Montana Economic Report 2015

MONTANA

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2015

ECONOMY

A special report by the staffs of The Billings Gazette, The Helena Independent Record, The Missoulian, The Montana Standard and The Ravalli Republic

Keeping up with demand

LARRY MAYER/Billings Gazette photos

Amid the wheat glut and a decline in quality wheat, cattle are pulling the economic wagon in Montana now.

Cattle pull the economic wagon for Montana’s third-largest economy

By TOM LUTEY tlutey@billingsgazette.com In Montana’s $3-billion-a-year agriculture economy, when markets are bullish, there are real cattle involved.

For the fifth year in a row, Montana calf sales are hotter than a red iron brand. Prices for quality calves are double what they were seven years ago. Analysts say there simply aren’t enough cattle to keep up with world demand for beef and likely won’t be for years. It hasn’t been since the early 1950s when the U.S. Department of Agriculture record books showed fewer cattle.

That’s good news for the state’s third largest private economic sector, which is rapidly cooling off after the commodities boom of 2007-2013.

High wheat prices helped keep Montana’s gross domestic product growing during the recession for all but a couple months, but three straight years of abundant global supply eroded Montana’s breadwinner. Cattle are pulling the economic wagon now.

“When you look at calves, the 100year trend line, adjusted for today’s prices, should be $1.52 a pound. The nation’s like $1.90 now. Montana is

Wheat is transferred into a truck as Dallas and Ashley Green operate DG Harvesting on a farm near Forsyth.

about what you would call $2, probably because the cattle here are better,” said Gary Brester, Montana State University agriculture economist.

That price, 125 percent of the longterm average, is a staggering benefit to the state’s economy. In fact, few states have benefited more economically from high cattle prices than Montana.

That’s because currently the hottestselling cattle in the marketplace are

calves and Montana is what’s known as a “cow-calf” state.

There are more than 2.6 million cows and calves, basically mothers and their offspring, dotting the Montana landscape. The population has increased by roughly 100,000 since 2006 and calves are fetching the best market prices, as high as $2.79 a pound currently, more than double what ranchers received just six years ago.

While Montana has added calves since 2006, other states have seen dramatic declines in cattle of all kinds because of drought and rising business expenses like labor, feed and higher rents for grazing land. Texas has lost 1.17 million beef cows, mostly due to drought.

Montana’s neighboring states have each lost at least 30,000 head during that time.

The biggest price loser for Montana agriculture is wheat, by far the state’s largest crop at more than 5.52 million acres planted in 2015. Those planted acres have been relatively flat since 2009. Wheat prices have been all over the map. Farmers will average about $5 a bushel for their crop this year, which is on the money when past prices are adjusted for today’s value. Price losses in wheat are no small matter for Montana, where the crop contributes more than $1 billion a year to the state economy.

That $5 a bushel average wheat price is buoyed by contract sales with terms agreed to months ahead of harvest.

Prices have fallen significantly since.

By fall, only the best spring wheat was fetching $5 a bushel. Winter wheat was selling for as low as $3.28.

Please see Cattle, H4

Health care still a major driver of Billings economy The biggest sector in the state’s largest city

By ZACH BENOIT zbenoit@billingsgazette.com BILLINGS — During the summer of 2014, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock stood before a crowd of more than 200 business and health officials from Montana and Wyoming and told them just how big of a role health care plays in the state’s economy.

“It’s no secret that here in Montana the health care industry is, and will continue to be, a crucial part of our state’s economy,” he said, opening the Big Sky Business Health Summit in Billings.

Eighteen months later, that’s especially true in the Billings area, home to the state’s largest medical community, which includes two regional hospitals and a county health agency.

In 2014 Billings’ health care industry employed an estimated 13,000 people — roughly 16 percent of the city’s employment — and accounted for more than $1.2 billion in direct and indirect payroll, including $641 million in wages to health care workers, which represents about 20 percent of the total wages in town.

“Billings has continued to become a hub for acute-care medicine, sub-specialty care, so we continue to see that growth,” said

Billings Gazette

Billings Clinic is the largest employer in Yellowstone County, with roughly 4,000 employees paying an estimated 9 percent of the residential property taxes in the county.

Jim Duncan, president of the Billings Clinic Foundation.

The majority of that radiates from a medical corridor at the north end of downtown that holds the sprawling main campuses of both St. Vincent Healthcare and Billings Clinic, two regional hospitals that offer a wide range of services and oversee facilities or clinics scattered across Billings and Montana.

“It’s quite a footprint when you look at it,” said Steve Loveless, St. Vincent CEO. “As we see

more health care services and as we grow, it shows that it contributes greatly to the community.”

Billings Clinic is the largest employer in Yellowstone County, with roughly 4,000 employees paying an estimated 9 percent of the residential property taxes in the county.

Expansions have been a major driving force for both hospitals, both on their home campuses and throughout the state. St. Vincent, for example, has sites in the Heights, Grand Avenue, Shiloh Road and Broadwater Avenue in Billings, in addition to facilities in Laurel, Red Lodge and Hardin. It also helps maintain and operate hospitals in Miles City and Butte through its parent organization, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth.

Its Billings facilities make up more than 863,000 square feet.

Conversely, Billings Clinic has off-site facilities in the Heights and West End, five ExpressCare clinics at four locations across Billings, a West End assisted-living facility and primary or specialty care clinics in Bozeman, Columbus, Miles City, Red Lodge and Cody; manages 11 critical access hospitals across Montana and recently took over management of Community Health in Missoula through a joint venture with Tennessee-based RegionalCare Hospital Partners.

Please see Health, H4

HANNAH POTES/Billings Gazette

DropTrip Founder Doug Warner developed a company that utilizes peer-topeer networking to transport goods.

Bozeman’s economy is state’s strongest, fastest growing

By TOM LUTEY tlutey@billingsgazette.com BOZEMAN — There are a lot of gee-whiz startups in this town cohabitated by college and technology, but the latest, Drop Trip, a company that turns travelers into couriers for hire, could be the slickest yet.

Roughly a year old, the company already employs 10 people.

Its service is connecting customers who have something to ship with travelers who have room for an extra load in their pickup, their roof rack, or even a backpack on an overseas trip.

Welcome, Bozeman, to the new “shared economy,” in which seemingly anyone can make a buck by putting their underused assets for hire primarily through online networking.

Bozeman’s economy is cooking. The $1 billion sale of local tech giant RightNow Technologies to Oracle in 2011 is still paying dividends as former RightNow employees who benefited from sale continue to invest in new businesses. Wages are increasing faster in Bozeman at 5 percent, than the rest of Montana’s 2 percent rise. Construction has risen from the mat after being coldcocked by the recession. Montana State University has set a record for enrollment. The relationship between the MSU, the community’s largest employer, and local businesses is palpable.

Drop Trip’s story is Bozeman’s in a nutshell, launched with RightNow sale proceeds, incubated at Montana State Please see Bozeman, H4

H2

Sunday, December 20, 2015

1

Growing an economy that reflects local values

By MIKE FERGUSON mferguson@billingsgazette.com BILLINGS — In their own ways, Steve Arveschoug and Candi Millar are working to create a more thriving Billings.

It’s the job of Arveschoug, executive director of Big Sky Economic Development, to help grow the local economy — everything from helping to lure businesses to Billings to strengthening existing businesses to striving to develop local workforce skills in a tight labor market.

Millar, the city’s director of planning and community development, has been working more than a year on a proposed growth strategy for the city and Yellowstone County. She started by first listening to how and where residents want the community to

LARRY MAYER/Billings Gazette

A Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel is being built on North 27th Street and Seventh Avenue North.

grow and then, in work expected Those aren’t mutually excluto last until next spring, crafting sive goals, Millar said.

“We aren’t looking at hindering strategies to make that growth work in the smartest, most cost- growth,” she said. “The growth policy recognizes that a livable city effective way possible.

is in itself an economic engine.”

Workers in their 20s and 30s, she said, do a job search differently than their parents typically do: They look first for the city they want to live in, and then for a job that will make that happen.

“A community becomes more competitive economically if it’s livable, offering the amenities and real necessities like quality schools and a good transportation system,” Millar said. “The input we have received (during the growth policy process) is that as we grow we should add amenities and maintain the qualities we already have.”

Big Sky EDA’s consultant, ECONorthwest, paints a picture of a community well-positioned to continue growing in whatever ways residents choose. The analysis compares Billings’ current

economy and its future prospects with those of eight other communities: Boise, Idaho; Fort Collins, Colo.; two Wyoming communities, Casper and Cheyenne; Bismarck, N.D., Rapid City, S.D., and Missoula and Great Falls.

With a 3.6-percent increase in its gross domestic product from 2001-14, Billings ranks third, behind only Casper and Bismarck.

In educational attainment, Billings exceeds only Rapid City and Casper. But Arveschoug chalks that up to the nature of the local job market, where workers don’t in general need college training — trade school might be more appropriate. In fact, Billings ranks first among its peer cities in the percentage of workers who’ve attained at least a high school diploma.

Please see Values, H6

Bakken oil drilling declines, but jobs, pay still firm

By TOM LUTEY tlutey@billingsgazette.com Last year, when low oil prices cut North Dakota’s Bakken drilling in half, things in Montana really didn’t look much different.

It turned out the Treasure State really didn’t have much wealth beneath it anyway, at least none that could be tapped as easily as the oil beneath North Dakota.

The number of rigs in North Dakota slid from roughly 140 in October 2014 to just 70 by the beginning of 2015. In Montana, the rig count slid from eight to one.

A year later, North Dakota rig numbers, which continued to slide after the October plunge, are up to 63. The Montana rig count, according to the state Board of Oil and Gas data, is still one. Oil insiders who two years ago were crowing about a “new normal” in oil production, in which prices stayed above $80 a barrel and oil freely flowed from the horizontally fractured wells, are now flummoxed by the state of their economy.

However, now’s not the time to hit the panic button, according to Bill Whitsitt, a former vice president of public affairs at Devon Energy. Whitsitt, who now watches the oil economy for the Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said the Bakken economy is far from done, though it isn’t clear yet how oil drilling, which was a primary driver of Bakken jobs during a 5-year heyday, will proceed.

A year after the number of drilling rigs began thinning from the Bakken region, oil production from completed wells in the area is still strong. It’s not clear whether a resurgence in drilling activity is needed to keep the Bakken pumping oil.

“My sense is, and this is only my sense, that we still have a backlog in the Bakken of wells that can be brought online at a reasonable cost,” Whitsitt said.

In other words, there are wells tapped and capped that could be brought online without the kind of manpower that produced camps of men bivouacked in Connex box apartments across the plain.

Bakken oil drilling activity is more likely to proceed at a pace similar to what it’s at now, partly because the $80-abarrel incentive to drill like there’s no tomorrow isn’t likely to return for the foreseeable future.

LARRY MAYER/Billings Gazette

The crew of an MBI Energy Services workover rig finishes a new oil well near Fairview.

North Dakota State Water Commission

The North Dakota State Water Commission has been cracking down on illegal industrial water sales in the Oil Patch, where large volumes of water are needed to drill in the Bakken Formation. Violations are starting to decrease involving sales from water depots, like the one shown, because of steep fines that equal any profits from an illegal sale. Violations usually involve over pumping or pumping without a permit.

LARRY MAYER/Billings Gazette

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe train carrying Bakken crude oil rolls past Billings in May.

West Texas Intermediate futures prices don’t cross over $60 a barrel all the way through 2024.

What that means is that today’s low oil prices have more in common with a tough oil market nine years into the future, rather than the $70-a-barrel price the industry was experiencing 12 months ago.

What those long-term crude prices mean for the economy in Montana and North Dakota remains to be seen. Despite decline in oil manufacturing jobs

in the region, wages remain fairly strong in the service industry, according to Barbara Wagner, economist for the state Department of Labor’s Economic Research Analysis Bureau. Wage growth only dipped slightly in recent months, but were sticky for an entire year previously. Wage growth for high-end jobs is slipping the most; lower-end jobs are doing better. But there’s still growth in wages.

“I think it is safe to say that there is softening in the wages, with a certain

slowdown in the high-wage growth that we have seen in recent years,” Wagner said. “Wages increased by 7 percent last year, 2014 over 2013, so a softening may just mean that wages increase similar to the state average, 3.5 percent.”

Through the first half of 2015, wages on average were 3 percent higher than they were for the same period a year earlier. The average wage in the region was just under $40,000 a year, an income better than the average for every major Montana city.

Employment in the Bakken is slipping. In Montana, there were a thousand fewer jobs in the Bakken region through the first half of the year when compared to the same period in 2014. However, employment was still strong in the region with 33,332 jobs. That’s still 2,750 more jobs than the region had in 2010.

There are as many Montana jobs in the Bakken today as there were in 2012.

Great Falls concentrates on downtown, riverfront redevelopment

By HOLLY MICHELS holly.michels@lee.net GREAT FALLS — Wayne Thares and his partners could have spent $3 million to build a luxury hotel somewhere on the edge of Great Falls, but they didn’t.

Instead, they spent $8 million to gut and remodel the city’s oldest commercial building, transforming the nearly abandoned space into the Hotel Arvon, which offers upscale lodging in the heart of downtown. After years of work, the hotel opened Sept. 10.

“It really was a mess, “ Thares said. “The beams were collapsed, so water was getting into the building.”

So why rehabilitate a space in such disrepair that more pigeon poop than paint coated the walls?

“We’re all invested in this community,” said Brad Talcott, who runs James Talcott Construction and is another force behind the revitalization of downtown Great Falls. “I think that’s probably what’s driving us as much as anything.”

Thares echoes the sentiment.

“The problem is it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to build new than it is to revitalize. Unless you have a real passion, a real commitment,” Thares said.

In 2012, the city-county approached Thares and his wife, Sandy, with feasibility study in hand.

Sandy Thares owns the O’Hare Motor Inn, another downtown ho-

HOLLY MICHELS/Lee State Bureau

Wayne Thares, left, and Patrick Sullivan are shown in the Celtic Cowboy Pub and Restaurant in downtown Great Falls.

tel better known for its lounge — the Sip ’n Dip. Thares used to work for Pepsi-Cola and owns the Taco John restaurants in town, as well as a laundromat.

“They said here’s this great building, it’s going into disrepair, somebody needs to do something with it,” Thares said.

The Arvon block was built in 1890 and was originally a boarding house for Teamsters. Horses were housed in what’s now a gym and wine snug in the basement.

Construction began April 25, 2013. After progressing in “fits and starts” and firing an architect, the Celtic Cowboy Pub and Restaurant poured its first beer on Nov. 28 of that year. The Dark Horse Hall and Wine Snug opened Oct. 31, 2014.

“All of it was supposed to happen within 90 days and obviously it did not,” Thares said.

The project used historic tax credits, which paid for about 25 percent of the cost, but also slowed the process. For Thares, it was worth the headaches to be able to help rebuild his hometown’s downtown.

“We could have built a property like this for half the price, but it also wouldn’t have the character and the history,” Thares said. “You’re sitting where Paris Gibson and Charlie Russell may have sat. Structurally it was in poor shape. It ended up being a lot more than we planned.”

Spencer Woith and Brad Talcott know what they’re in for on their own rehabilitation project just across the river. Woith, who runs

Woith Engineering, bought about 12 acres of land to redevelop along the Missouri from Cascade County at an auction in 2014.

“We were the only bidder,” Woith said.

It’s not hard to see why on a cold November afternoon, when the mud acts more like wet cement and the view of the river is blocked by old grain towers.

This project is what Woith and Talcott call “Phase 2.” They plan for a mixed-use development on the land — maybe some hospitality, restaurants, office space. That’s similar to phase 1, Talcott’s first project just south of here. In 2008, he built an extended-stay hotel, steakhouse, brewery and coffee shop on 6½ acres of former industrial land.

“I’ll never forget the day I brought the appraiser in,” Talcott said. “It was pretty hard for him to visualize putting a hotel in here, but then we tore down the buildings and they saw the river back there.

Everybody knew there was a river back there, but you didn’t realize until you tore down the buildings how close it was.”

This time around, more people see the potential — but there are more hurdles to clear.

“I had a lot of people ask us ‘Why don’t you do something with that property to the north?’” Talcott said. “It’s hard to use industrial land. There’s always some cleanup, there’s always a challenge. It’s much

more difficult when you’ve got contamination.”

The site was once an oil refinery and most recently housed Cascade County’s public works department.

Woith has crews tearing down old grain silos now, and hopes to be building by March.

“In the early days, industrial wanted to be on the water for ease of business,” Talcott said. “It’s converting those back from industrial to more appropriate uses that’s a bit of a challenge.”

Talcott said both sides of his family came to Great Falls in the 1920s and that longevity ties his business plans to his personal hopes for the city.

“We can’t discount that it has to be successful business-wise,” he said. “But probably what drives us as much as anything is the value of this to the community.”

Talcott said this project with Woith is the obvious next step.

More industrial parks are opening on the outskirts of town and now is the right time to reclaim valuable riverfront property.

“You can keep moving into the rural areas, but why not clean up what you’ve got?” he said. “We want it to be mixed use where people can work, stay and eat, just like what you always wanted downtown, where people are there all hours of the day and don’t have to leave if they don’t want to.”

Please see Great Falls, H6

Sunday, December 20, 2015

1

Come Work For Us, We’ll Make it Work For You! Troy Libby

H3

More Than 3,000 Employees Statewide

Eureka

37

Cut Bank

Browning Columbia Falls

Whitefish

Havre Chinook

Shelby

Wolf Point

Kalispell

16

Conrad

200

Sidney

Polson

Thompson Falls Plains

Ronan

200

Missoula Bonner

Woodside Hamilton

Anaconda

200

White Sulphur Springs

East Helena

Miles City Rocker

Boulder

Townsend

Forsyth

Butte Three Forks

Whit ehal l

Big Timber

Ennis

Laurel

Bozeman Livingston

Cities with Town Pump Stores, Car Washes, &/or Casino Operations

Sidney Glendive

Lewistown

Helena Deer Lodge

200

200

Superior

Lolo Florence Stevensville

16

Great Falls

gs illin

39

B

Hardin

Columbus

Colstrip

Belgrade Red Lodge

Dillon

Cities that also include Montana’s best lodging value (Townhouse Inns, Super 8, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn and Suites and Holiday Inn Express and Suites)

Town Pump Inc. has numerous locations across Montana including Convenience Stores, Casinos, Motels and our Corporate Office.

We offer the following benefits to eligible employees:

• Competitive Wages • Flexible Hours • 401 (k) - Profit Sharing • Health Insurance

• Employee Assistance • Vacation • Flexible Savings Accounts • Advancement Opportunities

Check our website, www.townpump.com, for current job postings

SERVING MONTANA MORE THAN 60 YEARS!

www.townpump.com

Whether you are interested in full or part-time work, a temporary position or a career, Town Pump Inc. has room for bright energetic candidates on our team.

H4

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Cattle Continued from H1 In July, Phil Steinberger was hoping better prices were ahead as he fired up the harvester to cut his 2015 winter wheat crop near Forsyth. At the elevator in Pompeys Pillar, his grain protein tested at 10.5 percent, a half a point lower than what he would need to hit the $5 mark. The price would never get better. In mid-November, the cash price in Steinberger’s area for lowprotein grain was $4.07. It wasn’t much better for high-protein grain.

Protein is where Montana wheat usually gets it above-average value. Grain elevators normally pay a few dimes extra for protein and then blend the Montana wheat into lower grades from the rest of the country to boost quality. Not

Health Continued from H1 “A lot of hospitals around the country have seen a downward trend in inpatient hospital volumes, but we haven’t been seeing that here,” Duncan said. “The volume here is still growing when it comes to hospital patients.

That’s why you’ve seen a lot of construction over the last few years. We’re trying to keep pace.”

The hospitals also make a point to hire local contractors and businesses if possible when it comes to construction.

While there are out-of-town sites, Billings’ health care industry brings in plenty of out-oftowners on its own. More than 40 percent of the two hospitals’ inpatient visitors come from outside of Yellowstone County, while about one in 10 come from out of state.

According to the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, that has led to an extra 3,700 health care jobs and as much as $218 million in wages, as well as the millions of dollars those visitors spend outside of the medical community while in Billings.

“That’s a big deal,” Loveless said.

There are also plans for future growth, which could plug millions of dollars into the community through construction and related services.

RiverStone Health, Yellowstone County’s public health agency, announced in September

1

this year. In the global wheat glut, Montana’s levels weren’t so special, even though its 2015 crop was exceptional.

“We really did hit quality out of the ballpark with high-quality stands of hard, red spring wheat,” said Cassidy Marn, Montana Wheat and Barley marketing program manager. “This year we were able to see our varieties perform in environments they were designed to do well in.”

The problem is, flour mills in the Asia-Pacific region, where roughly 80 percent of Montana wheat is sold, have learned to do more with lower wheat qualities.

That know-how has softened demand for higher-quality grain, particularly in a year when the world wheat production has set a new record for a third year in a row.

Malt barley, of which Montana produces more of than any other

that it is raising money to build a new $11 million, 25,000-squarefoot primary care clinic near its current building off of South 27th Street.

Officials expect to break ground on the clinic sometime in the spring of 2016.

“We have squeezed every bit of space there is out of that old building,” said John Felton, RiverStone president and CEO, at the project’s announcement in September. “In terms of pure space, we just need more.”

While specific details weren’t immediately available, St. Vincent officials said that they also have plans for expansions, including off of the main campus downtown, that would include construction of new buildings.

“We’re continuing to grow and our service lines are a huge focus for us,” Loveless said.

“That’s a major part of our plan, with a slow migration of largely outpatient services on the West End.” At Billings Clinic, specific plans weren’t available, but Duncan said that the hospital will continue to grow and adjust to meet the needs of the community and the region.

“Billings is in a very good spot right now as a community, with positive outlooks for growth and continuing to become more of a regional center related to health care,” he said. “The growth needed for the health care workforce education and development is significant, and we are going to continue to play an increased role in that.”

state, could be the escape hatch for farmers caught in a wheat glut, but producers are still waiting for the dust to settle from when beer giant AB InBev buys SAB Miller.

Both companies buy Montana malt barley.

Global wheat production has deflated demand for U.S. wheat, which seven years ago was experiencing prices double what they are currently. Excess world supplies of corn are also pulling wheat prices down because corn and wheat are both used for animal feeds. When corn is priced high, wheat becomes a feed substitute, and that demand drives the price upward.

“The biggest reason exports are so low is we’ve had three world record wheat crops,” Brester said.

“We’re pretty close to long-term trends on corn and wheat prices.

As an economist, that’s what you would expect to happen.”

Local health care officials are also keeping a close eye on the effect of Montana’s recent Medicaid expansion, which takes effect on Jan. 1.

According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, there are 7,215 uninsured adults in Yellowstone County eligible for the expansion, which could result in an additional $44.5 million in Medicaid spending, an anticipated job increase of 1,370 and possible annual labor increase of $57 million.

“As newly insured Montanans seek health care, there will be an increase in the demand for doctors, nurses and other medical support staff,” the center said in a report issued in January. “Health care providers can hire new employees who will then spend their paychecks in local businesses ...

What starts as a small investment in Medicaid expansion actually triggers a chain reaction of economic development.”

As Bullock said in 2014, the health care industry is likely to play a crucial role in the Montana economy. According to a Montana Department of Labor and Industry report published in 2013 projects Montana’s health care industry to grow by about 1,300 jobs each year through 2022, spurred in large part by an aging population that is expected to see more than 30 percent of Montana’s population older than 60 by 2030.

And with Billings offering more services from the state’s largest providers, many of those jobs could end up in Billings.

Short of an unexpected decline in world production, little will improve wheat’s future outlook, experts say.

Abundance is a common problem for sugar beets, too. U.S. sugar supplies are receding only slightly from a 2014 trade dispute in which Mexico was found to be dumping sugar on the U.S. market, which lowers prices.

The dumping controversy was bad for Montana’s $100 million sugar beet industry anchored by sugar factories in Billings and Sidney. Farmers feeding those factories dialed back their beet acres to stem the sugar glut, but growing conditions were near perfect.

Bumper crops mean this year’s sugar beet economy is still somewhat sour.

“In the eastern part of the state, sugar beets did really well. They did well around Billings, too,” said

Bozeman Continued from H1 University, capitalizing on the resources of a community that likes to travel and tends to have a lot of gear. For the company’s founder, Doug Warner, the need for shared economy shipping was based on personal experience.

“Doug Warner was at RightNow, working in Australia and couldn’t get climbing equipment,” said Chris Kelly, of Drop Trip. “It was extremely expensive to buy there. So, he was always looking for someone traveling to Australia who could bring him some.”

Warner and his partners created an online network through which shippers could log on and post a notification. Travelers would then look for items they could carry. The parties would organize a pickup. The traveler receives online payment once both parties confirm delivery.

In addition to being more affordable than commercial shipping, the service also turned out to be more practical, Kelly said. Traveling sports families work well.

“Shipping a bike is $150 UPS and you have to take it apart to ship it, put it back together when it arrives,” Kelly said. “Now, if someone has a bike rack … .”

A map of Drop Trip packages needing shipment showed pickups from Fargo, N.D., and dropoffs as far away as Seoul, South Korea.

The company was named Innovator of the year in November

Eric Sommer, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service in Helena.

In Sidney, farmers harvested more than a million tons of beets for the first time ever, said Russ Fullmer of Sidney Sugars. There were more than 30 tons an acre harvested on average everywhere in the state. In Billings, Western Sugar Cooperative began harvesting beets weeks ahead of schedule and expects to still be making sugar in mid-February.

The success story for the year is pulse crops, or peas and lentils.

The state produces more than 700,000 tons of peas and lentils annually. It’s a much smaller crop than wheat, but still a profitable alternative. Montana farmers were paid $100 million for pulse crops in 2014, and prices and acres have both increased since then.

by Prospera Business Network, the economic development corporation for Southwest Montana.

There’s no shortage of notable businesses in the Bozeman area, said Prospera’s Drew Little. Root Cellar Foods is a local food processor that is preparing local produce for restaurants and markets, as well as institutional kitchens. Restaurants like their carrots sliced and tomatoes diced so they don’t have to do the work.

Simms Fishing products, the only fishing wader manufacturer in the United States, is expanding its production facility after opening in a bigger location near Four Corners just three years ago.

The company will have more than 160 employees when the project is complete.

Before the recession, construction was the Bozeman area’s biggest industry. Gallatin County’s population had gone through two decades of growth greater than 20 percent. Bozeman was issuing 500 building permits a year.

Those permits fell to 200 in 2008 and didn’t begin to recover until 2012, when city building records show permits inching close to 400 a year again. But by 2013, construction permits were again in the 500s. Last fiscal year, permits were 467.

Gallatin County’s economy added 367 construction jobs from 2013 to 2014, a 9.3 percent increase, according to the state Labor Department Research Analysis Bureau.

Manufacturing was second to construction in growth, with 199 new jobs in 2014.

NO, CURIOSITY DID NOT KILL THE CAT.

If you’ve been curious about changing careers, now might be a good time. PayneWest is growing and we’re looking for game changers who are passionate about the clients we serve, the colleagues we work with and the communities in which we live.

Find out what it’s like to work for a company recently chosen as one of the Best Places to Work in the nation for insurance. Visit PayneWest.com/Careers.

Business Insurance • Personal Insurance • Benefits • Surety

1

Sunday, December 20, 2015

H5

Industrial expansion is a bright sign for Great Falls economy

By JAYME FRASER jayme.fraser@lee.net GREAT FALLS — Several ongoing company expansions in Great Falls could herald the end of a 30-year dry spell for industrial growth, area leaders say.

Despite its prime location along transportation corridors, companies looking to expand or relocate to the Golden Triangle could not find many heavy industrial lots and none with rail access.

“We didn’t have any on the market for several decades,” said Jolene Bach, vice president of the Great Falls Development Authority.

The last industrial park built in Great Falls came online and quickly filled up in the 1980s. Local leaders had discussed developing new rail-served lots as early as the 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2010 that the authority signed an option

became available they sold,” Bach said, noting five lots were claimed quickly and a sixth has recently come under agreement. “It confirmed there was pent-up demand.”

Bach said the first 10 AgriTech Park lots — and all the zoning and infrastructure work required — were spurred to completion, in part, by the possibility of losing Pacific Steel and Recycling. The regional company with headquarters in Great Falls had outgrown its riverside recycling facility and was looking to expand — even if that meant leaving town.

Instead, Pacific Steel and Montana Specialty Mills agreed to pay some of the costs to extend a rail spur and other utilities into the HOLLY MICHELS/Lee State Bureau AgriTech Park, work which is unAgriTech, Great Falls’ newest industrial park, will be developed in phases. derway this winter. Bach said the companies will be reimbursed, contract for more than 1,000 acres developed in phases, beginning plus interest, with tax increment in northeast Great Falls. The area, with 196 acres divided into 10 lots. funds accrued from the park. dubbed the AgriTech Park, will be “Pretty much as soon as they Around the same time as the

AgriTech Park gained steam, nearby land in the north industrial area started to sell as the economy warmed up. ADF International and Loenbro both opened new fabrication facilities in the area this year.

ADF International General Manager Dan Rooney suspected that the same market characteristics that brought their company to Great Falls could entice other manufacturers.

“Great Falls happened to be the largest metro area south of the Canadian border and was very near a high-and-wide corridor that was already established,” Rooney said, referring to a federally designated transportation corridor for oversized shipments. “Because our oil field modules are 24-feet wide and 24-feet tall, you have to have a clear route for them.”

Please see Expansion, H6

Montana tourism continues to get even stronger

By VINCE DEVLIN Missoulian KALISPELL — The state of Montana covers more than 94 million acres, but its tourism industry is built on 1,080,225 of them.

Given what happened in 2015, and what’s on tap in 2016, that should bode well for many of the state’s businesses that rely heavily on visitors, said Daniel Iverson, communications manager for the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development.

Those 1,080,225 acres belong to all Americans, and come in the form of Glacier National Park (1,013,572 acres) and Yellowstone National Park (96 percent of which lies in Wyoming, but which has 66,653 acres — and three of its five entrances — in Montana).

Yellowstone smashed its record for visitation earlier this year, and is on course to cross 4 million visitors a year for the first time ever and post a 15- to 16-percent increase more than 2014. There were times this year when lines to get into the park were so long, rangers waived hundreds of vehicles through at a time without charging the entrance fee in an effort to keep traffic moving.

Glacier, meantime, broke a 31-yearold visitation record in 2014 when it TOM BAUER/Missoulian welcomed more than 2.3 million people and is poised to erase that again in With visitors filling the historic lodges of Glacier National Park, like Many Glacier Lodge in the park’s northeast corner, at a record pace, the 2016 tourism outlook is optimistic.

2015.

The park is edging toward a second Elections and weather straight record despite a challenging The parks should help the 2016 toursummer that included wildfires inism outlook for the state. side its borders, smoke-filled skies and You might be surprised at some of the 2 ½-week closure of a significant the other things that could affect it. chunk of its most popular attraction Iverson says Norma Nickerson, the — Going to the Sun Road — during the director of the Institute of Tourism and height of the season.

Recreation Research, has noted that 2016 is a presidential election year. She Top 2 attractions called it a “wild card” that could lead The two national parks “are defito caution among voters/tourists who nitely our cornerstones,” Iverson says. are uncertain about how the election “They’re front and center, and we focus of certain candidates could affect the a lot of the promotional works we do on economy. them.”

That uncertainty could affect their Information from the University of travel plans.

Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Fuel prices and economies in other Recreation Research indicate that more nations figure in. Another variable is the than half the out-of-state visitors to weather, which will wind up playing a Montana visited Yellowstone while major role in whatever Montana’s final TOM BAUER/Missoulian here, and 40 percent visited Glacier, Montana’s attractions don’t stop with the national parks, but for many out-of-state 2015 tourism numbers turn out to be.

Iverson says.

“I’m not a meteorologist, but a lot visitors, Glacier and Yellowstone are the first thing they want to see.

“They’re our top two attractions by a depends on the weather,” Iverson says. comfortable margin,” Iverson says.

After a good snow year in 2014, MonWith the National Park Service cel- “We think the increase in visitation to attention in 2016, and Montana could tana saw a 10 percent drop in the numebrating its 100th birthday in 2016, the the parks will continue.” ber of skiers in a drier, lighter-snow year benefit. centennial could help draw more attenThe two parks predate the National Among the ideas being considered, in 2015. That lack of precipitation cartion — and visitors — to parks, including Park Service itself, and have already cel- Iverson says, is one that would promote ried over into the summer and affected the two in Montana. ebrated their own centennials — Glacier various routes between the parks — and the wildfire season, a year after wild“We’re talking with our partners six years ago, and Yellowstone, Ameri- attractions along the way — that could fires weren’t much of a factor. about how to promote, and take advan- ca’s first national park, back in 1972. But benefit more than communities close to Please see Tourism, H6 tage of, the centennial,” Iverson says. the NPS centennial will draw national Yellowstone and Glacier.

Bitterroot Valley on an optimistic upswing

By PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic HAMILTON — While the feeling is upbeat in the Bitterroot Valley about the coming year, some worry that a looming shortage of workers may create its own set of challenges for businesses looking to expand.

The county’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.2 percent in September.

“That means that almost everyone is taken,” said Julie Foster, executive director of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority. “That creates a churn as employers compete against each other for the same pool of people. It’s a statewide challenge for business right now.”

At the same time, Foster said she’s seen a number of local businesses seeking out loans to expand their operations.

“That’s quite a difference from what we saw just a few years ago during the recession,” Foster said.

“During the recession, they were looking for the money they needed just to get by. Now we’re seeing people coming in with a plan to

create more production and more revenue. To accomplish that, they need more people.

“We’ve probably loaned out twice as much in the first three quarters of this year than we loaned out in the previous two or three years. We are pushing well over $1.5 million so far this year.”

There’s still work that needs to be done to get the county’s economy up and rolling in a sustainable fashion, Foster said.

“Wages in Ravalli County and the state are low,” she said. “That needs to change if companies want to retain good workers. I think it’s really easy to be super optimistic, because the recession was so incredibly bad, but there’s still a lot of work that still needs to be done.”

Bitterroot Building Industry Association Executive Officer Angela Previte said housing starts in Ravalli County were up 6.8 percent in the first three quarters of the year.

“We’ve had 142 housing starts in the first three quarters,” Previte said. “In all of 2013, we had 99.

Builders are in good shape for 2015, and many have homes in the pipeline for 2016.”

A new building workforce The main challenge builders face is a shortage of workers.

“They are having a hard time finding skilled labor or laborers interested in learning the trade,” she said. “It’s not something that’s just happening here. It’s a national issue.”

The builder’s association has made it this year’s major initiative to get into the local high schools to let young people know about the career opportunities in the building trades.

“We hope to get our foot back in the door to get in front of high school students to let them know about the career potential in all the building trades. That runs the gamut from engineers to architects to starting right out of high school hammering nails,” Previte said.

Bitterroot Job Service Manager Vicki Steele said Montana has an aging population of workers and many in the younger generations are going out of state in search of higher wages.

Please see Bitterroot, H6

PERRY BACKUS/Ravalli Republic

Tim Rybiski, co-owner of Blodgett Canyon Cellars, hopes that more new businesses will start up in Hamilton’s downtown area offering unique experiences to help make the community a destination site for visitors.

From basement to business Friends hope to start new trend in Hamilton

fortune from a winery is to start with a larger fortune,’” said Tim Rybiski of Blodgett Canyon Cellars. “We had heard them all,

By PERRY BACKUS but we went ahead and did it Ravalli Republic anyway.”

Rybiski and his partner, KevHAMILTON — The partners in Braughton, have seen their of Hamilton’s newest winery fledgling business on Hamilton’s had heard all the jokes.

Main Street grow every month “You know the ones that go, ‘The best way to make a small Please see Hamilton, H6

H6

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Values Continued from H2 At 2.8 percent in September, the city’s unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since it was at 2.7 percent in 2007. As compared to its peer cities, Billings’ employment share is second in education, health care and social services and fourth in retail trade.

With a $2.6 billion impact on the local economy, health care is

1

the community’s fastest-growing sector, Arveschoug said.

“It’s a huge driver, and it will continue to grow as we get older,” he said. “It’s also one of our most acute labor needs.”

At nearly $30,000, Billings’ per capita income is almost $1,000 higher than that of the country as a whole and nearly $4,000 higher than the state’s. It ranks fourth among the peer cities, behind Bismarck, Casper and Fort Collins.

Despite those strong numbers, Arveschoug said he has concerns

for some sectors, including businesses that supply companies operating in the Bakken as well as retailers who must compete for workers in a tight labor market.

But there’s more evidence for optimism, he said — a proposed $50 million investment in Billings Logan International Airport, infrastructure upgrades in the East Billings Urban Renewal District and plans for significant capital investment at both Rocky Mountain College and Montana State University Billings.

“My only caution is that we don’t take our foot off the pedal,” he said. “As we build infrastructure and add amenities, we will attract more talent and more businesses.”

Millar expects to complete the city/county growth policy in spring 2016.

“We are trying to show the consequences of different patterns of growth to our elected officials. In the end, we hope to develop statements that reflect the values we have heard and minimize the negative consequences of growth.”

Great Falls Continued from H2 The Mighty Mo Brewing Co. tries to capture that after-work traffic. Seth Swingly, another Great Falls native, wasn’t initially sold on downtown for his venture, which is about to mark its second year in business.

“We knew downtown would be a good fit for a brewery, but we were a little nervous that downtown Great Falls has been on a downswing for the previous decade,” he said.

But Swingly needed a building the landlord was willing to remodel, and a historic space on Central Avenue fit the bill.

“We were seeing glimpses of it starting to come back, so we thought, ‘what better time to put in a brewery downtown and help get it back?’” he said.

From the tap room where Dam Fog hefeweizen is the most popular beer, Swingly can point to new apartments on the upper levels of a building across the street.

“A lot of owners are renovating their upstairs,” he said.

“There’s potential for a lot more of our target market living down here, where before you never thought about that. You see a lot more professional people being in Great Falls; I love to see people living downtown in condos.”

Steady boom Swingly said Great Falls is the epitome of slow and steady wins the race.

“Ten years ago when Bozeman and Billings were going through their big economic growth, Great Falls was not seeing a lot at the time, which probably benefits us in the long run,” he said. “We avoided that downfall. We’ve been steadily growing as far back as I can remember. It was really slow there for a while, but you didn’t see the big

Hamilton Continued from H5 since they opened its doors this summer.

“Business-wise, every month has been better than the previous one,” Rybiski said. “That surprised us especially since we’ve gone from summer into fall.”

The partners hope their success will help fuel a rebirth for a Hamilton downtown.

Other downtown businesses have reached out and offered to work together with the new winery.

“We are creating that community of people interested in growing the market as opposed to fighting for market share,” Rybiski said. “Several businesses have been extremely supportive of what we’re trying to accomplish here. Once we get enough people on board, this has the potential to really take off.”

Rybiski hopes that downtown Hamilton will become a destination for people looking for a different dining and shopping experience in the shadow of the scenic Bitterroot Mountains.

But to make that happen, Rybiski said new entrepreneurs will

Bitterroot Continued from H5 The job service currently has 132 jobs listed that run the gamut from service sector positions to construction to skilled positions within the medical community.

“In terms of wages, we have minimum wage jobs that start at $8.05 an hour up to $40,000 to $80,000 for a commercial truck driver depending on experience,” she said.

With the numbers of unfilled jobs in the valley, Steele said some employers are not only having a hard time finding people, but they’re also challenged in keeping them.

Some job seekers have barriers they need to negotiate to be get back into the job market. Some need retraining or upgrades in their skills. For others, it could be as simple as a lack of reliable transportation or child care.

The brewery at Mighty Mo Brewing Co. is shown in downtown Great Falls.

HOLLY MICHELS/Lee State Bureau

spikes up or down.”

Sitting under the 125-yearold staircase at the Hotel Arvon, Thares touches on the same topic.

“My dad told me many years ago that Billings is a boom and bust, Bozeman is a boom and bust, Missoula is a boom and bust.

Kalispell, definitely boom and bust,” he said. “Great Falls is just a steady boom, even during the recession. Great Falls continued to grow at that 1 and 2 percent. We don’t grow fast, but we don’t decline.”

That’s not to say the area hasn’t taken its hits. In August, Asurion closed its call center and 350 people stopped coming to work downtown. The garage where they used to park sits empty down the street from the Arvon.

“We’ve got a long ways to go, there’s no doubt about it,” Thares said. Downtown is still recovering from when the big department stores — Sears, J.C. Penney, the

Bon Marche — which was the last retail operation in the building Asurion just moved out of — shut down or fled to the mall. There’s a building on the corner of Sixth Street and Central Avenue that burned five years ago and still sits with boarded-up windows.

“There are plans to revitalize it using some of the same people as the Arvon,” Thares said.

Jolene Bach, vice president of development for the Great Falls Economic Development Authority, said several other businesses, including a climbing gym and children’s clothing boutique, are set to open soon. There are also several housing projects moving forward, and a new apartment complex was just announced for the downtown corridor.

“We’re really excited to get more people living down here, more people playing down here and working, eating, drinking, buying,” she said.

She pointed to the 54 miles of trails in town, 23 of which run along the water, as a big draw.

“We are promoting more development that is based around recreation,” Bach said.

A health downtown is critical to the Arvon’s success. As a boutique hotel, they aren’t catching people looking to build up their rewards points or seeking a cheap place to catch some sleep.

“We are for someone who is looking for something out of the norm,” said the Arvon’s general manager Patrick Sullivan.

A month after opening, the hotel had eight rooms full, for a 30 percent occupancy rate. They need to be around 60 percent.

Sullivan, a firm believer in energy, thinks downtown has enough buzz to make it all work.

“Here in Great Falls the stars do align,” he said. “There’s an energy in this community that’s unlike any other I’ve experienced.”

have to come up with ideas that are unique and attractive to tourists and Montanans from nearby communities.

“It’s kind of like creating a successful amusement park,” he said. “You have to have enough roller coasters. One or two really good ones aren’t enough.

You need a handful. In Hamilton, we need to get rid of the ‘for rent’ signs. We need to fill those storefronts with businesses that are truly unique that offer products that are very attractive to encourage people from Missoula and other places to come here.”

Rybiski and his partner are learning firsthand the consumer is looking for a unique experience.

In order to accomplish that in Hamilton, they produce their own wine onsite from grapes they purchase mostly from Washington State.

Their customers can choose to either consume their unique wines by the glass in the storefront that occupies the building that once housed Hamilton’s historic Ponderosa Bar or buy some locally produced wine to drink at home. They are also building a wine club that offers customers the opportunity to receive their products through the mail

at regular intervals.

The historic building they work from has its own unique charm.

“We kept all the old western murals in the old Pondy,” Rybiski said. “People seem to really enjoy the atmosphere here. We think it turned out really great.”

Theirs is a business that literally started out in the basement.

Braughton was working as a scientist at Rocky Mountain Laboratories when the two first met about a decade ago. He was making wine in his basement as a hobby.

“People started asking him if they could buy some from him,” Rybiski said. “He came to me and said I think we should start selling this to people.”

They started small by selling wine for special events. As the demand continued to grow, Braughton quit his job at the lab and started making wine full time.

When the two men started looking for a retail site, they discovered that the Ponderosa Bar had been closed and its liquor license sold to another business.

“Neither one of us had any experience in the restaurant business whatsoever,” Rybiski said.

“We did have a plan on what

we wanted to do. We have been learning and adjusting on the fly and really enjoying every minute of it.”

Rybiski is president of Rocky Mountain Homes, one of the Bitterroot Valley’s cornerstone log home businesses.

“I leave Rocky and come down here and wash dishes,” he said.

From the beginning, the two families have worked together to making the changes to the historic bar that they felt were needed to create Hamilton’s first wine tasting room.

“We did a lot of the work ourselves,” Rybiski said. “It’s definitely different than anything else in town. It also has a different kind of atmosphere from what you will find at the local breweries. We don’t sell cheeseburgers. We have an antipasto plate, humus dip and chocolate desserts.”

Next spring, the plans call for adding a deck on the roof of the building so people can enjoy the outdoors and scenery.

“You get a beautiful view of the entire valley from up there,” Rybiski said. “We’re trying to create a unique experience here.

Now we just have to figure out a way to get people up the three flights of stairs to the roof.”

Job service employees are now working closer with employers and potential employees in an attempt to make better matches.

“We’re getting to know people and employers on a much more intense level,” she said. “We’re not just reading a profile on the computer screen. We’re working harder to get to know them so we can match them up with an employer in need.”

Steele said the area’s economy has improved over this past year and it’s projected to grow even more in 2016.

2016 and beyond.”

There seems to be a movement back to buying things locally rather than online, which Mitchell said local retailers are enjoying.

“People like to be able to come in a store and feel the fabric and see the merchandise before they throw their money down,” he said.

“That’s helping local businesses.”

The valley’s log home industry is also experiencing an upswing.

“Knock on wood, it’s alive and well,” said the owner of Pioneer Log Homes, Jay Pohley, about the log home business. “A lot of customers have been sitting on the fence for the past few years have jumped off and decided to build this past year.”

Pohley said his business has come from all parts of the nation where people have decided to construct new commercial buildings and large legacy homes.

Pohley credits the upturn in the country’s economy for the uptick in the business that he’s operated since 1975.

“People are finally feeling enough confidence again to decide that they’re going to move forward with their projects,” he said.

The company has added an additional 10 employees to help keep up with the demand. Pohley said he hopes a few more might trickle back from the oil fields in the near future.

This year, Pohley’s business has done a few more of its handcrafted homes in the Bitterroot Valley than what’s done in the past.

“We done four upscale homes here in the valley this year,” he said. “That’s probably more homes here in the valley than what I’ve done in my whole career.”

Pohley feels good about the near future.

“Historically, these run in spurts,” he said. “If this is indeed a spurt, it will take me to the end of my career. Right now, I’m having a lot of fun. I get here early and stay late. After 40 years, I’m still enjoying it.”

More optimism Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Al Mitchell said local retail businesses are feeling improvement from years past.

“Everyone seems to be pretty optimistic,” Mitchell said. “Even though there are some holes on Main Street (in Hamilton), business owners are looking forward to

Expansion Continued from H5 Despite the oil drilling slowdown, Rooney said his company still expects to grow the number of jobs in Great Falls during the next year, noting that they have shifted fabrication to serve other industries.

Joe Aline of Shumaker Trucking and Excavating Contractors said the northeast corner of Great Falls is a natural area for industrial growth given the lack of residential development that could create tensions with operators. Aline, who sold some of the lots under development and has done site work for the companies moving in, expects building to continue at a steady pace now that the city has shovel-ready lots available.

“It’ll start to build on itself now that we have several of these industrial manufacturers here,” he said. “We haven’t seen that type of growth here since the smelter growth back in the 1980s. It’s great, instead of call centers, to get industrial, hands-on-type jobs that tend to pay more.”

State labor statistics show that the total value of annual wages paid in Cascade County has grown 6.8 percent since 2010 to $4.6 billion even as the number of people employed has remained almost flat.

Area leaders attribute the wage growth to the higherpaying industrial jobs added to the market, but also to increased hiring competition.

After peaking above 6 percent in 2011, unemployment in Cascade County fell to 3.5 percent in September, the lowest it’s been since 2007.

“With all these employers competing for workers, it’s a challenge to fill openings,” said Brad Talcott of James Talcott Construction, who worked on several industrial construction projects in recent years. “But it’s a good thing.

It’s an exciting time.”

Tourism Continued from H5 The lack of snow and increase in wildfires was accompanied by a weakening of the Canadian dollar that also affected a very important part of Montana’s economy — visitors from the North.

“Most of our visitors come in by road,” Iverson says, “and we had a 4.2 percent increase at our west, south and eastern borders.”

But there was a 6.3 percent decrease in traffic coming into Montana from the Canadian border, and that hurts the economy in many places across the northern tier of the state, and as far south as Great Falls.

“It’s really slowing up communities like Great Falls,” Iverson says. With a weak Canadian dollar, “Essentially, (Canadians) can’t buy as much for their dollar as they used to be able to” while in the United States.

Entering by air Early figures for 2015 — Iverson stresses that final figures won’t be available until early 2016 — indicated that in addition to the higher numbers of visitors entering by vehicle over Montana’s borders with Idaho, Wyoming and North and South Dakota, there was a 1.8 percent increased in air travel, and a 2.2 percent increase in the number of hotel and motel rooms sold.

Those are close to figures Nickerson predicted. Montana usually comes close to matching national projections for tourism; Iverson says that for 2016, the U.S. Travel Association is predicting a 2 percent increase in the number of trips taken, and a 2.3 percent increase in spending.

Nickerson has also noted that international visitors to Montana seem to be increasing, which is part of a national trend.

“The international markets are skyrocketing, especially Asia and China,” Iverson says.

“We have a program focused on international travelers, and work with tour operators — because a lot of international visitors like to go through tour operators — to show the Montana sights they can sell to international markets.”

No doubt Glacier and Yellowstone are on that list. Montana’s attractions certainly don’t stop with the national parks — there’s some spectacular scenery on those other 93 million acres — but for many out-of-state visitors, whether they’re from other countries or other states, the national parks are the first thing they want to see.

1

Sunday, December 20, 2015

H7

Manufacturing still strong, slow growth in health care, government for Missoula economy

By DAVID ERICKSON Missoulian MISSOULA — Manufacturing and professional services continue to be bright spots in the Missoula economy, but slow growth in the health care industry and in the government sector are holding back a full-blown economic success story.

Growth in construction jobs has been stellar, but there are questions as to whether that can be sustained locally.

Chris Behan, the assistant director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, can sum up the last few years of relatively robust growth in Missoula pretty succinctly.

“MRA, in particular with our Urban Renewal Districts, has never been busier,” he said. “And that includes projects that are ongoing and projects that are coming up and pending. The economy itself nationwide and Montana is doing pretty darn well. The government is maintaining record low interest rates and we are coming off a recession where a lot of larger developers saved money and now they’re looking to put that portfolio out because that’s what they do for a living.

“And the stars have aligned for MisKURT WILSON, Missoulian soula. We’re moving well into being a small city, even though we want to keep Driven by several high-profile construction projects like the new Missoula College, Missoula is seeing “fairly strong growth,” but the local that feel of a large town. We’re going to economy isn’t picking up speed as rapidly as other areas of the state. keep growing. We’re here now at a time where there’s a lot of things going on and lot of interest, a lot of financing money, growth in the economy and population.”

By DAVID ERICKSON Patrick Barkey, an economist and the Missoulian director of the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic ReMISSOULA — Ever since Neil search, said that Missoula didn’t suffer Chaput de Saintonge and his wife as much as other Montana cities during Jeanne opened the Rocky Mountain the recession that began in 2008 but also School of Photography in downtown hasn’t experienced the same accelerated Missoula in 1989, thousands of asgrowth since the economic recovery bepiring and professional shutterbugs gan. have flocked to town, enticed by “The recession experience in MisMontana’s scenic beauty, abundant soula was shallower and longer, I guess wildlife and friendly people. you could say,” Barkey explained. “We The school offers a five-month certainly did not suffer the very steep career training program, workshops declines that Bozeman and the Flathead that focus on everything from travel Valley and even Ravalli County did. to weddings to documentary phoThings were not as severe. But it was tography, and weekend intensives. longer.”

“We have probably 300 to 400 Since 2011, other economies in the people a year in Missoula,” Chaput state, particularly in Bozeman, have de Saintonge explained. “Most are picked up speed much more rapidly than here for a week, but 75 to 100 are Missoula, but they started from a deephere for the whole summer. Many er hole, so to speak. have moved here because they love Missoula had a $1.9 billion economy it so much.” in 2014 as measured by wages covered TOMMY MARTINO /Missoulian The school also hires dozens of by unemployment insurance. Of that, professional photographers to teach Neil Chaput de Saintonge and his wife, Jeanne, have run the Rocky Mountain School retail accounted for almost $200 milof Photography in Missoula since 1989, but it’s not just the granduer of Glacier and courses. lion, professional services accounted for Yellowstone national parks that attract students. “Students are just as excited about Courses take students every$151 million and healthcare contributed the friendliness of the people as they are about the great beauty,” says Neil. where from the Rattlesnake to Glajust shy of $400 million. cier National Park to Yellowstone.

New housing construction starts Montana had to be the coolest place.”

Those students and instructors stay ‘The coolest place’ within Missoula city limits are up 45.5 Chaput de Saintonge studied under at local hotels, eat at local restaupercent more than last year, as of SepIt was no simple twist of fate that legendary photographer Ansel Adams rants and contribute to the vibrancy tember. However, outside the city, new led Chaput de Saintonge to put down before opening a photography school in of the city. starts are down 11.2 percent. roots in Montana.

Atlanta, in the 1980s. They decided to “We do bring a lot of people to “In 2014 to 2015 we are seeing fairly “As a child in Syracuse, I always visit Montana in the summer of 1988. this state,” Chaput de Saintonge strong growth in Missoula,” Barkey dreamed of living in Montana,” he exsaid. “So I’m sure we help the said. “One thing that is really missing, Please see School, H8 plained. “I’m not sure why, but I knew economy a lot.”

Please see Missoula, H8

School’s success contributes to strong Missoula economy

Rapidly growing Kalispell, Flathead Valley continue surging economic development

By VINCE DEVLIN Missoulian KALISPELL — Much of the economic outlook in the heart of northwest Montana comes giftwrapped in multimillion-dollar bows.

On the western fringes of a region once heavily dependent on the timber industry, it’s another story.

But in the fast-growing Flathead Valley — and at the south end of Flathead Lake as well – things are happening.

There’s the $34 million worth of construction on the final segment of the Kalispell Bypass and Four Mile Drive expansion, expected to begin — and possibly even be completed – in 2016.

“The contractual agreement calls for it to be ready by 2017,” said Joe Unterreiner, president of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce.

With the contractor likely to pursue incentives for getting it done earlier, “We could be driving on it as early as (2016).”

Then there’s a hard-fought-for $10 million federal grant that will help build a new rail yard north of Kalispell, turn 10,000 feet of railroad tracks that presently travel through downtown into a pedestrian trail and park, and complete street connections.

Kalispell had failed on its first two tries to obtain one of the highly competitive Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants. Now, combined with $11 million in other matching funds, the project will finally move forward.

“It’s huge, huge, a longtime goal of the city,” Unterreiner says.

“It’s urban renewal in our historic core, and will bring jobs and in-

TOMMY MARTINO/Missoulian

Kalispell, just minutes away from northwest Montana’s three major attractions, Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake and Whitefish Mountain Resort, has increased population more than 28 percent in the last 15 years.

vestment.”

Regional trade center

expansion of Nomad Global Communication Solutions, which manufactures mobile emergency command centers.

At Whitefish Mountain Resort, a $2 million renovation of its Summit House began this summer.

“Kalispell is really emerging as a stand-alone regional trade center,” Unterreiner says. “It brings with it an economy with beneficial wages and improved way of life for families in the Flathead. The job growth is in professional areas — legal, accounting, health care, architecture, engineering, fields that are typically higher wage-paying sectors.”

Elsewhere, a business boom in Kalispell continues. Ground has been broken on 250,000 square feet of new retail, restaurant and hotel space near U.S. Highway 93 in the Spring Prairie Center. It’s the fourth phase of a project; Costco, Lowe’s and Cabela’s already anchor earlier phases.

The 101-room Marriott Springhill Suites is part of that expansion, and the hospitality sector is seeing more additions in other parts of the valley — a 76-room Hampton Inn and 89-room Averill Hotel in Desirable location Whitefish, and a 64-room hotel in There’s no denying what the nearby Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls will also be the draw is.

Kalispell is home to none of site of a second Murdoch’s store — there’s already one on the south northwest Montana’s three major side of Kalispell — and it will see an attractions. But residents are just

minutes away from them all — Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake and Whitefish Mountain Resort.

“It’s a highly desirable place to be, with Glacier Park, our rivers and mountains, the ski resorts and Flathead Lake,” Unterreiner says. “That’s resulted in population growth that provides a critical mass for a regional trade center.”

Flathead County’s population has increased more than 28 percent in the last 15 years, to approximately 95,000 people. The city of Kalispell has grown by more than 50 percent in the same period, to about 22,000.

Glacier Park continues to be a driving force in the tourism industry so important to the valley. The park is poised to — by a narrow margin — establish another record for visitation in 2015, and likely would have smashed it were it not for summer wildfires, smoky skies and the closure of part of its biggest attraction, Going-to-the-Sun Road, for 2 ½ weeks during July and August.

More than 2.3 million people have visited Glacier each of the previous two years.

Boom at the anchor Polson is smaller than Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls, but the community that anchors the south end of Flathead Lake is experiencing its own business boom.

A Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened across Highway 93 in late 2013 has helped spur the growth at Ridgewater Properties just south of the junctions of 93 and Montana Highway 35. There, below a highend residential area, businesses are flocking.

Please see Kalispell, H8

Lodge is proof that Montana’s tourism industry is going strong

By VINCE DEVLIN Missoulian BABB — More than a dozen years ago, Terri Ocheltree’s career in the hospitality industry was moving in the right direction (up) while simultaneously moving in the wrong direction (California).

Ocheltree had been managing a property in Great Falls for a national hotel chain when she had the opportunity to enter a training program that would lead to a district manager’s job.

She did, but when the promotion wound up meaning a move to California, Ocheltree balked.

“My son was young at the time, and I didn’t want to live in California,” Ocheltree says.

“I did go, for the better part of a year.”

It pushed her to look for something else, back in Montana. What she found was a far cry from a national hotel chain.

It was a mom-and-pop-like lodge just outside Glacier National Park.

Ocheltree purchased Montana’s Duck Lake Lodge, located a dozen miles south of the Canadian border on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation near Babb, in 2003. She even Please see Lodge, H8

H8

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Kalispell Continued from H7 Most are new.

Red Lion recently opened an 80-room hotel in the development, which also features a MacKenzie River Pizza, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Valley Glass, and a Kalispell Regional Medical Center clinic.

They all join the Mission Valley Aquatics Center, where the building housing an eight-lane, 25-yard main pool was the first to be constructed in the development.

New youth soccer fields are among the coming tenants in Ridgewater, and it will soon become home to several more healthrelated residents. St. Luke Healthcare in Ronan is also building a clinic there; Polson Physical Therapy plans to move there and bring other tenants, such as a gym, with it; and Polson Chamber of Commerce manager Amber PachecoHolm says two dialysis centers are also planned.

“They’re part of what you’d call the medical tourism industry,” Pacheco-Holm says, explaining that people who need dialysis are now planning vacations around areas

1

where these types of centers can provide their needed treatments.

“The Ridgewater area is just blowing up,” Pacheco-Holm says.

“It’s changing so fast.”

Rural needs,limited options Change is harder to find in the more remote parts of northwest Montana.

Lincoln and Sanders counties typically have the highest unemployment rates of the state’s 56 counties, and that was still holding true in 2015.

“It takes a certain person who values the quality of life available here” to relocate, according to Jen Kreiner, executive director of the Sanders County Development Corporation. “There’s no big, special new business coming to us giftwrapped and offering new jobs.

We’re working with existing businesses to increase their success.”

Hers is a part-time position in a one-person office. When she attends economic outlook seminars sponsored by the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Kreiner says they “don’t address anything going on here, rural needs in places with limited options for young people

and a high number of retirees.”

“Even tourism, when we embrace that, we rely on the (state) Office of Tourism, but in their bank of photography they don’t have one picture of Sanders County in there,” Kreiner says.

“We’re overlooked, but trying to get louder.”

But things are happening, Kreiner says. A community resource assessment through the Montana Economic Development Association brought in outside economic development specialists and program providers to assess the county’s strengths and challenges, and will produce a proposed action plan.

“It’s a great first step,” Kreiner says.

Thompson Falls, one of just three incorporated communities in the county, is developing a downtown master plan.

And Kreiner would like to begin a conversation about the county’s lack of educational opportunities beyond high school.

“It’s something we need to address if we want to stop exporting our kids,” she says, noting that Lincoln County contains a satellite campus of Flathead Valley Community College in Libby.

Courtesy of Duck Lake Lodge

An off-the-beaten-path surprise, Duck Lake Lodge is a popular spot for Glacier National Park visitors who like to spend the nights someplace not so crowded with other tourists.

Lodge Continued from H7 brought along her Mom and Pop — Kathy and David Wallace — who joined her as co-owners.

They are three of the people dependent on Montana’s tourism industry, and some of the ones affected, for better and for worse, by everything that goes on in the neighboring national park.

Know where you’re headed For as small (nine rooms that share community bathrooms and showers, eight RV hookups and several tent sites) and isolated as it is, Duck Lake Lodge offers some surprising amenities.

It has its own pond on the lodge’s 60 acres (Duck Lake itself, a popular trout fishery, is just a couple miles down the road) and its own restaurant and an eightstool bar.

“I prefer to call it a lounge,” Ocheltree says of the small bar, “because it’s mostly a place people gather to talk.”

Both it and the restaurant close at 9 p.m., to ensure the guests upstairs in the lodge aren’t disturbed.

You have to know where you’re headed to find Duck Lake Lodge.

It’s located down a gravel road off a secondary state highway, 464, that runs between Babb and Browning. The main route between Babb and Browning, U.S. Highway 89, is about a mile away from the turnoff.

For seven months a year, Duck Lake Lodge is almost entirely a family-run business.

“I wear a lot of hats,” Ocheltree says, counting lodge manager, front desk clerk, restaurant chef and waitress, housekeeper, bartender and bookkeeper among them.

Her parents are getting older and scaling back, Ocheltree says, but her son Jacob, now a high school student, and nephew Taylor Ford help out.

From May to September, Ocheltree hires as many as a half a dozen employees to assist during the busy season, when the lodge does the majority of its business.

‘Off the beaten path’ If there’s a drawback, Ocheltree says it’s that she lives in one of the most spectacular places on the planet, but doesn’t have a spare minute to enjoy it when the weather is nice.

“I still love the tourism season,” she says. “The beauty of the area is embraced by all different cultures. They get to see it, and we get to enjoy our backyard through their eyes.”

Her guests return from their day trips over Going-to-the-Sun Road, to the Many Glacier Valley or to nearby Waterton Lakes

National Park in Canada, full of stories about their adventures and wildlife encounters.

Many are repeat customers, Ocheltree says, who make annual pilgrimages to Glacier and like to spend their nights someplace that’s not so crowded with their fellow tourists. On the busiest of nights, between the lodge and the campground, there are rarely more than 100 guests populating the 60 acres.

“It’s just so serene, so quiet,” Ocheltree says. “We are off the beaten path.”

In other months, Duck Lake Lodge counts on fishermen and, to a lesser extent, hunters to keep the lights on. It promotes the trout fishing available nearby.

“On a typical good day, it’s not unusual to hook a 10- or 12-pounder,” it says on the lodge’s website — with plenty of photos of guests holding big fish that didn’t get away.

Because it’s located on an Indian reservation, hunting is not open to everyone, but Ocheltree says there are a limited number of licenses available through the Blackfeet Tribe for non-member hunters who hire qualified outfitters to guide them.

Busy fire season Wildfires in and near Glacier at the height of the 2015 tourist season slowed business a bit, but Ocheltree says the lodge was already enjoying a good year when the Reynolds Creek fire a dozen miles southwest of Babb kicked Montana’s fire season into gear in July.

“We had an unfortunately harsh fire season,” Ocheltree says, “but last summer, even with the fires, we had an increase in business. We had a strong start. May was one of the strongest we’ve ever had.”

The phone rang off the hook once the fire, which would grow to 4,850 acres, took off in late July in the nearby St. Mary Valley.

“When it first happened, people don’t get all the information,” Ocheltree says. “There are a lot of rumors. People panic. We try our best to calm them down and reassure them.”

Many thought Glacier Park had completely closed, Ocheltree says. The truth – until smoke from other fires in the Pacific Northwest rolled into western Montana later in August — was that often there was no evidence a wildfire was burning except in St. Mary.

A significant chunk of Goingto-the-Sun Road, and the primary park entrance on the east side was closed, yes.

“But the Many Glacier Valley was amazing,” Ocheltree says.

“People were coming and going from Many Glacier, and Waterton, and having a wonderful time. We tried to make (people with reservations who were calling) under-

stand what was available.”

They came out of fire season fine, Ocheltree says, helped by the fact that Going-to-the-Sun opened earlier than expected.

Even with the interruption in July and August, Glacier remained on course to set a second straight visitation record.

‘Hidden in the aspens’ Through the years Ocheltree and the Wallaces have owned it, Duck Lake Lodge has made moves to expand business.

It can handle private parties, weddings and receptions with 200-plus people, and provide onsite catering.

“We do rehearsal dinners, private parties, and we have such a beautiful backdrop for receptions,” Ocheltree says.

They’ve also noticed an increase in tent camping, and promote the bathrooms, showers and coin-operated laundry they offer to those who pitch their own accommodations.

One of the biggest differencemakers for Duck Lake Lodge, Ocheltree says, has been signing on with Booking.com.

The online reservation site, owned by Priceline, “has been amazing for us,” Ocheltree says.

“I don’t have a large marketing budget,” but Booking.com gives Duck Lake Lodge international exposure.“We actually get people from a lot of other countries.”

The best thing has been that Duck Lake Lodge can put up “no vacancy” signs earlier than ever now during the busy season.

“We’d usually book up anyway,” Ocheltree says, “but now we’re booked up a lot farther in advance. It’s just comfortable to know you’re booked ahead. We are a small, mom-and-pop-type business that’s off the main road, hidden back in the aspens.”

There is a week in June when most tourists can’t get a room or RV/tent site at Duck Lake Lodge through Booking.com or anywhere else.

For the past six years, the lodge has hosted a weeklong combat veterans retreat for wounded warriors called “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.” For military veterans who have been physically injured in combat, or suffer from posttraumatic stress syndrome, the gathering is drug- and alcoholfree.

Otherwise, the little lodge and campground awaits people who stumble on it — mostly on the Internet — or guests who return annually.

More than 2.3 million people now visit the lodge’s neighbor, Glacier Park, every year. It only takes a miniscule fraction of them to sleep and eat at Duck Lake Lodge for its owners to have a solid year.

And that beats living in California, Ocheltree says.

Missoula Continued from H7 one driver that is really not so strong, is health care. That’s sort of an exception. It’s easier to talk about exceptions because there’s fewer of them. It’s pretty rare that every economic cylinder is firing.”

Health care in Missoula Growth in Missoula’s economy in 2014, as measured by inflation-adjusted wages, was 3.1 percent.

However, growth in the health-care industry in Missoula County was just 1.4 percent in 2014.

“Health care is huge here,” Barkey said. “Health care in Missoula is something that draws people in from outside Missoula because the market area for our two hospitals is pretty large. What’s going on there is something we’re still trying to explain. Basically, there has been a slowdown as measured by employment and wages paid to people in health care. It looks like it’s not expanding that much in 2015 either, but we don’t have all the data for 2015 yet.”

Barkey said that some medical facilities have started outsourcing some facets of their operations because of an increase in regulatory overhead.

“So when you think about regulatory activities for a surgical clinic or doctor’s office, that regulatory activity, in terms of record-keeping, used to happen in house,” he said. “Now it might be some company in Denver.”

There is also the impending retirement of the “baby boomer” doctors.

“Another thing is a generational thing,” Barkey said. “It’s not unique to Missoula. You have a group of doctors who are close to retirement and they’re portfolios got trashed in the recession. So they kept working. Now the market is back up and they’re in great shape. Now you see a fair amount of retirements occurring.

“And new doctors don’t work as hard as old doctors do. They have this work/life balance thing.

Some people say it takes 1.5 new doctors to replace one old doctor.

And you have a change in ownership at Community Medical Center. There’s all kinds of things going on. Just the fact that St. Pat’s is getting into maternity tells you there’s an organization looking for new revenue streams.”

Other industries Other industries in Missoula are doing well. The construction industry grew 8.4 percent in 2014.

“That industry has always been up and down,” Barkey explained. “It can tank one year and be 10 percent the next year.”

The manufacturing industry grew by 8.5 percent.

“There are several things happening in manufacturing and they have all been positive,” Barkey said. “The first is that wood products is smaller and healthier, but there have been challenges to that. It’s a pale shadow of what it used to be in terms of its economic footprint, but there’s been a pretty decent pickup in construction nationally. It’s been a better environment for wood products. The

School Continued from H7 “Our travel agent had a daughter who lived in Missoula, and she told us it was a cool city and that she loved it,” he recalled. “Jean and I had a child, and I said I’d like to raise a child in Montana and have part of our school in Montana.”

They started the first professional training program as an 11week summer intensive course in 1989.

“We had eight students our first year, and it was great,” Chaput de Saintonge said. “For the next three summers, we came out for the summer and went back in the fall. Then we decided we are going to live out here no matter what. So we moved, and of course the school worked out great.”

The school also hosts programs in other cities, but the headquarters on Higgins Avenue in downtown Missoula allows them to have the perfect location to send students to photograph everything from fire spinners at Caras Park to birds along the Clark Fork River.

They have a gallery space, a professional studio with modern equipment, editing labs and several classrooms. They call it “chasing light.” The classrooms are full of past student work, photos of penguins and ballerinas and high-speed captures of strawberries dropped in glasses of water.

The school publishes an an-

‘gotcha’ for wood products is what’s going to happen. There is the prospect for some really tough times, with the expiration of the Canadian Softwood Lumber Agreement.”

Retail trade grew by 4.6 percent in Missoula in 2014.

“Retail had been a laggard for quite a while so that one swinging is quite important,” Barkey said.

Professional services grew by 9.9 percent in 2014.

“That’s doctors and lawyers and other services, and it’s often project-related income,” Barkey said. “If you look at the membership of the Montana High Tech Alliance, a lot of those companies are in Missoula. That’s a big one.”

A couple industries that didn’t contribute to growth were food services, which grew by 1.9 percent, transportation and warehousing which grew by 3 percent and government, which grew by only 1.2 percent.

“The University and the federal government are two of the biggest drivers of the Missoula economy,” Barkey said. “The jury is out on those. The University is looking forward to the last enrollment figures, and budgets that are tied to that, and that’s not looking so good. The research situation is just the opposite. Growth in research is kind of an under-appreciated story. Research is not as big but it is a pretty big driver. That’s had a very good year.”

The federal government in Missoula includes everything from smokejumpers to the Bureau of Land Management to the Forest Service to the justice system.

“That is unchanged from where it was before, which sadly was in a state of slow decline,” Barkey said. “It doesn’t get a lot of ink because it happens very slowly. It’s sort of symbolized by the Forest Service moving from downtown. That kind of symbolizes what’s going on in that agency and other agencies. It affects Missoula because it’s concentrated here.”

Another good year Looking ahead, Barkey said some portions of the economy seem to be headed above expectations while some are below.

“What’s below, quite frankly even though there’s good wage growth and employment growth, is construction,” Barkey said. “A lot of that is tied to University projects and multifamily housing projects, and a lot of that doesn’t appear to be sustainable.

There has been an unmet expectation of growth in single-family homes. That has been underperforming everywhere outside of Bozeman. That’s the only place that comes close.

“Certainly the federal government in particular but all government is undershooting what it has done historically. Then you have sideways and slow growth in health care.

Manufacturing continues to be a bright spot. There has been pretty good growth in both manufacturing and construction.”

Barkey said that while his organization has not yet completed its forecast for 2016, he sees trends that point to continued growth.

“I think the prospects for another pretty good year for Missoula next year are in place,” he said.

nual catalog every year, and has become one of the most respected photography schools in the country. It’s not uncommon for National Geographic photographers to teach classes there.

“We are all-digital now,” Chaput de Saintonge explained.

“Becoming a photographer is difficult, and it’s much too difficult to learn both darkroom film techniques and digital techniques. So we switched completely.”

However, Chaput de Saintonge said he has incorporated many of the lessons that he learned from Ansel Adams.

“We’re a very technical school, because Ansel was very technical,” he said.

Although the lure of learning photography in such awe-inspiring locations as Glacier and Yellowstone parks is surely a great recruiting tool, Chaput de Saintonge said it isn’t just the wild outdoors that impresses people who visit.

“They are also blown away by the people here, like Jeanne and I were when we moved here,” he said. “People actually look at you on the sidewalk and smile at you.

Students are just as excited about the friendliness of the people as they are about the great beauty.”

For more information on the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, visit www.rmsp.com.

David Erickson covers business for the Missoulian and has a photography degree from the University of Montana. Tommy Martino is a photographer for the Missoulian.

1

Sunday, December 20, 2015

H9

Construction frenzy? More buildings sprouting up in Butte

By MIKE SMITH Montana Standard BUTTE — Markovich Construction is used to searching out jobs in Montana, even taking its Butte-based business and crews to Idaho, North Dakota or Wyoming if needed.

That has changed in the past two years.

“Last year when someone asked me how business was, I told them we have more work within 100 miles of Butte than we have had in the past decade,” said company contractor Corey Markovich. “This year,I’ve been telling

them we have more work in Butte than we have had in a decade.”

There are plenty of buildings going up in other Montana cities, including Missoula and Bozeman.

“Construction in Bozeman is on fire,” he said.

But he and several others say there hasn’t been this much building construction in Butte — all at the same time — in a long time.

In strict money terms, it would be hard to beat the mid-1990s when the $500 million plant for Advanced Silicon Materials Inc. was built just southwest of Butte.

The company made highly pure

polysilicon for various products before it was purchased by Renewable Energy Corp. in 2005.

But that was one giant project.

There are many happening now across Silver Bow County.

“This is big in terms of at least the 25 years on my watch,” said Butte-Silver Bow Planning Director Jon Sesso.

The buildings sprouting in Butte during the past 18 months include the five-story, $25 million NorthWestern Energy building Uptown; a $9 million natural resources laboratory at Montana Tech; and two of the biggest county projects in decades — a

new water treatment plant and major upgrades to the sewer plant.

Each of those, in the end, will cost more than $30 million.

Buffalo Wild Wings moved into a new $1.1 million building on Harrison Avenue this year. An old eyesore on Harrison — the vacant, boarded-up Skookum Motel — was wiped away to make room for a new Pizza Ranch restaurant.

A new, larger home for MacKenzie River Pizza is going up that will be called MacKenzie River Pizza, Pub & Grill.

An 84-room Fairfield Inn & Suites — a Marriott franchise — is being built near the cluster of other

Riding the slump

chain hotels by the Interstate 1590 interchange on the Flat.

Town Pump is expanding its headquarters at the base of Uptown.

“It’s sort of a sleepy little project that is going on at Platinum and Main streets and that is $4 million,” Sesso said. “It is almost doubling the size of their corporate space.”

Several warehouses have been or are being built, including ones for Frito-Lay, Lisac’s Tire and one by the owner of Harrington’s Floor & Window Coverings. A Please see Construction, H12

Boosted Tech enrollment, new programs lift local economy

By RENATA BIRKENBUEL Montana Standard

SUSAN DUNLAP/Montana Standard

In this May 2015 file photo, a worker is part of a crew putting two new trucks together on site at Montana Resources. The new trucks, at a cost of $3.8 million apiece, are part of a $16.2 million capital investment Montana Resources is making this year.

Timber, mining projections face challenges in 2016

By SUSAN DUNLAP Montana Standard BUTTE —Timber and mining insiders predict another tough year ahead for southwest Montana in 2016.

For both industries, the global economy appears to be the primary cause of the negative impact felt here at home.

Depressed prices already felt in both industries in 2015 appear to be leading to another sluggish year likely ahead.

Mining at Montana Resources In late November, copper dropped to a new six-year low at $2.12 a pound, from a high of more than $4 a pound in 2011.

Mike McGivern, vice president for human resources at Butte’s Montana Resources mines, said copper prices are expected to be similar in 2016 to what they were in 2015. That’s bad news for MR’s employees, who did not receive their profit sharing bonuses in the fi nal quarter for 2015 due to the low returns on ore. Profit sharing is an incentive plan dependent on the company’s profitability.

“We’ve been in declining price since February (2015),” McGivern said. “I hope we’ve caught the bottom.”

McGivern said the problem seems to be China’s economy.

“The high prices of copper in the last 10 years has been due to China’s economic growth. They are the major consumer of copper in the world. They consume somewhere around 40 percent of copper,” McGivern said.

China’s economy slowed in 2015. But McGivern said MR is prepared to ride the slump and despite the gloomy news will not be laying off employees or cutting back production.

“It’s still business as usual,” McGivern said. “We’re still profitable at these prices.”

In fact, MR has been putting money into the company. Earlier this year, the Butte mine bought two new haul trucks for $3.8 million each. The trucks were part of a $16.2 million equipment upgrade at Montana Resources. That upgrade included $6 million to build a new pump house, now visible from the top of the Yankee Doodle tailings pond dam.

McGivern said the mine will purchase more new haul trucks in 2016.

The mine is also going forward on its permit to enlarge the Yankee Doodle tailings pond dam, which it must do to continue operations beyond 2020. The mine is permitted to continue operation through 2040.

MR employs 352 people.

The other mineral MR mines is molybdenum, also called “molly.” The price of molybdenum is also down at $4.40 a pound. That’s low compared to

BUTTE — More employees and more students at Montana Tech in Butte and the University of Montana Western in Dillon translate into more individual spending in southwest Montana.

It’s safe to say the two area colleges are thriving, since enrollment is up, thanks in part to new programs that better fit the changing needs of students.

Retention — successfully keeping more current students — is a major factor in higher enrollment, said Doug Abbott, Tech provost ABBOTT and vice chancellor of academic affairs.

The Montana Board of Regents recently lauded Highlands College, which boasts the highest rate of retention, 24 percent, of all two- and fouryear colleges statewide, between 2005 and 2014.

The 24 percent can include students who transfer to another institution within the Montana University System or stay at Montana Tech GARIC to pursue a fouryear degree, said Highlands Dean John Garic.

Highlands also retains the most students — 22 percent — who return to the south campus for their second year.

While clear-cut reasons for the uptick in retention are not yet clear, Garic is proud that Highlands leads the charge statewide.

“Everybody’s aware that retention is an important thing, especially for performancebased funding,” he said. “Everybody’s always looking at how we can increase retention of students.

Please see Tech, H11

KATHLEEN J. BRYAN/Montana Standard

A tailings storage facility at the Golden Sunlight Mine near Whitehall is seen in the distance in this file photo taken in September 2015.

Prices of gold, copper and molybdenum Copper Molybdenum Gold

Price $2.12 per pound $4.40 per pound $1,100 per ounce

the high of about $20 per pound in 2011.

McGivern said the slowdown in the oil industry could have had something to do with that. Molybdenum is used to harden steel.

Golden Sunlight Golden Sunlight, owned by Torontobased Barrick Gold Corp., laid off 135 employees on Nov. 30, when it shuttered its open pit gold mining near Whitehall. The company kept 39 employees to maintain support for underground mining, said Dan Banghart, general manager. Redpath Contractors and Engineers, also a Canadian-owned company, is conducting underground mining at the site, Banghart said.

Gold prices are flat, with the price at $1,100 an ounce in early December, compared to a high of $1,818 in 2011. Barrick recently divested itself of some of its assets in 2015, but Golden Sunlight was not part of that divestiture, Banghart said.

MR absorbed two employees laid off from Golden Sunlight in November, McGivern said.

Tammy Johnson, executive director of Montana Mining Association, said the mine has received all of its permits but is “taking another look at the economics in light of current prices.”

Sabo, a Butte-based district ranger with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, said he has not heard from the mine since he made his decision on the controversial route the haul trucks would be allowed to use. Sabo ruled on the final decision in early October.

The Forest Service decided that the mine can access either route, the Highland Road west or Highland Road north/ Roosevelt Drive. Either route would require that the mine perform road work before it could be put to use. Sabo said the mine would have to contact him before that work could begin.

Proponents say the mine could mean 55 high-paying primary jobs and 125 or more secondary jobs. The Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute says it’s in a basic sector of the economy and the multiplier effect in mining and other basic-sector jobs is high.

Timber production

Sherm Anderson, owner of Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge, said the timber industry is also “looking pretty flat.”

China’s economic slowdown has affected the Montana timber industry.

Anderson said the Canadians are now shipping their timber to the U.S. because the Chinese market has dried up.

To add to the problem, in October, the Butte Highlands Joint Venture Softwood Lumber Agreement, a tariff Calls to the Butte Highland Joint on Canadian lumber, came to an end.

Venture, a developing gold mine in the According to the rules of the tariff, the Highlands south of Butte, were not rePlease see Slump, H11 turned by press time.

Students drawn to UM Western for unusual classes

By RENATA BIRKENBUEL Montana Standard BUTTE — Peak enrollment, popular block scheduling, new academic programs and cuttingedge research at the University of Montana Western in Dillon mean the campus is at its strongest point in a century.

Altogether, those main factors add 2.5 percent more jobs and $54 million in personal income to Montana’s economy, according to a 2014 Bureau of Business and GILLIARD Economic Research study.

It’s been 94 years since UM Western — formerly Western Montana College — has enrolled such a large freshmen class. The 2015 class comprises 315 freshmen — up 71 from fall semester a year ago — and 129 transfer students.

“Montana Western has exceeded enrollment expectations once again and is experiencing its largest entering class since 1921,” said Kent Ord, university relations director.

Overall, the university has 1,332 full-time students — 22 more than this time last year.

Please see UM Western, H11

H10

Sunday, December 20, 2015

1

High-tech business communities

THOM BRIDGE/Independent Record photos

SoFi software engineers work in an open space office environment in their office on North Montana Avenue. The managers say the company is growing so rapidly they’re looking to double their staff.

Out-of-the-way location, state government, outdoor opportunities attractive amenities in Helena

By AL KNAUBER Independent Record HELENA — Helena’s attractions for high-tech companies may be as varied as those companies that have chosen to have offices here.

Brian Obert, executive director of the Montana Business Assistance Connection, said he sees more than just a stable business environment as a draw for these companies.

Helena’s breweries, mountains and trails are all amenities that also get noticed, he said.

“I think we’ve got a much more holistic environment for the tech sector right now,” Obert said.

Obert attributes Deloitte Consulting’s presence in Helena to the business it gets from state government.

And that would ring true given the company’s description on the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce website.

“We bring a deep bench of experience with over 7,000 practitioners who have dedicated their careers to serving the needs of federal and state agency clients,” the company biography states.

SRI International can work in Helena anonymously, he said.

The company describes itself on its website by saying “SRI International is a nonprofit, independent research center serving government and industry.”

“They like to be in locations that don’t bring a lot of attention to them-

David Thompson, left, and Matt Conroy are pictured at the SoFi office in Helena.

selves,” Obert said.

Helena is quiet and kind of out of the way, which Obert said he saw appealing to Northrop Grumman, a global security company.

“It’s a quiet, efficient place to do business,” he said. “I think the amount of work you get per individual is higher here than you get in other parts of the country.”

Another of the tech companies that has an office here is Social Finance, a San Francisco financial technol-

ogy startup. It launched in 2011 and its website noted it has more than $5 billion in loans. While it started with student loan refinancing at lower rates, it’s moved into mortgages and personal loans.

SoFi is one of the leading businesses attempting to disrupt the existing lending model dominated by banks.

Its first two employees here came from the Helena-based Student Assistance Foundation.

Obert explained SoFi’s presence in

Government jobs help stabilize housing market

By JESSE CHANEY Independent Record HELENA — In an industry often characterized by market swings, Helena’s real estate sector appears to be an anomaly.

The same might be said for Helena’s economy.

“Our housing market tends to reflect our economy overall,” said Mark Simonich, executive director of the Helena Association of Realtors. “The price is creeping up a little bit, but it’s not going gangbusters.”

Helena’s real estate market area includes everything from Jefferson City to the hills north of town and from Canyon Ferry Reservoir to the Continental Divide.

Figures provided by Simonich show the number of single-family homes and townhomes sold within that area increased from 855 to 873 (2.1 percent) from 2013 to 2014, the last full year on the books. The average sales price of those homes increased from $223,080 to $229,860 (3 percent) during that same time period, the data show.

Both 2014 figures were at their highest point since 2008, which is as far back as Simonich’s records go. And while sales bottomed out at 591 in 2010, the average sales price didn’t dip below $200,000 during any of those years.

The figures also show that more than 1,000 homes in the area have hit the market each year since 2012, and that they were sold within four to five months on average.

Simonich said the number of

THOM BRIDGE/Independent Record

Newly built houses line the streets of the Mountain View Meadows, one of Helena’s newest housing developments.

listings and sales “tells me consumer confidence is coming back.”

“We always say that real estate is local, but it is influenced by what people are seeing and reading about the economy nationwide,” he added.

Aside from a dip that came with the Great Recession, longtime Re/Max of Helena Realtor Joe Mueller said, Helena’s real estate market has been gradually improving since the early 1990s.

“It’s always been pretty stable in Helena,” he said.

And he and Simonich agree that the government’s influence in Helena has a lot to do with that.

“We’re a government town,” Simonich said, noting the high number Helena-area residents who work for the public schools; Carroll College; the VA facilities at Fort Harrison; and the city, state

and county governments. “We don’t have as much private industry.”

Mueller said the stability of those jobs provided by the government, as well as other established employers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, “that keeps us out of the boom-and-bust cycle.”

The Helena market is also significantly affected by federal interest rates, Simonich said, which have remained “remarkably low for a long time.”

The Federal Reserve has kept the Federal Funds rate near zero for the past seven years. This is the rate at which banks and other institutions lend money to each other, which typically affects the rates they charge for mortgages and other services.

Please see Housing, H12

Helena by saying it’s here because of the talent, “some of the best and brightest.”

Helena offices for Northrop Grumman, SRI International and Deloitte Consulting did not respond to telephone messages left earlier this month requesting interviews.

David Thompson, SoFi’s director of engineering, and Matt Conroy were working at Student Assistance Foundation, which was servicing SoFi’s student loans, Thompson said.

When SoFi decided it needed its own engineering team, he and Conroy became founders of that team.

“What they really found was those engineers that they could hire had some staying power, were willing to work for them and didn’t have the flight risk,” Thompson said of the workforce that is on a fast-track for expansion in Helena.

“Having SoFi here is probably a surprise to a lot of people,” he said. “Being a San Francisco startup and then having their engineering staff here, it actually doesn’t surprise me at all because the talent is here.”

While there were 48 on staff in midNovember, the home office wants to see that number grow to 70 and then reach 100, which Thompson projected for spring.

Hiring to meet the 200-employee benchmark for SoFi’s engineering may involve opening a Salt Lake City office.

Please see High-tech, H12

Unemployment low, job openings up in Helena

By GREG LEMON Independent Record HELENA — With the unemployment rate in Helena and Lewis and Clark County among some of the lowest in Montana, employers now have to focus on recruitment efforts to fill positions.

The unemployment rate for Helena is 2.7 percent. By comparison, at full employment, the unemployment rate is 2 percent, said Deb Chouinard, manager at the Helena Job Service office, which also serves parts of Meagher, Jefferson, Powell and Broadwater counties.

The job service office has a list of about 680 job openings, which is much higher than normal, Chouinard said. However, the average number of job seekers coming through the doors of the agency has been dropping during the past three years.

The average daily door count at the Helena Job Service in October 2013 was 234, in October 2014 it was down to 175 and this October it was 163, she said. The pool of applicants is smaller at a time when the number of open jobs is high, creating a local labor shortage.

The unemployment rate in neighboring counties is also low, but not as low as it is in Helena: 3.7 percent in Meagher County, 4.2 percent in Broadwater and Powell counties, and 3.4 percent in Jefferson County. The statewide unemployment rate is 3.7 percent.

During her eight years in Helena, Chouinard hasn’t seen such a combination of very low unemployment and a high number of

available jobs. As a response, employers are trying new things and focusing more on recruitment.

When unemployment rates are higher, it’s often fairly simple to get a large pool of qualified employees, said Michelle Edmunds, owner of Westaff in Helena. But now that’s changing and employers are forced to put more attention into active recruitment.

Rather than just advertising a job and waiting for applications to come in, Edmunds said smart employers are considering what kind of employee they are looking for and what their interests and skill sets might be.

Typical methods of recruiting — advertising across media platforms and communicating job openings on social media — are all still important, but looking at targeted recruitment is important too, she said.

“Make sure you’re getting out there with your recruitment,” Edmunds said.

That could mean calling people who are already in the field to see if they have contacts or know of people looking for a new job. It can also mean going to local colleges and working with staff and faculty to reach prospective employees before they finish their degrees.

When the unemployment rates drop, employers have to be ready to spend a little more money finding the right people, Edmunds said. It might cost more on the recruiting side, but finding the right employee can save an employer money in the long term.

Please see Jobs, H12

1

Tech Continued from H9 University of Montana Western has the second-highest retention rates across the state: at 13.4 percent systemwide and 14.3 percent on-site between 2005 and 2014.

Fall 2015 enrollment of fulltime students at Tech and Highlands College combined stands at 2,652, compared to 2,614 in 2011.

“The growth in our number of employees can be tracked with the growth of the number of students,” said Abbott. “They make a direct impact to southwest Montana.”

Both the north campus and the south campus enrollments have remained steady during the past five years, with Tech averaging 2,192 students and Highlands averaging 380.

More employees Tech employs 52 more employees (562) compared to this time in 2011. That includes both Tech’s full-time and the Bureau of Mines full-time employees.

UM Western Continued from H9

John Kasperick, NorthWestern Energy’s director of financial planning and analysis, reported in a 2014 economic impact study that Tech’s 526 full-time employees at the time reflected an annual payroll of $26.6 million, plus $9.2 million in benefits.

The total labor impact was $35.8 million last year.

In turn, each job provided an estimated 1.6 additional indirect jobs in support and services industries, according to the report. That means the 526 full-time positions supported an additional 841 jobs, which in turn pumped $26.6 million additional earnings into the economy.

The study also estimated that 582 out-of-state Tech students “conservatively” spend spent $1,050 per month for lodging, food, apparel, entertainment and miscellaneous items.

Similarly, 1,322 students — out of 2,341 total in 2014 — who resided outside Silver Bow County, impacted the local economy, too.

They spent about $900 per month locally, said Kasperick.

The total impact of student spending in 2014 was $16.2 million, he reported.

“Students get to focus on one thing; they’re not flitting from one class to another,” said Chancellor Beth Weatherby.

Students rave about the oneclass-at-a-time model. Delaney Hansen, student body president, said Western’s smaller class sizes are a big draw in conjunction with the block scheduling.

“It’s really state-of-the-art,” said Hansen from Lethbridge, Alberta. “I’m surprised some of the schools haven’t gotten on board.

We get a lot of students (transferring) from bigger schools who struggled in classes.”

The Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education reports that from 2003 to 2015, enrollment jumped by 36 percent. UM Western outpaces all other fouryear campuses in Montana in that category.

UM Western is similar to its rival school, Montana Tech to the north, in that overall enrollment is up due to similar factors — the attraction of new programs and grants.

A tiny campus tucked away on New education program the southwest end of town, UM Following the lead of several Western boasts a lot of selling other states, the college recently points. launched a new pre-kindergartento-third-grade teaching degree Block scheduling program. It already has 50 students But UM Western is unique enrolled now and 60 for spring among four-year colleges nation- semester. Graduates earn a bachwide: Its classes have run on block elor’s degree in early childhood scheduling for 10 years now. The education. school awarded 80 percent more “The demand seems to be degrees during that decade span, great,” said Jen Gilliard, program the highest gain of all Montana director and early childhood professor for 15 years at UM Western.

University System institutions.

Students take one intensive “We created the degree because class at a time during several weeks it’s a brand new endorsement in the instead of several classes simulta- state.” neously throughout a semester.

Now students who don’t want

New programs help New programs also retain students — and Tech is experimenting to meet the demand.

A one-semester engineering program started a year ago to help freshmen interested in engineering narrow down the type of engineering degree they want to pursue. There are 250 students enrolled now.

“It exposes them to all the engineering programs on campus,” said Abbott. “It’s one of the reasons I believe our enrollment has increased.”

A bachelor’s degree in applied health and safety sciences started this semester. Graduates can use it in several industries or as a precursor to graduate school, for example in physical therapy.

Last January, Tech implemented a bachelor of science in nursing. Other fairly new programs that widen options for students include a bachelor’s degree in statistics — the only one of its kind in the state; and a natural resource management in business degree.

“We think the natural resource management option has a lot of

Sunday, December 20, 2015

potential,” said Abbott. “It’s only one of seven such programs in the United States and allows business majors to get into the natural resources industry. We have a small enrollment now, but we expect it to grow.”

The regular natural resource degree in petroleum (or mining) is heavily dependent upon the supply and demand of oil, said Abbott.

Unlike Montana State University and The University of Montana, Tech is not considered a research institution, partly because it offers only one doctorate — in materials science, approved in 2013. Nine students are enrolled.

The doctorate took eight years for it to materialize, said Abbott.

Research institutions tend to pull in more money via grants and employees.

“We are not catalogued as a research university,” said Abbott.

“But we are a university that does research.”

Across town at Highlands, the options for certificates or twoyear degrees in the trades are key to drawing students who want to finish quickly in order to land good-paying jobs in welding,

to take all the required courses for a kindergarten-through-eighthgrade endorsement can narrow their interest.

“People are very excited, as am I, because the program focuses on the early years, ages 3 to 8. It gives us an incredible opportunity to focus on what’s age-appropriate with this age range. It’s for people who know in their heart that they want to work with young children.”

Salish Kootenai College in Pablo is the only other college in the state that offers the same degree.

Hot degrees “Biology plays a critical role in preparing students for an advanced medical or veterinary degree,” Ord added.

Many biology majors gain acceptance into the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho (WWAMI) regional medical education program that trains physicians to return to work in rural Montana.

UM Western’s four-year natural horsemanship degree is another draw; it has a waiting list for enrollees. The only public program of its kind in the United States, it is a unique partnership between the university and the nonprofit Montana Center for Horsemanship.

aerospace welding or machining.

Safety issues and a limited number of instructors keep numbers low, but most classes are filled to capacity at Highlands.

Machining has 15 students, welding has 10 and aerospace welding has four – but space for four more. Machining and welding are one-year programs and nearly full for next year.

Aerospace welding, a one-semester program, exists as a partnership with Montana Precision Products to meet high demand for specialist welders.

“Not only do students get their academic credentials from Tech, but they can get their industryrecognized credentials,” said Garic.

The RevUp Grant program, meant to improve unemployment, has allowed Highlands to pass quickly through a program.

It pays for three instructors and a workforce specialist.

“Since we got the grant in 2013, we’ve been full,” Garic said. “It took us half a year to get started, so this is the third cohort we’re running through. So it’s possible for a student to go two years and end with three degrees.

Slump Continued from H9 U.S. has to wait a year before it can address the situation again with Canada, Anderson said.

But even before then, the Montana timber industry was suffering.

“Timber’s in a recession,” Anderson said. “Every mill in the state has cut back on its work force. Most are running just one shift.”

Anderson had to lay off 45 employees in September when Sun Mountain Lumber cut back to just one shift of work. Sun Mountain employs 160 people in the mill and 150 in the wood operation.

Anderson said he hopes timber prices will pick up in the spring of 2016, when the building season kicks off.

I’m not certain we’re going to pull out of this mess in 2016 at all,” Anderson said.

Trees are logged from both the national forest and from Bureau of Land Management land, as well as from private land. Anderson said 85 percent comes from private land.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge

It’s bigger

than banking.

It’s providing the people of Montana a great place to bank and stimulating our economy with nearly 1,200 jobs. It’s giving back to the places we call home with time, talent, and treasure.

It’s meeting the financial needs of Montanans with over 40 locations in 22 communities. It’s you and together.

ABSAROKEE • BELGRADE • BIGFORK • BILLINGS • BOZEMAN • COLSTRIP • COLUMBUS • EUREKA GARDINER • GREAT FALLS • HAMILTON • HARDIN • HELENA • KALISPELL • LAME DEER • LAUREL LIVINGSTON • MILES CITY • MISSOULA • POLSON • RED LODGE • WHITEFISH

firstinterstate.com

H11

National Forest has eight timber-cutting projects slated for 2016. Each project is in a different stage of development, but if all go through next year, an estimated 26 million board feet worth of timber will be cut from the national forest, said Leona Rodreick, public affairs officer based in Dillon.

The BLM has only one timber project planned for 2016 in southwest Montana, said MaryLou Zimmerman, a forester for BLM. That sale will be in Deno Creek, two miles east and south of Wise River and will be an estimated 1.3 million board feet worth of timber.

Anderson said when timber is “going full blast,” a harvest of 45 million to 50 million board feet is more of the norm. He said he only gets about 10 percent of his board feet from public lands and must travel to Idaho for most of his supply, which adds to his cost.

“With the market right now, what you’re paying to log and what you’re getting from the finished product eats you up.

That’s the biggest concern with every mill in Montana. We’re not able to absorb downturns like this,” he said.

H12

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Construction Continued from H9 20,000-square-foot warehouse going up in Butte’s Industrial Park will be a new home to SepticNet — a Butte company that makes modular septic treatment systems — with space for more tenants.

Sesso said SepticNet’s products could help open up residential development in southeastern parts of Butte because the septic systems don’t discharge nitrates, which cause problems in that area.

Copper Fox Estates, Butte’s first new housing subdivision in years, is planned for 83 lots on 25 acres just north of Four Mile Road and Margaret Leary Elementary School on Butte’s south side.

“It was a long sleepy suburban tract that was done in 1958 when it was originally platted,” Sesso said.

“That was sort of in the heyday of Butte relative to current times.

They are re-platting it now. They are really redoing the whole thing.”

On the rental front, one fiveplex apartment building and at least 13 four-plex buildings — more than 55 apartments in all — are planned at various sites in Butte, including some by Montana Tech.

“I think one of the big drivers for that is Montana Tech being at capacity for their dorms,” said Mike Nasheim, the county’s building and code enforcement officer. More residential housing is planned at Tech, too.

St. James Healthcare is working on four building projects collectively valued at more than $1.6 million, including remodeling work in a lab and a physical therapy unit.

Markovich said the building business has been good in other parts of southwestern Montana lately, too. His company did three

Housing Continued from H10 “The single strongest other influence is the interest rate,” Simonich said, adding that he expects those rates to start rising soon.

Mueller said homebuyers in the Helena area have traditionally bought only what they can afford, which has made for a busy market less than the $300,000 mark. However, some of the more expensive homes have also been

1

projects in Dillon last year, one in Anaconda and one in Ennis.

Things also are looking positive outside of this region, he said.

A seven-story building is going up in Missoula, among other projects, and an $11 million apartment complex is being built in Bozeman.

“I see it everywhere,” he said.

“The advantage of my company, personally, is those are projects we had to chase. We would go out and chase those.”

Now, most crews and equipment that were working elsewhere in Montana and beyond are in Butte, and Markovich gets to stick around here more as well.

“I have a little boy at home,” he said. “I’ve spent plenty of nights away, so it’s really nice to be close to home. Butte has been our home and the base of our business for 30 and 40 years, and we have always been pro-Butte, and it sure is nice to see the development.”

He and others can’t point to just one thing behind the upswing.

Sesso said that Butte, unlike some Montana cities, was not blasted by the housing crisis and Great Recession that began in 2007 and 2008 and lingered on.

Its economy weathered well so it didn’t have to climb out of a deep hole.

Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent said promotion is a factor, also.

“We have focused more on promoting and marketing Butte’s positive aspects and really investing in our infrastructure and making our government more accountable,” he said. “All of these things add up.

The bottom line is an upswing in Butte’s economy, he said.

“They call them trends for a reason,” he said. “It wasn’t long before today that we were holding our breath.”

selling recently as buyers anticipate an increase in interest rates.

People have long been interested in older homes around the Capitol and near the South Hills trail system on the upper east and west sides of Helena, Mueller said, but both new and old homes are selling well. Modern housing developments north and east of town have been particularly popular lately, he said.

“As long as the economy holds nationally, I think we’ll be fine,” he said. “We’ll probably continue to grow under 5 percent, but we’ll just click along.”

High-tech Continued from H10 “It was pretty easy for them to be able to pay reasonably for Helena that we’re not going to go somewhere else really soon. Plus the Montana work ethic has actually been kind of interesting, even for me coming from the other side trying to be the hiring person,” he said.

While an administrative assistant would be earning in the $40,000 range, a senior engineer could be at $100,000, he said.

A quarter of the Helena office’s workforce came directly out of Montana State University, Montana Tech and the University of Montana, Thompson said.

SoFi, like its competitors, approaches college students in their junior and senior years about joining the company.

“We don’t have as much competition as say they do in San Francisco or Portland or Seattle.

So it’s easier for us to attract and retain the kids in Montana,” he said.

Being able to offer college graduates the opportunity to remain in Montana where their families are is important to hiring just as is being able to provide fly-fishing and other outdoor recreation.

“That’s really one of our big selling points, the amount of outdoor activities that we can do,” Thompson said. “I personally like a lot of the things that

Jobs Continued from H10 Helena’s A2Z Staffing Vice President Anna Kazmierowski agrees.

“Employers need to consider new recruitment strategies,” Kazmierowski said. “Being creative and doing something different to motivate employees to apply is a must.”

Types of recruitment strategies she suggests are wage increases, relocation assistance and innovative employee engagement tactics. That’s where recruitment and staffing agencies can come in handy, she said.

Both Kazmierowski and Edmunds emphasized that despite taking longer to recruit employees, it’s still important to hire the

have been built up in Helena in terms of the Civic Center. All of the programs at the Civic Center, the symphony, all of the fun things you get to do in Helena. We attract a much younger crowd usually. Pretty social. So they like to go to the breweries.

They provide a nice release for the guys.”

Inexpensive housing helps SoFi build its Helena workforce, Thompson said, adding “that’s a big difference between Helena and Bozeman.”

“The standard of living is still pretty good in Helena too.

There’s a lot going on. There’s the shopping. It gives you most of the stores that you want to be able to go to without having to live in a bigger city right now.

Personally for me it’s Luccas,” he said of the downtown restaurant that the online publication Business Insider rated as Montana’s best restaurant.

Perhaps 45 percent of the office’s workers are between 38 and 47. Helena is a good match for them, as Thompson sees it.

“For the older crew, Helena is offering a great atmosphere for a lot of us. We have options for schools for kids, we have quick drive times … there’s no having to drive for an hour if you don’t want to. For myself, I have five acres, and to be able to do that where the tech companies are would be impossible.”

Another 35 percent of the office falls into the late 20s to early 30s, a group he said include many who are just starting families.

“So they get to stay close to

other family because they’re a lot of Montana employees. They get to come work here and love the fact that they get to do the things they really enjoy doing and still be able to stay close to family.”

Those hired right out of college are the remainder of SoFi’s Helena staff. And while the pay impresses them, Thompson said, the social scene is a little light, although having Carroll College here helps.

With all that Helena offers SoFi, the city could attract more tech companies if it helped out with the installation of Internet infrastructure, Thompson said.

“I think the city of Helena itself needs to start considering, ‘How are we going to start improving the Internet connections for all businesses in Helena?’” he added.

Another improvement he would like to see is a central online source for activities and housing — areas where Thompson spends time.

“Just kind of a central, city repository of why move to Helena, because right now I’m having to do a lot of that same promotion myself when I’m trying to get guys to move over here,” he said. “It would be interesting to see the city of Helena actually put it together so they could really control the content and really try to promote what they want Helena to be.

“There’s actually quite a few other companies hiring here in Helena. I watch all the job postings to see who we’re competing with.”

right person.

Edmunds recommends employers use creative ways to ensure their candidate is a good fit, like developing some kind of skills testing or even having them work on a small project.

It’s also important to know the right person for the job might not have all the skills he or she might need, but rather have the work ethic and talent to develop those skills quickly, Kazmierowski said.

“Businesses must consider stepping outside their comfort zone,” she said.

One of the largest employers in Helena, with about 480 employees, is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. For them, the pool of applicants for open positions isn’t as large as it used to be, but the quality of applicants is still really high, said John Doran,

director of public relations at BCBS. And though the hiring process might take a little more time, filling specialized positions with qualified applicants is still a successful proposition in the Helena market.

“The talent of the applicant pool is still very, very strong,” he said.

And though the local labor shortage might create some problems, the Helena economy overall remains stable, Edmunds said.

This is in part due to the large government sector here, which continues to draw employees to the area. Additionally, Helena has Montana amenities, including access to a trail system and loads of outdoor recreation.

“I feel like we get more movement into the area from outside because of a stable economy,” she said.

WHY CHOOSE MONTANA TECH? BE THE SOLUTION

Sam Van Dy yke

Best Lifetime ROI

Best Value

#1 Montana College for Best Lifetime Return On Investment

#2 Best Value Occupational Safety Degree Program in the Nation

-AffordableCollegesOnline.Org

-College Values Online

Home Loan Consulta ant Starting Salaries

NMLS# 776569

HOME LOAN SOLUTIONS • Purchasing • Refinancing • Building • Remodeling

6th university in the nation for highest starting salaries -The Washington Post

Pass Rates

Acceptance Rates

Montana Tech nursing students continually receive 100-percent pass rates on the NCLEX RN exam.

Over the past 10 years, greater than 90 percent of students who applied to medical, dental or pharmacy programs were accepted.

2016 BEST #1 Top Public Regional College in the West -U.S. News and World Report

650 Top College ge

Military Friendly Militar

One of America’s 650 Top Colleges

2016 Military Friendly School

-Forbes

-Victory Media

Call Sam Van Dyke for your Real Estate Needs! www.billingsfcu.org 760 Wicks Lane • 2522 4th Ave. N • 32nd & King Ave. W

MTECH.EDU | 1.800.445.8324

1

Sunday, December 20, 2015

H13

H14

Sunday, December 20, 2015

1