For immediate release: Nov. 1, 2023

On Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, the Gallatin County Coroner’s Office investigated a death occurring in the Lexley Acres mobile home park located in Belgrade. The decedent was identified as 76-year-old George Keyser Sobrepena of Belgrade. Following an autopsy, it was determined Mr. Sobrepena died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Sheriff Springer wishes to express our deepest condolences to the Sobrepena family during this time. The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office’s detective division is actively investigating.

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October 31, 2023

Press Release

(Gallatin County, Mont.)

Tuesday at 1:17 P.M. Gallatin County Deputies were dispatched to the Lexley Acres Trailer Court just north of Belgrade on Jackrabbit Lane.  The reporting party stated an unknown woman had approached him and there was a man needing help somewhere behind Goodwill.  With assistance from the Belgrade Police, deputies located the residence in the trailer park where a deceased male was located inside a residence from apparent gun shot wounds.

Detectives are working the crime scene and conducting interviews at the Law and Justice Center.  There are no outstanding threats to the community.

The Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office Coroner will identify the deceased man after next of kin has been contacted.  Expect to see law enforcement in the area while the scene is investigated.

 

For immediate release: Oct. 25, 2023 

Media contact:
Maureen Horton, Gallatin County Treasurer
406-582-3033
treasurer@gallatin.mt.gov 

 

Regular Public Office Hours Reinstated at Gallatin County Motor Vehicle Offices 

Starting Monday, Oct. 30, regular public office hours at the Gallatin County Motor Vehicle offices in Bozeman and Belgrade will be reinstated.  

The Gallatin County Motor Vehicle Department is responsible for titling, registration and collection of fees associated with motor vehicles in the county.  

Starting next week, public office hours will return to 8 AM to 5 PM at the Bozeman office (Gallatin County Courthouse, 311 W. Main St.) and 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM at the Belgrade office (312 W. Main St., suite B-8). Both are open Mondays through Fridays except for legal holidays.  

Both offices have had temporarily reduced public hours since June due to short staffing. While the Motor Vehicle Department is still down two full-time positions, additional employees have been brought on board to ease the workload. And the county continues to recruit for those vacant positions.  

We also recently launched online titling and registration services, which are available for dealership purchases to save customers a trip to our offices. Those services can be found on our website.   

We greatly appreciate the public’s patience during these last few months. Long wait times in our lobbies are frustrating, but we’ve been working tirelessly to hire and train new staff and add more online services to better serve all our customers.  

For information on job openings in the Motor Vehicle Department, and all other county departments, please visit www.governmentjobs.com/careers/gallatinmt. There you can see detailed job descriptions and apply today! 

And a friendly reminder that we do not provide driver’s licenses – those are handled by the state in a separate office. 

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For immediate release: Oct. 24, 2023

Media contact:
Whitney Bermes, Gallatin County Communications Coordinator
406-595-8963
whitney.bermes@gallatin.mt.gov

Gallatin County, City of Bozeman Partner on Waste Transfer Station
City and County sign off on an MOU that will improve trash collection through new facility

Residents around Bozeman, and commercial haulers, may have a closer place in the future to dispose of trash rather than heading to the landfill in Logan. Gallatin County and the City of Bozeman have signed a memorandum of understanding to create a solid waste transfer station. The city will donate a plot of land located by the Water Reclamation facility to the county, who will construct and operate the project through its Solid Waste District.

“We’re grateful for this important partnership with Bozeman,” said Gallatin County Commissioner Zach Brown. “Seeing this project through will be an enormous benefit to our citizens, now and into the future.”

A solid waste transfer station is a midpoint for trash and acts as a temporary holding area. Currently, when garbage trucks collect trash, they must make the nearly 30-mile drive to the landfill each time for disposal, then 30 miles back to the urban center. By having a smaller area nearer to the population center where the trash can be compacted prior to transport, the overall number of trips to the landfill is greatly reduced.

These sites reduce wear and tear on collection vehicles and resident cars as people do not need to travel as far for disposal, resulting in cost savings in fuel and vehicle maintenance and replacement. They also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, free up congestion at the landfill itself, save time for residents and haulers, and reduce litter along the highway.

While Bozeman also has the Bozeman Convenience Site for solid waste disposal, it only accepts regular household materials in small quantities, not bulk trash or trash from haulers. It cannot be set up to be a transfer site as that is not permitted under the operating license and the site is not large enough nor have the ability for appropriate traffic flow for a transfer station. The county is making plans to close that site.

“The county has been great stewards of our solid waste, and we’re excited to be able to provide the land and partner with them on this new project,” Bozeman Mayor Cyndy Andrus stated. “This change alone will cut emissions by more than 350 metric tons, which goes a long way in helping us meet our climate action goals. We hope residents will use the site too and find it a lot more convenient than heading out to Logan.”

Find more information on solid waste management in Gallatin County at https://www.gallatinsolidwaste.org/.

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For immediate release: Oct. 23, 2023 

Media contact:
Audrey Cromwell, Gallatin County Attorney
406-582-3758
audrey.cromwell@gallatin.mt.gov 

 

Gallatin County Attorney’s Office Holding Coroner’s Inquest on Oct. 30 

The Gallatin County Attorney’s Office is holding a coroner’s inquest into an officer-involved shooting in Bozeman in April. 

The inquest will review the circumstances surrounding the death of 39-year-old Michael Rogel, who died in an officer-involved shooting with the Bozeman Police Department on Greenmore Court in Bozeman on April 3, 2023. 

The inquest will be held on Monday, Oct. 30 starting at 9 AM in courtroom 201 at the Law and Justice Center, located at 615 S. 16th Ave. in Bozeman. It is anticipated the hearing will take the full day. 

A coroner’s inquest is a formal inquiry into the causes and circumstances surrounding the death of a person caused by a peace officer. After hearing all the evidence, jurors will then render a verdict, which must be a majority vote, that will determine: 

• who the deceased person is 
• when, where and how the deceased died 
• if the deceased died by criminal means 
• if it was criminal means then who committed the act, if known 

Park County Coroner Al Jenkins will preside over the inquest. Nine random jurors will be selected to listen to testimony and see evidence presented by the Gallatin County Attorney’s Office.  

Witnesses will include involved officers, other eyewitnesses, a pathologist, and investigator from the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation. 

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On October 19, 2023, at 6:47pm, Gallatin County 911 received a call for a hang-gliding accident near the Rockhaven Camp and Retreat Center in the Gallatin Canyon. It was later discovered the incident was actually a BASE jumping accident and the patient had suffered a possible neck injury. The BASE jumper had fallen along the cliff face after deploying their parachute and landed on top of a steep rocky incline. 

The Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue Valley Section and Heli Team, American Medical Response (AMR), Gallatin Gateway Fire Department, and Billings Clinic MedFlight all responded to the area. Valley members with an alpine endorsement deployed to the patient where they used low angle technical rope rescue techniques to get them to the awaiting ground crews.  Once down, ground crews transported the patient via one wheeled litter to the staging area. Ultimately the patient was flown by air ambulance to Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center for further evaluation.

Sheriff Dan Springer would like to thank the bystanders who recognized the emergency and called dispatch to activate the Search and Rescue call. This event happened in an area without cell service and without someone promptly leaving to call 911, the initiation of a rescue could have been significantly delayed.

Photo courtesy of the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office.

For immediate release: Oct. 19, 2023 

Media contact:
Eric Semerad, Gallatin County Clerk & Recorder & Election Administrator
406-582-3054
eric.semerad@gallatin.mt.gov 

 Ballots for Nov. 7 Municipal Elections to be Mailed Oct. 20 

**For media who want footage or photos to accompany stories, elections staff will be loading boxes of ballots into the mail service truck starting at 7:45 AM on Friday behind the Gallatin County Courthouse, located at 311 W. Main St. in downtown Bozeman.** 

On Friday, Oct. 20, ballots for the 2023 municipal election on Nov. 7 in Gallatin County will be mailed to active registered voters in municipalities that are holding elections.  

This election is a mail ballot election meaning there will be no polling places open on Election Day. 

Elections are taking place in Bozeman, Belgrade, Manhattan, West Yellowstone, and the Central Valley Fire District. 

In total, about 48,500 ballots will be mailed to active registered voters. Ballots should start arriving this weekend or early next week. Sample ballots can be found here. 

As with all mail ballot elections, there is always an option to vote in-person at the Gallatin County Elections office, located in the Gallatin County Courthouse at 311 W. Main St., room 210 in Bozeman. 

Ballots must be received at the Gallatin County Elections office or a designated place of deposit by 8 PM on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7. Ballots may be returned by mail or in-person. If you’re mailing your ballot, mail it no later than Monday, Oct. 30 to ensure it arrives at our office in time. Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received after Election Day cannot be accepted.  

Places of deposit for this election are: 

• Gallatin County Elections Office – 311 W. Main St., room 210 in Bozeman 
• Belgrade City Hall – 91 E. Central Ave. 
• Manhattan Town Hall – 207 S. 6th St.  
• West Yellowstone Town Hall – 440 Yellowstone Ave.  

Voters in any municipality can drop their ballots off at those locations. All locations are open during regular business hours Monday through Friday until Nov. 6, and then from 7 AM to 8 PM on Election Day on Nov. 7.  

Voter Registration 

Gallatin County is currently in the late registration period for the Nov. 7 election. To register to vote or update your registration (like if you’ve moved or changed your name since the last election), you must appear in-person at the Gallatin County Elections office.  

You can do so now through Election Day. Please note there is one short registration closure from noon on Monday, Nov. 6 until 7 AM on Election Day. It is then available from 7 AM to 8 PM on Election Day.  

You can check your registration status at www.MyVoterPageMT.com.  

If you have questions, please contact our office at gallatin.elections@gallatin.mt.gov or 406-582-3060. For more information, you can also visit www.GallatinVotes.com.  

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For immediate release: Oct. 17, 2023 

Media contact:
Patty Howard, Outreach Educator – Gallatin Solid Waste Management District
406-582-2492
patty.howard@gallatin.mt.gov 

 

Annual Fix-It Repair Clinic Slated for Oct. 20 at Belgrade Community Library 

Do you have small items that need to be fixed? A lamp on the fritz? A sleeping bag with a hole? Your kid’s favorite toy with some broken pieces? Then the Fix-It Repair Clinic is the place for you! 

The Gallatin Solid Waste Management District is partnering with the Belgrade Community Library to bring you this annual community event to help give new life to your stuff! 

This free clinic will be held Friday, Oct. 20 from 2-6 PM at the Belgrade Community Library, located at 106 N. Broadway. 

Volunteers will be on hand to fix small items such as toys, clothing, small appliances, lamps, jewelry, and more. This will save their owners money and keep the items from ending up in the landfill. Past clinics have helped keep over 2,000 pounds from going into the Logan Landfill! 

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Photo courtesy of the Gallatin Solid Waste Management District.

 

For immediate release: Oct. 16, 2023 

Media contact:
Maureen Horton, Gallatin County Treasurer
treasurer@gallatin.mt.gov
406-582-3033 

Temporary Closure of Belgrade Motor Vehicle Office on Oct. 20 

The Gallatin County Motor Vehicle Department’s Belgrade office will temporarily close for the day on Friday, Oct. 20.  

The Belgrade office is getting new furniture and doing some reconfiguring of the space to improve the experience for both customers and staff in that space. It will reopen for its regular temporary hours (7:30 AM to 2:30 PM) on Monday, Oct. 23. 

To accommodate during the closure, our Bozeman Motor Vehicle Office, located at the Gallatin County Courthouse in downtown Bozeman, will be open Oct. 20 from 8 AM to 5 PM 

There is also online titling and registration services available for dealership purchases to save customers a trip to either office. Those services can be found on our website. 

We appreciate the public’s patience during this temporary closure.  

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For immediate release: Oct. 10, 2023

Media contact:
Whitney Bermes, Gallatin County Communications Coordinator
406-595-8963
whitney.bermes@gallatin.mt.gov

Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition Shares Progress

Oct. 10 is World Mental Health Day and is the perfect opportunity to share progress the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition and its members have made in enhancing the behavioral health system in our region.

The Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition is a group committed to enhancing the behavioral health system of care in the region to be complete and responsive across the continuum, including health promotion, prevention, intervention, and recovery. The coalition is funded by the Montana Healthcare Foundation and the State Diversion Grant. 

The coalition includes representatives from Gallatin County, the City of Bozeman, Bozeman Health, Community Health Partners, the Help Center, Montana State University, Connections Health Solutions, HRDC, Greater Gallatin United Way, Gallatin City-County Health Department, Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, Bozeman Police Department, Gallatin County Attorney’s Office, Gallatin County school districts, Intermountain, Youth Dynamics, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, AWARE, Montana Healthcare Foundation, and Yellowstone Club Community Foundation.

In the last year, the coalition has made great progress in its mission to implement an appropriate system of prevention, intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation for community members so every person receives the right services in the right place, every time.

“It takes a team to serve our community’s behavioral health needs; no one provider can do it all. We have made great progress in implementing crisis services, and are working on implementing a lot of other great ideas to better serve youth and adult needs across the behavioral health continuum. I am grateful and excited for the collaborative spirit of our coalition making this work possible,” said Kirsten Smith, Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition Coordinator.

The coalition is working to implement the Crisis Now model of care, which has key elements of providing someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go. Below are highlights in each of those areas from our coalition members. Read the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition’s full summary report here. 

Someone to Call:

The Help Center, our local 988/crisis line provider, gives real-time access to a live person every moment of every day for anyone who is in crisis, having suicidal thoughts, in emotional distress, or concerned about someone. 

They answer an average of 300 behavioral health calls a month. They are able to stabilize and de-escalate 75% of those who call them. Using the caller’s own strengths, support systems, the robust 211 and mental health database, and the Help Center’s crisis follow-up services –their work reduces demand on other community services. For the other 25%, callers are referred to community and medical services. 

For 24/7 help, you can reach the Help Center at 988 or 406-586-3333.

“We have been serving Gallatin County since 1971 and are proud to work alongside our coalition colleagues to address the needs of our growing community and help our community members access the services they need, 24/7,” said Mandy St. Aubyn, Development & Communications Coordinator, Help Center, Inc.

Someone to Respond: 

Gallatin Mobile Crisis, established in July 2022 and staffed by Connections Health Solutions, is an emergency behavioral health response program for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. The team is composed of local behavioral health professionals who provide on-scene evaluations, treatment, and crisis intervention. The team currently operates 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Since January, 84% of people have been successfully supported in the community and did not require a higher level of care. This service is keeping these folks safe at home and in our community, and out of our emergency department and jail.

“It has been our privilege to serve the community as the mobile crisis response provider and gain the trust of so many who have allowed us to be there during an extremely difficult time,” said Paige Bichler, MSN, RN, vice president of clinical operations for Connections Health Solutions. “We are proud of the work we’ve done to date alongside members of the coalition and are grateful for the continued support of the community. We look forward to continuing to provide those in need with the highest quality of care, right when they need it.”

Somewhere to Go:

Bozeman Health provides Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) adjacent to the emergency department at Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center and is open 24/7/365. The PES area is designed to deliver an enhanced level of care that provides a calming and therapeutic environment for patients experiencing acute behavioral health needs in our community. 

This year, the PES unit’s crisis interventionists conducted an average of 144 therapeutic encounters monthly between January and July. This service means more people are able to access behavioral healthcare for their crisis needs close to home. 

“Bozeman Health is proud to deliver this vital, therapeutic care environment for our community, said Dr. Kathryn Bertany, Bozeman Health CEO. “The health system continues its commitment to providing large portions of the behavioral health continuum, including integrated behavioral health in our clinics, outpatient psychiatry, crisis stabilization in our PES area, and inpatient psychiatry and hospitalization.”   

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