July 2024 – Page 3 – The Big Sky Business Journal

22 July 2024

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There are almost 60% more new businesses being created each year in the US. Prior to COVID, with its forced closures and slowdowns of businesses, the rate of new business start-ups was declining and considered quite dismal.

It was “quite gloomy,” said Economist John Haltiwanger, an expert on new business growth. New businesses tend to be a sign of job creation, innovation and productivity growth. Researchers said that they were “gobsmacked” to see the trend reverse with the pandemic. The report was in Planet Money.

“Many people lost their jobs. Maybe a lot of them were creating new businesses in a desperate attempt to pay the bills. or just out of boredom,” he said. The real surprise has been that the boom has continued. Four years since it began — “and there’s still a bonanza of new business creation in the United States.” Remote working, suburban growth, tech startups seem to be driving the growth. “Productivity growth means we can make more stuff in less time, which causes products and services to be more abundant and cheaper.”

“I’d say we’re on a new plateau that started in 2021,” Haltiwanger said. Comparing the three years before the onset of the pandemic with the three years after it, the data suggests there are now, on average, almost 60% more new businesses being created each year.

The boom is real. It’s sustained. It’s visible in both businesses that are just a single person striking out on their own and, importantly, businesses that are likely to grow and employ people. It’s seen in traditionally underrepresented minority communities. And, Haltiwanger says, this boom could be a sign that something fantastic is about to happen to the American economy: a long-awaited boost in productivity growth, which is the magic sauce for making society richer.

Two big buckets of new businesses are being created.

New businesses in the first bucket are capitalizing on a huge post-pandemic population shift. Many office workers are now either fully remote or hybrid. “People are not spending five days a week at the office in major downtown areas,” Haltiwanger says. Where people spend their time, they spend their money. Bad news for businesses in downtown areas. Good news for businesses where office workers live.

That’s why one of the big areas for new business growth is in food and accommodations, particularly in the outskirts of cities.

The other big bucket of new businesses are tech startups, according to Haltiwanger. It s the most persistent. “I think we’re in a new tech wave,” Haltiwanger says.

The last time the United States saw a significant uptick in productivity growth was in the 1990s during the dot-com boom. Productivity growth means we can make more stuff in less time, which causes products and services to be more abundant and cheaper. It’s like fairy dust being sprinkled on the economy, lifting society’s standard of living.

22 July 2024

Evelyn Pyburn

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by Evelyn Pyburn

Some time this summer Yellowstone County will initiate an arraignment court.

The need for an arraignment court in Yellowstone County has been growing and it will become essential once the proposed short-term holding facility becomes a reality, according to Yellowstone County’s Justice of the Peace David Carter.

Judge Carter is currently in the process of gathering data about how many defendants pass through the courts – municipal courts of Billings or Laurel, justice court, and district courts — each week. “We are trying to see what the work load will look like and how to manage it on a daily basis,” said Judge Carter.

“This is significant change,” said Carter, pointing out that it will affect almost all aspects of how the court system operates, requiring a lot of changes of judges, clerks, detectives and law enforcement officers. “We are going to try it this summer. There will be some trial and error,” he said.

This will be the first arraignment court in Montana. It is meant to address the needs of the short term holding facility that the county and city have collaborated to build. The county accepted applications this week for a general contractor to oversee its construction, which is anticipated to take about a year. The facility will hold inmates for only 72 hours. It is viewed as one of the solutions to the over-crowed jail that serves Yellowstone County. It will enable law enforcement to arrest and hold those perpetrating minor offenses, for whom in the past they have not been able to jail because of having no place to hold them.

A primary goal of having an arraignment court is to relieve some of the pressure on the processing requirements in the other courts.

What’s an arraignment court?

It’s a defendant’s first appearance in court – the first time they appear before a judge. Judge Carter said anyone having seen the television show “Night Court” may have an idea what it is, but the arraignment court for Yellowstone County is not going to be held at night – nor will it have Judge Harry Stone or a “Bull” Shannon.

In many larger court systems the defendant is arraigned before they ever go to jail, but if that doesn’t happen, the arraignment still must happen within a reasonable period of time after arrest, usually within 48 to 72 hours. The short term holding facility creates a need for the arraignment to happen very promptly.

During the arraignment, a defendant is formally advised of the criminal charges against him, informed of his rights, and may be asked to enter a plea to the charges. The court may also decide at arraignment whether the defendant will be released pending trial.

It involves a process of sorting out the charges against a defendant in accordance with state laws or local ordinances, looking at their criminal record and determining, if there are other outstanding charges, misdemeanors or felons. Quite often a defendant does have other pending charges and perhaps outstanding warrants, or instances of having failed to appear in court, explained Carter. “Someone may be on probation, have felonies or is a fugitive. A lot of people arrested in Billings have warrants from other cities or from outside the state,” explained Judge Carter. Determining those facts dictates in which court – municipal, justice or district — they are charged and what the charges will be, making sure there are no contradictions in the records.

Oversight of an arraignment court must be an attorney who is either elected or appointed by the County Commissioners. Besides deciding the charges and the court, they decide such things as whether there will be a bond and if so how much, or will the defendant be required to have a GPS ankle bracelet or will there be alcohol monitoring, etc.

The goal is to harmonize their appearance in court and to communicate what they have to do, set a schedule and to direct the right pace to go,” said Judge Carter. The point is “to cycle people through quickly and not to have wasted space.”

20 July 2024

Evelyn Pyburn

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By Evelyn Pyburn

One of Billings’ biggest and more thriving businesses is celebrating their 100th birthday. A & I Distributing may not be a readily recognized name for those not involved in the automotive business, but be assured if you own any kind of a vehicle you most likely have used a product they have distributed, as have many others throughout the eight state region they serve from their headquarters at 900 1st Ave North in Billings.

A & I Distributing is a fifth generation, family-owned and operated business. It was essentially started in 1924 with the involvement of Don Stanaway’s father, Frank, and today two of Don’s sons and two grandsons manage the business – with great grandkids in the wings. They are joined by some 242 employees, many of whom have been with the company for a significant number of those 100 years.

A couple hundred employees and customers attended a 100 year celebration last Tuesday, and numerous other celebrations will be held in other communities throughout their service region this summer.

1924 was the era in which the automobile market was beginning to get sound footing. People were beginning to realize that the automobile was here to stay, and indeed was changing the world forever.

Cars were quickly becoming a major source of freedom, adventure, and leisure, significantly improving the standard of living and altering urban development. But even at that, as a company brochure reminds, it was a time when there were “few cars, and less roads” and it took three to four days to travel 90 miles, “depending on how many flat tires you had.”

Transportation was in full swing of transitioning from the horse and buggy era. Manufacturers had found ways to make cars more efficient, and safer to drive. Roads were being designed and constructed for automobiles. Tunnels were being built and entrepreneurs were building gas service stations everywhere, to serve a rapidly growing need.

The company saw its nebulous beginnings when P. E. Crawley, realizing that the industry needed more than gasoline, started a distributorship of other automotive supplies. Crawley, an English boxer from London, started Crawley Motor Supply in Butte.” The small company sold tires, tire “boots,” and tube patches. In 1926 they expanded their line to include motor oil and greases. It gained the Pennzoil distributorship.

Today, A & I dominates the passenger car motor oil distribution business in the United States.

The secret to the company’s success? One thing, explained Stanaway is “you have to keep up with the times.” That means hiring young people with new ideas and retaining older people “with a blend of caution and ‘show me.’”

There are two parts to the business: passenger car motor oil, and commercial and industrial. A & I Distributors is the bulk packager of the four leading brands – Pennzoil, Castrol, Quaker State and Valvoline. It also has its own private label, “Service Pro PCMO” and “Purus C & I,” along with other brands such as Motorcraft, Shell, Citgo and Lucas.

Frank Stanaway’s younger brother, H. R. (Bud) Stanaway, started working at Crawley Motor Supply in 1927 as a tire mounter, shipping and receiving clerk, and in sales. Despite the Great Depression and severe drought in the 1930s, the company grew, with Bud and others working seven days a week, 12-14 hours a day.

Frank joined the company and in 1937 and moved to Billings to open the Billings branch. A branch was also opened in Great Falls, managed by Ken Lord. That was the same year that seven-year-old Stan started traveling the roads of Montana with his Dad making sales calls, while his mother, Lillian, took orders and ran the Billings branch.

In 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor happened and WWII began. Bud, Frank and Lillian Stanaway and Ken Lord worked day and night to keep the company going through those troubled years.

Don Stanaway returned home from the Korean War and joined A & I. Frank Stanaway died in 1956 and his widow, Lillian, and Don took over the leadership roles in Billings.

In 1975, Crawley Motor Supply was dissolved and Automotive & Industrial Distributors became the principle owner of the corporation. By 1985, A & I Distributors of Billings had acquired the Butte and Great Falls operations.

From there, the company began expanding, opening branch office in Bismarck, Missoula, Spokane, Rapid City, Boise and Pocatello, Portland, and Arlington, Washington.

Don is especially proud of his family and their achievements, especially those prior to joining A & I. While both sons, very much like their father, grew up in the business, each son pursued full-fledged professional careers before retiring and returning to A & I. Scott Stanaway, now President of A & I, had a 30 year career as an attorney, and Skip Stanaway, now Chairman of A & I, was an architect.

Grandsons, Tucker and Tate finished college and then in 2006 they opened an A & I branch in Oregon, and invited their father to join them. They started it from scratch, says Don proudly, and are doing quite well.

And, just in case, one is tempted to think the company is resting on its laurels – Tucker and Tate started the Arlington, Washington branch in 2023. Again, from scratch. The branch opened without a single customer but the potential is exciting. Don points out that there are more people and cars in the area of Arlington than there are in “all the other states put together.”

A & I has a “huge number” of trucks. Don explained, “We deliver to every town, once a week”, from the Minnesota border to Arlington, Washington. Just in case your counting that is a stretch of 1,273 miles.

When asked what is the most significant change he has seen over the years, Don readily pointed to regulations. “It has increased dramatically.” As a case in point, Don explained that only a couple years ago one driver did all the paper work required by the Department of Transportation. “Today we have three full time people doing paper work for the same number of trucks.”

Another regulation comes from OSHA. Every morning every truck driver has to sign a statement saying they have crawled under their trucks and inspected for safety issues. That’s not so bad on a nice day, but what about when its ten below and there is two feet of snow on the ground, questions Don.

A requirement that a driver can only drive a certain number of hours is often very costly. For example, if a driver expends his allotted hours and is sitting in Sheridan, Wyoming – two hours from Billings — another driver must drive to Sheridan to pick him up. And while that may be burdensome enough for a company like A & I which is hauling cases or oil and other supplies, “What if you have a load of cattle?” asks Don

It is apparent in conversation with Don Stanaway that he keeps up on the most current regulations and political and economic issues that impact his business – and many other businesses for that matter.

One of the issues that long bothered Don was how to pass a family owned business on to the next generation without inheritance taxes destroying it. With four generations involved in the family business the issue of “death taxes” has long plagued Don.

He laughs and says that his wife, Dolly, who he met in seventh grade, claims he has been worried about dying since he was 21. Don adds that Dolly has been “a fabulous wife and mother” and “has a totally different personality from his.”

And while Don believes he has found ways to solve the problem somewhat for his family, and also for A & I employees, it remains quite difficult to pass on real estate – property paid for with after tax dollars – and he laments the situation faced by farmers and ranchers. It’s no wonder there are so few younger people remaining in agriculture, he said.

A & I Distributing provides employees with a stock option plan (called ESOP). Don explained that employees help build the business and deserve to share in its success.

Asked about how he and his family deal with the daily pressures of business, Don, who says he thinks about business 24/7 ,says he believes he and his family are blessed because they all play a musical instrument and were involved in athletics. He explained that in order to relieve the pressure of dealing with business issue, he plays the trombone. “I’m not a natural musician,” he said, so he has to focus all of his attention on playing the trombone, which he has played since he was a youngster and had the good fortune of meeting Tommy Dorsey who inspired him. He also played athletics.

His sons and grandsons also play musical instruments and were involved in athletics. So while their music helps relieve stress, playing athletics teaches you about team work, said Don. “In team sports you have to get along. Same way in business. We have the same team goal in business as in playing sports.”

11 July 2024

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With ultra-high-speed, 100 percent fiber-optic networks now ready for service, thousands of Billings residences and businesses have the opportunity to access fiber speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 50 Gig – service that is 500 times faster – the fastest home internet available.

The new service is a “bold expansion throughout major cities in Montana” by Ziply Fiber, a fiber-optic network provider, headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, which is rapidly expanding throughout the northwestern US.

People in the Billings area have probably seen crews installing the system throughout the community, and now some 19,000 homes and businesses in Billings, and nearly 10,000 addresses in Great Falls, can connect for better service at less price, according to Ryan Luckin, vice president of marketing.

“We are talking about a technology that is super reliable and more inexpensive,” said Luckin. The higher speeds will enable a lot of uses, but especially so for the increasing number of people who work at home. “You will be able to get reliable connection and down load very quickly.”

Most of Ziply Fiber’s executive team, which consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink, and Wave Broadband, either grew up in the Northwest or have spent the better part of 30 years living here, according to Ryan Luckin, vice president of marketing.

That local ownership and market familiarity is an important part of the company mindset and culture, according to Luckin.

The company was founded by Harold Zeitz . The company also has major offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. “Expansion in Montana has been a long time coming and I’m so thankful that the day is finally here,” said Zeitz, “I can’t tell you the number of people and business owners who have reached out to us asking when we’re coming and telling us stories of the limited options they have and what fast, reliable fiber will mean to them. Today we help fulfill that wish.”

Billings and Great Falls are just the first two cities of at least five in the state with brand new, state-of-the-art fiber infrastructure being built by Ziply Fiber, which previously had only offered service in the communities of Libby and Troy. The plan is to be available throughout Montana except for very rural areas, said Luckin. “If you can’t see your neighbor the prospect of being able to provide service isn’t very good,” he explained, since having infrastructure such as telephone poles is usually necessary.

This means that as of today, both Billings and Great Falls now have the fastest household internet speeds in the nation. Customers at every speed tier can be confident they’re on the best and fastest network available, giving them great speed and reliable service for everything they want to do online today and into the future.

All Ziply Fiber plans offer symmetrical download/upload speeds and the company’s entry-level Fiber 100 plan exceeds the minimum residential broadband speed required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with no contracts or data caps.

Throughout the region, “since we started four years ago, we have brought fiber to more than a hundred markets,” said Luckin, “and not just to large metra areas but to rural areas, too, who have never had high speed broad band and fiber.”

Residents and business owners can check for fiber availability at Ziplyfiber.com and sign up to be alerted when service is available at their location. Residential customers can switch to fiber internet for as little as $20 per month and receive a $50 bill credit for themselves and any new customer they refer.

The Many Benefits of Fiber Internet

Fiber internet, unlike other options like cable or satellite, provides the bandwidth and capacity to keep entire families streaming without interruption. Fiber provides symmetrical upload and download speeds and lower latency to easily power video conferencing and online gaming without lag and delivers the reliability to empower residents and businesses for decades.

11 July 2024

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1st time in Newspaper History

By Staff at Yellowstone County News

Yellowstone County News achieved the top spot in recognition last weekend at the Montana Newspaper Association’s Annual Meeting in Kalispell. It was recognized as the #1 Newspaper in Montana (Division 3 with circulations of 2,000 or above). Based in Huntley, the Yellowstone County News has been publishing 47 years, since 1977. It is published by Jonathan and Tana McNiven.

In Division 3, Yellowstone County News placed in 17 categories and took home the 1st place spot in nine of those categories. Amassing those 17 categories included nine staff members and contributors from David Crisp, Evelyn Pyburn, Krayton Kerns, Michael Marino, Tana McNiven, Chase Doak, Connor Waddingham, Elisa Schlosser and Jonathan McNiven.

Evelyn Pyburn has won the Best Editorial for the third year in a row. This year’s three submissions included “How To Get The Truth, A Bow to Those Who Make it All Happen, No One Has Right to Coerce”. Michael Marino won the Best Investigative Journalism category with his story entitled, “Nightmare off Yellowstone Trail, More Details Emerge,” while YCN Sports Broadcaster Connor Waddingham won the top spot with the video he captured while broadcasting the last shot of the game, as “Shepherd Boys Won” right at the buzzer, in Big Timber. Jonathan McNiven won the Best Portrait Photo as he captured all but a couple legislators of the Yellowstone County Delegation in Helena, as they sat together in the House Chambers. Tana McNiven won 1st place in her first-ever full-page ad, which she put together for Tree Mechanics LLC in Billings, entitled “We Are a Full-Service Tree Company,”

Other ads and graphics produced and published in YCN that won 1st place included Dig It Days Entry 2023 @ MontanaFair, Blue Body and Paint’s black and white ad entitled, “Honey,… Stop Hunting with the Car,” and YCN’s Marketing campaign called “Where is YCN Today,” in which readers take pictures with their paper and send them to YCN with a caption.

Owner and Publisher Jonathan McNiven stated, “Thank you to all those staff members and contributors who work so hard to help put out a great, informative and local product every week. We could not do it without their attention to detail, hard work and dedication. This honor of winning goes to our whole entire staff that includes our delivery drivers, proofreaders, production specialist, legal staff, reporters, as well as our readers, contributors and advertisers. It definitely takes a team effort and we did it together so thank you!”

The Yellowstone County News is among 80 newspapers that belong to the Montana Newspaper Association. The Yellowstone County News has produced the most statewide display ads for the last nine years consecutively to the Montana Newspaper Association.

Jonathan and Tana McNiven are the fourth owners and publishers of the Yellowstone County News since its beginnings in 1977. Jonathan and Tana will mark 10 years in October 2024 in owning the hyper-local newspaper covering Yellowstone County.

11 July 2024

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Early summer brings work and a traditional decline in unemployment insurance (UI). In May, about 70,000 Ninth District workers received weekly UI benefits. That’s about half of January’s levels, but UI levels historically decline with warmer weather. Current levels are 17 percent higher than last year but still a 5 percent gap from 2019 levels. The gap would be much wider—closer to 20 percent—without last year’s change in Minnesota law allowing hourly school workers to claim unemployment benefits in the summer. For other recent trends, see the Minneapolis Fed’s Regional Economic Indicators.

11 July 2024

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Stockman Bank has once again been awarded on the Forbes list of America’s Best-In-State Banks 2024. This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The awards list was announced on June 18, 2024.

Financial institutions are the cornerstone of the financial world and play a central role in stabilizing global systems. America’s Best-In-State Banks 2024 ranking lists the institutions that stood out for fulfilling the unique financial needs and expectations of their local communities thereby being most valued by residents of each state.

This is the second award Stockman has received from Forbes in 2024. The Bank was recognized by Forbes as one the World’s Best Banks in April. “We are proud to once again be recognized on Forbes list of Best-In-State Banks. This award is particularly special to us since the recognition is coming directly from Montana consumers who participated in the independent survey,” stated Bill Coffee, CEO of Stockman Bank. “The award is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our staff, who are committed to putting the needs of their customers and communities first. I am proud of their outstanding service to our bank, our customers and our state.”

The ranking is based on two sources:

1. An Independent Survey: Approximately 26,000 U.S. residents were surveyed online. Participants were asked to name all banks where they have a checking/savings account and rate it in six different subdimensions: Trust, Terms & Conditions, Branch Services, Digital Services, Customer Services, and Financial Advice.

2. Publicly Available Reviews: For each bank, in each state, a sentiment analysis approach of publicly available online text reviews and ratings was applied.

In each state, the banks with the highest combined score from the analysis of survey results and publicly available reviews were awarded. The survey score was rated 80% and publicly available reviews 20%.

Statista publishes hundreds of worldwide industry rankings and company listings with high-profile media partners. This research and analysis service is based on the success of statista.com, the leading data and business intelligence portal that provides statistics, relevant business data, and various market and consumer studies and surveys.

11 July 2024

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Since the Montana State Legislature created a taxpayer funded program in the hopes of attracting Hollywood –style business to Montana, the Montana Department of Commerce recently announced $2.6 million in grants to 67 film creations statewide.

The program is called the Big Sky Film Grant program and this year there were 150 projects requesting $9 million in funding.

The Montana Department of Commerce announced that 67 film creations will share more than $2.6 million in subsidies to film on-location productions across the state.

Grants were made available from Feature Film and TV; Feature Film and TV – Resident Only; Short-Form Content; and Short-Form Content – Resident Only categories.

A sampling of some of the recipients include:

— 7030 Entertainment, LLC – – $50,000 for the production of “Cold Storage.”

— Attack Team Entertainment Inc. – – $50,000 for the production of “Where the Wild Horses Live.”

— Eat Different, LLC will revive $100,000 for the production of “Inhuman.”

— FMLY Films, Inc. – – $50,000 for the production of “Lunatic.”

— Hold The Map Productions, LLC – – $50,000 for the production of “Breaking the Silence.”

— Justin Olson, ETC FILM, LLC – – $150,000 for the production of “Earth to Charlie.”

— Last Chance Pictures, LLC – – $50,000 for the production of “Good Kids.”

— Michael Polish, There There, LLC – – $100,000 for the production of “There, There.”

— MMM MT, LLC – – $50,000 for the production of “Swimming Hole.”

— Nathan Norby, LLC – – $50,000 for the production of “The Price of Paradise.”

— Paradise Valley Pictures – – $100,000 for the production of “The Gift of the Game.”

— Stillwater Historical Society, Museum of the Beartooths will receive $50,000 for the production of “Moccasins, Mining and Montana’s 34th County.”

“Commerce’s Film Office promotes Montana as a business destination for film production companies to expand production in our state, increase job opportunities, promote small business growth and to promote tourism,” said Paul Green, Director of the Montana Department of Commerce. “These 67 film projects are expected to spend an estimated $35 million in Montana and will bring in productions that will help boost the economies of many rural Montana communities, including Plentywood, Cohagen, Lame Deer, Poplar, Dillon, Clyde Park, Choteau, Pryor, Roberts, Virginia City and Pray.”

The richest in Montana…

Based upon the average net worth of its citizens, the richest city in Montana – not surprisingly — is Bozeman followed by Whitefish. Belgrade comes in as the third richest – undoubtedly as spillover from Bozeman. Then its Columbia Falls, followed by Billings, Helena, Missoula, Laurel, Livingston, and Kalispell.

11 July 2024

Dennis Pyburn