By Michael Howell
On June 3, 2014, the voters of Ravalli County approved the establishment and funding (not to exceed $36,500) of a Local Government Study Commission (LGSC) consisting of five members. On November 4, 2014, out of 19 candidates, the voters elected Alan Thompson, Scott Boulanger, George Corn, Sharon Schroeder, and Marilee Shockley to serve on the commission. Ravalli County CFO Klarysse Murphy was then appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to serve as an ex officio non-voting member. The ex officio serves as a source of knowledge on County operations, coordinates technical assistance and assists with other matters deemed necessary by the Study Commissioners. The purpose of a study commission is to study the existing form and powers of a local government as well as the procedures for delivery of services and compare them with other forms available under state laws.
The Study Commission meets every Tuesday (Feb. 10 has been cancelled) from 1 to 4 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 215 S. 4th Street in Hamilton. The meetings are open to the public and are being recorded and archived on the county website at www.ravalli.us.
The Study Commission has been interviewing elected officials and asking them the following questions.
1. Would a change in the number of commissioners negatively or positively affect services of government?
2. Should elected officials run for office on a partisan or non-partisan basis?
3. Is there an alternative form of government that you think would work for Ravalli County other than a commission-form of government?
4. Are there any recommendations as to how the Local Government Study Commission can involve citizens?
5. Are there specific areas of government that you would recommend to improve service delivery or achieve greater efficiency?
6. What term of office do you think the commissioners should hold?
7. Do you think there are any elected positions that should be appointed?
8. Should elected officials run for office in districts or at-large elections?
9. (Commissioners & Sheriff only because they are the only elected officials who manage more than one department) How are the non-elected department heads managed? Is there a more efficient way to manage those departments?
A written version of the minutes of these meetings is available on the county’s website as well as a video recording of the meetings.
There will be no Study Commission meeting on February 10, but it will convene again on Tuesday, February 17 to discuss questions that will be asked to County department heads at interviews in late February and early March.
According to Study Commission Chairperson Alan Thompson, starting in mid-March a series of public meetings will be held in six communities seeking public input in Florence, Stevensville, Victor, Corvallis, Hamilton and Darby. He said information from the interviews and the public meetings would be compiled and used to draft whatever ballot measures could be sifted out of all the meetings and comments. These would then be presented to the public at a series of public hearings starting in October and the final product would be presented on the primary ballot in 2016.
Thompson said that by having ballot issues on the form of government on the primary ballot, it could possibly be used in determining the structure of the November elections. He said currently the Study Commission is considering a lot of options such as going from five commissioners down to three, four-year terms or six-year terms, which offices should be partisan and which offices might be non-partisan, and whether we want a commission form of government as we now have or a commission/manager form of government.
Thompson said that the Study Commission is composed of a wide spectrum of people that are able to work together well.
“We’ve got Democrats and Republicans, people that are right, left and middle on the political spectrum,” said Thompson. “It’s a good mix representing the whole community and we are working well together. Hopefully, the citizens will turn out and help us, so we can do the will of the people. The worst thing that could happen is if not enough people participate and something gets put on the ballot that the community as a whole doesn’t really want. We sure need the public to participate in this.”
The Study Commission meetings can be watched live on the county’s website www.ravalli.us. Past meetings are archived as well. The Study Commission may be reached via e-mail at LGSC@rc.mt.gov.