City and county officials met with a number of area legislators during a June 14 meeting to talk about community priorities going into the next legislative session. Among the issues discussed were property taxes, tax increment financing, tax abatement, housing, transportation, land use, marijuana taxation, military support and local control. Local officials raised concern about CI-121, a proposed amendment to
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The temporary agreement between the City of Great Falls and Cascade County for the management of the City-County Health Department is set to expire on June 30. There’s been little progress between the city and county on developing a new agreement. During the June 1 health board meeting, County Commissioner Joe Briggs said that so far, the proposals they’ve heard
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Recreational marijuana may be on the ballot in November for whether it should remain legalized in Cascade County. Last week, the City Commission voted to send the question of whether marijuana sales should be legal within the city limits to the voters after denying a request for an inspection for a couple wishing to sell marijuana within the city limits.
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City Commissioners voted 4-1 during a special meeting on April 19 to uphold a staff decision not to process a safety inspection certificate application for a recreational marijuana dispensary in the city limits. The city code currently prohibits the sale of medical and recreational marijuana as it remains a federally prohibited substance and did not process the SIC application on
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The city’s long-standing prohibition on marijuana sales within the city limits is being challenged. Janelle and Dale Yatsko, who operate a marijuana dispensary in the county, filed an application with the city for a Safety Inspection Certificate and inspection with Great Falls Fire Rescue to operate an adult-use dispensary within the city limits. Currently, the city zoning code prohibits the
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By Katheryn Houghton | Kaiser Health News A year after a new Montana law stripped local health boards of their rulemaking authority, confusion and power struggles are creating a patchwork oversight system that may change how public health is administered long after the pandemic is over. The law, which took effect last April amid criticism of mask mandates and other covid
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The City Commission appointed Commissioner Joe McKenney during the Jan. 18 meeting as its representative to the governing body for the Cascade County City-County Health Department. McKenney replaces Mayor Bob Kelly as the representative to that board since Kelly has since joined the joint city-county health board as the city’s representative on that public body. Health board selects officers; county
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Updated 10:30 a.m. Dec. 29 County Commissioners unanimously approved changes to the county zoning regulations to allow recreation marijuana in the I-2 heavy industrial areas, where medical marijuana is already allowed. Several people spoke, asking commissioners to deny allowing recreational marijuana due to health and safety concerns, but Commissioner Joe Briggs said denying it in zoning wouldn’t stop it from
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Cascade County Commissioners are scheduled to take final action on changes to the county zoning regulations for recreational marijuana during their Dec. 28 meeting. Commissioners voted unanimously in November to accept the changes, starting a 30-day comment period, during which one comment was received in opposition to the the changes, according to county planning staff. Montana marijuana FAQ The changes
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The city filled its vacancy on the joint city-county health board this week and during the discussion on Dec. 21, Commissioner Owen Robinson said the county had a vacancy that it had not filled since April. Robinson said that two of the three county commissioners weren’t aware of the vacancy until he spoke with them about it recently. Robinson sits
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