget and future projects like a Special Improvement District. Pratt also said that the county is also going through a difficult time with their budget. “They are looking at their budget also.” The attempt to secure additional funding is best to be done after the budget process has been completed for the upcoming fiscal year for both the city and the county. “We are going to try to work together and see what we can do (with the county), Pratt said. “They are having the same problems that we have.” But the need to cut costs is something the city has to do quickly, she explained. “At this time, we’ll have to suspend the Rec Department for awhile,” the mayor explained. “We can not afford it. The Rec Department is just something that we can not afford at this time.” “I know that letting people go is not the easiest thing,” she said, noting that several people have already been laid off. “We don’t know how long this (situation) is going to last. I do realize the Rec Department is very, very viable to us. But to move forward, we need to think about the budget, the Rec Department and

what we are going to do,” noting that there may be some ways to recoup some money. “I am looking for your input,” Pratt told the council. The department program costs the city approximately $200,000, on average, each year, the council was told. According the recreation department director, Angie Rabbitt, the department still has about $50,000 left – as of April 30. “I have come up short on my revenues target by about 20 percent,” she said. Rabbitt explained that sometimes revenues can be off because of participation. “If we have a little more participation, we might make a little more that can help offset. It may not be a lot...” Although the move to shutter the department came quickly and with reluctance, according to the mayor, she did say she hoped that the department could be restarted when the local economy and city budget improves. Councilwoman Pat Ehret, who was participating in the meeting by phone, said that department is nice for the kids and that she hoped that in the future the city could work out something with sponsorships to help. “This is something we need to change,” she said. “I think parents would be happy to help out and do more.” Another councilwoman, Brittany Hoversland, added that after COVID-19 she would be happy to spend another $25 to send her child twice a week to tumbling. The recreation department had already had two layoffs because of the state shutdown, the council was told. Among some of the other items decided was the recommendation to reduce utility deposit from six percent to two percent. The council went a step further, lowering it to one percent. The council was also presented with a committee report on charge for water and sewer on vacant lots along with a committee report on overweight vehicles.

Quade steps down from Baker counseling role Staff Report

Cindy Quade has spent decades working as a school counselor in southeastern Montana. She worked for 24 years in Ekalaka and another 15 years in Baker. She will be retiring at the end of the school year from the Baker School District. That not only means an end to years of commuting from her home in Ekalaka, it also means that her final semester at Baker School is the one which has totally changed from the way she imagined it would be – thanks to a pandemic and the closure of the school to students. The graduate of Black Hills State University in South Dakota also has a masters in school counseling from Montana State University (Bozeman). She grew up in Lead, just a short distance from the Black Hills State campus where she got her music degree. “I was with Ekalaka Public Schools,” she explained, noting that it was marriage which brought her back from a job in Worland, WY to the southeastern corner of Montana. “I taught in Ekalaka for two years, then went to Worland (in northwestern Wyoming near Bighorn National Forest). But it was a job opportunity which would bring her to Baker. “It was an opportunity to do fulltime school counseling.” Still living in Ekalaka, she said

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she didn’t mind the commute. “There were a few nasty weather days and bad road days every year, but they just amounted to a handful. I did not mind the commute one bit.” The pandemic and school closures has made it interesting to be a school counselor this spring, she explained. “It is challenging... interesting. It is not easy, but so far the work and communication between the staff and the students and the parents seems to be going pretty smoothly for us.” “My biggest challenge is that every spring I build and work on next year’s class schedule for the high school and middle school (students),” she said. “So the biggest challenge will be for all students to get their classes chosen for next year. “We are probably going to have to do that all online,” she added. “I’ll be contacting them with emails and phone calls. When it comes to the impact COVID-19 and school closures have had on her final semester at Baker, she admits that it has been a large one. “It is definitely not how we planned it. I do a lot of accompanying for the music department and with the cancellation of the music festivals we are sadly missing all of that. We are also missing all of our spring sports, the spring prom … it is pretty disappointing for the students,” she said. Great staff, students Quade said that she was happy to have worked with a great

staff and great students in Baker. “Watching the graduates go on and become successful adults in their chosen careers,” she said has been one of the pleasures she has had. She had been doing work for K-12 students in Ekalaka and Baker before switching to handling the 7-12 students, Quade explained. She said she got to see some of the older students return as parents for young students coming through. “A lot of the kids that graduated when I first started here have younger students in the district now, but I don’t get to see them often (as a counselor) because they attend elementary school.” Quade made the transition from being a K-12 counselor to the junior and senior high level about five years ago when the district created two counseling positions. Quade’s husband, Mike, works for Summit National Bank. Her daughter, Kirsten lives in Billings while another daughter, Emilie and her husband Erik, live in Missoula. Both have followed in the family businesses, with Kirsten working in pre-school daycare and Emilie works for the Bank of Montana. Looking ahead, she said that when she finally retires, she hopes to focus on her hobbies along with her friends and family. “We will enjoy traveling, but not until the social distancing is lifted,” she explained.

Staff Report

Baker is going to be hit by a wave of graduated seniors and other high school athletes Sunday when Montana’s best head to the Fallon County Fairgrounds for the 2020 state rodeo championships. The competitors are scheduled to arrive Sunday at noon, with the first event check-in starting at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon. The events tied to the queen competition are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with the first rodeo event being the Cutting 1st Go and 2nd Go in the Graham Indoor Arena at 451 Johny Creek Trail. That event

will start at 1 p.m. The Reined Cow Horse 1st Go and 2nd Go at the Fallon County Arena will follow the Cutting 1st and 2nd Round and is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday (June 3) morning at 9 a.m., the Cutting Championship will be held at the Graham Indoor Arena, while the Reined Cow Horse Championship at the Fallon County Arena will start at approximately 1:30 p.m. The Shooting Competition will be at the Fallon County Rifle Range, starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The 1st Go Round/All Events will start at the Fallon County

Arena at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Friday morning at 9 a.m., the 2nd Go Round/All Timed Events will start at Fallon County Arena and continued after 6:30 p.m. that evening. The final day of the rodeo championships will start The final event will be the Championship Go Round at the Fallon County Arena. It starts at 12:30 p.m. The Queen’s coronation is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The awards presentation is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening.

Montana High School Rodeo 2020 State Finals in Baker

SUNDAY MAY 31, 2020 12 p.m. - (no earlier) Contestants and Officials Begin Arriving 7 p.m. - (no later) Contestants and Officials Arrival Closes MONDAY JUNE 1, 2020 8 a.m. - (no earlier) Conntestants and Officials Begin Arriving 4 - 6 p.m. - (no earlier, no later) Cutting and Reining Cow Horse Contestant Check-in 7 p.m. (no later) - Contestants and Officials Arrival Closes TUESDAY JUNE 2, 2020 8 a.m. - (no earlier) Contestants and Officials Begin Arriving 10 a.m. - (no earlier) Queen Contestants Meet & Greet (Contestants & Family) - Exhibit Hall Queen Written Test 11 a.m. - Queen Personal Interviews (Closed to Public) - Exhibit Hall 11:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. Queen Modeling Practice - Exhibit Hall 1 p.m. - Cutting 1st Go and 2nd Go - Graham Indoor Arena (451 Johny Creek Trail, Baker, MT 59313) 2 p.m. - Queen Speeches & Modeling - Exhibit Hall 5 p.m. - (approx.) Reined Cow Horse 1st Go and 2nd Go - Fallon County Arena (will follow the Cutting 1st and 2nd Round) 6 p.m. - Queen Horsemanship Event - Fallon County Arena 7 p.m. - (no later) Contestants and Officials Arrival Closes WEDNESDAY JUNE 3, 2020 8 a.m. - (no earlier) Contestants and Officials Begin Arriving 9 a.m. - Cutting Championship - Graham Indoor Arena (451 Johny Creek Trail, Baker, MT 59313) 12:30 p.m. - (approx.) Reined Cow Horse Championship - Fallon County Arena (Approximately 1.5 hours after the short go ends of the

cutting.) 2 p.m. - (no earlier) Timed Event & Rough Stock Contestant Check-In Opens - FC Rodeo Office 5 p.m. - Shooting Competition - Fallon County Rifle Range 6 p.m. - (no later) Timed Event & Rough Stock Contestants - Check-in Closes 7 p.m. - Contestants and Officials - Arrival Closes THURSDAY JUNE 4, 2020 6 a.m. - Mandatory Rough Stock Equipment Check - East End of Rodeo Office 7 a.m. - Mandatory Meeting All Contestants Fallon County Grandstands 8 a.m. - 1st Go Round/All Events - Fallon County Arena 11:30 a.m. - (approx.) Lunch Break 12:30 p.m. - 1st Go Round Continued - Fallon County Arena 4 p.m. - MHSFR Scholarship Interviews (Exhibit Hall) (TBD) - REACT Scholarship Interviews (Exhibit Hall) FRIDAY JUNE 5, 2020 WEAR RED TODAY FOR REACT PLEDGE! 9:30 a.m. - 2nd Go Round/All Timed Events Fallon County Arena 2 p.m. - MHSFR Scholarship Interviews (Exhibit Hall) 4 p.m. - Dinner Break 6 p.m. - Senior Night Introductions 6:30 p.m. - 2nd Go Round Continued SATURDAY JUNE 6, 2020 (TBD) - Scholarship Interviews (Exhibit Hall) 11:30 a.m. - Queen Coronation 12 p.m. - Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame Scholarship Presentation 12:30 p.m. - Championship Go Round - Fallon County Arena (free entry) 5:30 p.m. - (approx.) Awards Presentation

Linda Rost, 2020 Montana Teacher of the Year was on CNN on May 21 to discuss how the coronavirus is impacting education. Photo submitted by Steve Carnival.

For up-to-the-minute news visit falloncountyextra.com

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