Missoula County Commissioner

The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted a candidate forum, May 9, at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. Candidates from the Public Service Commission (PSC) District 4, House District (HD) 92 and Missoula County Commissioner races answered various questions from moderator Klaus von Sutterheim and the audience.

This week the Pathfinder features the candidates for Missoula County Commissioner. The PSC and HD 92 debate is available on the Pathfinder's website, http://www.seeleylake.com

Three commissioner candidates attended the forum. Incumbent Stacy Rye is being challenged by Dave Strohmaier in the Democratic primary race. The winner will take on Republican Todd Geery in the general election this fall.

Candidate Info

Strohmaier considers the Seeley and Swan valleys the "crown of the continent here in Missoula County" and said he knows the area as "Hunting District 285" in the fall. Strohmaier spent a lot of time in the area two years ago when he was running for HD 92.

Strohmaier has worked in the private sector as a historian for the last 13 years. He has 18 years of experience working for the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, mainly as a wildland firefighter. He stressed that his work as a firefighter has helped prepare him to be a leader, making tough choices under pressure and finding common sense solutions.

Strohmaier's political experience includes eight years serving on the Missoula City Council.

"I'm running for this office for a pretty simple reason," said Strohmaier. "I think we need to have elected officials at all levels of government who have a clear eyed vision on future generations in this country and who value public service."

Strohmaier feels he has that vision and also a clear vision for land conservation and stewardship, valuing working landscapes, clean air and water.

Strohmaier said part of the way to protect the land in the county is though land use planning. That means respecting local land use plans, whether it's a neighborhood or community plan or regional plans such as the Seeley Lake Regional Plan.

He thinks that public lands need to remain in public hands.

Strohmaier is endorsed by Montana Conservation Voters.

Rye has lived in Missoula since 1995 and is a graduate of the University of Montana.

She has worked on community issues for a long time. Recently she served as the program person at United Way of Missoula County where she helped bring Imagination Library to Missoula County and Mineral County. The program mails books to children monthly for the first five years of their lives.

Rye said her heart is in local government. She has no desire to run for offices in Helena or Washington.

"Local government is where I feel like you get the biggest bang for your buck," said Rye. "You pay tax dollars and you get parks, trails, roads, services, snowplows, so on and so forth."

Rye applied for the vacant commissioner position last fall and was appointed by the commissioners, Jean Curtiss and Cola Rowley.

Rye said she knew she would face some controversial votes such as horse racing at the fair and agricultural issues.

"I'm not a fan of the status quo," said Rye.

Geery is a lifelong resident of Missoula County. He has never been involved in politics before and is not looking to become a politician. He wants to be a representative of the people.

Geery said that he doesn't think that the current commissioners are representing the voices of the people. He feels the biggest tool to his success is the people and his ability to listen to them.

"My agenda is their agenda," said Geery. "A vote for me is a vote for you because it's your voices that will be heard though me."

Geery has a mission to make the county government more transparent though better communications. He hopes to get better community input though the use of the Internet and possibly setting up a call line to make it easier for the people to be heard.

He feels this will help him make the best judgments for the people.

1. At the county level, poor business decisions are wasting taxpayer money, what would you do to change that? Specifically dealing with legal issues and litigation.

Rye said the county is just entering the budget process and she has gotten the chance this year to see where the county spends about $120 million every year.

"I have to tell you. I am moved by how that money is spent and how efficient Missoula County government works," said Rye.

She feels there are a lot of services that people would like to see but the county really does live within its means.

In regards to legal and litigations issues, Rye said Missoula County is only one of two or three counties in the nation that self-administer and are self-insured. Rye has proposed the county do a cost analysis to see if it's more economical to continue self-insurance or purchase insurance like most of the rest of the counties do. She said the idea went over "like a lead balloon."

"I think Missoula County is significantly at risk when it comes to your tax dollars," said Rye. "We absolutely need to look at why we are self-administered in our three areas of insurance: health, risk and work comp."

Geery feels people all work hard for their money and it comes down to transparency. It's the money that is spent in closed-door decisions that Geery thinks creates the issue. If people could have more input in those decisions, he feels there would be less surprises when big bills come in. Transparency is the key.

Strohmaier feels that the county has done a good job not raising taxes to the maximum allowable by law and that it does run fairly lean operation.

Strohmaier said he has relied in the past on citizens to point out specific places they think the problems are, like the issue of litigation.

"How about a novel concept that we don't entangle ourselves in needless litigation from the get go," said Strohmaier.

2. What would you do, if you could do anything, to save the Missoula Mercantile building?

Geery grew up in Missoula and sees landmarks like the mercantile going away yearly.

"I believe whole heartedly in preserving the history of Missoula," said Geery. "Once they are gone we will never replace anything like that. I believe the city itself has a responsibility in trying to restore these buildings."

Geery understands that it would cost a lot of money and would look to the people to make a final decision.

Strohmaier is extremely disappointed in Missoula City's handling of the Mercantile. He feels buildings like the Merc are what make Missoula what it is.

Strohmaier isn't sure what the solution is but feels that if the county is involved it would have to collaborate with the city. He suggested that the building could have maybe been used for the new library that is currently being proposed.

"Whether here in the Seeley Lake area or the Swan, you can think of areas that are in danger of loss and destruction that really speak to who we are and we need to do everything we can to save those," said Strohmaier.

Rye said that she has learned that you have to go into public hearings with an open mind. Sometimes you have to make those hard decisions.

"Saying 'save the Merc' is easy. Actually saving the Merc is hard work," said Rye.

She contended that the library looked at using the historic building but that for any number of reasons it wouldn't work.

3. What are your views on consolidating Missoula County and Missoula City into one government?

Strohmaier said his worry is that the rural areas might be rolled over by what happens in the urban core. He would like to hear more from the couple counties that have consolidated governments. Ask the question, if they could do it over again would they and see what the impacts were.

Rye said she has been humbled by how large Missoula County is. She said the county is larger than the state of Delaware and its diversity is great. Problems that Seeley Lake faces are different than those of Frenchtown, Lolo and the city. She feels a consolidated government might not work with the diversity of the county.

Geery likes the separation of the city and county government. He could see that a consolidated government might start to make all our unique areas look like one.

4. Where would you stand on a gas tax and how funds get distributed to the rural areas as opposed to the city?

Rye said she would like to say she doesn't support raising the gas tax but it hasn't been raised since 1993 at the state or federal level.

Infrastructure in the county has been falling behind and needs funding.

Rye said she thinks that the county should wait and see if the state is going to raise the gas tax before considering if the county should impose a gas tax.

Rye would like to see some of the tourist's dollars be captured for funding infrastructure. She said visitors use the roads and should help fund them.

Geery agreed that we need infrastructure improvements but said he isn't sure if the gas tax is the way to go. He said he would leave it to the people he represents. He wants to hear more public opinion on the issue before making a decision.

Strohmaier also agreed that we need infrastructure. He supports a gas tax with the qualification that it is equal to residents and that the funds are distributed fairly. He feels another question to ask is how much it costs to administer a gas tax.

Strohmaier also agreed that when people pass though on our infrastructure currently they aren't helping pay for it. A gas tax could shift some of that cost.

5. Should the county provide printed copies of the Swan's proposed growth plan for people to have at meetings?

Geery reiterated that communication is key. People take time out of their days and nights. For them to come to a meeting and not be able to participate isn't right.

Strohmaier said if the time, energy and citizen good will is being invested, there is no reason not to provide the tools needed. People need to be able to see what the proposal is to make comment. Printed copies must never be replaced by all digital because not everyone has digital access.

Rye said this issue is what elected officials are for and suggested the questioner call her at her office and they could sort it out. She explained that the county has been a bit "hands off" when dealing with the Swan's growth plan but that copies shouldn't be a barrier to the public process.