The Cascade City-County Health Department issued a customer advisory on July 2 for ice from an unlicensed vendor.

CCHD issued a notice for ice made at Great Falls Ice Co. at 2801 Great Bear Ave. as it’s an unapproved source.

The vendor is not currently licensed or certified under local health and safety regulations, nor the city permitting process.

Ice from the unlicensed manufacturer had been sold to retail locations located throughout Cascade County.

CCHD issues advisory about unlicensed ice maker

“The ice may be contaminated and may not be safe for human consumption,” according to CCHD. 

As of July 2, CCHD directed Great Falls Ice Co. to discontinue all ice production until the facility meets licensing requirements and retail food establishments have been notified of the unapproved source that may have been distributed to their location.

CCHD advised customers to avoid consuming ice from the unapproved source.

The advisory raised some community question and The Electric checked with both CCHD and the city planning department for further information.

A voicemail left at Great Falls Ice on July 9 has gone unreturned as of yet.

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Abigail Hill, county health officer told The Electric that CCHD received a complaint on July 1 about black pieces that were presumed plastic in bags of ice.

Upon receiving the complaint, Hill said CCHD contacted the owner of Great Falls ice, Buddy Ferda, and sanitarians went to the facility to conduct an inspection.

CCHD said that on site, sanitarians saw bags and blocks of ice with visible pieces of black plastic, which Ferda told them was pieces from the new augor/equipment.

CCHD said Ferda told them he was repairing the broken part and is distributing ice from a Missoula location that is being stored at his old facility, which is licensed.

Hill said that when contact by CCHD about the complaint, Ferda agreed to halt ice production.

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Typically, for buildings within the city limits, the city will conduct its inspection process and then notify CCHD to do its inspection to signoff on any of its requirements.

CCHD notified the city about the facility operating without a license and city planning staff then followed up with their own inspection as Ferda hadn’t completed the permitting process for the new facility.

City staff observed ice production was continuing, after Ferda told CCHD he would stop, and that’s when CCHD issued the customer advisory since Hill said they had to assume any ice being produced in that unlicensed and unpermitted facility could be contaminated.

Abigail Hill said CCHD had reached out to Ferda several times after he’d submitted an incomplete application and he had followed up on the necessary next steps.

Lonnie Hill, deputy city planning director, said that their office issued a building permit for construction on Great Bear Avenue in September 2023.

Great Falls Ice has not received a certificate of occupancy and wasn’t authorized to occupy the building for operation as inspections hadn’t yet been completed to ensure key life safety requirements, including electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, Hill  said.

Great Falls Fire Rescue also hasn’t conducted its required inspections for occupancy of the facility.

Lonnie Hill said that contractors were allowed onsite under the building permit for construction and staff notified Ferda of the requirement to have a certificate of occupancy before beginning operations.

The city wasn’t aware that Great Falls Ice was operating on Great Bear Avenue until CCHD contact planning, Hill said.

The city issued the building permit and associated permits in September 2023, and that process includes a checklist of chronological inspections required for the certificate of occupancy.

City planning staff told The Electric that the contractor didn’t call in inspections as required, so planning staff reached out to the contractor multiple times advising that progress inspections had been missed and received no response.

Great Falls Ice was also using city water without paying.

City planning staff told The Electric that a city utility account was created and a water meter installed for the property in October 2024, but the service hadn’t been activated, which isn’t out of the ordinary to install meters during construction before the certificate of occupancy.

The meter was read monthly showing no water being used, but when city staff was notified last week that the facility was operating, the city utility division conducted a field test finding that water was being used since the last meter read, Lonnie Hill told The Electric.

City staff said the account would be charged for the amount of water usage shown on the meter.

The city building official issued a notice on July 2 to discontinue use and Lonnie Hill said Ferda had since complied with the notice and construction continued.

The following photos are two examples of ice bags which show the ice was made within the unlicensed facility: