Potomac's burgeoning secession movement reflects a perceived lack of rural representation

Last Thursday evening, upwards of 30 people piled into the Potomac Bar and Grill's compact upper level to talk secession.

While meeting leaders themselves admitted to uncertainty about what jumping ship from Missoula County would look like, how exactly one goes about seceding and how possible, or even effective, such a measure would be, citizens present were aligned on the raison d'etre behind what some are referring to as Potomac's "Secession Movement:" rising property taxes; specifically, a perception that tax dollars paid by residents of Missoula County's rural "collar districts" do not reflect, nor benefit, rural communities.

"This is not a party-line issue; this is a humanitarian issue. This is about standing up for our rights and what we deserve. It's about having a voice for the future," said Potomac real estate agent Kerry Duff, who became the de facto leader of Potomac's loose Secession Movement on Sept. 9, when she posted a change.org petition to the Potomac/Greenough MT Community Events and News Facebook page. Its title: "Demand Independence: Secede from Missoula County to End Over Taxation and Mismanagement."

As of press time, Duff's secession petition boasts 308 signatures, and has sparked significant online chatter in the form of questions, and debate among Potomac community members - some of whom have expressed doubt that taxes would really go down were Potomac and surrounding communities tasked with forming brand-new systems for governance, education, infrastructure, law enforcement and more.

Although Duff, a Potomac native, now expresses an open attitude about the purpose of the petition and told the Pathfinder its main objective is "just to find out where we stand with people out there," her change.org link contains a direct goal: "We wish to secede and create our own county."

"Lolo has tried multiple times to join Ravalli County; Rock Creek has tried to join Granite County, and everyone was hitting a dead end, which is why our proposition is to literally start our own," Duff said to meeting attendees last Thursday. "We could call it Wilderness County!" she added, pointing out that, were the movement to result in a new county spanning Bonner up to Seeley Lake and across the Seeley-Swan Valley to Condon, it would include three to five federally designated wilderness areas.

Since publication, the secession petition page has gained a link to donate to the cause via GoFundMe. According to Duff, it has also resulted in the formation of a coalition of fellow community members who have reached out with offers to help draft press releases, create a website and even offered use of a local wedding venue for would-be secessionist planning meetings.

The petition also garnered the attention of Ted Morgan, treasurer of the Swan Valley Community Council, Republican candidate for House District 92 and vocal proponent of communities like Condon and Seeley Lake incorporating as towns, so as to wield local control that rivals Missoula County's power.

Morgan believes the issue at hand boils down to local representation.

"The idea is that Missoula County's ideals and values don't necessarily match those of the loggers and ranchers and blue-collar workers who populate the outskirts of the county," he told the Pathfinder, adding that Condon is "at least lucky enough" to have a community council. "Potomac doesn't have a voice, and this is where problems start around miscommunication and misappropriation of funds."

Somewhat ironically, the seeds of the petition took root one evening last May, when Missoula County Commissioners came to the Greenough Potomac Community Center with pizza, advertising an open conversation about citizens' concerns. The county hosts these community conversations in various rural parts of the county as a way to try to keep the collar communities connected with their representatives.

Duff says that although the meeting was well attended by Potomac and Greenough community members - many of whom raised questions about rising taxes, rural roads left by the wayside and minimal police presence in the area - "nothing changed."

She said, "They patted our hands and told us that everything would be okay. That was right after the commissioners voted on a 5.9% tax increase, and now, we have a 4.2% tax increase coming in, voted on by the commissioners, who are definitely overpaid, in my opinion, and it's literally going to tax people out of their homes." It was that 4.2% tax increase that, Duff said at the Potomac Bar meeting, "pissed me off enough to do something."

Morgan added, "Rumblings of unrest are getting louder and louder. We know this isn't an overnight process of going, 'Bam! We're outta Missoula!' But we've gotta start somewhere and we've gotta protect this place for our kids and the generations that come up behind us."

Regarding those rumblings, many citizens present at the Potomac Bar and Grill last Thursday expressed frustration that Missoula County is slow to improve collar communities' roads and bridges, and hamstrings rural community members via governmental overreach in the form of stringent and costly regulations when it comes to building and operating not only buildings, but rural necessities like chicken coops and livestock structures. A large portion of the hour-long meeting involved the bemoaning of various "city extravagances" that Missoula County taxes - such as homeless shelters, bike trails, sidewalks and the Missoula County Jail.

Thursday night's meeting revealed three distinct avenues of possibility: Rural districts leaving Missoula County to join an adjacent one (such as Lake or Powell), the creation of a new rural county, or working to change the way governance functions in Missoula County, so as to gain more representation.

The first option, joining a neighboring county, requires a petition signed by residents in that area being presented to boards of both the "sending" and "receiving" county commissioners and receiving unanimous "yes" votes. (Several years ago, an attempt to join Powell County was unsuccessful.)

Forming an entirely new county would require 250 square miles of non-federal, state, or Tribal land that contains an incorporated city (of which the proposed "Wilderness County" area presently has none). Duff and Morgan say they're aware of the inherent challenges and estimate that joining or creating another county would involve a three- to five-year process.

Regarding the third option - acting to change the form of government in Missoula County - Morgan pointed out, "You take a look at other counties like Butte-Silver Bow and Anaconda; they have consolidated city-county governments, which actually ends up creating more representation for your rural areas, because you split half the city area with county areas to create voting districts. They also have 12 commissioners to [Missoula County's] three."

Morgan also pointed to potential movement allies in incumbent Montana state Rep. Lyn Helegaard and House Bill 360, a recently passed bill that Helegaard, a Republican, championed in 2023, stipulating that county commissioners have to be elected by their districts, rather than the county as a whole.

"We have to exhaust everything at this point, or no one's gonna be able to afford their homes," Morgan told meeting attendees. "If we can be the squeakiest wheels we can be, maybe there's a middle ground where Missoula County Commissioners can meet us and show us some actual investment."

Morgan has spoken positively about his interactions with Commissioner Josh Slotnik, who according to Morgan has tried to connect him with the resources or information he needs to start considering the path of exiting Missoula County.

Chris Lounsbury, Missoula County's chief administrative office, said in a July interview with the Pathfinder that with both the idea of changing counties or incorporating, it comes down to how residents connect with their community and how they value local control.

"It's a difficult process, and I think the Legislature did that intentionally to make sure it was a thoughtful process," Lounsbury said in July.

Next steps, Duff and Morgan said, involve creating an email list and secession website, planning more community input meetings and finding answers to the many questions and concerns that have surfaced since the Sept. 9 petition publication.

"We're in the fact-finding phase," Duff said. "We've got to see what this will all take, and if we can afford ourselves."

This article was corrected on Oct. 2 at 9:40 a.m. to reflect the size necessary for a new county to form. It needs to be no less than 250 square miles of surveyed land, not 500 acres as the article originally stated. Per “Limitations on the Creation of New Counties” in the most recent version of Montana Code, a new county indeed may not be formed that “contains less than 250 square miles of surveyed land, exclusive of all forest reserve land or Indian reservations not open for settlement.” We regret the error.