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SEELEY LAKE - A recent statement that residents are drinking water contaminated with raw sewage made by the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board attorney Jon Beal has raised a few eyebrows in town. Seeley Lake Water District Manager Vince Chappell contested these statements saying that there are no contaminants related to sewage in the potable drinking water for the town of Seeley Lake. In an email to the Pathfinder, Missoula City/County Health Department Sanitarian Jim Erven agreed with Chappell. Erven said he reviewed the last two years of Water...
DARBY - The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks hit the road to take on the Darby Tigers Aug. 24 and came home with a win. "The final score of 27 to 6 does not accurately reflect how well our boys dominated that game," said Blackhawks Head Coach Ryan Sokoloski. Defensively the Blackhawks shut down the Tigers including a pile of sacks. They only allowed one touch down on a punt return. On the offense Nate Samuli rushed for 164 of the team's 302 yards. Hunter Shelmerdine ran 80 yards including a 2-yard...
The Seeley-Swan Lady Blackhawks made the trek around the mountains to take on Charlo in their opening match of the season Aug. 24. The next day they rolled down to Drummond for their first round robin tournament featuring 16 teams. The Lady Blackhawks fought hard against Charlo but came up short. They fell in three games, 23-25, 20-25 and 13-25. The defense was led by Klaire Kovatch with 6 stuff blocks and 6 blocks while Autumn Morse had 14 digs. The pair led the offense as well with 4 kills each and Morse was credited with 6 assists. Taylor...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District board passed the annual levy of assessments at the Aug. 16 regular board meeting and assessment hearing. In other business, they set a public hearing to correct an issue with a Phase 2 grant application, discussed the resolution the board has been told requires the sewer be constructed and discussed “holes in essential information.” Public comment centered on the project’s schedule and the perception that the board is holding the project up as well as questioning what the voters and landowners had p...
SEELEY LAKE – At a special meeting Aug. 13, the Seeley Lake Sewer District board elected new officers. They also voted to retain Beal Law Firm to defend the district from a lawsuit filed by Seeley Lake resident Don Larson. Beth Hutchinson was elected President and Troy Spence was elected Vice President. The vote on the officers was split with Davy Good going against the nominations while Hutchinson, Spence and Juli Cole voted for the nominations. Director Mike Boltz was not in attendance. Attorney Jon Beal explained the predicament the d...
MISSOULA – District Court Judge Karen Townsend stopped short of denying Don Larson’s motion for a preliminary injunction at a hearing Aug. 14. However, Townsend’s comments of “I didn’t get much out of this,” referring to Larson’s testimony and her refusal to allow Larson’s attorney Colleen Dowdall to call two additional witnesses to the stand doesn’t look favorable for Larson’s motion. The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board’s Attorney Jon Beal made an initial motion to delay the hearing, arguing that he had been retained at 9:30 p.m. the previou...
SEELEY LAKE - At a recent sewer board meeting Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss delivered a warning that has been echoing throughout the county for decades: "Look what happened to Linda Vista when they turned down funding offers." These warnings have come with all sorts of figures and statements attached about Linda Vista residents such as "They had to pay $20,000 to $30,000 each," "They could have had 90 percent paid by grants" and "They had to pay for it all with no grants." Residents...
SEELEY LAKE - Sewer district landowner and resident Don Larson filed a complaint and request for an injunction with the Montana Fourth Judicial District Court against the Seeley Lake Sewer District and Missoula County. The requested injunction would prevent the district from moving forward with the proposed sewer project. In the documents filed with the court, Larson makes several allegations including mishandling the protest process and protest letters, failing to provide reliable financial information about the project including estimates...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District’s regular board meeting July 19 plunged in and out of chaos as Board President Mike Boltz duked it out with the three newly elected Directors Beth Hutchinson, Troy Spence and Juli Cole. The three accused Boltz of abusing his power as president and attempted to adjourn the meeting. Boltz hurled threats of legal action to remove them from the board and refused to allow them to add items to the agenda. After 25 minutes of public comment Spence moved to adjourn the meeting. Cole seconded the motion a...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Council considered revisiting the speed limits on Highway 83 as it passes through town and voted to endorse the proposed Seeley Lake sewer project at its July 9 meeting. Council member Bruce Friede made a motion for the council to consider requesting the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) to reinstate the previous speed limits through Seeley Lake and instead take different measures to deal with speed and pedestrian issues. The speed limits were lowered based on the council’s recommendations in t...
SEELEY LAKE - The Pathfinder has been counting the crowd at the Seeley Lake Parade since 2013. This year's crowd was the biggest yet. We counted 4172 people lining the route from the Filling Station parking lot on B Street to the end of the parade on Redwood Lane. That's nearly 700 more spectators than last year. We asked our Facebook followers to take their best guess and as of press time the closest was Hunter Shelmerdine, guessing 4115....
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District held its regular board meeting June 21 where three newly elected Directors started laying out their vision for the district's direction. They received a manager's report, took care of regular monthly business of approving minutes and paying the bills and learned of a new $500,000 grant the district has received. The meeting began with a short-lived power struggle. Board President Mike Boltz was absent and the vice president position was left vacant after the May election. Director Beth Hutchinson...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District received an ultimatum June 21 from Rural Development (RD): Update the district’s construction schedule within 30 days or RD will “very pointedly assign a schedule.” The meeting was the first regular meeting where three newly elected directors were seated. The district received a letter from RD outlining a couple of concerns including change to the overall budget and scheduling of the proposed sewer and collection system. RD Area Specialist Dan Johnson was in attendance to help answer questions regard...
SEELEY LAKE - A special meeting for the Seeley Lake Sewer District, June 19, was thrown into disarray with a mistake made in the agenda and further confusion created by the district’s outdated bylaws. The first item on the agenda was “District Election.” Newly elected Director Beth Hutchinson explained that the purpose of that item was to elect the board’s president and vice president. District Secretary Felicity Derry apologized, saying that she thought the agenda item was to swear in the new directors and therefore labeled it “Distri...
OVANDO - Blackfoot Angler Fly Shop owner Kathy Schoendoerfer visits with Tour Divide leader Richard Dunnett at 10:40 p.m. June 10 in this screenshot of the Blackfoot Angler's webcam. Dunnett took about two and a half days to ride the 542 miles from Banff, Canada to Ovando. More than 160 riders headed out June 8 on the 2,735 mile Tour Divide Race from Banff to Antelope Wells, N.M. on the Mexican border. Riders carry Spot Trackers during the race and their progress can be tracked at:...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board held a special meeting May 24 where board President Mike Boltz threatened to file for an injunction to keep newly elected board members from derailing the sewer project. In other business, the board passed a resolution to accept an Environmental Assessment instead of having to go through a full Environmental Impact Statement. The assessment was required for the district to apply for funding from the Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) for Phase 2 of the collection system. In the May 8...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board discussed the future of the sewer district at its May 17 meeting after voters elected three new board members. In other business the board questioned legal fees due to a public information request and got an update on water testing. The board also continued moving the project forward by approving an update to the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) and a resolution to apply for grants to begin acquiring funding for Phase 2 of the collection system. The resolution to levy current annual assessm...
SEELEY LAKE - To be or not to be? Should the Seeley Lake Community Council (SLCC) be in the business of building and maintaining trails through its Trails Committee was the topic of much discussion at the council's May 14 meeting. The council also welcomed two new members and elected officers. The SLCC Trails Committee has been in existence for around 20 years and has been responsible in some way or another for many of the existing trails in and around Seeley Lake. The committee has worked on...
FRENCHTOWN - The Seeley-Swan Boys won the Western C Divisional track meet May 17-18. The Boys earned 74 team points to propel them past second place Manhattan Christian with 66 points. The Girls earned 46 points for fifth out of the 18 teams represented. More than a dozen Blackhawks will compete at the State C meet May 24-26 in Great Falls. The Boys’ top individual points earner was Logan Maughan. He won the 800 and 1600-meter with his season best times of 2:01.77 and 4:43.89 minutes. He also earned a spot at the state meet in the 400, f...
MISSOULA - With the recent election of three new directors to the Seeley Lake Sewer District Board, Missoula County’s Chief Public Works Officer Greg Robertson suggested the county commissioners consider terminating the inter-local agreement between the county and the district at a county administrative public meeting May 10. The inter-local agreement has been in place for about seven years and provides county resources to the sewer district. Through the agreement, Robertson has been the contracted District Manager. He worked to secure f...
MISSOULA - The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks Boys and Girls decimated the competition at the 13C District Meet May 11-12. The Boys racked up an amazing 225 team points putting them out of sight of second place Clark Fork with 121 points. The girls had an equally impressive 198 points over second place Darby's 118 points. Eleven Boys and 14 Girls advanced to the Western C divisional track meet. The Girls 4x100-meter relay team laid down their fastest time of the season, finishing in 53.76 seconds. Not...
Challengers won positions on the Seeley Lake Sewer District board while incumbents kept their spots on the Seeley Lake Fire District board and Potomac School board as a result of the May 8 election. The Missoula County Public Schools high school bond passed with a little more than 56 percent of voters supporting it. Countywide, only 34 percent of registered voters participated while the hotly contested sewer district and fire district races in Seeley Lake drew 62 percent and 53 percent...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer District Board held a public hearing May 3 regarding applications for grants to fund the construction of Phase 2 of the collection system. Great West Engineering is preparing to submit applications for funds from the Renewable Resource Grant and Loan (RRGL) program administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Treasure State Endowment Project (TSEP) through Montana’s Department of Commerce. Both programs require an updated Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) and an e...
MISSOULA - Seeley-Swan's Klaire Kovatch has been aiming to break the school discus record all season. Her efforts paid off at the Kim L. Haines Invitational track meet May 5 with a throw of 130 feet 5 inches. She broke the previous record of 127 feet 7 inches set by Shyanne Feucht in 2007. Anticipation that the freshman thrower could break the school record has been high all season. Kovatch's Seeley Lake Elementary record of 123 feet 7 inches was just 4 feet short of the high school record. Kova...
MISSOULA - The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks competed at the Kim L. Haines Invitational May 5. It was the last meet of the season before the 13C District meet. In team points, the Boys tied with Manhattan Christian for second place with 65 points behind Loyola Sacred Heart with 97 while the Girls earned 53 points for third place behind Powell County with 68 and Manhattan Christian with 74. The Boys relay teams continued to show their dominance in the 4x100 and 4x400 taking first place in both. The...
