November 11, 2024

Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to mhudson@montanafreepress.org.

 

Solid waste increase lands in court

 

Former Cascade County budget officer Mary Embleton is seeking an expedited hearing in district court to void a recent resolution to raise solid waste fees for county residents.

Representing herself, Embleton filed the petition in court on Nov. 4 claiming that the county failed to provide proper notice of solid waste assessment increases, failed to hold necessary public hearings and approved increases past the deadline to submit special assessments to the Montana Department of Revenue.

 

She named Commissioners Jim Larson and Joe Briggs as defendants in addition to Cascade County. Embleton told Montana Free Press that she didn’t name Commissioner Rae Grulkowski as a defendant because she voted against the solid waste resolution.

Commissioners held multiple meetings about solid waste assessments, starting with two in July for which no meeting minutes or recordings are available on the county website. Commissioners met again on Sept. 19 and finally passed a resolution on Oct. 3 to increase solid waste assessments by 45% for most property types. The proposed resolution and list of rate increases weren’t available for public view until just before the meeting began.

 

While commissioners took public comments while deliberating motions, there was not a separate public hearing, a point that Embleton made during multiple solid waste meetings and in court documents.

Commissioners and county staff were working to reconcile three different solid waste fee schedules for some property types, as periodic updates were made over the years by county offices. The last uniform fee increase took place in 2012. Discussions of the solid waste program were wide-ranging, including contracting with Republic Services, the types of materials accepted at sites and the value of punch cards that are issued to property owners.

 

As of Friday morning, a hearing had not been set by the presiding judge, Elizabeth Best.