As elected officials gathered for a tour of potential sites for a state behavioral health facility in Yellowstone County on Thursday afternoon, the facility’s future met an immediate challenge.
Yellowstone County Commissioner Mark Morse and state Senator John Esp of Big Timber discuss the potential location of the new state behavioral health hospital during a tour in Billings on July 24.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
County Commissioner Mark Morse questioned the location and argued with the state senator who helped lead the effort for funding the first state-run behavioral health facility in Eastern Montana.
“I think Big Timber is a better place,” Morse told Republican State Sen. Jon Esp of Big Timber around a group of roughly 25 project associates and local and state representatives assembled in a parking lot. “I think that you have a more picturesque place. If you’re looking to get high-end doctors and nurses, Big Timber is a way better job than Billings. We have some services here, but we have trouble taking care of ourselves.”
Morse was then taken aside in a private conversation with legislators, asking why Yellowstone County needs the facility. At the same time, tour details were laid out to the rest of the group.
Local and state officials along with developers gather at Wilson Park on Billings’ South Side to look at a possible site for the new state behavioral health hospital on July 24.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
But Morse wasn’t alone in his opposition as he toured the sites alongside city council members and city staff. While the most immediate conversation was about infrastructure challenges and costs, there was a larger concern expressed by local officials of what exactly the demands of the future behavioral health facility will be. It’s a potentially preview of future resistance to developing a state mental health facility in Yellowstone County.
Still, after years of review leading up to this point, legislators still consider Yellowstone County an ideal spot for the behavioral health facility, with the Legislature approving an allocation of more than $20 million for the project in Eastern Montana this legislative session.
“I believe in this project, and I believe in supporting it,” Republican Rep. Mike Yakawich of Billings said in an interview with the Gazette.
He’s a member of the committee examining how to best spend $300 million allocated to behavioral health in Montana and served on the Billings City Council for eight years.
“I know there will be pushback wherever we put it, but I believe it’s important that we address the behavioral health crisis in Montana, and that it’s important we have a site east of Warm Springs,” he said.
Farm land in the Lockwood Targeted Economic Development District is being considered for the construction of a state behavioral health hospital.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
Currently, from Sidney on the east side of the state to Warm Springs on the west, where the Montana State Hospital is based, it’s more than a seven-hour trip for local police to take individuals for something like an involuntary commitment.
Current state discussions around the authorized facility estimate it would have 50 forensic beds meant for people criminally committed with mental illness, with roughly 100 employees expected to be hired. Still, those numbers aren’t set in stone yet as conversations continue at the state level, often without local officials.
The facility would help bolster mental health services currently overwhelmed at the Galen facility under the Montana State Hospital umbrella, where criminal defendants are sent following a court order for their mental fitness to stand in their own defense at trial. That facility has 53 beds, 48 for men and five for women. The waitlist simply to get a bed at Galen averages at about 100 people, according to a state analysis.
Billings City Administrator Chris Kukulski speaks during a tour of potential locations for the new state behavioral health hospital on July 24.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPPHS) has zeroed in on Billings for the new state behavioral health facility, according to past reporting last month by the Montana State News Bureau.
After the tour, Morse told the Gazette that leading up to the site visits was the first time he had even heard of a behavioral health facility being planned for Billings. He described conversations around the facility as currently being “held behind closed doors.” If a member of the public reached out to him about the potential facility, he wouldn’t know what to tell them.
“I’m happy they invited me, but I think we need to ask who, what, when, where, why, how?” Morse said. “There’s a lot of, what are we trying to do here? What’s the long term? What are we trying to achieve, to have another Warm Springs, which is a brick and mortar facility? There’s just a lot of unanswered questions.”
Morse said the county has done “a fairly good job” with addressing mental health, referencing the mental health levy passed in 2010 and mental health services since. He noted that the county is still overwhelmed within its own community. Still, Yellowstone County Commissioners have diverted mental health funds to general public safety efforts in the past few years.
Land at Wilson Park is being considered as a potential location for a new state mental health hospital.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
It was the first tour of potential sites intended to get feedback on what might work for a site in Yellowstone County. Sites examined Thursday included farmland in Lockwood, land near the Laurel Municipal Airport, the South Side’s Wilson Park and along Skyway Road. The sites generated little initial excitement, with infrastructure challenges and costs associated with most, if not all of them.
After a site is selected by the state, it would allow for a developer to better understand the size of land they’re working with to inform what the building might look like. Depending on the location of the parcel, it would then be considered either by the county, the city or the state through the Department of Natural Resources. Residents in a one-mile radius would be notified of any potential development, so they could formally give their input.
Billings city council member and mayoral candidate Jennifer Owen told the Gazette that it was hard to make sense of any of the sites they visited. During the tour, city staff and council members received little information about what the facility would look like or even the potential number of beds. It makes it difficult to problem solve without knowing what problem the state is trying to solve, Owen said.
“I think we have a long way to go, but it’s very hard to have conversations with the state until they are more clear about what their plans are,” she said. “So, I am hopeful that DPHHS will step up and start engaging the community more so that we can be partners. I can’t stress enough how frustrated people are in Billings with the state dumping its problems on us. Certainly, there are advantages to being the largest city in the state. We can have partnerships, but we’re not there yet.”
DPPHS was directed by the Legislature to partner with the Montana Board of Investments to determine potential sites for the mental health facility currently. Board of Investments Executive Director Dan Villa led Thursday’s tour.
“DPHHS is committed to open and transparent communication about this important project, alongside the Board of Investments, legislators, and other key stakeholders,” DPHHS spokesperson Jon Ebelt said in a statement to the Gazette.
Sen. Esp, who Morse initially confronted at the start of the tour, said he appreciated the perspective of the commissioner, standing up for what he believes his constituency wants.
“The reason we gathered 25 people together in that parking lot was because we wanted to get a wider range of opinions from people in the area, and that’s the value of what we did yesterday,” Esp said. “I think you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know other people’s views of how that problem might be solved. And so that’s why, I think it’s valuable that we meet.”
State Senator John Esp of Big Timber talks about potential sites for a new state behavioral health hospital with local leaders during a tour of the area on July 24.
AMY LYNN NELSON, Billings Gazette
The senator said Yellowstone County remains as the best place for a mental health facility in Montana, with Billings already having services including a psych ward and the Crisis Center to respond to needs in the county.
“They have a large presence in Billings, all the providers that provide services for the people we’re charged with taking care of at the state level,” Esp said. “So that’s why it makes sense to me, and then they have the ability to attract a workforce and places for them to live, which is not true of every community.”
The Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs has continually struggled with employment issues. Recent reporting by NBC Montana said the Montana State Hospital had 38 open nursing positions at the facility. However, DPPHS disputed that saying there were only seven of 28 state-budgeted nursing positions open — 25% of all positions.
Esp has been involved with mental health services in Yellowstone County both professionally and personally with family since 1987. He’s been a long-time advocate of improving mental health services in the Legislature. He’s looking to “fast track” development, so that a new state behavioral health facility is built within the next couple years to meet a constant, growing need in Montana.
“The legislature has committed funds to it and is willing to work on it so that this happens,” Esp said. “This has never happened before in my 25 collective years in office. So we’re kind of at this unique point in history where there is a commitment to trying to make things better for the families that have family members that are struggling with this issue.”
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