Montana

Montana local governments prepare for new law requiring recorded meetings

Published

1 year ago

July 4, 2024

Montana local governments prepare for new law requiring recorded meetings

EAST HELENA — Monday, July 1, was the effective date for a new state law that leaders say is intended to give the public a clearer picture of the work their local government is doing.

House Bill 890, sponsored by Rep. Brad Barker, R-Luther, requires many local government boards to record their meetings and post the recordings online within five business days. Now, it’s up to local leaders to make sure they’re following the law.

“It’s been a little bit of a learning process and a learning curve, understanding how we’re going to comply,” said Dan Rispens, superintendent of East Helena Public Schools.

Under HB 890, cities with more than 5,000 residents, counties with more than 4,500, most school districts with more than 1,000, and local health boards have to record the audio and video of their meetings. Smaller counties and cities with between 1,000 and 5,000 residents will only need to record audio.

Barker said when he was elected to the Legislature, one of his biggest concerns was a lack of trust in government, and he hoped steps like this would boost trust by providing transparency.

“The more that we put sunshine on the various things that we do – whether it’s discussing and approving budgets, approving contracts, all of the things that are involved in our public boards and entities – I think that it improves not only the process, that transparency also helps the public have a better understanding,” he said.

Most leaders MTN spoke to said the new law isn’t forcing major changes to their policies. For example, the city of Helena has been posting its meetings to Youtube since 2021, and the Lewis and Clark County Commission started doing the same last month. Commissioners in Jefferson and Broadwater Counties said they got used to streaming their meetings online during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it wasn’t a big step for them to get ready to record them as well.

The East Helena school board has also been streaming its meetings online since COVID, but that’s now changing. Rispens said the district decided for now to stop broadcasting them live and focus on the required recording.

“We’ve got a few people in the district – I think maybe two – that completely understand how to operate the equipment and make sure that the recording gets put down properly and is ready for posting,” he said. “So until we’re a little more comfortable with that process and we’ve got a few other folks who understand how to make sure it works, we just want to take it one step at a time.”

Rispens said it was difficult for the board and district staff to make sure that everyone had a full chance to participate equally in the hybrid meetings.

“You really need somebody full-time in the meeting who’s operating that Zoom meeting and monitoring the folks who are participating on Zoom and ensuring that people’s microphones are turned on at the appropriate time or turned off, and so it does become a little bit of a concern and a burden as to who’s going to do that,” he said.

EHPS uses a small Owl Labs camera that spins 360 degrees in an attempt to follow whoever is speaking. While they most often hold board meetings at the East Valley Middle School library, Rispens said they’re also able to use the camera when they’re meeting in other places.

“The problem with it being mobile is it’s not super high-quality video or audio production,” he said.

Regardless of the quality of the recordings, Barker says it’s important for the public to be able to get a clear, authoritative view of what happens in these meetings, as a way to push back against misinformation.

“With all the advances that we’ve had in technology and more recently at a much more rapid pace – artificial intelligence, the ability to create digital fraud, deepfakes – I think it’s important that we start as a government to take steps toward safeguarding,” he said.

During the 2023 legislative session, Barker also sponsored House Bill 724, which required local government boards to publish their agendas before meetings. That law took effect last year.

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Montana

Live Updates: Montana State leads SFA 7-0 in the first quarter

Published

5 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Live Updates: Montana State leads SFA 7-0 in the first quarter

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Montana

Frigid Friday – several inches of snow in parts of the area

Published

17 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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Frigid Friday – several inches of snow in parts of the area

A band of moderate snow has formed from the Cut Bank area, extending southeast across Chouteau, Fergus, and Judith Basin Counties. Be alert for low visibility and slick road conditions. Icy conditions continue in Lewis & Clark and Broadwater counties, where snow fell on top of ice after some freezing rain overnight. Up to a 1/4″ of ice has been reported on cars and sidewalks. Freezing rain may mix in again this morning as milder air begins to move back in.

Today’s Forecast:

Frigid Friday, several inches of snowfall in parts of the area-Friday, December 12

It will be a frigid today, with high temperatures in the 0s and lower 10s across central and eastern Montana, and mid to upper 30s in Helena.

The snow band will continue throughout the day, bringing several inches of snow to areas east of I-15. The band of snow will gradually push east tonight, impacting Blaine, Phillips, and Valley counties overnight. Snow showers taper off by Saturday morning.

MTN News

Expect difficult driving conditions through Saturday morning, especially east of I-15 and into the mountains.

Arctic air slowly retreats north on Saturday. Temperatures start off in the -10s to near 0 on the Hi-Line and in the 0s for central Montana, then climb to the 0s and 10s for the Hi-Line and 10s to 20s in central Montana by Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, it will be a pleasant weekend in Helena with temperatures in the low 40s. A gusty breeze develops on Sunday, as temperatures warm nicely into the low to mid 40s in central Montana and into the 30s in northeast Montana.

Looking ahead to next week, mild and windy conditions kick off the workweek, followed by active weather returning midweek.

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Montana

Atmospheric river drives flooding in northwest Montana

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Atmospheric river drives flooding in northwest Montana

Warm temperatures and an “atmospheric river” of precipitation that flowed into northwestern Montana this week have generated a state of emergency in Montana’s northwesternmost county, Lincoln, as local waterways run unseasonably high.

Around 12 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service started issuing flooding watches as area snowpack sites reported 24-hour precipitation totals that were approaching record levels. NWS meteorologist Dan Borsum told Montana Free Press Thursday that the “rain-on-snow” nature of the recent precipitation has led to widespread flooding.

Borsum called the weather pattern “unusual” for mid-December, instead likening it to a warm April.

Zach Sherbo, the public health manager for the Lincoln County Health Department, said in a Thursday afternoon phone call that additional precipitation is expected through Thursday evening, so rivers could continue rising into Friday.

The Lincoln County communities of Libby and Troy have been hit the hardest by the deluge, which prompted emergency services personnel to issue a state of emergency Thursday afternoon. Residents are cautioned against unnecessary travel and those served by the Libby city water supply are under a boil-water order as a precaution in the event of water supply contamination. School has also been canceled for students in Libby and Troy, Sherbo said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department has identified a handful of bridges that have been compromised or are washed out as a result of flooding. It suggests residents looking for information on road closures and bridge conditions review an interactive map that is available online and linked in a press release posted to the Lincoln County Health Department’s Facebook page.

“It’s going to take a long time to recoup from this, just structurally, just with the bridges we’ve lost already and the condition that they’re in and going toward,” Sherbo said. “It’s a pretty big combined local effort right now.”

Justun Juelfs, the Kalispell-area maintenance chief with the Montana Department of Transportation said three stretches of state-managed roadways were closed or under monitoring status as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

An approximately 80-foot section of the Farm to Market Road south of Libby has washed out as Libby Creek carved a new channel. MDT is also monitoring erosion that is occurring along a U.S. Highway 2 bridge southeast of Libby and along a section of Highway 56 near Bull Lake. Juelfs encouraged motorists to review MDT’s road conditions report for up-to-date information on impacts to state highways.

The Army Corps of Engineers is assisting with sandbag-filling and distributing efforts and the Red Cross has set up a shelter for those in need at the Assembly of God Church in Libby, according to Sherbo.

The Montana Disaster and Emergency Services agency is also lending a hand with the flood response. In an email to MTFP, Anette Ordahl with DES wrote that a district field officer and a recovery coordinator are on the ground in Libby to offer assistance.

In a Thursday afternoon press release, Gov. Greg Gianforte noted that Sanders and Flathead counties have also recognized the flooding by issuing emergency or disaster declarations. Up to four inches of additional rainfall are expected across western and south-central Montana, according to a disaster declaration Gianforte’s office included in a 3 p.m. press release.

The National Weather Service reported Thursday morning that the Bear Mountain snowpack monitoring site, located just across the border in Idaho, received 6.5 inches of precipitation as of this morning, making it the third-wettest 24-hour period for the site in its 44-year monitoring history. The six-day precipitation total for Dec. 6-11 is 13 inches.

Borsum, with the National Weather Service, said the recent, unseasonable warm spell in western Montana combined with the “super strong” atmospheric river to melt early season snowpack and drive flooding. A similar rain-on-snow event in early June of 2022 led to widespread flooding in parts of south-central Montana that required extensive repairs to roadways and bridges.

Thursday, the Yaak River near Troy surpassed its official flood stage, running at more than 7,500 cubic feet per second. Its usual volume for this time of the year is about 200 cfs.

The Fisher River near Libby was also nearing flood stage. As of Thursday afternoon, it was running at nearly 4,000 cfs, more than 20 times its usual volume for mid-December.

Zeke Lloyd and Jacob Olness contributed to this reporting.

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