Phillips County Community Input

Economic Development (private business)

  • Develop housing
  • Attract new businesses, industry
  • Continue revitalization of downtown area
  • Continue to fund Phillco
  • New call center
  • Community center
  • Better use of existing buildings; recruit new businesses
  • Business directory
  • “Welcome” packet for tourists and new residents
  • Recruit optometrist, dentist
  • Aging population, declining numbers, can’t support local businesses enough to support growth
  • Offer employee training in customer service
  • Public transportation (community bus; part-time driver; weekly route to Malta)
  • Public restrooms
  • Public park
  • Local grocery store
  • Farm-to-cafeteria program to improve access to fresh foods
  • Restaurant w/ regular meals
  • Traveling doctor/nurse (work w/ Phillips County Hospital)
  • Marketing to promote recreational opportunities (landscape & wildlife, ATV trails, campgrounds, hunting & fishing)
  • Services to support hunting and tourism (mapping, maintenance, trail safety)
  • Develop year-round employment options
  • Develop housing (limited by public lands surrounding town)

Housing

  • Develop new rentals (multi-family, low income affordable)
  • Write grants for home ownership
  • Clear some old, unused housing to make lots available for building
  • Encourage development of new housing & subdivision
  • Encourage housing rehabilitation through demonstration grant
  • Host rental information session for potential landlords
  • Offer local tax incentives to remove old structures and replace with new housing
  • Encourage private development
  • Convert old hospital into 2-4 bedroom units
  • Create more rentals
  • Make housing more affordable
  • Build energy efficient housing
  • Retrofit current housing for energy efficiency
  • Seek grants to develop new housing (current housing stock is older; mobile homes are not energy efficient; need housing for larger families; apartment complex)
  • Housing development is limited by public lands, flood plain
  • Weatherization program
  • Retrofit program to improve energy efficiency
  • Develop new rentals

Infrastructure

  • Build tax base by attracting new residents
  • Recruit volunteers for fire department
  • Improve road maintenance (gravel, paving)
  • Encourage use of bus
  • Replace water system
  • Better cell phone & Internet service
  • Expand Hwy 2 to four lanes
  • Attract employers
  • Smart communities
  • Create office space to rent
  • New system to provide drinking water to all households
  • Improvements to sewer system (especially for cold weather)
  • Even the road grade where it crosses culvert
  • Restrooms at track field
  • BLM should improve fire access, signage, and gates on some roads
  • Improve maintenance of local roads (gravel, paving)
  • Improve sewer system (now all septic tanks)
  • Attract younger firefighters

Parks & Recreation

  • Dodson has city park & playground, fairgrounds, hunting & fishing access, RV parking, local B&B
  • Market hunting/fishing for tourism
  • Develop gas station, convenience store, museum, restaurant
  • Develop community rec center
  • Build partnerships and volunteerism
  • Create water park
  • Provide bowling facility
  • Promote and market city of Malta
  • Promote areas like Zortman
  • Market through use of pamphlets and informational documents
  • Support tourism (wildlife & landscape photography, hunting, dinosaur fossils) by developing services (lodging, restaurant, gas station, public restrooms, public access park, signs)
  • For local recreation, develop golf course, bowling alley, community center, weight room, etc.
  • 4thof July Celebration, ATV trails, horse-back riding, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing
  • Requires trail and road maintenance, ambulance service, law enforcement
  • Support through marketing, signs, trail maintenance, safety brochures, maps, history kiosks
  • Develop recreational access to Azure cave

Employment

  • More small business
  • Less regulation
  • Allow the TransCanada project
  • Employee training
  • Move in companies to create more jobs
  • Improve government policy in regards to agriculture, mining
  • Reclamation is ongoing at the mine
  • Open some state lands to recreational access and housing development
  • Develop access road

Energy

  • Develop housing/services to keep gas employees

Health

  • Many specialized services, providers are located far distances from here
  • Need hospice care
  • Help for elders to make medical appointments

Transportation

  • Improve Hwy 2 to accommodate increased east-west traffic (Bakken) – “4 for 2”
  • Seek north-south public transportation to assist folks to make medical appointments in Great Falls
  • Reduce regulations that inhibit private enterprise

Other Ideas

  • Community involvement
  • Work to bring young people back to all businesses
  • House all emergency vehicles in one location
  • Reduce Fish & Game, DEQ, EPA regulations