During their July 14 meeting, Commissioner Joe Briggs pulled consideration of the lease from the consent agenda to be discussed as a stand-alone item on their regular agenda.

Commissioners approved the lease by a 2-1 vote with Briggs opposed.

For at least the last decade, Cascade County has leased 4,617 square feet of office space from Great Falls Public Schools for an Extension office at the Great Falls Early Learning Family Center/Skyline School at 3300 3rd St. N.E., according to the county.

The two-year lease runs from June 30 to June 30, 2028 with an annual payment of $28,360 in monthly installments of $2,348.

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During the July 14 meeting, Briggs said he didn’t want to commit to funding the lease when they hadn’t completed their budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

He said that the county is not mandated to fund Extension and the program was on the list of services to consider for reduced funding.

It’s a similar conversation commissioners have been having with the City-County Health Department, where nearly two dozen positions have been cut over the last two years and more recently with local libraries and museums that receive county funding.

Carey Ann Haight, deputy county attorney, said that the previous lease expired on June 30, so the agreement continued as is until there was a new agreement or a decision to terminate.

She said the agreement includes a cancellation provision, so commissioners could approve it now and terminate it later, with appropriate notice, if they chose to do so.

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Commissioner Eric Hinebauch moved to approve.

During the meeting, Tracy Mosley, MSU Extension’s central region department head, said she supervises the Extension agents in Cascade County and thanked commissioners for considering the lease.

Last winter, during consideration of an Extension funding agreement, Briggs said that Extension “is not a joint spending obligation.”

He said that the Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862 provided funding to land grant colleges in exchange for providing programs such as Extension.

Briggs said that over the years, the number of tasks and programs under Extension has expanded so funds have dwindled, but that doesn’t remove the responsibility for funding Extension from MSU and the Montana Legislature.

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During the July 14 meeting, Mosley said that Extension is funded through the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, a separate funding structure of federal, state and local funding.

Mosely said MSU Extension doesn’t receive trust land dollars and the county is not subsidizing state funding.

In an email to The Electric, Mosely said that in some instances, programming, services and salaries may be supported by funds from grants, contracts, awards and other sources.

“MSU Extension is committed to continuing our support and investment in Cascade County Extension and to continuing our long-standing partnership with the Cascade County Commission to bring services to the people of the county,” Mosley wrote.

During the commission’s July 22 work session, which did not include any items related to Extension, Reece Hastings, a 4H Ambassador, said she was speaking on behalf of 4H, the agriculture community and the next generation that will lead it.

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She asked commissioners to continue supporting Extension, which is more than 4H.

She said participants gain skills beyond the fair and agriculture that will serve them throughout their lives.

Hastings said the future of agriculture depends on young people who are willing to step into leadership roles and that depends on 4H.

She said that when commissioners support Extension, they’re investing in the future of Cascade County.

Commissioner Jim Larson told Hastings that it wasn’t their custom to respond to comments during meetings, but that she was welcome to come to his office after the meeting to discuss the matter.

Angie Hastings, Resse’s mom, read a letter that she’d emailed to commissioners.

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She said she’s seen how 4H shapes young people and was more than agriculture, giving them lifelong skills.

4H is especially valuable in rural communities like Ulm to provide youth with opportunities they might not have otherwise.

“I firmly believe that supporting 4H is an investment in the future of Cascade County,” she said.

After the work session, Hinebauch told The Electric that the commissioners would likely consider the larger funding agreement for Extension agent salaries and operations once they finalize their budget.

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He said the administrative assistant position was vacant in the Extension office and was the only one in that office that was a county employee.

Hinebauch said that position had been removed from the budget because the commission did not want to be managing a single employee in an office with three Extension agents who are state employees. That’s similar to the commission’s publicly expressed desire to shift management of the Cascade librarian to the Town of Cascade, as it did in Belt.

He said if MSU Extension took on that position through their funding contract, he’d likely support it.

Hinebauch said Rose Malisani recently left the Extension office as the agriculture, horticulture and natural resources agent but that position would be filled.

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In an email response to The Electric, Briggs said that the county tax bills break down to the greatest extent possible where funds are being spent, but “there is not now nor has there ever been a dedicated mill levy for extension.”

The only dedicated mills are voted mills, including the countywide public safety mill voters approved in 2022 and a search and rescue mill passed by voters several decades ago, Briggs said.

During a November 2025 meeting, commissioners approved a $117,000 contribution toward the three Extension agent salaries, but Briggs said the county’s actual contribution to Extension for the fiscal year was $233,561.

“MSU has a different interpretation of the intent of the land grant college legislation and is basically saying that if the property taxpayers of Cascade County do not continue to subsidize MSU Extension, they will quit providing services in the county. I do not believe this is an appropriate response from Extension,” Briggs said. “Over the years I have requested reductions in the amount we are required to pay, but those efforts have been rebuffed by Extension.”

Briggs said that last year he suggested Extension moved into an existing county building so the county didn’t have to pay rent for office space, but said he was told the suggested new space was too small for the amount of “stuff” the agents had “and if they were to move, they demanded an extensive remodel.”

Briggs said the county is also expected to provide liability insurance, phone and internet services and administrative support for the Extension office, as well as either provide a vehicle for each extension agent or reimburse them for their mileage at the federal rate. When agents leave Extension, Briggs said that MSU bills the county for a percentage of their accrued vacation and sick time.

“This arrangement is far from fair to the taxpayers of Cascade County. Our job as commissioners is to serve the needs of 84,000 people first and if there are resources left, assist with great things like 4H, museums, libraries, support for the elderly, state fair and other historical investments,” Briggs said.

Legislative changes and rising costs don’t allow commissioners to fund everything they’d like, he said.

“The commission has to step up and make more difficult decisions to go with the reductions we have already made in the Expo Park budget, the Health Department budget and the other cuts we made throughout general government in this upcoming budget,” Briggs said. “Extension and 4H are among the programs where cuts are necessary, I think we should restructure the agreement now to reduce costs while the admin position is vacant, one agent position is vacant and the lease was up for renewal. Waiting until the positions are filled only serves to make changes more difficult.”