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Community members gathered last week as Sanders County Community Development held a meeting to identify community needs and projects. About two dozen people attended the meeting last Wednesday at the Sanders County Courthouse. Information gathered will help SCCD and its partner, Mission West Community Development Partners identify new projects for the county, establish priorities and identify community needs.

Steve Clairmont is the Mission West Community Focused Economic Development Center Director and led the presentation. He said the findings from the Sanders County and other community meetings will be available in a public document. Clairmont reviewed some of the available funding sources for community projects. He stated that Wednesday’s public hearing can meeting the requirement for the first of two such hearings needed for Community Development Block Grant projects.

Mission West is launching a community needs survey May 15, which will help the organization further identify potential projects. Jim Thaden, executive director of Mission West, encouraged the crowd to “think big. I would encourage us to think about things that could never get done before.” Thaden added that likely there will be additional ARPA funds available. With the recent infrastructure bill, the Montana Department of Commerce estimates there will be an additional $1 billion over 10 years for the state.

Lisa Fried de Reyes is executive director of the Sanders County Community Housing Organization (SCCHO), and stated that affordable housing, in particular affordable workforce housing, has been identified as a top need in the region. She noted that SCCHO has

donated property in Noxon that they are pursuing a project with, with the possibility of additional properties to develop in Plains and Thompson Falls. The projects, she noted, will require a combination of private and public funding. “Housing is really critical,” Clairmont added.

Marty Humphreys of Noxon stated that the community needs reliable Internet, especially as the remote workforce grows. Ernie Scherzer of Trout Creek said the county needs to take leadership in establishing a growth policy. “Fifty-four of the fifty-six counties in the state have one. They must work or all these counties wouldn’t have them,” he added.

Bud Scully, superintendent of Thompson Falls schools, said the school is working on a multi-use building to increase classes for trades. “We’re going to build workforce,” he said. He also added that housing is an issue in the school district, “We can’t find housing for our staff. It’s really tough.” He noted that the school district owns nine acres east of the high school that could be developed for housing.

Deb Wilson with the Rex Community Theater said they have “a laundry list” of projects, and that they would like to give kids an opportunity to work with the theater and learn how to run a business. “I think it’s worth saving or I wouldn’t be here,” Wilson said of the Thompson Falls theater.

Seth Beech, who owns property in Paradise, asked if there was funding available to help offset costs of the proposed sewer system for the residents of Paradise “and help get people on board and get the project done. The town needs this, but we have people on fixed incomes.” Other projects brought up at the public hearing included the expansion of the Heron Rural Fire station, the new 911 Dispatch Center the county is planning and paving the remainder sidewalk at the Amundson Sports Complex in Plains.

The Whitepine Grange renovation project was brought up by Jan Manning, who said the group already has done about $22,000 in projects. “We would really like some help in keeping this a community treasure,” Manning stated. “If we had $50,000, we could put together a fantastic place for the community.”

Several community members at the meeting expressed a need for help in writing grants. Clairmont said they are available to talk about projects at any time and will continually be updating the list of needs for the county.

The community survey will be available beginning May 15 at engagemission

west.com.