Montana Department of Health and Human Services officials are set to meet July 8 with Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney as part of ongoing talks on the future of the former Montana Developmental Center in Boulder.
The meeting was discussed when the MDC Reutilization Committee met June 26 in Boulder. Representing DPHHS were Rebecca De Camara, administrator of the Developmental Services Division, and Jill Buck, acting superintendent of the Intensive Behavior Center that is housed in a former MDC facility.
De Camara told the committee that she and DPHHS Director Sheila Hogan would meet with Cooney. She said it follows a June 18 meeting between Hogan and Cooney at which a survey of the MDC campus was discussed.
As reported previously in the Monitor, the survey would reveal property lines and make clear whether and how the multiple land parcels that comprise the campus can be sold or otherwise transferred to a new owner. The parcels were deeded to the state at different times over the years by different grantors, under diverse terms, creating a complex patchwork of ownership by various state agencies. Parcels that are not state trust lands may be bound by restrictions, imposed by the original grantors, on their future ownership and application.
The survey was expected to be completed by June 30. Local officials have said that Hogan and De Camara warned that, even if the surveys reveal a clear path to transferring the property, actually doing so could take another 18 months, or until late 2020.
The June 18 meeting between Hogan and Cooney was “good,” De Camara reported.
“That does mean to me that nothing that was presented to the Lieutenant Governor’s Office was too disturbing or alarming to them,” she said, noting that “several recommendations” for proceeding after the survey were provided to Cooney.
It became clear at the June 26 meeting that parties are already showing interest in using parts of the campus. De Camara said that the Montana Law Enforcement Academy asked about using the cottages for short-term student housing; Tom Harrington, an MSU extension agent who co-manages the Jefferson Local Development Corporation, said that artisans have expressed interest in using the former administration building; consultant Kristian Richardson, whom the county hired to assess potential uses for the former MDC campus, said a Bozeman construction company asked about renting space to house equipment and Montana Youth Soccer asked about using the gymnasium.
Facing such “short-term, small-use requests” for campus use while its long-term potential is still unknown, De Camara expressed her concern “to make sure that’s being coordinated through a central person” and that the question “gets back to does Jefferson County get priority” for use of the facilities?
Harrington told De Camara that Richardson is looking into an organizational structure that could manage leasing parts of the campus if doing so would be OK until the future becomes clearer.
Potential long-term uses of the former MDC, which are no more certain than the short-term requests, include providing various veterans services.
De Camara also reported that DPHHS is moving forward on its promise to provide blueprints and historical operating expenses for the MDC facility to help local officials pursue potential business leads.
