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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
 TEAM WORK – Conrad golfers line up and hoist the Ryder Cup trophy on Sunday after they put up 25 points to 19.5 for Shelby and 15.5 for Cut Bank to win the cup on their home course for the first time in eight years. I-O Photo by Patti Orcutt
After placing second in the first year of the annual three-city golfing event, Conrad spent the next seven years on the bottom rung of the ladder watching either Cut Bank or (mostly) Shelby celebrate and take on bragging rights as the best golf team in northcentral Montana.
The event is a two-day 54-hole match involving the three cities, played on a rotating basis at two different golf courses.
This year 36 holes were played on Friday in Shelby at the Marias Valley Golf and Country Club and the final 18 were played on the home boys’ course, the Pondera Golf Club on Sunday.
The matches are based on the professional format of the Ryder Cup in which American golfers play a European team.
Here, players go against each other in a team best ball format and then play a Chapman match where players alternate hitting the other players ball.
The final contest is an individual match play format.
Friday morning in Shelby, Conrad golfers scored seven points, Shelby five and Cut Bank three.
Winning their matches were the teams of Casey Vandenacre-Howard Bouma; Tom Billings-Don Dutro; Scott Arvidson-Carmen Jensen; Brian Pribnow-Brad Dahl; Brian Miller-Lyle Orcutt; Jay Taylor-Dave Orcutt; and Ryan VanDyke-Calvin Schlepp.
Taking a loss were Lane Judisch-Dean Hellinger; Rhett Orcutt-Scott Newmiller; and Greg Orcutt-Buck Traxler.
After the morning round scores looked like this: Conrad 7, Shelby 5, and Cut Bank 3.
In the alternate shot Chapman matches in the afternoon Conrad golfers won six matches. |
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
At a special board meeting held on June 26, Conrad Elementary and High School Districts competitively sold its authorized General Obligation Bonds in the total principal amount of $2,2000,000 for the Elementary District and $4,100,000 for the High School District.
The bonds are being issued for the school districts’ capital improvement projects that were authorized by voters at the April 8 special mail ballot elections with a 74 percent approval rate.
Members of the school board and district administration were pleased with the low interest rates received at the June 26 bond sale, which resulted in total reduced interest costs on the bonds over initial election estimates of $426,866.70. The savings over original estimates are $197,755.03 for the Elementary District and $229,111.67 for the High School District. Local taxpayers will benefit from the lower than estimated interest rates in the form of reduced annual tax levies or the bonds over the 20-year term. The first payment on the bonds will be Jan. 1, 2009 and the last payment will be on July 1, 2028.
The districts utilized slightly conservative rates of 4.90 percent on their 20-year bond issue estimates that were presented to voters earlier last year. The districts were able to lock into a true interest cost rates of 4.19 percent for the elementary bonds and 4.51 percent for the high school bonds. The bid of Bitterroot Valley Bank, based in Lolo, Mont., was the elementary district winning bid. The bid of D.A. Davidson & Co., based in Great Falls, was the high school district winning bid. Six companies or banks were represented in the competitive bidding process.
Interest income on the bonds is tax-free to bondholders for purposes of federal income taxation and State of Montana individual income taxation, which is the reason the borrowing costs of the school is lower than comparable rates for individual borrowers. The high school district bonds will be resold by D.A. Davidson & Co. to individual and institutional investors in denominations of $5,000. |
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Wednesday, 02 July 2008 |
By Buck Traxler, I-O Editor
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) managed to convince two more Pondera Medical Center employees to vote yes to a union than vote no.
Interim CEO at the hospital, Rick Palagi tells the I-O, “At some time in the future, maybe as quick as in two to three months, negotiations between the union and the PMC will begin.”
He told board members at a trustee meeting on Thursday, “You are allowed to talk to the employees.”
He also noted that the hospital now has some financial and operational challenges.
Among those are two new board members. Pondera County Commissioners appointed Bernard Ries to a trustee position when board member Buck Traxler’s term expired in June.
And, effective immediately, with his time on the board up, chairman Byron Bokma submitted his resignation. Commissioners appointed Hank Zomer to replace Bokma.
On the hospital side, Laura Elliott, the Human Resource Director has submitted her resignation and will be moving to Wyoming to a bigger hospital.
She told the I-O on Monday, “I’m sorry to be leaving Conrad, but this is a challenging career move. I’ll certainly miss the all the people at the PMC and working closely with the board of directors.”
Elliott has been with the PMC for over two years and her resignation is effective July 18.
The PMC has had to repay Medicare $311,153 for inpatient, swing bed and outpatient and clinic costs.
Charges at the hospital increased by 19 percent and costs increased by 12 percent. With charges going up more than costs, the PMC was overpaid by Medicare and had to repay that amount (above).
Another operational problem is that the PMC is unable to use their new boiler.
Evidently the installation was not according to the blue prints. Mack Simpson, CFO, noted at the last board meeting, “An equalizer was installed too high on the a header. This problem leads to (what is called) flashover and water gets into the header.”
The contracting company is Quality Plumbing and Heating from Great Falls. They are being talked to correct the problem and it shouldn’t cost the PMC any money. |
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