Wibaux, MT

CAN. Community Action Now. But in the case of WibauxCAN, it’s also Community Action Nextyear. WibauxCan’s grants are a success. Less than a month after announcing the grants recipients one project-painting a house-is completely finished and more are in the process. The finished project even came in under budget, so the unused money will be regranted during next year’s grant cycle. Yes, that’s right. Next year. The demand was so high that WibauxCAN will offer the opportunity for applications again next year. Community Action Now and Nextyear. Sometimes the sprucing up of a community just takes some tangible investment in people.

Community Change Project – The Federal Government gave the state millions of dollars to address the problem of drinking and driving through the lifespan and binge drinking with an emphasis on youth. No one in Wibaux would underwrite the project so because of Horizons, the school superintendent convinced the school board of the importance of this project and is serving as the fiscal agent. It has added another fulltime job to Wibaux and rented a building for this 3 ½ year grant. The ultimate goal is addressing the community norms of underage drinking. Wibaux County is part of a 5-county coalition working with Dawson, Richland, Roosevelt and Sheridan counties to affect community change.

We have lots of nonprofit organizations in Wibaux but not one except the Wibaux Nursing Home Foundation has even applied for the IRS approved 501c3 status. MT Community Foundation grant funds were channeled through a non-profit out of town. One of the Horizons action plans is to get a 501c3 for Wibaux. The group has narrowed down the name to Wibaux CAN - Community Action Now, which allows flexibility for many projects from housing, beautification, historic, poverty, drug abuse and youth activity grants. This committee is spearheaded by people in the know including the Clerk and Recorder, Town Clerk and the County Attorney assistant. Work is progressing on the by-laws and officers will be elected in July. We hope to submit to the IRS in the fall. The results will benefit the community and address poverty by allowing us to apply for grants as most require 501c3 status.

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You can do a tour around Wibaux and look at all the statues, most done by Mr. Burman made out of welded pipe and recycled items. Those are the most recent additions to Wibaux. Pierre Wibaux is the oldest statue in town overlooking the town. A popular statue is the angel in Angel Park across from the nursing home. Angel Park has really improved as trees have grown and half of the bowtie sidewalk loop is complete. The nursing home residents appreciate the beautiful view out their front windows. What does this have to do with poverty? 1. It’s recycling materials that others would call junk. 2. It’s a positive investment in our community that makes people proud. 3. Wibaux has a statue trail for people to follow - that’s tourism for this town proud of its heritage. 4. It’s structural change that will continue.

by Ginny Archdale

One of the highest priorities identified in the Horizons program survey was creating jobs and economic development in Wibaux. This also came up in study circles and leadership training segments. People were very positive about the idea of developing wind energy.

Wibaux County, the Eastern Plains RC & D, the Wibaux County Conservation District, and landowner Kory Scammon have partnered up to monitor wind data on a site southwest of Wibaux. This is the first step in determining whether a site is suitable for wind energy. Mike Carlson of the RC & D made arrangements for the county to borrow an 85-foot tower from a landowner in Jordan. The county paid for modifications to the tower and the county road crew helped Carlson put it up on a site that Scammon provided. Carlson also loaned the county an anemometer and data logger to put on the tower. Carlson has since retired, so the conservation district is now pulling the computer chip from the data logger periodically and sending it in to a state agency that then provides a report.

Data from the first three months was so positive that a wind development company put up its own 200 foot monitoring tower a half mile south of the first one.

Since August of 2007, the average wind speed at the site has been just over 17 miles per hour, and efficiency (how often wind would be adequate to produce energy) is above the 40 percent companies want to see. Overall, Carlson has described the site as rating about 6 ½ on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 being the best.

However, most companies want to see at least a year, and maybe two years, worth of data before developing a site.

by Ginny Archdale

Horizons funds are providing the stimulus for development of a Wibaux housing plan.
The Wibaux Horizons steering committee offered the Town of Wibaux $3500 from its coaching funds to hire outside expertise to conduct a structural inventory of Wibaux housing and analyze market conditions. These are the major components of a housing plan, which is the first step in seeking grants to fix up existing housing, remove blight, or build new low-income units.

With that offer on the table, the Town of Wibaux advertised for Requests for Proposals from community development consultants. At its May 14 meeting, the Town Council opened one proposal, from Single Tree Consulting of Bridger, Montana. Julie Jones of Single Tree proposes to develop a Wibaux housing plan at a cost of $5000. If the plan then leads to CDBG and HOME grant applications, additional funds will be needed to write and manage the grants.

The Town Council took Single Tree’s proposal under advisement, in order to check it over carefully, but it looks like the town will be moving forward with a housing plan. The Wibaux City-County Planning Board has agreed to contribute $1000 toward the plan, and the Town of Wibaux would contribute $500.

Today I got my blood drawn at the Wibaux Clinic. No, not the Wibaux Clinic that’s been in operation on main street for years, the old, run down, Wibaux Clinic with the floor that had borken boards, but the new Wibaux Clinic. This clinic is just east of the nursing home.

It has three exam rooms with sinks, running water, exam tables, an office for the doctor(s), a nurses station where they can take blood, perhaps even do some labwork. (That’s where I got my blood drawn).

Know what’s great? In the not too distant future, it will be open five days a week! Five!

Kudoos must go to the community who has wanted better medical service, the Horizon’s Study Circles who kept the idea in the forefront, but most of all to the county comissioners who took the leap and decided that if Wibaux was to have better health care, Wibaux needed to have control of the health care.

I’m not letting my husband go out of town to get blood drawn again.