REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Thursday June 19, 2025
ALL PRESENT: Commissioner Morse, Chair; Commissioner’s Waters and Ostlund; Board Clerk Teri Reitz; Clerk and Recorder Jeff Martin.
PLEDGE: MOMENT OF SILENCE, Held.
MINUTES – June 3, 2025, June 10, 2025, and June 10, 2025, Elected Official’s Compensation Hearing. Commissioner Waters made a MOTION to approve the Minutes, Commissioner Ostlund seconded. Passed Unanimous. Commissioner Waters made a MOTION to move item 6F from the Consent Agenda to item 2 on the Regular Agenda, Commissioner Ostlund seconded. Passed Unanimous.
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON REGULAR, CONSENT AND FILED AGENDA ITEMS – Hearing no comments Commissioner Morse continued the meeting.
PLANNING
– A.) Preliminary Plat Approval – Snow Berry Subdivision, a Minor Preliminary
Plat. Mr. Hunter Kelly, Planner stated that the proposed subdivision creates
three (3) lots for development. The subject property is located east of
Snowberry Road and north of Thunder Ridge Road. The property is unzoned and is
currently used as residential land. Mr. Kelly went through the proposed
conditions. Commissioner Waters made a MOTION to conditionally approve Snow
Berry Subdivision – Minor Preliminary Plat with the Findings of Fact and the
S.I.A., Commissioner Ostlund seconded. Passed Unanimous. B.) Barber Farms
Subdivision, Preliminary Minor Plat. Mr. Hunter Kelly, Planner stated the
proposed subdivision creates four (4) lots for development. The subject
property is generally located at 4511 Central Avenue. The proposed is zoned
A-Agriculture and is currently used as residential and agricultural. Mr. Kelly
went through the proposed conditions. Mr. Kelly also noted that the applicant
has requested a variance from Section 4.14.B.2 of the Yellowstone County
Subdivision Regulations. Section 4.14.B.2 requires the subdivided to pay a fee
in lieu of hydrant installation to the Fire Department serving the proposed
subdivision when a County subdivision is within one-half (1/2) road mile of a
pressurized municipal hydrant. The applicant is requesting this variance
because lots 3 and 4 are intended to be annexed into the City of Billings. The
annexation and subsequent Annexation Agreement will require additional fire
hydrants and water mains to be constructed to serve these properties. Staff,
including the Fire Department, is recommending approval of this variance. The
future annexation and required infrastructure improvements for Lots 3 & 4
would render the requirement redundant. Commissioner Ostlund made a MOTION to
conditionally approve Barber Farms Subdivision, Preliminary Minor Plat with the
Findings of Fact, S.I.A. and the Variance,
Commissioner Waters seconded. Passed Unanimous.
FINANCE – Item moved from the Consent Agenda – Jail Based Pilot Program – MOU Stonerock Business Solutions. Sheriff Linder stated that he is not aware of the MOU and has not seen it yet. Sheriff Linder stated that the MOU pertains to the MAT Program that we have going on at the jail. After talking to Melissa Williams and Jennifer Jones we still have the grant and there is still money in the grant, but we need to look at our options once the grant runs out, so that’s what this discussion needs to be about. Sheriff Linder stated he is not the expert, but Melissa and Jennifer could probably fill in more of the details and Amanda Stonerock is the expert on the program itself. Ms. Amanda Stonerock, Stonerock Business Solutions stated that she has been in weekly communications with the Department of Health and Human Services prevention department, they are working on making changes to the Medicaid platform where things will no be reimbursable through their platform even if they’re non medicated services. Because Medicaid doesn’t qualify in the facility. What they will doing is allowing the contractors that are currently outside of the facility to still come in and perform the work, they will bill directly through the platform rather than it come through a reimbursable service through the county. We’ve spent the last 6 months working on administrative rules and some processes. I’ve been in communication with all subcontractors and then I spent about 5 hours yesterday with Ivy Medical’s COO and CEO to talk about the transition. We are going to get their staff trained and understand what they can do. One of the benefits of them moving to this system that I think will be pertinent to the county under this new contract negotiation for medical is that psychiatric medications can be billed which right now we’re not getting reimbursed for psychiatric medications for a slew of administrative reasons and tracking purposes that are happening down at the facility that money will come back directly to the county not to Ivy. So that is a benefit on your behalf and so I’ll be working with them and Diamond Pharmacy and all the folks to get the processes set up so that county can be reimbursed for that. Commissioner Ostlund asked what that revenue picture would look like. Ms. Stonerock stated Melissa or Jennifer could probably speak to the dollar amount. Melissa stated that she didn’t know the specific dollar amount but did just wat to relay her conversation with Ivy yesterday afternoon after meeting with Ms. Stonerock down at the facility and that is a major benefit of this grant and of the funding, is that the mental health medications can be reimbursed. They tend to be the most expensive medications and as the board is well award one of our major issues down at the facility are the significant delays getting folks over to the state hospital which means we’re handling the antipsychotic very expensive medications for a year to 18 months. Ivy did relate that that they’d had a long conversation with Ms. Stonerock, and they understand that she’s going to assist in transitioning some of this administrative overhead over to Ivy so that we pull back into the contract. That is the workflow plan moving forward. I hope the state reopens the grant and I hope that we’re able to continue to get the reimbursables. Commissioner Morse stated that this is kind of a multi-faceted discussion but for purposes of this MOU so I think the way I understand it is there’s $50,000 left under this grant and whether we spend that in one month or if we take the average of what we have been spending it might last 3 months. So, we are going to pay the administrative fee of $6,500.00 a month, so roughly $19,500 just to get $55,000. Ms. Jones stated that is correct and to assist in the transition from Turnkey to Ivy Medical. Ms. Stonerock stated it is more than just that reimbursable expense again there will be direct reimbursable expenses to the county. I just don’t know that dollar amount without having the list of the medications and the prescription I can’t even get an average from Turnkey to tell me what that was costing them and as of June 30th will be costing the county. The contract from the state is a one-year contract. They are hoping that they will have this reimbursable platform set up by October first. They’ve been saying that now for 18 months, so I’ve been trying to transition out of this contract and roll for 18 months and the state keeps continuing and what they did recently with the contract that you signed through the state was a one year and we are going to give three months of funding now and potentially more. I am on the phone twice a week with the state trying to get them to start making some decisions because this is a significant impact not just to the county but the jail and the providers who have hired full time staff to perform this work. Commissioner Morse stated if I understand you correctly the state may extend this for a year, but they’ve extended it 3 months but that kind of makes it worse if we’re paying you $6,500 a month and we go over 12 months because then we would be paying more in administration fees than the actual amount we would get from the grant. Ms. Stonerock stated that my intention, I have asked Melissa for 18 months to please find somebody to do this. I have told her I will do this for 4 months that the current funding and by that time Ivy or someone else within the county is going to have to take over this responsibility. So again, I met with Ivy yesterday to talk about this, and they are fully aware that the transition process is going to happen. I am going to spending probably 20 to 25 hours a week to train them and their staff and I will be meeting with their medical directors. I have met with their medical director who’s down in California and is very familiar with MAT programs. So, the level of transition period is really for what’s going to happen afterwards and it’s more than just this grant there’s a couple of other programs that are coming down from the state, the CAA program which is the mandatory program we’ve not technically been in compliance with right now. Ms. Jones stated that this particular contract just so you know Mark is just for the 3 months run out of the HEART grant and if there was more money that was given it would come back to the board in another contract for us to approve. Commissioner Waters stated that we must have a contract because the MAT program by state law has to be administered. The state is mandating that we do the MAT program it’s whether or not we get reimbursed. Ms. Williams stated that we have the MAT program pretty shaved down and I do want to be clear the jail-based pilot program is much broader that just the MAT. It includes housing assistance, mental health medications all of those sorts of other services are wrapped into on giant grant-based program. We’re not just talking about MAT but yes if we were not to be funded anymore for that larger program, we would scale it down to just what is required by law which is the continuation of MAT for folks that are already engaged in those services. Commissioner Waters aske if Ivy was aware that they were going to have to take this over. Ms. Williams stated that they are award now because Ms. Stonerock spent 5 hours educating them. Ms. Stonerock stated that one of the concerns is the Ivy does not have an NPI number so they themselves are not going to be able to request the reimbursement and there’s some discussion about what the reimbursement looks like to see it it’s a benefit for them to hire administrative staff. Because it’s not just providing the service in order to be reimbursed from the system you have to do a lot of documentation and charting and coding and they don’t have medical billers and charting and coding, that’s not part of their system. Our discussion yesterday was how do we work with providers and what do we need to do for the county to do that. It’s multi-layers and then as part of this program that I’ve been managing for the Sheriff it’s been broader than just this grant. We have taken over all the assessments from every single inmate that has come in that’s being requested from the public defender’s office. In the past those individuals were coming out and sending whoever they wanted into the facility, and we’ve streamlined the process. I’ve been working with the prosecutors at the city, the county and all District Court judges. Much like Melissa indicated it’s much larger than just the medication component. It is moving people throughout the system, and I’ll come back in July once I’ve collated all the data and the reports and get the information from the County Attorney’s office because I do want to report on what we’ve done in the 6 months. As of today, we have 84 active who we know were trying to get them into the facility into furloughs into a bunch of different things. Commissioner Waters stated can I clarify are these inmates supposed to be in the state hospital. Ms. Stonerock answered no. The majority of them are not mental health clients they are substance use or cooccurring. They have underlying mental health that may be related to substance use but every single person that comes through the jail-based program has to have some sort of diagnosis and off the cuff and don’t quote me on this but I would say that 95 to 96% are requiring a Level 3.5 inpatient treatment. So, we’re working with the court system to get them transitioned into RCM Bad Land, MCDC, Rimrock somewhere else other than the facility and we’re moving them out. If we’re not able to move them out we’re helping Probation and Parole work through their process faster so that they can get PSI’s and get them sentenced sooner or we’re working between the prosecutors and the defense counsel to get plea agreements. It’s not just medication there’s a level of case management that happens with risk assessments and screenings. Mr. Stonerock noted that it is called targeted case management is what the state defines it as and it’s a robust process. Commissioner Morse stated that the first sentence of the MOU talks about the Sheriff’s Office being awarded funding to pilot programs addressing substance use disorder, mental health and criminal transition. Commissioner Morse asked what the mental health component of that. Ms. Stonerock stated it is doing the cooccurring assessments and then also if we were to build the reimbursement of those medications. Again, they are meeting with licensed clinical professional counselors, licenses social workers who are making the diagnosis. If they have a mental health and a substance abuse diagnosis that licensed professional is making those recommendations and then the targeted case manager is taking those recommendations to defense and prosecution and then also trying to get them into treatment. We’ve made attempts for mental health to get people into mental health group homes. Right now, we’re not dealing with the level of individuals that go through the state hospital. There was a program that was available, I don’t know if the county chose to go for that program or not. We’re not dealing with those severely mentally ill, we’re dealing with the people that need to transition somehow out of the facility into the community. Commissioner Morse state that this is an important topic, and we have discussed this with the Sheriff over the last month and we have a contract with the Mental Health Center and the Sheriff said he didn’t see that they were providing any value so, the Mental Health Center is out of the facility now and we have to pay the bill for this. Ms. Stonerock answered yes. Commissioner Morse stated this Board of County Commissioner using taxpayer funds to pay for this. Commissioner Morse stated we have to decide going forward everybody wants to provide mental health and yet we have Lieutenant Baily from the facility saying he thinks it’s worthless that he hasn’t seen any change in the 20 years he’s been there. It’s expensive for us, county taxpayers to go in several different directions. I think this board has questions about what is our program, and this may not be the question for you it may be for the Sheriff or Ms. Williams. What is mental health going to look like going forward at the jail, what are we paying for. Commissioner Waters commented just on his point because we don’t want to put you in a position that you answer questions that are maybe beyond the scope. You are seeing this trying to bring all this together. Who is in charge to make sure that we’re funding the right thing to move people out of the jail? What are you seeing in terms of what organizations or anyone else moving us to? Ms. Stonerock answered, it indicates mental health in there to address the cooccurring issue so this grant funding, the heart funding isn’t the level of mental health service that the Mental Health Center was providing. The Mental Health Center program was entirely separate from everything else that we were doing. The intention of this was to focus on those that have opioid use disorders and them cooccurring underlying mental health because of substance use. I do believe that we have a long way to go when it comes to building this program and there’s a lot of research and technical assistance that we’ve had over the last 3 and half years on this program. We had to pilot and start small, we are now managing about 20 new intakes every single week through this part of the program, but it doesn’t address that next level of the mental health and the mental health group homes. The individuals that we have had through the JVP program that have had sever mental health we couldn’t get them admitted into a mental health group home. The Mental Health Center refused to take them because they said their mental health was too severe. So, that person sat in jail until their time was done and then they got reoffended and went back to jail. We don’t have a good resource within our community or statewide to send those severely mental issue. In my opinion that’s a system problem that’s not a dysfunction of what the people within the facility are trying to do. Darren and his staff that are currently Turnkey are doing crisis management, they are not doing mental health treatment. That is an entirely separate program that should be considered and would love to have a conversation in the future about that. The purpose of that would be completely different than this purpose if that makes sense. Commissioner Waters asked Ms. Williams if Ivy Medical is prepared to over this program, it’s about to run out in terms of what we are dealing with today in terms of whether we continue to fund this with public money or let it subside and try to go a new direction. Ms. Williams stated that she had a conversation with Ivy Medical yesterday after they met with Ms. Stonerock, and they said they would be prepared. We might be looking at a contract increase because this all-costs money across the board. They are prepared to absorb these services on the jail-based pilot program services that would be the MAT side that’s required by law. Then on the mental health side, totally accurate, totally separate programs. Jail-based pilot program doesn’t necessarily deal with mental health it is not the primary focus it’s the required treatment that we have to give for substance abuse and specifically opioid use disorder. On the mental health side Ivy did takeover Turnkey’s portion of the mental health contract and so what we are required to do is crisis intervention stabilization. We do not provide long term therapy, evaluations things of that nature, that is what the Mental Health Center was providing. The idea there was that we would take a very narrow number of people and would move them out of the facility if there were community-based placements available and the Mental Health Center operates the only available group home for mental health. Because the folks in the facility are so severe we didn’t see a whole lot of movement there. There was some value but that’s a separate program that is not required by law. We don’t have to have that in place, it was just a good idea to try and get some folks out of the facility. I maintain that I think it is helpful. Narrowed down it is helpful but that’s just a separate program. Ivy is taking over all mental health so they will do the medication prescriptions. Hopefully we can get reimbursed for some of those prescriptions through some of the grant funding and we’ll continued to do crisis stabilization, suicide watch, tele-psyche and all those sorts of things. Commissioner Morse mentioned that he heard earlier in the discussion all that the state was going to stop paying for some of the medications and passing that onto the county. Ms. Williams stated that right now we have 2 different processes. The state right now is not paying for any of our medications. Under our current contract with Turnkey our medications our sunk underneath the contract. We paid a flat rate for medications across the board, both mental health and medical. No provider makes that offer anymore. You cannot get your prescriptions sunk underneath your contract. It’s the providers that aren’t willing to pay for prescriptions not the state. We can however get the mental health medications reimbursed in part through the state. They are going to start doing that. Commissioner Waters asked if the language submitted for what we are trying to accomplish today for the MOU. Do we just need to continue it or let it go through the end of the month and let Ivy take over the services. Where are we? Ms. Williams stated I think the recommendation that I would make is to allow the grant money to run out to use this other $50,000 for about 2 to 3 months. I think it will take that long for Ms. Stonerock to transition Ivy out, they have a huge learning curve. I will try to absorb as much of the program as I can. I’m not a provider but I can do some of the overhead and I can chime in on some of the meetings and try and help Ivy out in this transition. It’s a huge program for them. It’s been helpful and we’ve been able to get quite a few people out of the facility and folks have that have come back to it is helping with case processing time. I do think it’s a benefit and if the state doesn’t fund it that will be unfortunate, moving forward and we will just shave down those services as I know the budget is tight. Ms. Stonerock stated that she has had some conversations with Ivy about reapplying for some funding that helped launch this program initially. John, I think you were the only commissioner on the board at that time. We started this program with four separate grants and narrowed it down to just the one for ease of administrative time and issues with relation to that. I spoke with Ivy yesterday about applying for that funding directly. You would need to have the commissioner support because it does have to have county and sheriff buy in to be able to apply for some of that funding, but they were interested in taking over managing that and doing the grant requirements and reporting. We would just have to wait for that funding to be released which isn’t slated until October with a start date of April of next year. Contrary to public belief there is a lot of funding out there right now and the state is still releasing some funding through the behavioral health for future generations. We are still in negotiations with the state about what the Heart funding will look like. The contract is for a year, they’ve given 3 months of funding, even at the end of that 3-month time period, my goal is to transition this off to them. I still want to be supportive, and I’ll work with Ivy to talk with them about what they need long term because the don’t know the folks at the state. They don’t know the state comes to me on anything related to the jail-based program. The CAA the Heart the prevention, all that communication, they send that stuff directly to me and I need to give the state time to figure out who the point person is within the facility, that is not me and not Melissa and not Jennifer. Right now, it’s just like I’m the liaison for that kind of stuff and it takes a little bit of time. I realize the cost is burdensome which is why I’ve been trying to get out of this contract for the last 18 months. Ms. Williams stated that yes Ms. Stonerock has been trying to get out of this contract, but I had no one to fill the roles. Commissioner Morse stated he would be more comfortable if we had a contract that has duration on it, and it was specific as to what Stonerock Business Solutions were going to do for us. This to me is a little open-ended. I am agreeing to pay $6500.00 and it’s not clear to me even after this discussion what I’m getting and what the county is receiving in return. Ms. Williams stated that is an easy amendment to the contract, we can shorten the duration, make it clear that it’s just until this specific period of the funding runs out approximately 3 months or less. Ms. Jones stated it is in there right now, the language is saying that it’s only tethered to the 3-month duration of the start of the grant. When this money runs out this contract is over. Commissioner Morse asked is it in the contract what Stonerock Business Solutions is providing us for the money. Ms. Jones stated that the deliverables are in there. Ms. Williams stated that the one thing that isn’t included is because we’re just having this discussion is the transition service you just started to offer that on your own above the contract, we could certainly add that if the board would like some language that just advises that you’re going to continue to work with Ivy to make a plane for a warm handoff. Commissioner Waters stated he is wondering if we need to table this today until we work out some of those details in the MOU or contract. Commissioner Morse stated that he is happy to take that as a motion. Ms. Stonerock stated if I may commissioners, I am not going anywhere so if this not resolved by June 30, I am not going to let this fail. This is sort of a baby of mine with the providers for the last 4 years since we got together with the state to start, like I’m not worried about payment. I’m not worried, I am not going to Ivy fail, the jail fail, the partners fail because that’s not what I do in this community. We will figure it out, if the county wants to reduce the contract, I am not going to let this fail. I just wanted you to hear me say that. Ms. Jones stated that if you are going to table this, it will need to come back next week because it needs to be in effect by July 1st because of the grant. This is a state contract that the state developed. We just change the terms to fit our terms and if we don’t approve this one then I have to go back to the state and the state’s going to say who’s going to administer this portion of it. So just full disclosure. Commissioner Waters asked if anyone had thoughts. Commissioner Ostlund stated Mark, Commissioners, I am not sure that we should just consider approving this. We have finite period, we have deliverables in it, we know when it’s going to end. How would we train Ivy without the MOU. Commissioner Waters asked if we don’t have the MOU, you can’t train Ivy? Ms. Stonerock stated I don’t know what my attorney would tell me as a business owner on providing service, my attorney would tell me don’t provide service without a contract. I don’t’ know what is legally allowed for me to be able to go in and have, so here’s a consideration for that the HIPAA compliance, the confidentiality like all of that is contained within this MOU as well. It’s the same terms that I have been functioning under for the last 3 years. I don’t know if I’m allowed to have the level of detailed information that I have access to, to be able to do the work that I am without the contract. Ms. Williams stated that we carry insurance for this role and the insurance would have something to say about it. Commissioner Ostlund asked Melissa Williams if she had a recommendation. Ms. Williams stated she would recommend that the board approve this contract with the public discussion understanding that it is only for the duration of until this funding runs out, the $55,000.00 or so that we have left, with no additional funding. We will make a plan to transition with Ivy, I will make every attempt to absorb as much overhead as I can. Amanda will also train me. I can also add memo or something to a file item next week that just explains and reiterates the conversation that we had that explains the duration and also outlines the transition services that we would expect. I can get with Ivy and ask them specifically what they need and make sure that there are those specific deliverables just for the record. Commissioner Waters asked so you wouldn’t need us to table this to add and addendum. Ms. Williams answered, no. Commissioner Waters made a MOTION to approve the MOU of the jail-based pilot program with Stonerock Business Solutions with an addendum outlining the services and way forward, Commissioner Ostlund seconded. Passe Unanimous.
CLAIMS – Batches 25-163, 25-164, 25-165, 25-166 and 25-167. Commissioner Ostlund made a MOTION to approve the Claims, Commissioner Waters seconded. Passed Unanimous.
CONSENT AGENDA – 1. CLERK AND RECORDER – Plat of Serenity Subdivision and the S.I.A. 2. COMMISSIONERS – A.) Board Reappointment – Melissa Gentry to Zoning Commission/Barry Bender to Huntley Project FSA. B.) Board Openings – Updated List. C.) Board Appointments – Cecelia Gavinsky to Historic Preservation Board/James Priddy to Fuego FSA. 3. COUNTY ATTORNEY – Lexis Nexis – Sanction Support. 4. PUBLIC WORKS – Public Works Recommends Awarding the Lockwood Sidewalk Project to Askin Construction. 5. SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS – 2025-2026 Contract for Contracted Superintendent of Schools. 6. FINANCE – A.) Recommendation of Award – MetraPark Outdoor Digital Signage IFB. B.) MetraPark Contract – Fabricon – Dome Remodel. C.) Notice of Award – Elections Ballot Printing RFP. D.) Two Moon Park Native Plant Revegetation and Noxious Weed Prevention Grant Agreement. E.) Change Order #1 & #2 – TW Ridley – YCM ADA Remodel. F.) Jail Based Pilot Program – MOU Stonerock Business Solutions. Moved to the Regular Agenda. G.) Bond for Lost Warrant. H.) Resolution 25-79 to Create RSID 913M to Maintain Roads in Serenity Subdivision. I.) Resolution 25-80 to Create RSID 914M to Maintain Dry Hydrant in Serenity Subdivision. J.) Resolution 25-81 to create RSID 915M to Maintain Public Park in Serenity Subdivision. K.) DUI Task Force Strategic Plan FY25-26. L.) Sylvestri Customization Agreement with DUI Task Force. 7. PUBLIC WORKS – Mitigation Credit Reservation and Purchase Agreement. 8. SHERIFF – A.) MFPE Sheriff Deputies 2025 Montana Fair Stipend. B.) Request to Donate or Dispose of Outdated Mobile Computer Equipment. C.) Lockwood Schools SRO Agreement for 2025-2026 School Year. 9. HUMAN RESOURCES – A.) FY25-26 Health Insurance Rates. B.) PERSONNEL ACTION REPORTS – Metra – 1 Appointment; Road and Bridge- 1 Termination; Elections – 1 Termination; Justice Court- 1 Termination.
FILED ITEMS – 1. AUDITOR – Payroll Audit for May 16 to May 31, 2025. 2. CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT – Checks and Disbursements for May 2025. 3. FINANCE – A.) Two Moon Park Native Plant Revegetation and Noxious Weed Prevention Grant Application. B.) Amended Health Insurance Rate Recommendation for FY26. 4. HUMAN RESOURCES – A.) May 16th through May 31st Payroll Audit. B.) 2026 Holidays. Commissioner Waters made a MOTION to approve the Amended Consent Agenda and place the File Items to file, Commissioner Ostlund seconded. Passed Unanimous
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON COUNTY BUSINESS – Hearing no comments Commissioner Morse adjourned the meeting at 9:38 a.m.
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