By Michael Howell
At its last meeting, the Hamilton City Council approved a $3,256 draw and got an update on the grant that was obtained last year to fund a business expansion project at Freight Monster, Inc. a clean-tech manufacturer and service provider which moved to a new location at 189 Old Corvallis Road. The $400,000 grant from the Big Sky Trust Fund allowed Ravalli County Economic Development Authority (RCEDA) to loan the company $384,000 to cover the cost of a move to a new 12,000 square foot facility with the expectation of creating 30 new jobs over a two-year period.
By February of this year, according to RCEDA Director Julie Foster, six new jobs had been created that pay at least $15.28 per hour, the average pay in Ravalli County, according to state figures. The company now employs 24 full time workers and two part time positions.
According to documents submitted with the grant application, the poverty rate for Ravalli County is high at 19.8%, which is up from 14% in 2008. The Ravalli County poverty rate increase over the last five years was the second highest in Montana. The poverty rate for the Hamilton zip code (59840) is 19%. Montana’s Median Household Income (MHI) is $46,230. MHI in the Hamilton zip code is $33,707, just 73% of the state’s MHI, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Fifty-one percent of Ravalli County businesses are Stage I, employing 1 to 9 people. 45% of those making a living in Ravalli County are self-employed. 96% of Ravalli County business establishments are made up of these small-sized firms. Stage I establishments employ about 6,450 and self-employed persons total about 1,838. Approximately 25% of those in Ravalli County commute to Missoula for work.
According to Foster, this commute of the area workforce to Missoula, and also to the Bakken oil fields, is something that all partners in economic development are striving to improve. Just 6.6%, or 303 Ravalli County businesses, are, like Freight Monster Inc., a Stage II business (employing 10 to 99).
Foster told the council that Freight Monster’s project will encourage viable economic development and will promote investment of private capital, expansion of local tax bases, and creation of permanent year-round jobs principally for low and moderate income Montanans.
“Freight Monster is doing really well,” said Foster. “They are doing what they said and they are going to do more.”
In other business the City Council, after holding a public hearing in which no public comment was received, approved a FY 2016 budget amendment for the purchase of a Kubota mowing tractor for the Parks and Cemetery Department for $24,000.
The Council also approved an extension of the deadline for filing a Final Plat for the Paddocks Phase III, giving sufficient time for NorthWestern Energy to work with the property owner and install the lighting.
Hannah Honey, Director of the Hamilton Downtown Association, told the Council that the organization recognized a conflict between the communities that was generated by the First Friday events in various communities. She said her organization was working on changing that. She said Stevensville had generated such a successful First Friday event that it did not make sense for Hamilton to compete. The solution, she said, is for Hamilton to shift its event to the Second Friday of the month and have Darby’s event on the Final Friday. She said it was a way to avoid conflicts and competition between the various events.
The Hamilton Downtown Association’s annual Crab Feed is scheduled for April 1. She said it is the organization’s biggest fundraiser for the year. She said the board meets every second Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in the Bitterroot Public Library and meetings are open to the public.