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Home My WebLink AboutSeptember 2021 BRCD Meeting Materials Beartooth RC&D Area, Inc. Board of Director’s Meeting Agenda Meeting 1:00 P.M. Old Roosevelt School 519 Broadway Ave S Thursday, September 16th, 2021 Conference Number 605-475-5900 Access code 8472365 1:00 pm 2:30 PM Meeting Called to Order Pledge of Allegiance, Introduction of Members and Guests Review July Board Minutes Congressional Updates Maddie Alpert (Sen. Tester) Tory Kolkhorst (Sen. Daines) Cade Overstreet (Rep. Rosendale) Treasurer/Financial Reports 1. Treasurer Update 2. RC&D Financials 3. RLF Financials CDBG CV BIG HORN CO Staff Reports – Program/Project updates 1. Food/Ag Program – Joel Bertolino 2. Revolving Loan Fund – Jillann Knutson 3. Economic Development/ CRDC – Jacy Head 4. Operations Support- Myrna Lastusky Regional Roundup – News and updates from regional members on projects and activities in key CEDS categories…. (see topics on next page) Next Beartooth RC&D Area, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting November 18th, 2021 - Big Timber Adjourn Chair Chair, All Chair, All Knutson Knutson Knutson Bertolino Bertolino Knutson Head Lastusky Roe et al Action Information Information Action Action Information Information Information Information Information Information Information Page 2 Regional Roundup Our goals for the Roundup are to find out what’s happening in the area, keep the conversations focused, inform the others attending the meeting, and to tie it all back to and reinforce the importance of the CEDS. Please help us identify the projects in their area that fit into our CEDS categories:  Infrastructure  Housing  Transportation  Broadband  Economy  Upturns or downturns in industry sectors  New business openings (or closures)  Communication  Marketing and outreach  Services  Health care  Natural Resources  Agriculture  Energy  Human Capital  Workforce  Education NOTES: ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Page 3 Beartooth RC&D Area, Inc. Board of Director’s Meeting MINUTES July 15th, 2021 Agenda 1:00 pm 2:30 PM Meeting Called to Order Pledge of Allegiance, Introduction of Members and Guests Review March Board Minutes Congressional Updates Maddie Alpert (Sen. Tester) Tory Kolkhorst (Sen. Daines) Cade Overstreet (Rep. Rosendale) Treasurer/Financial Reports 4. Treasurer Update 5. RC&D Financials 6. RLF Financials Staff Reports – Program/Project updates 5. Food/Ag Program – Joel Bertolino 6. Revolving Loan Fund – Jillann Knutson 7. Economic Development/ CRDC – 8. Operations Support- Myrna Lastusky Regional Roundup – News and updates from regional members on projects and activities in key CEDS categories…. (see topics on next page) Next Beartooth RC&D Area, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting September 16th, 2021 - Red Lodge Adjourn- Social Chair Chair, All Chair, All Knutson Knutson Knutson Bertolino Knutson Lastusky Roe et al Action Information Information Action Action Information Information Information Information Information Information Page 4 ATTENDANCE Board of Directors Meeting July 15th, 2021 Minutes Members Present: Joel Bertolino, BRCD Jillann Knutson, BRCD Steve Simonson, BRCD Myrna Lastusky, BRCD Ryan Van Ballegooyen, Billings Job Service Bill Foisy, City of Red Lodge Lorene Hintz, Big Sky EDA Melanie Roe, Sweet Grass County Holly Higgins, First Interstate Bank of Hardin Marvin Carter, City of Laurel Dan Lowe, Big Horn County Conservation District Raymond Porter, Sweet Grass County Chamber Director Josiah Porcel, Senator Tester Don Jones, Yellowstone County Commissioner Scott Blain, Carbon County Commissioner Heidi Sparks, City of Laurel (via conference call) Location: Beartooth RC&D 12:30: Social Luncheon 1:00: Meeting called to order. Pledge of Allegiance, Introduction of Members and Guests Review May Board Minutes  Bill Foisy motioned to approve. Melanie Roe seconded. Congressional Updates Josiah Porcel (Sen. Tester)  Sen. Tester is working on infrastructure package – member of core group of 5 Republicans/5 Democrats. Significant investment in MT’s roads, bridges, broadband and creating good-paying jobs.  Energy & Natural Resources Committee: o Advanced more than $300 million for Montana-specific water projects. o Includes $211M for regional water projects, like the Musselshell-Judith rural waterway project.  Drought assistance to MT ranchers and farmers – CRP land will be authorized to offer relief to producers.  Combatting housing shortage for wildfire fighters o Press release available Page 5  Housing crisis – Sen. Tester has authored a bi-partisan bill to remove barriers for HUD – especially to help middle-income homebuyers.  Meat Processing Grants? Joel asked & Josiah will check on it.  Ryan: Said he heard Tester on the radio this morning & he said he’s making sure we don’t just get population dollars – to allow for our state’s geographic size Treasurer/Financial Reports  Treasurer Update o P. 15 – Beartooth Books. In a perfect budget world, it would be 50%, but that never works. Overall, we’re good – we’re in the positive. o Bank of Joliet Building Account – replacing the front door and doing better locks, and that will come out of this account. o Contractual account – mostly pass-through money for Stillwater County grants. o P. 16:  We had auditors here this past week. They are short-staffed and behind. Our end of the audit is wrapped up, and they hope to have draft out by middle to end of August.  We have to send loan clients a letter and get feedback, so that slows down the process a little.  Ryan: Once it’s done, they’ll issue a letter for the entire Board to review.  RLF Financials o One loan in Yellowstone County was paid off, and the Wildflower Gardens was paid off, so about $240K paid off recently. o A couple semi-decent prospects Jillann is working with right now.  RC&D Financials o Melanie moved to approved the Financials as presented. Lorene seconded. Motion carried. Staff Reports – Program/Project updates  Food/Ag Program – Joel Bertolino o Steve Simonson moved to a new job with Big Sky EDA. One job application in so far. Please send good applicants our way. o Our program got cut this year (5 existing centers cut) by 45%. They added another Food and Ag Center in Lewistown. Joel will do more CRDC this year. o Waiting to hear on whether MT Ag Rescue Program gets funded with ARPA funds. o Lane Gobbs – new engineer. Took him on tour at Stillwater Packing. He wants to go to the vineyard in Laurel next month. o GTA projects – still ongoing  JWK Enterprises and Basin Inc. – probably won’t know until October.  Carbon County Pryor Mountain wind farm about to stop being reported.  406 Bovine – he’s looking for investors.  Stillwater Packing – looking for more money. Joel sent them opportunities through USDA and State funds.  Melanie asked how incinerator is working – working well, but DEQ said it wasn’t working quite right. The right size of gas line wasn’t installed, so it was down for a couple months while they worked on that.  Jillann said it’s made a huge difference in bad smells – she doesn’t notice the smell anymore.  Joel sent USDA funding info to Pioneer Meat, also. Page 6  Becky’s Berries: Great tour after last meeting. She wants a bigger fridge and a few other things – we’ll see if she’s eligible for ARPA funding. o Yohannes Tedessee – biz in Billings marketing o Beartooth Fertilizer – Red Lodge o Crazy Peak Brewing – Big Timber. Has some needs. o Cory Wilson Mushrooms – sent to us by SBDC. Talked about potential for mushrooms and GTA grants.  Revolving Loan Fund – Jillann Knutson o De-federalization of federal funds is driving Jillann crazy. But they are getting closer (8th or 9th revision of same report . . .).  Economic Development / CRDC – o Working on Quarterly CRDC reporting next week after finishing Food & Ag. o 2 BSTF grants still moving forward. o Pea Cannery - almost signed. Waiting for High Plains Architects to sign. Not a full PAR, but close. Not sure of the use yet – alternative use analysis. Randy Hafer of HPA is familiar with the building and is excited to be involved. There is some Brownfields in this, too. New owners are paying the match. They gave them credit for assessments already done and some new money for DEQ Brownfields. o Sandstone School – moving forward on BSTF. Finished contract on that. o West Laurel Interchange – waiting on proof of matching  Operations Support – Myrna Lastusky o Myrna is working with Joel & Jillann to complete reporting requirements and maintain communication with Steve’s projects & contacts.  This includes the Bozeman Trail group we have been working with for the past 6 months.  Deb Brown with SaveYour.Town – Deb & Myrna have weekly/bi-weekly meetings to stay current on projects and deadlines.  Social media – please search for BRCD on LinkedIn as we now have a page! Please follow us on Facebook & like/share our posts, as well. And send Myrna any information/events you would like posted from your areas. Regional Roundup: News and updates from regional members on projects and activities in key CEDS categories….  Infrastructure  Housing  Transportation  Broadband  Economy  Upturns or downturns in industry sectors  New business openings (or closures)  Communication  Marketing and outreach  Services  Health care  Natural Resources  Agriculture  Energy Page 7  Human Capital  Workforce  Education Heidi Sparks:  Public Works Director and Treasurer working on first round of ARPA grants. 4 projects identified for those.  Having conversations about rebuilding south side of Laurel, specifically Railroad and 4th Street that are heavily used & need work.  Developer talking with City about putting in planned unit development on Tree Street. 60 units, 55+ gated community.  Early talks about extending water out to the golf course. The club wants to build a new clubhouse. The project is out 3-5 years, but we’ll look at extending services then.  Might add a 2nd water reservoir for City. The one they have is pretty old and are doing some repairs this summer. In next 3 years want to add the 2nd one and do major repairs on the old reservoir. Dan Lowe:  Things are status quo at aquatic check station.  Shipton’s has been a great addition to community and using the old Shopko building.  Conservation District has a new office – in a good location.  New bank & new clinic – the community is growing a bit.  An honor to be on this Board & hear details of the rest of the region. Bill Foisy:  We had a fire . . . 80% contained now, but it’s been disconcerting. Lot of support from firefighters, emergency personnel.  Girl missing in the Beartooths – had Garmin In-Reach Explorer. It sets waypoints every so often, so others can see where you are.  Summer weekly events – this weekend is Motorcycle Rally. Car Show coming next month. Shakespeare in the Parks, Fun Run, Arts Festival all coming.  New Biz: Montana Store, Moo Country, Southern Dish, Kitchen & Home (kitchen store, but everyone comes in looking for food).  Main Street Program – Dept of Commerce put out new quarterly reporting requirement that is fairly complicated.  Council is debating an Urban Renewal TIF District – Bill would like to talk to someone else who is dealing with this. You declare a certain section of town as blighted, and it gets everyone’s attention.  Roosevelt Center – fire suppression system being put in now. The rooms are completely rented out. When fire suppression system is in place, we can open up the 3rd floor.  Red Lodge has done annual electronic recycling event for past 9 years. Finally transitioned so Red Lodge Recycling Center teamed up with e-Waste out of Billings and is doing this full-time. Personally, a big deal for Bill to hand this off and see it succeed. Lorene:  PTAC (Procurement Technical Assistance) – doing annual Gov Match and doing it virtually this year. July 27th – if any companies could potentially do government contracting, they should attend. This is statewide.  Aug. 24th – Housing Conference from 8:00-1:30 Page 8  SBDC & Rock31 working on documentary called Edge of the Plains – interviewed entrepreneurs in our region and had a film crew. Will be showing this around the region in Sept/Oct. o Sept 9: Harlowton o Sept 16: Big Timber o Sept 23: Hardin o Sept 30: Red Lodge o Oct. 7: Billings o Lorene had flyers/posters for everyone to put up in their areas.  Joel said it was nice to have the SBDC meeting in person last week. Raymond Porter:  Infrastructure – new subdivision in Big Timber. Many people renovating, many new people moving to town from other states.  City/County using ARPA funding for water expansion on west end – vacant space between interstate and downtown. Good to see housing go in there.  Economy – platinum is steady, so good at mine. Agriculture – not having the best year.  Crazy Peak Brewing – want to make beer using local ingredients grown on Boulder River. Secret Beer coming this fall – possibly unveiled at an Octoberfest event. Stay tuned . . .  New Business: Heritage Christian Group opened Greycliff Mill – highly recommend going there. They took a barn from upstate NY and refurbished it. Also have grist mill that they refabricated. Grindstone in mill is from the18th century on east coast. Restaurants, glamping accommodations, horseback rides – putting it on the map.  Crazy Creek Boutique – Susan Metcalf opened women’s clothing store and boutique.  Some façade improvements in downtown.  Pioneer Meats just opened a storefront in downtown. Also have seafood now.  Chamber is launching a new website.  City of Big Timber is working on rebranding. Election with people actually running.  Town Pump tore down old facility and built a new one – nicest in the state! Casino in back.  Pioneer Medical Center is having a ribbon cutting.  Municipal Transfer Site doing some expansions.  Next event is Friday, Aug. 20th: Brewfest.  PRCA Rodeo every Wednesday and Farmer’s Market every Friday until September.  1500 people attended Friday and 2500 on Saturday for rodeo.  Housing solution – government properties not being used for housing could be released back into the market. E.g. School district had some that used to be used for housing and no longer are. Or something being used for storage – turn it into housing. We need to take on this problem piece by piece, house by house, not just with grandiose development plans. Melanie Roe, Sweet Grass County:  Same struggles – losing employees because there is no place to live.  Businesses can’t find any help. Many randomly closed because of this. Holly Higgins, First Interstate Bank in Hardin:  Housing – not much there and nowhere to build new housing.  Hired new police chief, but tough to hire deputies, nurses, teachers when there isn’t anywhere to live. What housing we do have is pretty low-end.  Shipton’s – open since March and doing well. Page 9  Only 10 houses listed last Holly heard.  New Super 8 will hopefully give competition and get people to stop before heading to Billings.  4-H Fair coming week after next. Different this year – more like the Billings one. o Beer Garden o Rodeo o More events going to get people coming in.  Couple businesses in town closed.  Change of Plans finally reopened.  Lariat Country Kitchen is listed for sale. Just leaves a couple other restaurants. Don Jones:  Same problems as everywhere else.  Fair share of crime – pretty scary when you look at the number of released convicts who end up in Billings. Way too many shootings. o Sober Living places, but no supervision. o 14 former inmates living together and most of the shootings happening in these sort of facilities. Working with DOC to find solutions here.  ARPA money o Doing a lot of infrastructure work at Metra. Emergency hospital included there. Need more technology, bigger pipeline, etc. Important for entertainment but also if there would be a natural disaster.  Laurel Natural Gas Generator will be very nice. Power supply is getting a little shaky, so this will be a good boost. Existing pipeline will be used – it’s been vacant all this time. o Melanie asked how many megawatts the plant will be – Don wasn’t sure.  No plans at this point to expand Yellowstone County Detention Center. o Looking to hire more police officers, but the judicial system is bogged down. o Police are frustrated because they don’t know where to go with the criminals. o Mill for public safety ($1 million) .  Kurt Alme was instrumental. Trying to get the different groups to work together.  City bought the Stillwater building, and commissioners are moving – possibly down to Miller Building, where they can continue to rent out part of it and grow into it as needed.  Parking downtown is back-in diagonal parking. It’s safer for motorists & cyclists.  Have a sheriff’s helicopter now – government surplus. They got 3 of them – only allowed to fly one and use the other two for parts. They helped in the Robertson Fire. o Gary Blain is the pilot – he is loving this. o They’ve captured some really bad criminals this way. Scott Blain:  Carbon County Detention Center – ballots went out yesterday for levy and construction bond.  Caught meth-heads robbing a house and just had to take them to a friend’s house in another town. There is just no place to house them unless the crime is egregious.  50-50 chance of bond passing. Good meetings around the county until they came to Joliet. It got pretty ugly. o Holly: It was tough to pass in Hardin when they did the Big Horn County – they have the empty one sitting there. o Scott: That has hurt us here, too. o Lot of support on both sides. Page 10 o Ballots are due on Aug. 3rd. If that passes, groundbreaking would be May 2022 and first prisoner in 2023.  We own the 13 acres outside of Joliet, and RLACF put in some ARPA money to do a study on affordable housing – maybe they can use that space for some affordable housing. o Can’t hire deputies because they have to live in the county within a year and there is no housing.  Ryan asked if they can change some of the rules – allow them to live outside the county? Scott said it is something they are looking at.  Pryor Mountain Wind Farm is complete.  Roads project will be more expensive than they thought it would be to finish.  Lots of people coming through Red Lodge – many businesses not open because they can’t find enough workers. o Quick Stop closed for the season – no one to work . . . Ryan:  Inflation is as high as it’s been since 2008. o Raymond asked if Ryan had some statistics – Ryan said to call him at Job Service.  Employers are having a conversation now about wages and what to do when McDonald’s is paying $15/hour plus tuition assistance.  We were desperate for employees pre-pandemic and it hasn’t gotten better.  A high percent of people say they will never go back to an office – many want to work remotely. o It is being coined “The Great Resignation” – people are comfortable resigning knowing they can find a job somewhere else.  Americans work more hours than countries across the world. Countries like Iceland have gone down to 35-hour work weeks with no downturn in productivity. o Myrna mentioned schools who went to 4-day school week and the improvement in morale, less costs, better test scores, etc. o Ryan talked about restaurants who have looked for a different business model – like just a drive-through – and they’ve found that it helps their bottom line. o Don: Remote workers are living in Montana, working here, but not paying income taxes to Montana. MT is really missing out on revenue.  Ryan said this issue is being looked at with international companies and remote work.  Holly: Many people don’t have to file income taxes (like ranching on a reservation). If we had sales tax, we might capture some of that revenue. Next BRCD Board meeting is Sept. 16th in Red Lodge. Location TBA. Meeting adjourned at 2:29 pm with social time to follow. Page 11 Beartooth Books- Reporting Ending June 2021 Budgeted Actual % of budgeted Income AG-FOOD AND AG CENTER 85,007 59,495 70% AG-MCDC 1,000 0 0% BOARD - EDA SPONSOR DUES 55,907 42,664 76% BOARD-INTEREST INCOME 400 99 25% BOARD-FOUNDATION MONEY 3,700 3,372 91% RLF-STAFF REIMBURSE 18,000 0 0% RLF-ORIG FEES 5,000 0 0% CRDC 71,907 17,961 25% MISC GRANT ADMIN $ 10,750 0 0% EDA - GRANT 70,000 0 0% NOT BUDGED INCOME - 355,149 0% TOTAL INCOME 321,671 478,740 149% Expense TOTAL STAFF EXPENSE 256,044 124,969 49% COMMUNICATIONS 6,000 4,426 74% EQUIPMENT & VEHICLE 8,520 1,879 22% CONTRACTUAL 21,220 326,931 1541% SUPPLIES 9,800 6,274 64% TRAVEL 10,140 963 9% OTHER 8,430 8,798 104% RESERVE - EXPENSE TOTAL 320,154 474,240 148% Account Balances Bank of Joliet-Building Account $4,475.22 Bank of Joliet- Savings Account $75,470.79 Bank of Joliet- Checking Account $115,738.62 Page 12 Revolving Loan Fund Books- June 2021 Loan Client Review County # of loans $ Loaned out Big Horn 2 $169,575 Stillwater 3 $429,149 Yellowstone 7 $370,720 Carbon 2 $20,900 Sweet Grass 2 $171,580  A $200K loan was for Yellowstone County. This will not be funded until Spring 2021.  One Yellowstone Co loan was paid in full in April.  Loan interest is very slow. I have been doing a lot of promotion.  Work is being done to de-federalize the EDA funding, I hope to have this completed and approved soon. Bank Balances as of June 2021 Total available for lending Bank of Joliet- EDA $39,417 39,417 Bank of Joliet-CDBG $396,566 396,566 Bank of Joliet- IRP $377,451 377,451 Bank of Joliet-Fromberg $29,859 29,859 $842,885 Page 13 FOOD AND AG CENTER PROJECTS Beartooth FADC Beartooth FADC activities have been focused on assisting producers with the new USDA funding for food chain resiliency and waiting on the Montana Ag Rescue Program funding updates as well as conference calls with the Dept of Ag and an in person meeting September 9th in Helena. we have scheduled a visits with Project Meats in Huntley and F Bar Three Vineyard to introduce the Montana Manufacturing Eng ineer for our Region Lane Gobbs and offer assistance and updates on funding opportunities. Growth Through Ag Projects Beartooth FADC has worked with several businesses Growth Through Ag grant some of these will have an opportunity to be granted funding and we will continue to assist them in completing their business expansion projects. Business/ Project Name: Basin Inc Contact- Judy Edwards Location- Big Timber, MT The Hagerman family raises natural grass fed beef in Sweet Grass County and is developing a fresh beef business that will add value to their beef production business. These products will be marketed as grass- fed locally grown beef. Beartooth FADC is assisting this business with a GTA Grant application to help them expand their business to increase the number of animals processed and sold in an effort to meet increased demand for local beef. Business/ Project Name: Project Meats Contact- Location- Sheperd, MT Beartooth FADC visited Project meats in Sheperd and toured their meat plant . Future expansion plans were discussed as they are seeing a large demand for their products they have been growing the size of their operation and have plans to double the size of their operation in Huntley in addition to the meat plant they purchased in Miles City the does the initial processing before sending products to Huntley for final processing. Business/ Project Name: Primative Meats Contact- Kelsey Grice Location- Worden, MT Kelsey Grice and her husband are looking for funding assistance through the GTA grant to help them with construction costs and equipment for their start up meat processing business. Page 14 On Going Projects Business/ Project Name: Basin Inc Contact- Judy Edwards Location-Big Timber, MT The Hagerman family raises natural grass fed beef in Sweet Grass County and is developing a fresh beef business that will add value to their beef production business. These products will be marketed as grass- fed locally grown beef. Beartooth FADC is assisting this business with a USDA Value Added Producer Grant application to help them expand their business to increase the number of animals processed and sold in an effort to meet increased demand for local beef. The VAPG grant for $90,000.00 was approved and the USDA will be doing a site visit to their ranch on the 17th. Business/ Project Name: Charter Ranch Vermicast Soil Amendment Contact- Location-Sheperd, MT The Charter Ranch has developed a regenerative vermicast soil amendment using the cultivation of worms adding non-chemical nutrients to soil. Beartooth FADC assisted them with the development of a Growth Through Ag Grant that was funded for $14,000 to expand their operation. A future visit will be sch eduled to discuss the progress of their project. Business/ Project Name: Yellowstone Valley Food Hub Contact- Schahczenski Location-Billings, MT The Yellowstone Valley Food Hub is looking to expand their business and add space for aggregating local ly produced foods. Beartooth FADC assisted them with applying for a Growth Through Ag Grant that was approved for $20,000.00 to expand. Beartooth will be scheduling a follow up visit with this business to determine any further needs. Page 15 Business/ Project Name: 406 Bovine LLC Contact- Bryan Elliott Location-Laurel, MT 406 Bovine LLC has worked with Beartooth staff and is nearing the commercialization and launch of his Ag Tech product. Bryan Elliott has developed a facial recognition software that can be used on computer and iphones to track livestock. He has produced a youtube video outlining his product that can be viewed via this link. https://youtu.be/kTwkhUj9leA Beartooth will continue to assist this business as needed. Stillwater Packing Co/ Emmett’s Meats Location- Columbus, MT Contact- Jason Emmett Stillwater Packing has been working through an increase in business due to the COVID 19 having shut down some large national meat plants shifting some buyer interest to smaller plants like theirs. Beartooth FADC staff has visited the business to discuss upcoming funding opportunities, they looked at the USDA MPIRG grant but it was not a good fit and are interested in any upcoming funding opportunities. Page 16 Pioneer Meats Location- Big Timber, MT Contact- Brian Engle Pioneer Meats received a Montana Meat Processors Infrastructure grant of over $100,000.00 which will allow them to expand their meat processing business, they have purchased another meat processing location in Big Timber that will allow them to process wild meat at one location while expanding their beef, pork, bison and lamb processing at their main facility. Beartooth FADC staff will continue to work with Pioneer to utilize any new funding opportunities in completing their expansion, they are working on a USDA Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant. Big Sky Beef Contact- Gary Guesman Gary Guesman is working with Big Sky EDA the Department of Ag and Beartooth FADC on their potential 300-500 head a day meat processing project they are interested in developing in the Yellowstone County area. Beartooth FADC staff met August 21st to discuss the project and initial steps and potential barriers to the project with Allison Corbin, Ty Thompson, Joe Goggins, Weston Merrill from Montana Department of Ag as well as Gary Guesman. Beartooth FADC staff look forward to the potential to utilize funding to assist with this project. Restoration Beef Project Contact- Jess Peterson Restoration beef has developed a feasibility studay around building a high quality beef plant that processes between 300-500 per day, they are in the process of developing interest and funding but are interested in the Yellowstone Valley area. Page 17 Yellowstone Region Ag Sustainability Project- RCPP Location- Huntley, Contact- Dave Dougherty The group had their last meeting in June, to discuss the final reporting for the project and the success of the funded projects. The final reporting completed by NRCS shows the positive impacts this project has had on value added agriculture. The final summary of the economic impacts of this project was submitted to us by NRCS and is on our website for review Becky’s Berries- Absarokee, MT Location-Absarokee Becky Stahl has been a client of Beartooth for several years and we last assisted her with development of an expansion plan for her Jams, Jellies and Barbeque sauce business. She has completed construction of the facility. Beartooth staff assisted Becky with the development of a successful Ag Adaptability Grant for $9,000.00 for a makeup air system in her new processing facility and a commercial food processor. She has installed the commercial food processor and the new makeup air system has been installed. Becky has purchased a new commercial freezer needed to keep up with increased demand for her products she said her business has been very busy this summer and fall. Potential New Projects Yohannes Tedesse- Billings Beartooth Fertilizer-Red Lodge Crazy Peak Brewing-Big Timber Cory Wilson Mushrooms- Billings Page 18 Economic Development Director Report for September 2021 EDA CARES Act: -Deb Brown, from Save Your Town, continues her work with the rural revitalization of the economy within our five counties. She holds weekly watch parties and meetings with BRCD in regards to the Bozeman Trail project. She will visit the area in October to meet with various officials involved in their communities. -BSEDA is still in the process of assisting regional economic recovery and affordable housing with their primary focus being Yellowstone County. -Cushing Terrill is finishing their housing study over our five counties which should be available in October. They presented at the Housing Summit this past August. BSTF Projects: -Red Lodge Pea Cannery- The architects are currently creating a plan. -Sandstone School- The check has been issued. -Laurel West Interchange feasibility study- For this project to move forward, the City of Laurel must decide how they would like to proceed. EDA American Rescue Plan Programs: In total, the EDA has $3 billion for supplemental funding to assist in building communities back from the effects of COVID-19. There is a series of six challenges: 1) Build Back Better Regional Challenge: This challenge has two phases for approval. 2) Good Jobs Challenge 3) Economic Adjustment Assistance 4) Indigenous Communities 5) Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation 6) Statewide Planning, Research & Networks *There will be a Coal Communities Commitment which will be allocated $300 million from the $3 billion: $100 million from Build Back Better Challenge and $200 million from Economic Adjustment Assistance. With each of these, some will require bigger regions to be considered an adequate fit such as the Build Back Better Challenge. The most flexible of the challenges is the Economic Adjustment Assistance; there is a plethora of eligible options that meet local needs, construction and non-construction. CRDC Working Group Meeting & Commissioner’s Meeting: Page 19 During these two meetings, there were discussions about the three buckets of money for upscaling and rescaling. The first bucket of money will be utilized towards Accelerate Workforce Training Program to existing state workforce program operators. The second bucket of money will be utilized for the Workforce Training Grant Program to reimburse businesses for training of new and existing full-time workers. The third bucket of money will set up the Rapid Retraining Program to expand customized training opportunities. The Montana Department of Labor & Industry and the Department of Commerce will be proposing these programs. With the upcoming CRDC meeting in White Sulphur Springs, there should be more clarification and guidance offered about these programs. The entire agenda is still to be determined with the exception of the copper mine tour. Page 20 Frequently Used Acronyms BEAR – Business Expansion and Retention BIA – Bureau of Indian Affairs BLM – Bureau of Land Management BRCD – Beartooth RC&D BSEDA – Big Sky Economic Development Association BSTF – Big Sky Trust Fund CDBG – Community Development Block Grant CRDC – Certified Regional Development Corporation CEDS – Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy CTEP – Community Transportation Endowment Program EDA – Economic Development Administration EDD – Economic Development District ESRI – Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. GIS – Geographic Information Systems GPS – Global Positioning System HOME – Montana Home Investment Partnerships Program HUD – US Department of Housing and Urban Development IRP – Intermediary Relending Program LESA – Land Evaluation Site Assessment MBI – Montana Board of Investments MDOC – Montana Department of Commerce MDOL – Montana Dept. of Labor MDOT – Montana Dept. of Transportation MDFWP – Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Parks MEDA – Montana Economic Developers Association NADO – National Association of Development Organizations NCOC – National Carbon Offset Coalition NHS – Neighborhood Housing Services NRCS – Natural Resource Conservation Service RBEG – Rural Business Enterprise Grant RBOG – Rural Business Opportunity Grant RC&D – Resource Conservation & Development Area, Inc. RCDI – Rural Community Development Initiative RD – Rural Development (a division of USDA) RCPP- Regional Conservation Partnership Program RLF – Revolving Loan Fund RTA – Resource Team Assessment SBA – Small Business Administration SBDC – Small business Development Center TIFD – Tax Increment Finance District TSEP - Treasure State Endowment Program USDA – United States Department of Agriculture USFS – United States Forest Service