SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Monday July 6, 2026
PRESENT: Commissioner Morse, Chair; Commissioners Waters and White; Board Clerk Teri Reitz.
PLEDGE.
COMMISSIONERS
– A.) Courthouse Facilities Assessment. Mr. Cliff Garness, Division Manager,
Vice President of Sletten Construction. Going back to the beginning, a fire
sprinkler line was broken. The line was broken on the third flood and water
was on the third, second and the first floor and in the basement. We called
Newman Restoration. We got the water shutoff in approximately 10 minutes.
There was some water damage out of the two-inch water line. The teams worked
throughout the weekend, drying everything out, moving things, getting desks
where applicable up off the ground. A couple of the elevators got shut down.
One elevator is back operational. Otis Elevator will be here this morning to
check on the other elevator, but the lights came on, so they believe that it
will be back up and running. Out team worked periodically throughout the
weekend with Newman Restoration, just checking on everything, moving things,
making sure everything was drying out. When I walked 3rd, 2nd
and 1st this morning with them, and I apologize, I just didn’t get
enough time over there, so I’ll be back over there after this, but things seem
to be drying out nicely. Norpac Sheet Metral will be there this morning.
Norpac, Newman Restoration, Otis Elevator and the fire sprinkler guy were there
walking with us when we were there this morning. Commissioner Morse asked if
they were planning or have, they already done environmental testing? Mr.
Garness stated he did not know that answer. Mr. Garness asked Commissioner
Morse, are you talking like for the hazardous materials or otherwise?
Commissioner Morse stated basically for mold or mildew or any of that. Mr.
Garness stated that the testing will be done today. Commissioner Morse asked
whether Sletten was going to do it or someone else are they going to report
back to the Commissioners or Facilities. Mr. Garness stated they would hire
someone to do the testing, and the results will be shared. Commissioner Waters
wanted to clarify that electricity, and water has been restored to the
building. Mr. Garness stated that was correct. The Safe Line Fire Sprinkler
was there on Friday, and they got all the parts and pieces needed and the water
was operational for the weekend. And again, they were there this morning,
reassessing, making sure everything was holding. They did the two-hour
pressure test and all of that last week. Commissioner Morse stated that back
to the environmental testing, we would ask that you at least do samples on the
4th, 5th, 6th and 7th floors. We
have employees there, District Court, State District Court obviously has court
rooms there. We would just like to make sure that the environment is safe for
anybody that’s up there for court or working. Mr. Garness stated they would
absolutely do that. Commissioner Morse asked Commissioner White if he had any
questions. Commissioner White asked if that only one elevator lights cam back
on, the one that had water in it. Mr. Garness stated the one was operational
eight Thursday or Friday, and the other one, the lights cam back on, from my
understanding, and Otis will here at 8:00 a.m. to verify everything’s
operational and working correctly for that second elevator. Commissioner White
asked if they are checking both elevators or just the one? Mr. Garness replied
he believed the one elevator was already back operational, so then the second
one. Commissioner Morse stated that just for clarification, the west elevator
was above the water line, it was the east elevator that was below the water
line. Commissioner Morse asked if Tim, Facilities
Superintendent was going to speak of if Shane Swandel from Hulteng was going to
speak. So, we have some judges here in attendance. Why don't you explain about
the air handling system in the building, how it's broke up and split up and
some of that stuff? Mr. Tim Kaczmarek, Facilities Superintendent stated the way
our air handlers were set up, it's a little bit of an advantage with this
happening, but 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th are on separate air handlers from
floors 1 – 3, so any of the anything in the air system which, even at that, the
ducts are sealed, the chances of water actually getting into the ducts and
creating any kind of mold issues is pretty slim. It's on a completely
different air system from 4th on up, so they're not, we're not going need to
worry about having any issues with any kind of mold or anything in those
ducts. The water didn't go up to them and it won’t be coming through the same
system. I do have concerns about the elevators because we did have an incident
in the past where we got water in the elevator, and it was kind of the same
thing the lights came on an everything and then eventually that water gets in
there, electricity hits it, and then you start getting corrosion, that kind of
stuff. We ended up with three boards, three small boards in the elevator that
went out. And so just future wise, that's kind of what I'm expecting. Even
though they're low voltage or whatever, water and electricity don't mix and
they're going get betting, they're going to get corrosion on the boards and
they're going to go out. So, that's going to be something that we're going to
have to keep an eye on.
You know, if the elevators run. They say they're okay. Then two, three weeks
from now, they probably are going to be okay. The one elevator that on the east
side was up above everything, so not too much of a chance on that one, but
there was a lot of water on that West elevator, so, but other than that, I
don't have any real concerns, everything, even by late in the afternoon, there
wasn't a whole lot of water left. Those guys did a great job on the cleanup. They
still got a long way to go, but other than that, I don't have any big concerns.
Commissioner Morse asked if the environmental testing comes back okay, the
courthouse should be able to be open tomorrow or Wednesday? Mr. Kaczmarek
answered yes, and the big thing is the air system. I mean, we still have some
glitches with, I'm not sure where we're at on all the servers. We got some
cameras that are down. I think that server got wet because it was down in the
basement.
So there's going to be some glitches going forward, and it's going to be the
same thing as time goes on. We're probably going to lose a few things here and
there, but as far as power, heat, air conditioning, that kind of stuff, I don't
have any concerns whatsoever. Commissioner Morse asked for Larry Ziler, IT
Director to give an update. OK. Larry. Yeah, we'll go get Larry up here when
Tim. Good morning. I'm Larry Zeiler. I'm the Yellowstone County IT Director.
Tim mentioned cameras offline and a few other things. We came away
technology-wise fairly unscathed with this issue. There was a good amount of
water in the basement network closet. Fortunately for that, where that spilled
out, just soaked some equipment that we had taken out of the third floor to
store it during construction. It probably would have been better had we left it
where it was. Regarding camera systems, servers, all of that, Thursday, in the
event, we shut everything down. With the building emptied, we shut down each of
the floors that had water damage so that no equipment that was there was
ruined. So, a matter of time, you know, maybe an hour to two hours, we should
be able to have all camera systems and server activity back online within the
courthouse. Commissioner Morse stated that Mr. Ziler had gone back over to the
Stillwater building. We have tentative plans to move the county attorney's
second floor operations over to the third floor of the Stillwater building, if
that’s ready to go. Mr. Ziler responded, correct. The Stillwater building is
back online on the third floor with the county network. We have Wi-Fi up and
running in that building already and can start patching in network cables. We
have replacement laptop equipment ready to go for the handful of laptops that
were lost in this event. We may need to reach out to see about some printer
replacements or temporary loaners, but I have already spoken with Western
Office here in town that they can help us out with that. Effectively, as soon
as they have a desk or somewhere to put equipment, we can start setting them
up. Commissioner Morse stated, great. Commissioner Morse stated procurement,
Miss Jones or Matt Kessler. Mr. Matt Kessler, the Purchasing Agent stated that
he is working with Scott Twito and just whatever they need for me, I'm going to
be making myself available. I've contacted movers. I just got off the phone
with them. The one I called said they don't have anybody until next Monday to
be able to move. So, I'm going to call around a few others to hopefully be able
to move furniture this week if needed. Commissioner Morse asked if that was
Matt’s task to try to find a mover to get second floor county attorney over to
the Stillwater building. Mr. Kessler replied, yes, and then anything else
needed that comes up. Commissioner Waters asked if all this accounting is separate
for all the liability. Ms. Jones, Finance Director stated that we will talk
budget. Ms. Jones stated let's remember that central services still must move
as well over to the, so we'll be working on that today, getting them up and
operational. So, we won't have a central services department in the
courthouse. We'll have it at the Ostlund Building, at the Stillwater Building we're
going to have to work around those mechanics. Any invoices that we get that
are directly related to the flood need to be sent to me. Iffland and I are
working on a lease agreement over the Stillwater building. Things are moving
along. Commissioner Waters asked about in terms of reimbursement in terms of
down the line, in terms of any liability from, you know, the costs incurred for
all of this. Ms. Jones stated that all those invoices need to be sent to me. So,
if somebody's moving costs, new printers, new tech equipment, anything like
that, funnel it through Matt and I, and we're going to set up a special account
and go from there. Mr. Shane Swandel, OCR Yellowstone County a lot of the
things have already been covered, but one of the things that we'll also make
sure is like the third-party testing. We'll also validate that. We'll make
sure, and that'll most likely be through Northern Industrials, who we utilize
for all our hazardous material in the building to begin with. So, we'll have
them probably step in and make sure that they're doing all the mold testing. We'll
validate that. As far as the invoicing, I've already talked with Devin. We've
been through quite a few of these. It'll be first party claim, which means
we're just going to be moving forward. All the invoices will come through
Jennifer. And then from there, go to the insurance. We'll validate that.
and then they can subrogate. And I'm sure Devin can talk further about that
with Marsh. Commissioner Morse stated okay, great, thanks, Shane. Mr. Scott
Twito, County Attorney stated I do have the emergency declaration here that my
civil division prepared for this meeting. I just wanted to give you guys an
update of what we've already set up in the county attorney's office and that
we're going to be meeting with the judges at 9 o'clock to make sure that their
needs are met, what we could do to help them out. It sounds, the update that I
just heard sounds fairly promising for the 4th through the 7th floors. I do
appreciate the commissioners making sure that there are third party checks on
making sure everything's all right. I want to make sure the elevators are okay,
especially folks that must be on those upper floors. So, as you guys first
know, because you guys got in there about the same time I did, my second-floor
operation got whacked pretty good. Some of the offices had collapsed ceiling
tiles on their desktops and whatnot. Thanks to the quick work of you guys, my
office, and IT, we got most of the laptops out of there, except for I think 4,
maybe 5 got wrecked. It sounds like Larry's got those replacements ready to go.
We plan to handle any intake or jailbirds that come over today to get them
processed and through the process. Arraignment court is currently being held, instead
of in the Justice Court, which is up on the 6th floor, it's being held down at
the Detention Facility. And I think there's plans to hold it there for the next
couple days, if longer, if we need it. If the court, and I think, and just
quickly talking to Chief Judge Linneweber, before this meeting kicked off, they
have one, maybe two essential hearings that start tomorrow. If we can't get
them back in the courthouse by then, which we may or may not, if we could use
this room to do that, that would be something helpful to keep in the courthouse
operations running. The city, Matt, Jen, Kevin, you guys, Larry, everybody
has been so gracious, Tim helping us out. I guess it's just real important to reflect
on when something like this happens, how much we rely on space every day to get
our job done. So, we're up and running for the next couple of days. We've
instituted a work from home policy for all non-essential folks. I've literally
got a conference room full of about 20 people in there with their computers
doing stuff that we need to do for the county. But we need to get usable space
relatively quickly. I went through the courthouse this morning. The restoration
company did a remarkable job. I think Sletten has done as best they can under
the circumstances, and I appreciate what they've done. But there's still a lot
of ways to go, especially on that second floor. The fans were running hard this
morning. I don't even have half of my staff at least, or if not more, if
somebody didn't get in there and get stuff when they fled, haven't even got
like personal belongings and things like that. They don't even know what's been
hit or what. When I went in there, I know that a couple of the offices had a
couple inches of standing water in them. So, it was pretty difficult. Like
you said, the ceiling and that material falling on people's desktops and on
their on their things is it hasn't even been completely checked out yet by my
staff. We're going to work with Sletten this morning. We've already made arrangements.
We're going to let some people in there to get some more personal belongings
out. I would, you know, obviously I want to get back to regular business. I
just want to be abundantly cautious. I just, I really appreciate the city. Mr.
Iffland for allowing us to go over there for at least a while so we can get up
and running. I do want to get moved over there. I think it's appropriate. I
think the 2nd floor is going to take some time. It's just kind of wrecked, so
I think using that space is good. It fits for my employees, for their space,
what they're used to, where they park, all those things. It seems like that
would work for the foreseeable future. So, that's kind of my update. And then
we have a declaration. Is there anything else you need from me this morning.
Commissioner Morse stated that the declaration and if you would just give us
high level on that and it is on our agenda for tomorrow. Mr. Twito answered, okay.
Commissioner Waters stated also just so that for everyone that interested in
the status of the courts, you know, that are running, not running and is it just
a couple days you're anticipating and is there any kind of major effects that
we should, with the terms of the jail population and things like that, are we? Mr.
Twito replied, we're going to do our best to make sure the jail stuff gets
handled as effectively as possible. There's always, when you have a disruption
like this, there's always going to be court business that's going to have to be
moved, pushed down the road, and that can be very difficult. Forces
everybody's schedules to change. It's not as efficient, but we'll get the
essential stuff done. We're fine. We have a work from home policy. We've
utilized that. In fact, my management staff did so awesome. Like every one of
my legal assistants had their laptops before Friday was over, so ready to go so
they can work from home. Like I said, some are going to work over here.
Commissioner Waters stated that we obviously will offer this room whenever
possible. Mr. Twito replied I appreciate that. We've done this before, the
most infamous one in Commissioner Morse and I talked briefly about it last week
was the tornado when it hit Metra. We needed to do an emergency declaration
and that's what we have in front of you today. Pursuant to Title 10 in our
laws, that allows for Yellowstone County to declare an emergency. And so
essentially, we're having this meeting to have this declaration so we can deal
with what happened regarding the flood, have these updates, make moves that we
need to make to be able to keep the operation of the county running. And that's
essentially what it does. It's self-explanatory. You should have a copy in
front of it. I think it's on the agenda today, if I'm not mistaken. If not, I
have a copy here for you and one to sign. Sorry, it’s on the agenda for
tomorrow. So, you'll sign it tomorrow at your regular meeting, so people can
comment, but it's pretty straightforward. It's just allowed us to deal with the
flood, which we've been dealing with. OK, alright, alright. Commissioner Morse
asked for Captain O’Donnell from the Sheriff’s Office. Mr. Kent O’Donnell,
Captain of the Sheriff’s Office, stated we don't have a lot going on. Of
course, our big concern is just how this will affect the courts once we get
that up and running. We'll be meeting with the county attorney and the judges
here at 9 o'clock to kind of have a plan going forth. I think we're very lucky
how this all turned out. It could have been much worse. County Attorney's
Office and then the maintenance staff and IT got a lot of stuff moved out of
the way, saved a lot of equipment and started plans in motion on Thursday to
make this happen. So, kudos to everybody that helped with that. Sheriff's
Office can take this time, a little bit of lull in the courts today and
tomorrow to be moving some prisoners and try to get a few things done that
maybe we wouldn't have been able to get done due to court business going on. So,
we're going to take that opportunity to get some of our work. Commissioner
Morse stated okay, great. Sounds good. Thank you. Chief Judge Linneweber, do
you have anything for us? Morning. Good morning. Morning. Judge Linneweber, I
know that there's a few judges here already and the entire group will meet at
9:00 with some of the some of the other officials here. We had a conference
call at 1 o'clock, or 12:30 on Friday or Thursday right afterwards, just to
identify the issues. Today we're going to do the problem solving. Part of that was
dependent on what we would hear, assuming that the environmentals come back as
quickly as quick as they're expected to and as optimistically, especially when
I hear that 4th through 8th is on a different system. I would expect that we'll
be back into our chambers at least quickly. We did agree to cancel
non-essentials. That said, there are some essentials, including where kids have
been removed, juveniles. Those are limited, but we're going to focus on those
on the immediate term and we'll reach out. There have been a lot of offers as
to where to hold them. So, I'm feeling pretty optimistic that we'll be up and
operating quickly. Good. OK, thank you. Mr. Devin Hoiness, Marsh McLennan
Agency, insurance agent for Yellowstone County. Just to update everybody, we
did get a claim submitted on Thursday around 11:30 or noon. I need to touch
base with Jen, but they should be in touch if they haven't already, the
adjuster to start the claims process. Great. Commissioner Morse asked if he
missed anybody? Does anybody else have any concerns that you want to come up
here and, discuss, now is the time and the place. Hearing no public comments
on county business, Commissioner Morse adjourned the meeting at 8:25 a.m.
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