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01/30/2026
“Missoula This Week” is reported and written By Katie Fairbanks. Send your Missoula news and tips to [email protected].
Missoula Villages program aims to help older residents stay in their homes
Changing a lightbulb. A ride to the doctor. Mowing the lawn. A computer problem. Loneliness.
These are things older Missoula residents can get help with through the new Missoula Villages program that connects senior members with volunteers and community activities. Missoula Aging Services is working with a volunteer committee and city representatives to roll out the program over the next month, according to the organization.
Steve Gaskill, a founding member of the Missoula Village advisory committee, said many older Missoula residents are living “OK” independently but are struggling and don’t perceive a way to get help.
“That’s really the group that we’re focused on here,” he said. “This isn’t set up to take care of people that need daily long-term care, but more people that occasionally need a ride somewhere, they want social interactions, the little things in their house are beginning to pile up.”
Montana and Missoula County have aging populations, with a growing share of residents 65 and older, said Ria Overholt, the community services director at Missoula Aging Services. When the organization surveyed older adults living in Missoula about three years ago, many reported that they felt their voice wasn’t heard or they didn’t belong and that they were lonely or depressed, she said.
“There’s a phenomenon that starts to happen as you start to get older, … where you start to disappear a little bit in the eyes of society,” Overholt said. “You don’t have the same relevance or the same importance, which is exactly opposite of how you feel because you have all these lived experiences and you have so much more time and wisdom and things to share. So we really looked at these numbers and thought, how do we move the needle on this?”
For the past year, the advisory committee, which includes Overholt, Gaskill and city and public health representatives, met to plan the Missoula Village, modeled after the nationwide Village to Village Network. The group plans to collaborate with other organizations and institutions so the village is enmeshed in the community, said Anna Wilson, public relations and marketing manager for Missoula Aging Services.
Partnering with Missoula Parks and Recreation will help address the community demand for more adult programming while offering activities to village members the organization couldn’t provide on its own, Gaskill said.
“This program has ties to a lot of health benefits,” he said. “It looks like just neighbors helping neighbors, but really it’s a program to get adults out of the loneliness that we get stuck in being in our own homes and the invisibility that happens.”
Organizers stressed the benefits of the model for both members and volunteers and encouraged volunteers of all ages to sign up.
“This is a means of preparing for the future for yourself, to start building that network now of help and support and reciprocity and friendships so that when those things happen, you have an unexpected illness or an injury for a death of a loved one, you have a network that’s already in place, and you’re not scrambling trying to make that happen in that moment,” Overholt said.
All members and volunteers go through a background check. Volunteers can sign up for free. Missoulians 60 and older can join as members at a cost of $25 per month for an individual or $40 per month for a household. The dues help pay for the background checks and other operational costs. Gaskill said many people who should be part of the program may not be able to afford it, and they hope to offer scholarships once it’s more established. Wilson said Missoula Aging Services is looking into grants and planning future fundraisers for the program.
Residents can learn more about Missoula Villages during the organization’s free First Friday event Feb. 6. Those interested can stop by the Florence Building lobby, 111 N. Higgins Ave., from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for hot cocoa, activities, more information and to provide feedback on what they would like to see Missoula Villages offer. More information about the program is available at missoula.helpfulvillage.com.
Verbatim
“To operate with a veil of secrecy just provides confusion and speculation. It impacts trust. It is not good for anybody. It is not good for us and our safety if people don’t know we are the police; it is not good for the community members if they do not know that we are the police. I want to reassure people in Missoula that when you see those types of tactics being used that we don’t do those in Missoula. And I can’t speak to their training and their protocol, or how they think that furthers their mission. I will just tell you it’s not the way we do business here.”
—Missoula Police Chief Michael Colyer during the Missoula City Council meeting Monday regarding public concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Minneapolis and across the country.
Colyer said the police department has strict policies about identification, use of unmarked vehicles and restricting when officers can wear face coverings. Missoula residents and people nationwide have raised concerns about federal immigration agents’ lack of uniforms and identification, covering their faces and receiving limited training.
The Missoula Police Department’s mission is to protect and serve the community and to enforce state and local laws, Colyer said. While some officers can investigate and enforce certain federal statutes, the department does not have any officers deputized to enforce immigration status, he said.
Mayor Andrea Davis said the city values constitutional rights and upholds due process for everyone. City police officers do not ask immigration status when interacting with the public, she said.
Council Member Kristen Jordan told Montana Free Press she is working on a resolution to limit the use of local resources for immigration enforcement, similar to a measure the Helena City Commission approved Monday.
Members of the Montana Nurses Association Local 17 and Missoula community are holding a candlelight vigil Friday to honor the life of Alex Pretti, a nurse shot by federal officers in Minneapolis earlier this month. The vigil begins at 5 p.m. at the corner of Broadway and McCormick Street outside St. Patrick Hospital. Attendees are encouraged to bring candles, photos or signs to honor Pretti.
By the Numbers
The amount that Missoula County Public Schools saved in its transportation budget this year due to a decrease in routes and using its own vehicles in some instances, according to a staff presentation Tuesday.
The district has contracted with Beach Transportation to bus students for the last 84 years, Burley McWilliams, the district’s facilities and operations director, told the school board Tuesday. Similar to school districts nationwide, MCPS has seen an increase in transportation costs over the last few years and has been looking into running its own routes to help save money, he said.
Following a review last year, six routes were cut by moving stops to other routes, saving $355,955, McWilliams said. No stops were eliminated, said Annie Doolan, the district’s routing coordinator. Some stops were moved from bus routes that don’t receive reimbursement from the county or state to reimbursable routes, Doolan said. Routes must pick up at least one passenger more than three miles away from the school to be eligible for reimbursement, she said.
The district receives about $250,000 in annual reimbursements, and the annual transportation budget, excluding some staff salaries, is about $7.9 million, McWilliams said. Transportation is funded by a permissive, or non-voted, levy, so savings cannot be used for other costs, said Trustee Jeffery Avgeris.
“It saves our taxpayers,” he said. “Being good stewards of tax dollars is what we’re doing.”
MCPS also worked with Beach Transportation to decrease the number of bus attendants, saving about $63,000, McWilliams said. Bus attendants provide additional supervision on certain routes and can be moved around by Beach as needed, he said.
Over the last couple of years, MCPS has purchased several hybrid minivans to use as “Type E” buses, McWilliams said. This year, the district used these vehicles to take over five special service routes, saving about $304,240, he said. The special service routes include those for students “leveled” to another school and in special education programs, McWilliams said. The district plans to use its own vehicles for additional special services routes next year and is looking to add its own “yellow buses” over time, Doolan said.
Several board trustees applauded the savings.
“Transportation is an intractable challenge,” said Trustee Denise Juneau. “So the fact that you guys were able to pull this together and even carve out a little bit of savings is huge, and I just give you kudos for that work.”
5 Things to Know in Missoula
The Missoula City Council Wednesday approved the second phases of two sidewalk projects in the Rose Park and Franklin to the Fort neighborhoods. The council awarded a $698,700 contract to Knife River for phase two of the Ivy/Franklin project, which includes curbs, sidewalks, street parking, boulevards, street trees and traffic-calming improvements along East Franklin Street between Woodford and Plymouth streets. The council awarded a $1.6 million contract to JAG Contracting for phase two of the Eaton Street project, which includes sidewalks, curbs, ramps, driveway approaches, street trees, stormwater improvements and repaving of Eaton Street between South 13th Street and West Sussex Avenue. Both projects are funded by state gas tax revenue and the city’s road district and will not require sidewalk assessments from property owners, according to city staff. In early 2024, residents raised concerns about the assessments for phase one of the Ivy/Franklin project, spurring months of council discussion. The council halted the Eaton Street project in November 2024 after neighbors raised concerns about the design and cost. In April 2025, the council reduced the maximum sidewalk assessment from $9,000 to $3,500.
Missoula County Public Schools received $362,800 in donations through the Innovative Educational Program Tax Credit program, Superintendent Micah Hill told the board of trustees Tuesday. The program allows individuals and businesses to receive a tax credit for donations to public school districts. The state caps the number of tax credits available on a first-come, first-served basis. When the Department of Revenue opens the donation portal, districts can enter the donation information to claim the credits until they run out, Denise Williams, the district’s executive director of business and operations, told MTFP. This year, the $7.2 million in credits was claimed in just over seven minutes, she said. Hill said MCPS claimed the third-highest amount of credits, behind Big Sky School District with $634,000 and Great Falls Public Schools with about $1 million. MCPS uses the money to pay for supplies for charter schools, its arts integration initiative, classroom grants, Title I programming and special education programs, Hill said.
The Missoula County commissioners Tuesday accepted the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ nomination of James “Bing” Matt to the county’s new planning commission. Matt is a member of the CSKT Tribal Council representing the at-large district. He will serve as a voting member on the county’s new Missoula Consolidated Land Use Board. The position was a suggestion made during the last annual meeting between the CSKT Tribal Council and the Missoula County commissioners, said Karen Hughes, director of the county’s planning, development and sustainability department. The county and city of Missoula, which previously shared a planning board, are establishing separate planning commissions as required by state law. The county commissioners appointed six other members and two alternates to the board earlier this month.
The University of Montana has proposed cutting master’s degree programs in literature and economics and indefinitely pausing minors in both Chinese and Irish studies. The minor programs were identified for a moratorium due to declining enrollment, while the termination of the master’s programs was driven by “broader institutional considerations to steward instructional financial resources toward areas of higher strategic priority,” said Dave Kuntz, UM’s director of strategic communications. If the cuts are approved, remaining students will be able to finish the programs and graduate, but no new students will be admitted, he said. Departments were notified of the proposal during finals week in early December, Kuntz said. The proposals will be reviewed by the university’s Faculty Senate before going to the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education for final approval. Read more about the proposal here.
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is offering free assistance in preparing taxes starting next week at the Missoula Public Library and Lifelong Learning Center. All Tax-Aide preparers are IRS-certified, and federal and state taxes will be electronically filed on site. Those interested can make appointments online or by calling 406-285-1715. Appointments are available at the library most Mondays and Tuesdays from Feb. 2 through April 7 and at the Lifelong Learning Center Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from Feb. 4 through April 10.
Might be Fun
The University of Montana is holding a free community lecture with Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. The lecture will be held in the University Center Ballroom, and a livestream link will be available on this webpage closer to the event.
A member of the Oglala Sioux tribe, Sherman has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting Indigenous food systems and Native food sovereignty, according to a press release. Sherman’s cookbook, “The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen,” and restaurant Owamni by The Sioux Chef, have received James Beard Awards.
The event is the 2026 Brennan Guth Memorial Lecture in Environmental Philosophy and part of UM’s President’s Lecture Series. The event is co-sponsored by UM Campus Dining, the Native American Center of Excellence and the Davidson Honors College.