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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

HELENA – The Helena City Council approved an ordinance to issue warrant bonds to fund the Helena Forward project at a city council meeting on Monday, Sept. 23.

Normally, ordinances have a first reading where they are announced to the public and the ordinance itself is not voted upon until a later date. Since the council meeting on Sept. 23 was the first reading of the warrant bond ordinance, the city scheduled a second meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 8 a.m. to vote on the ordinance.

But rather than hold the vote during the special meeting Tuesday morning, the city circumvented the requirement of having a first and second reading on separate dates through a vote of unanimous consent to have a second reading of the ordinance and hold the vote in the same night.

After receiving unanimous consent, the Helena City Council voted to issue warrant bonds to fund the Helena Forward project. The vote was not unanimous with councilmembers Laura Joseph and Hewy Woodman dissenting.

During the council comments, Councilmember Chris Willis shared that he believes the Helena Forward project is the next step for the city.

“I know that there are a lot of people that are unhappy about this bond deal,” Willis said. “This bond deal for this city hall has been in the works for several years. I think, moving forward, this is a big step and it really all started years ago.”

Council president Alice Lobell reiterated that the project has been a long journey and not a recent decision.

“This did not happen in the last two or three months,” Lobell said. “We have been working on this for over two years. I’m looking forward to seeing the city grow. I’ve lived here the longest of any of these people because I’m older than any of the rest of them, so I’ve seen Helena have lots of growth. I look forward to us having more and more growth.”

Councilmember Chris VanCleave echoed these sentiments.

“I feel like tonight was the culmination of a 25-year plan and partnership between the city of Helena and U.S. Steel in the realization of a dream to build a town center on the corner of Highway 52 and Hillsboro Parkway,” VanCleave said. “It’s been a journey to get here, and we’ve still got a long way to go. I’m just glad that I got to be a part of what will be a transformational change for the city.”

Although Woodman declined to speak during council comments, he shared his belief that the city hall project and the sports and leisure project should not have been rolled into one in a Facebook post later that evening.

“The government locked into one solution and we should have taken our time and reviewed multiple options with different price points to make the best decisions,” Woodman said. “There is no need to rush a good decision. This debt will impact future city councils for decades and limit the number matching state grants for Helena and other possible partnership for projects.”

Those interested in learning more about the warrant bonds can visit Cityofhelena.org/draft-ordinance-998-2024-series-a-and-series-b-warrant/.