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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

How to File for Commissioner Carey's Seat

Commissioner Appointment Process


Please find the following information regarding the appointment process for Commissioner Bill Carey’s seat:

·         Commissioner Carey will be retiring in September, 2015.

·         Potential candidates should verify their residence within Commissioner District 2 via Missoula County’s Interactive Voter Map http://gis.co.missoula.mt.us/cr/voter/.

·         Candidates are required to have lived in the district for at least two years preceding the day the vacancy occurs (7-4-2106[a]).

·         Since the incumbent, Commissioner Carey, represented a party eligible for a primary election under 13-10-601, the county Democratic Central Committee shall submit three names to the remaining Commissioners – Jean Curtiss and Nicole “Cola” Rowley.

·         If Commissioners Curtiss and Rowley are unable to elect an appointee from the initial submitted list, they shall request a second list of three names from the central committee. 

      The second list may not contain any of the names submitted on the first list. Commissioners Curtiss and Rowley shall then select an appointee from the individuals named.

·         Oath of Candidacy and filing fees are exempt from this process.

·         The appointed official must file their candidacy for the 2016 primary election if they wish to remain in office and be elected to a full term. He or she must win the majority of the vote.

Elections Office
200 West Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802
electioninfo@co.missoula.mt.us(406) 258-4751

Commissioners Office
199 West Pine
Missoula, MT 59802
bcc@co.missoula.mt.us
(406) 258-4877

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Commissioner Bill Carey to Retire in September

Missoula County Commissioner Bill Carey announced Friday afternoon that he will retire in mid-September, 2015. Carey shared the news with the Commissioners’ Office staff before leaving for the holiday weekend. The actual date will be announced as soon as it is confirmed.

“It just feels like it’s time to make a change or two,” Carey said.  “There is still so much to do in life:  new friends to make, hiking and biking in faraway places, books to read and some of life’s adventures to still be experienced.  It’s a long list and time is of the essence.”

“I will miss the dedicated public servants I have worked with, and learned from, over the years,” Carey said. “They will miss me as well – for a minute or two – and then they will get back to taking care of the public’s business.”

Carey explained that with a milestone birthday quickly approaching, September felt like the appropriate time to make the transition, although “no time is ever quite perfect.” The news was met with mixed emotions by staff who were saddened he will soon be leaving office, all the while expressing their best wishes.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Commissioner Carey over the years,” Commissioner Curtiss said. “I wish him all the best in retirement and look forward to serving Missoula County with the next individual committed to serving the people of Missoula County.”

I will be sad to see Commissioner Carey go later this year. I am fortunate to have worked alongside him and know he will continue to serve our community well in retirement," Commissioner Rowley said.
 
Commissioner Bill Carey, 2015
Because Carey is retiring before his term expires next year, his seat will be filled with an appointee until the 2016 election. Carey will notify the Democratic Central Committee with his retirement plans. The Committee will then submit three potential candidates to Commissioners Curtiss and Rowley for consideration. The two remaining Commissioners will interview candidates and select one to fill Carey’s seat. Additional applicants can be requested, if needed.

The newly-selected Commissioner will carry out the reminder of Carey’s term. He or she also has the opportunity to run for the open seat in the November, 2016 election. The winner of the election will then serve the standard staggered six-year term.

Carey has served nearly 16 years as a Missoula County Commissioner, first taking office in November, 1998. His career has been dedicated to public service, working within many local and state functions. Before his time as a Commissioner, Carey was the Director of the Missoula Food Bank for more than ten years. It was during this time that he also served two terms in Montana’s House of Representatives. Prior to accepting the position at the Missoula Food Bank, Carey worked with Missoula Aging Services as their Volunteer Coordinator for the “Meals on Wheels” and Senior Dining Room programs.

Carey was born in St. Louis, Mo. and raised in his dad’s hometown of Omaha, Neb. In 1968, he graduated from the University of California at Riverside with a B.A. in Political Science. He is a former Peace Corps Volunteer, serving in southern India during the late sixties. Returning from the Peace Corps, Carey taught at the elementary and middle school levels near Sonora, Calif. He then co-managed a cooperatively-owned retail business in the San Francisco Bay area for several years before moving to Missoula in 1983.

Carey was the first person elected to chair Montana’s Advisory Council on Food and Nutrition. He has also served on several other boards, including the Montana Food Bank Network, Families First and the Missoula Housing Authority.

Carey currently serves on several Boards and Authorities, including the County Parks and Trails Advisory Board, Larchmont Golf Course Board, Missoula Civic Television Advisory Commission, Missoula-Ravalli Transportation Management Association, Missoula Development Authority and the Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee.  As Chair in 2015, Bill also serves on the Urban Growth Commission.


“I am honored and grateful for the opportunities I’ve had as an elected official, to serve the people of this truly extraordinary county of ours,” Carey said.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Missoula County Fairgrounds Update

As you may have seen, the Board of County Commissioners recently wrote a guest column in the Missoulian, outlining the steps we have made, and are currently making, towards enhancing the fairgrounds. We are proud of the work our Fairgrounds and Facilities Management staff have been doing and are constantly humbled by their dedication to this valuable community asset. 


Much of their work is not always public-facing. As such, we have created this document to share what we have been working on and will keep you updated with the progress we make. We look forward to presenting an implementation plan later this year!







We receive many inquiries about the Missoula County Fairgrounds. In our discussions, the ground’s most valuable asset always comes to the forefront; the diverse and caring community of people who work and play at the center of our city. Because their investment in the Missoula County Fairgrounds is so strong, we've been asking them for their input throughout the last few years.
We recently affirmed that the Missoula County fairgrounds has tremendous potential to benefit our community and the region. We’re nearing the end of the planning process to determine how we develop the grounds for the community’s benefit.
We heard the initial report from our market analyst that, when complete, will inform the implementation plan. The implementation plan will provide a map for the grounds. It will show the layout of the grounds; it will show the old and new buildings needed to support the operations deemed sustainable by the market analysis; it will affirm the importance of partnerships with the Glacier Ice Rink and with the Missoula County Weed and Extension Office. The implementation plan is the culmination of work from a variety of groups and is years in the making.
The Missoula County Fairgrounds Advisory Committee has been working hard over the last several years, gathering information from the public, working with A&E Architects to develop an inventory of the buildings on the fairgrounds and create an Enhancement and Development Plan that helps us prioritize funding for current projects on the grounds. Our design team of architects, fairgrounds planners, fairgrounds staff, a market analyst and county leaders will pull this information together to present to the public.
These efforts will allow us to present a comprehensive assessment where we can then ask for help to determine the appropriate funding mechanisms to make this plan a reality. The implementation plan will be generated from all of this work and the information from the Master Plan, as developed by Crandall & Arambula in 2011.
While the recent preliminary Markin presentation allows us to look to the future, investments and efforts to improve the grounds have been ongoing. We increased the mill levy in fiscal year 2012 to further support planning efforts for future use, while investing in the grounds in the meantime. We increased that mill levy again this fiscal year. In the past few years alone, the county’s Facilities Management Department has completed more than 70 maintenance and infrastructure improvements on the grounds.
These projects range from seven weeks’ worth of labor rewiring the electrical components to meet code for the food row concession building, two new ADA-compliant restrooms for building 15, a new roof and water line for the culinary building, repair and installation of 40 new toilets in the main restrooms, renovated offices for the fairgrounds staff, a new fire alarm system which will cover building 12, the commercial building and building 15, and new cabling for data and phones (largely to support the critical work of the elections staff at the elections center).
In FY 2013 we approved a $220,000 budget for rehabilitation of the parking lots and new wiring and conduit for the new parking lot lights and signage. We also approved the hiring of an additional employee, managed by our hardworking Facilities Management Department, to be solely dedicated to upkeep and improvements at the fairgrounds.
Despite the selfless efforts of volunteers and staff over the years, the fairgrounds has endured a long period of deferred maintenance and neglect. The record shows we've made good progress to change course and transform the fairgrounds into the valuable community asset it deserves to be. But we’re just getting started. We are excited to demonstrate our continued commitment to the grounds and to the community when we present the implementation plan later this year.