Officials are eying a spot in Laurel for a possible state mental hospital, though the plan is in its early stages and no decisions have been made.<\/p>\n
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) says it\u2019s still open to hearing from any community.<\/p>\n
Watch mental hospital update here:<\/b><\/p>\n
Laurel now possibility for state mental hospital in eastern Montana<\/p>\n
The mayor and the state board of investments have talked about a piece of property for a possible site for the state forensic mental hospital on Old Highway 10 or West Main Street, but it’s in the early stages and there’s a lot of work ahead before any decisions can be made.<\/p>\n
The land in Yellowstone County outside the city limits could potentially be the site.<\/p>\n
City officials reached out to the Montana Board of Investments (BOI) letting the state know it wants to be considered.<\/p>\n
Laurel Mayor Dave Waggoner confirmed a piece of vacant property on Old Highway 10, just outside the city limits, as a possibility.<\/p>\n
He says he likes the idea of bringing the mental health facility into the area.<\/p>\n
The mayor emphasized that it is not his decision and would have to go to the residents and Laurel City Council for approval.<\/p>\n
But he says it would great for Laurel, bringing jobs and adding to the economy.<\/p>\n
Laurel’s planning director, Kurt Markegard, declined an on-camera interview to give more detail, saying he doesn’t have any more information.<\/p>\n
Q2 reached out to about a dozen member of both the city council and the planning board, but all directed questions to Markegard or Waggoner.<\/p>\n
The owner of the property said he also was not aware that this land was being considered.<\/p>\n
The property has sewer and water hookups and is 10 acres, giving the state room for a 32-bed facility with room to grow to 64 beds.<\/p>\n
Big Horn and Stillwater counties have also expressed interest.<\/p>\n
The DPHHS is expected to release a letter outlining exactly what type of facility is going to be built and where.<\/p>\n
The 2025 Montana Legislature approved $26.2 million mental health facility in eastern Montana, the second of its kind in the state. The Legislature did not identify a spot for the facility, but local officials in Yellowstone County learned in August that Billings was a possibility<\/a>. <\/p>\n Several local officials expressed concerns about the facility<\/a>, saying the area already has a healthcare workforce shortage and lacks sufficient outpatient treatment programs. On Sept. 10, Gov. Greg Gianforte ordered the Board of Investments to restart its search for a new site.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officials are eying a spot in Laurel for a possible state mental hospital, though the plan is in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":269829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[210,29753,517,13668,140302,135222,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-269828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-laurel","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-montana","12":"tag-montana-department-of-public-health-human-services","13":"tag-montana-dphhs","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115300338073697194","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}