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01/19/2025
Chief wants officers to focus on drug enforcement, rather than immigration
The Helena Police Department has announced its exit from a regional drug task force after the agency decided to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Last week, Helena Police Chief Brett Petty told city commissioners during a meeting that he had decided to withdraw HPD from the Missouri River Drug Task Force. Petty said the drug task force had been discussing the deployment of border patrol agents for over a year and, last November, decided to move forward with an official agreement.
“ I decided to, for Helena PD, to temporarily withdraw from MRDTF because I wanna make sure and keep our focus here for Helena PD [on] the policing and the drug activity,” Petty said during the meeting.
The Missouri River Drug Task Force, headquartered in Helena, is made up of law enforcement agencies from Lewis and Clark, Gallatin, Park, Meagher, Madison, Broadwater, and Sweet Grass counties that work with federal authorities to address drug trafficking.
The drug task force intends to deploy two agents in Helena and two agents in Bozeman, according to Petty.
Petty added that he has “some concerns” with border patrol presence and that he wanted to ensure that HPD doesn’t get involved with immigration enforcement instead of monitoring drug activity in the city.
“ This is not to say that we will never be a part of MRDTF ever again, but I think the best way to do this right now is not enter into that agreement and bring a brief pause to it and see how this actually plays out here locally in Helena,” Petty said.
Commissioner Sean Logan asked if the withdrawal would impact HPD’s ability to address drug crime in Helena. Petty responded that it won’t. The current drug investigator on the task force, he said, is already part of the police department’s criminal investigation division. While there may be potential coordination with the task force, that detective will remain under the HPD’s purview, Petty said.
Petty did add that there were ramifications for leaving. The HPD received $30,000 in annual funding for its participation in the drug task force. The department had already received half of the payment but will be out the other half after the new fiscal year.
However, the East Helena City Council, whose police department is also part of the MRDTF, voted last Tuesday to accept changes to the agreement that include border patrol activities, according to a Helena Independent Record article.
“I am proud to have voted to keep East Helena actively involved in the MRDTF, to help combat drug and human trafficking, along with assisting with drug crime investigation operations in our community,” East Helena Councilmember Wesley Feist told Montana Free Press last week.
The decision to leave the task force came as Helena and the HPD are considering a formal policy to address citizens’ and advocates’ growing concerns about safety and transparency with federal immigration authorities.
About 30 individuals, most of whom were immigration advocates, attended last week’s meeting. Some thanked Petty for his actions regarding the drug task force.
“ I do want to thank you, Chief Petty,” Ashley Fischer said. “I do appreciate that you have clearly heard from Helena citizens and taking action that you did on your withdrawal from commitment to the MRDTF. We do not have control over what is happening with the federal government, but we can do everything we can here to keep our community safe locally.”
Public Notice
The city commission will consider a resolution supporting local police policies regarding the presence of federal immigration authorities at a meeting on Monday, Jan. 26, at 6 p.m. The resolution comes before the commission after several months of public outcry that began after the detainment of Christopher Martinez Marvan by ICE agents, which involved assistance from local authorities. The push for a codified policy was amplified by the recent deaths in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. The resolution can be found on the city’s website.
Last week, Helena began implementing new times for its city commission administrative meetings to encourage public participation. The meetings, held on every other Wednesday, previously started at 4 p.m., but the city moved the start time back to 5 p.m. Additionally, the commission now allows each public commenter three minutes rather than two.
5 Things to Know in Helena
The Helena Regional Airport experienced a slight increase in passenger traffic in 2025, compared to the last four years, according to recently released statistics. Last year, the HRA saw 203,247 total passengers, a 1.8% increase from 2024. HRA executive director Jeff Wadekamper told MTFP in an email that the small increase is primarily due to industry factors outside of Helena’s local control, including the cancellation of a second Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle this year. Other factors include a shift from smaller to larger aircrafts, ultimately affecting the number of flights out of HRA.
“Many small airports across the nation are losing much of, if not all of their network hub airline service as this transition from 50-seat to 76-seat and larger jets takes place,” Wadekamper said. “Fortunately for Helena, we have grown out of the 50-seat era and maintained all three airline brands [Alaska, Delta and United] as Helena has demonstrated we can fill the 76-seaters.”
Last month, the Montana Public Service Commission approved a settlement with the Helena-based subdivision North Star after finding the company failed to provide adequate water services to its customers the previous year. PSC had preliminarily fined North Star nearly $87,000 but allowed for the subdivision to enter settlement negotiations to remedy service issues. Under the approved settlement, North Star will not have to pay the fines if it ensures compliance with requirements for lawn sprinklers and water meters, as well as with improving communication with its customers regarding water service status. North Star will also create a $15,000 reserve account for fund maintenance improvements.
Last week, Mayor Emily Dean presented board appointments for the new commission, including her selection of Commissioner Sean Logan as her mayor pro tempore. Logan will fill in for Dean in her absence.
Additionally, city transportation systems director David Knoepke and deputy director Chris Couey updated the commission on the Montana Avenue railroad crossing elimination and roundabout grant project during last week’s meeting. Couey told commissioners they are waiting on the Federal Railroad Authority to determine if the nearly $4 million grant will be enough to cover preliminary engineering and design work. Couey said he is confident that the funds will be enough, but the inquiry was raised during negotiations with consultants. Couey said they won’t finalize the project’s scope or timeline until hearing back from federal authorities.
Lucrecia Medina, a Helena area woman, was ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks last week for illegally feeding several black bears in 2022, according to a KTVH news story. Upon the initial investigation, the county sheriff’s office found several pounds of animal feed on Medina’s family property. According to the report, five adult bears were put down after becoming accustomed to human interaction.
Helena’s housing market prices dipped in 2025
The median price of a home in Helena in December dropped $44,000 – to $464,950 – compared to the same month last year, reflecting slower overall sales in 2025, according to the area’s association of real estate agents. The December 2024 median home price was $509,000.
The Helena Association of Realtors maintains housing market data for Helena, Lewis and Clark County and neighboring counties, providing monthly updates on sales prices, the number of homes for sale and the average days on the market.
The association’s president, Cortney Senecal Blum, told Montana Free Press that high interest rates and the Federal Reserve’s effort to address inflation affected the city’s housing market, forcing prices lower.
Last year’s median sale price peaked in February at $550,125 and then fell to $440,000 in June, a drop of about $110,000, according to the association’s statistics.
“ February was a great market, and then it really dipped down, and we’ve been slowly recovering since then,” Senecal Blum said, adding that potentially lower interest rates and increased inventory could stimulate Helena’s housing market this year.
“Helena is headed in the right direction for new buyers or first-time home buyers, or any buyers waiting to be able to buy a house because there’s still affordability and there’s loan programs available for any person that’s looking,” Senecal Blum said.
In Lewis and Clark County, the median home sale price for all residential homes increased from $464,450 in 2024 to $465,950, about 0.3% higher than last year.
On Capitol Hill
Last Tuesday, over 300 people gathered in the state Capitol for a rally organized by Montana veterans and the action group Indivisible Helena to call on Gov. Greg Gianforte and Montana’s congressional delegation to defend constitutional and civil rights, according to an Independent Record article.
Some of the topics touched on by rally speakers included immigration enforcement, federal funding and job cuts and the lack of response from the state’s top elected officials.
Dennis Taylor, a Helenan and veteran U.S. Marine Corps captain with 46 years in public service, spoke during the rally and expressed his disappointment with the governor and the federal delegation for failing to show up and respond to their constituents.
“The four veterans that spoke wanted to remind the audience that our congressional delegation and our governor are AWOL, that is, they’re absent without leave,” Taylor told MTFP in an interview last week.
“We’ve been trying to get a response from them since last October, and our only response is deafening silence,” he added.
But Taylor felt energized and encouraged by the protest’s significant turnout, saying events like this are also meant to promote connection.
“ It’s easy to sink in despair, but it is empowering when people speak out, when people connect and when people are determined to hold our elected officials to their oath of office,” he said.