With new cutting-edge facilities, fast-growing customer base and veteran officials retiring, tomorrow’s water and sewer district will prioritize professionalism and high standards
By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR
The Big Sky County Water and Sewer District will look a lot different in 2025 than it did before 2024.
Perhaps the most significant change will be BSCWSD’s new Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility, a $50 million project scheduled for phased opening between March and October 2024. The WRRF will treat Big Sky’s wastewater to higher standards, and it required a staffing plan.
Coincident with that staffing plan, longtime General Manager Ron Edwards expects to retire not long after the new facility’s ribbon cutting—his replacement, Johnny O’Connor, already has six months under his belt as GM. In August 2023, Edwards’ partner in crime, Jim Muscat, retired after 28 years; in December, the district bid farewell to its front-facing customer service guru of 27 years, Marlene Kennedy. Financial Officer Terry Smith has been crunching numbers for almost 23 years and sees retirement on the horizon.
What may seem like a void in experience and leadership, however, brings about an opportunity. EBS sat down with more than half of the current staff to learn how.
“All of the original crew has served a whole lifetime here, really, and they managed it really well and it’s gotten us to where we are today,” said Vince Palafox, who has worked for the district almost seven years and was recently promoted to fill half of Muscat’s water superintendent role.
This is the first major change in leadership in the district’s three-decade history since being formed in the mid-1990s.
“The changing of the guard,” O’Connor said. “… It will be here before we know it… version 2.0.”
The district now has a 16-person staff, and four are new-hires: Katie Coleman, well-known Big Sky local, and Matt Foley, 21-year-old from Belgrade, took jobs as WRRF operators; Montana State University graduate Rose Joseph will support Palafox as a collection and distribution operator; and a new position remains open for district clerk, handling work split by Edwards and other officials in the past. For all new and recently hired staff, Palafox emphasized the importance of recognizing their potential to become the district’s future leaders.
“It’s pretty awesome to see that we are really addressing the succession as well as this restructure at this same time,” Palafox said.
The district has a new organization chart with positions that match the increasing demand and level of services, resulting in three departments: one for sewage treatment, and two for drinking water.
On the sewer side, there’s WRRF and reuse/disposal. Adam Rutz, a two-year employee, is superintendent of disposal and irrigation, and the WRRF. Rutz said the district interviewed seven candidates for the WRRF operator roles before hiring Katie Coleman and Matt Foley.
“It was very important to me to have another Big Sky person on our team, residing up here,” Rutz said of Coleman. She and Foley can learn from Operator Justin Brechtelsbauer, who has almost three decades of industry experience, with many years in Four Corners and Gallatin Gateway before coming to Big Sky.
The drinking water category—previously Muscat’s domain—was split into two departments: distribution and collection, and water production and metering. With five years of experience, Jake Porter was recently promoted to water production and metering superintendent. Palafox took over distribution and collection.
Palafox is excited to bring the organization to the next level. O’Connor pointed out that most of the staff is already state certified for both water and sewer, and although BSCWSD staff have always held certifications for at least their area of specialty—water or sewer—Palafox and Rutz said more team members will be certified in both.
“We’re still a small utility in general for the size of connections and infrastructure that’s in the ground. We’re a pretty small team,” Porter said. With the district’s wide-ranging responsibilities, it will be important for staff to work outside their specialty.
“We’re excited to go into this next phase of the district. Transition out of the old ways and into the new age,” Rutz said.
“To take the knowledge and experience that’s been in-house and put some more leadership roles in place, and then bring it up to next generation in the district. Setting us up for longevity,” O’Connor said. “We’re definitely moving out of the Wild West of things, and becoming more professional.”
Education and enforcement
O’Connor said the district will continue to work toward enforcing its policies and educating its customer base.
“[Organizations] are trying to educate people about excessive irrigation using potable water out of your house,” Porter said. “[Planting] more native grasses and trees and such—drought-resistant landscaping.”
The Gallatin River Task Force has been ramping up water conservation incentives. In addition, four organizations launched a landscaping partnership in 2023 called Alpenscapes. It’s a joint effort between GRTF, Grow Wild, Big Sky SNO and the Big Sky Fire Department, “to create a fire-safe, water-wise, and ecosystem-friendly future for Big Sky,” according to the Alpenscapes website.
Palafox said during Big Sky’s summer irrigation season, potable water use can skyrocket up to 600% for average customers.
“That does definitely impact our [water] supply quite a bit. As time goes on, we will definitely add more restrictions specifically toward irrigation. [Customers] will be limited to how much irrigation they can do in the future. Or they’ll pay a price for it,” Palafox said.
Rutz added that it’s time for Big Sky to “transition from this old mentality of using drinking water to make aesthetically pleasing yards. Go to more native landscapes, not waste such a valuable resource.”
Irrigators will hope to stay friendly with Eric Daniels, a versatile water distribution and collection operator assistant, also known to be an irrigation enforcer. Daniels slaps over-irrigation notices on doors and isn’t afraid to deliver his “wrath” to anyone who dares tap a fire hydrant outside of regularly permitted hours, he said.
Another area of concern is fats, oils and grease in the waste stream that could damage or jam up the sensitive membranes in the new WRRF.
“Not only the fats, oils and greases, but baby wipes and the so-called ‘flushable wipes,’” O’Connor said. “That’s just stuff that should not go down into the sewer because it does not break down.”
Before becoming distribution and collection operator, wastewater operator Peter Bedell spoke with EBS at length about “FOG” after BSCWSD board discussion in late November. Since then, the district has decided not to hire a compliance officer who would ensure restaurants are trapping their grease.
“That’s going to be done in-house,” O’Connor said. “We felt confident that through our systems and stuff, we shouldn’t have to outsource for that or bring in a third party.”
Palafox added, “The biggest thing for the customer side is to just be cognizant of not dumping fatty oils and greases down the drain. And if you’re cooking a pan of bacon, to scrape your grease out into a coffee can or something and dispose of it through the landfill, versus into the sewer collection system. That is definitely going to increase the longevity of the [WRRF] as well.”
O’Connor hopes that as Big Sky’s water and sewer district evolves, community members will get to know the new faces. When Ron Edwards and Terry Smith join Jim Muscat and Marlene Kennedy in retirement, it will be the next generation of leadership helping the community through the good, bad and ugly of water and sewer in Big Sky.
