Good afternoon, Beacon readers! Springtime in northwest Montana is starting to bloom as the Flathead County commissioners begin the budget review process, hearing each department head’s wish lists during public meetings before the final approval later this summer. Earlier this week, the sheriff’s office inhaled most of the oxygen in the commissioner’s chambers as law enforcement officials described their scarce resources and asked for more staff positions.

During the meeting, Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino, pictured above, described the fluctuating crime trends and call volume across the 5,098-square-mile jurisdiction, which includes about 40,000 calls for service per year. Recently, there’s been a drop in thefts while domestic violence and animal control calls are rising. With current staffing levels in the animal control sector, patrol officers are left to provide reprieve.

“I just think it’s important that we’re just looking at a lot of the issues that we have – population growth, inflation, mental health, an aging detention facility,” Sherrif Heino told commissioners. “We’re still advancing our systems as fast as we can with the revenue we are allowed to operate under, and we’re looking for long-term solutions.”

I’m Maggie Dresser, here with a sheriff’s office dispatch in today’s Daily Roundup.

As Jail Commander Jenny Root waits for the new Flathead County Detention Center project to break ground, she in the meantime requested a third full-time nurse at the budget review hearing. The additional nurse would allow for seven-day per week coverage, which the facility currently does not provide. With only two nurses, detention staff is left to administer medications in their absence.

“It’s a huge liability for us to be having detention staff administer medications as much as they do,” Root told commissioners.

Root pointed to a rise in medical needs among inmates, but Commissioner Randy Brodehl wondered if detention staff could go through more training to prevent adding an additional nurse position.

“What would it take to get our newer staff up to speed?”  

Sheriff Heino also asked for more equipment in Search and Rescue operations, which includes upgrades to a $230,000 underwater drone that uses sonar imaging. The drone has been used in a variety of water-related missions, including the search for 33-year-old Emily Rea, a paddleboarder who went missing on the Hungry Horse Reservoir, pictured above, last July.

An extensive search was launched following her disappearance, with sheriff’s office personnel deploying K9 teams, boat crews equipped with sonar and underwater robots, ground teams, Two Bear Air rescuers, drone teams and divers. Several other agencies have assisted in the search over several months while friends and family members of Rea have launched an “Eyes for Emily” campaign dedicated to her recovery.

“The reservoir is very difficult [to search],” Heino said, referencing the challenging terrain. “There’s no mapping at the bottom of it – there’s logs down there … the reservoir was backfilled as a big canyon.”

Now let’s take a look at some of today’s top stories from northwest Montana and beyond …

In her latest column, Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger Julie Laing shares her recipe for gingerbread pancakes. Check it out here.