#MTGOV Daily Rundown: Governor Bullock’s Failed Leadership Hurts Boulder

BOTTOM LINE: Bullock shut down a major job provider in Boulder with no backup plan. Are Bullock political appointees profiting?

The Montana Developmental Center in Boulder (which provides a home for about 50 developmentally disabled adults) has had some tough times, with widespread allegations of client abuse. These issues have only worsened under the Bullock Administration. The issues were so serious that the governor and legislature are simply closing the facility.

“Montana Department of Justice findings released this month detail widespread client abuse at the Montana Developmental Center, a state facility in Boulder charged with caring for cognitively impaired adults. The latest findings have disability rights advocates and state legislators considering more drastic changes at a center mired in scandal in recent years.

“If we have that level of abuse going on in a facility, there’s a problem,” says Bernadette Franks-Ongoy, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, which is empowered by law to investigate and remedy instances of abuse and neglect of developmentally disabled people. “There’s a very, very serious problem that residents in that facility are not safe.” -Missoula Independent, 9/18/2016

Bullock’s decision to close the facility will mean the loss of a major employer for Boulder and Jefferson County. The MDC employs 250 people. While few dispute that there are real issues at the center, Bullock has moved ahead towards closure with no plan to repurpose the facility or protect existing jobs.

“’A task force, yet to be appointed, will work on placing residents and repurpose the facility. But to some, it's already too late.

[Boulder resident] Cory Kirsch said, "We should have planned before we close it, and not close it then try to figure out a plan.’" -MTN News, 7/2/2015

Within Boulder and Jefferson County, there is a large amount of frustration with Governor Bullock.
“Anybody who in Jefferson County that votes for Steve Bullock ought to be throwed out of the county.” -Jefferson County Commissioner Leonard Wortman in the Boulder Monitor, 2/23/2016


Then, earlier this year, news broke that a Bullock Administration official had direct ties to a Butte based non-profit from which the state leased a facility in Galen to house some of the Boulder patients.

“There was no competitive bidding process to award the Galen lease. In fact, officials said Wednesday they didn’t even look at potential alternatives to the $1.2 million annual agreement.

That's how the state’s newest landlord became Community Counseling and Correctional Services -- a Butte-based nonprofit that employs Brandie Villa, a top company accountant and the wife of Governor’s Office Budget Director Dan Villa.

The move has left some wondering how a building owned by Brandie Villa’s bosses -- one that might have sat vacant and heavy on CCCS’ books, in the absence of a state-backed lease -- suddenly became Montana’s first and only choice to house a mental health facility.” -Helena Independent Record, 4/8/2016