Politics & Government
Missoula County Government: Missoula County Weekly Aug. 30-Sept. 3
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08/30/2021 7:00 AM
Welcome to Missoula County Weekly. You’re receiving this because you signed up to receive e-notifications at missoulacounty.us. Missoula County Weekly will keep you informed and up-to-date on public meetings, County projects and more. If you’re viewing this on the homepage of the Missoula County website and would like to receive the e-notifications, you can sign up for them here: https://www.missoulacounty.us/news/e-notification and choose “Weekly Newsletter” as one of your preferences. If there’s something you’d like to know more about, feel free to contact us at communicationsadministration@missoulacounty.us.
Find out what's happening in Missoulafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Missoula County commissioners held their final budget hearing for the fiscal year 2022 budget last week, final adoption will take place at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, at their administrative public meeting.
If the commissioners adopt the proposed budget, property taxes on a $350,000 home within City of Missoula limits would remain flat, and a $350,000 home outside the city limits would increase by $10.11 annually. For county residents outside the City of Missoula, the increase is driven by an increase in funding for County road projects and increased wages and operational costs for the County’s share of health department and animal control services.
Find out what's happening in Missoulafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
It’s important to note that the state Department of Revenue issued reappraised property values this year, and taxable values in Missoula County increased by an average of about 15%. This growth will help the County cover the increasing costs of services, but individual property owners will likely see a larger overall tax increase on their next tax bill based on the increased value of their property.
Find out more at http://missoula.co/budgets or read more here.
Send your comments to the Commissioners’ Office at 200 West Broadway, Missoula MT 59802, or email them to bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877. You can also comment at the Sept. 9 meeting in the Sophie Moiese Room in the Missoula County Courthouse Annex or by joining via Microsoft Teams.
The Elections Office invites members of the public to tour the processes that take place leading up to and after Election Day that ensure accuracy and integrity of elections. The following will take place in the Elections Center:
- 9:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 9: Election equipment testing. Elections staff will test the tabulators used to count ballots to ensure they are working properly ahead of Election Day. They will also test the ADA-compliant ExpressVote ballot marking devices to ensure they are operating correctly for drop-off locations on Election Day.
- 9:45 a.m. Monday, Sept. 13: Ballot processing. Attendees will observe staff and volunteers following the multi-step process used to verify signatures, process ballots and ensure that each ballot cast is counted.
- 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14: Ballot tabulation. Attendees will observe staff conducting the final test of equipment, as well as the counting and retention process for voted ballots.
- 2:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20: Provisional ballot count. Attendees will observe staff counting any accepted provisional ballots for the election.
- 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22: Election canvass. State law requires the Elections Office and three county elected officials verify the election with a canvass. The canvass ensures the number of ballots voted are the number of ballots counted and that no ballots are missing or counted more than once. Public are invited to observe the canvass with the Missoula County commissioners and elections staff.
As a reminder: the Missoula County Elections Office mailed approximately 47,250 ballots to registered voters in the City of Missoula last Wednesday for the Sept. 14 municipal primary election. Voters must return their ballots to the Elections Office by 8 p.m. on Election Day; postmarks are not sufficient.
Currently, the Missoula City-County Health Department is experiencing a four-day notification delay as contact tracers work to call thousands of close contacts to inform them they must quarantine. To limit the spread of COVID-19 in those four days, MCCHD is instructing positive cases to call their own close contacts to ask them to quarantine until the health department reaches out to them. In the meantime, the health department asks close contacts to standby without contacting the health department to be interviewed or schedule testing, as this slows down the operation. Vaccinated close contacts do not need to quarantine until the health department has proof of vaccination, and those close contacts should have their vaccination cards ready for when the health department calls. Also, until further notice, MCCHD is only testing residents experiencing symptoms or who are health department verified close contacts. This helps prioritize testing and appointments in a timely matter for those who need it most.
The Missoula County commissioners will decide who to appoint to the vacant Senate District 50 seat during their administrative public meeting Tuesday, Aug. 31. The commissioners last week interviewed Andrea Olsen, Tom Steenberg and Dave Severson, who are vying to serve in the Montana Legislature following the resignation of Sen. Bryce Bennett. The meeting will take place at 10 a.m. in the Sophie Moiese Room of the courthouse as well as on Microsoft Teams. To provide comments, email bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877.
Read more
Find the agenda and call-in link
The Missoula County Commissioners last week signed a letter jointly with the Mayor of the City of Missoula supporting the United Nations’ COP26 climate conference. This conference takes place in Glasgow, Scotland this November, and a letter of support from Missoula County and the City of Missoula will be hand-delivered by Dave Morris, who plans to ride his bike across the United States, fly to the United Kingdom and ride his bike up to Scotland, all the while writing and sharing climate-related stories from the road from a Montana perspective.
Watch the full meeting.
The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula’s newest exhibit, “History Through an Artist’s Eyes,” showcases new perspectives of the iconic buildings and structures on Fort Missoula’s expansive grounds. Local artist Mary Beth Wilhelm came to HMFM as part of Open AIR’s Artist in Residence program during the Spring of 2019. During her 10-day residency, she worked with museum staff to study the history of the Fort and create plein air art using the historic area as her muse.
As a plein air artist, Mary Beth creates most of her work outdoors. This art style allows an artist to capture the changing details of landscape using the weather, light and animal life that exist in the same space. The exhibit will include 20 watercolor paintings and original sketches. These stunning works are inspired by the historical events surrounding each structure, such as the Post Hospital’s tragic yet significant involvement during the 1918 Flu Pandemic or its use during the WWII Alien Detention Center era of the Fort.
Visit the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula and check out the new exhibit this September! The exhibit opens to the public Wednesday, Sept. 1, and will remain on view in the Orientation Gallery through the end of October. Admission is free for museum members and Missoula County residents.
The elections process is as public as it can be! Where possible, all processes are conducted under video surveillance and live-streamed online for constituents to view. Constituents are also welcome to come view the process in person.
The Missoula County Elections Office has many processes in place to ensure the integrity of all elections. We’ll walk through those processes in this series, and constituents are always welcome to visit the Elections Center for an in-person tour.
Watch the slideshow below, and visit missoula.co/electionintegrity for more info on how your ballot is handled and processed.
Commissioners to consider resolutions on housing, JEDI at Thursday meeting
The commissioners will consider two resolutions at their 2 p.m. public meeting on Thursday, Sept. 2: one in support of housing, and another regarding the County's commitment to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. The resolutions serve as values statements to guide decisions around these issues in the future, but they don't commit the County to a particular course of action or funding at this point. You can read the draft resolutions at http://missoula.co/bccmeetings. Members of the public and media can participate by attending the meeting in the Sophie Moiese Room in the Missoula County Courthouse or virtually via Microsoft Teams. To provide comments, email bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877.
Find the agenda and call-in link
Missoula County Parks, Trails & Open Lands is a proud partner working to secure Marshall Mountain for the benefit and enjoyment of county and city residents. Project partners invite residents to come out to Marshall Mountain on Sept. 12 from 1-4 p.m. for a community celebration. Tour the site and learn how to get involved in planning the future recreational and habitat preservation potential of this amazing property. This is a celebration! There will be food, music, a bike race event and tons of kid’s activities!
The Board of County Commissioners and County Parks, Trails and Open Lands hosted an award presentation in the Potomac to honor the Iverson Family Ranch, the recipient of the 2021 Land Stewardship Award. The award recognizes landowners and residents who take stewardship of land and water seriously and are embarking on projects and practices that make a difference for land, water, forests, wildlife and communities. This year's award honored the Iverson family's dedication to land and water stewardship on their property, their work to engage and educate others about stewardship and restoration, and their generations-long commitment to this ethic and effort.
Sawyer Meegan, Education Assistant/Youth Crew Lead with Missoula County Weed District
As spring shifts into summer and the flowers start to bloom, I start teaching the Leave No Weeds Program in classrooms across Missoula County. Following a classroom presentation, I get to take students up the Mount Jumbo saddle to learn native plant identification. It is always exciting to engage the students with the plants that surround them, and often have them loudly yelling plant names by the end of the day!
When school ends, I help hire and lead a Youth in Restoration Crew. Throughout the summer, we help many land management organizations with various conservation and restoration projects. This year some of our projects included building a jackleg fence by the Clearwater Game Range, repairing trails in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and promoting native plant communities at the Rattlesnake Dam restoration site.
It has been immensely rewarding to engage my students and the Youth Crew in our natural plant communities and public lands. Watching people learn about wild places while being submerged in the work that helps keep those places wild, is what keeps me smiling at the end of a hot day under the sun.
To learn more about the Leave No Weeds Program and Youth in Restoration, visit www.missoulaeduplac.org/weed-district-programs.
Passenger rail push across southern MT poised for funding as support grows
It’s time to weigh in on Missoula’s city, county budgets
Missoula municipal primary election ballots set to be mailed out
Missoula Board of Health votes to follow CDC quarantine advice
Make an appointment at covid19.missoula.co, and share your experience on social media with the hashtags #endthepandemic, #vaccinatethe406 and #gotmyshot406.
Stay up to date with Missoula County's COVID-19 vaccine distribution success! Visit covid19.missoula.co/vaccine-information and click on the Vaccination Distribution Map and Dashboard blue button. The data is updated every Monday. If you would like to track data across Montana, visit the Montana Response page.
To join commissioner department, administrative and public meetings via Microsoft Teams and view the agendas, visit the Missoula County Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes and Agenda Portal. Please note that agendas for department and administrative meetings are published two business days before the meeting, and public meeting agendas are published the Friday before the meeting. Administrative and public meeting video recordings are available on the Missoula County YouTube page after the meeting, and MCAT plays the public meetings live on their Spectrum Channel 190. Email bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877 if you have any questions or comments on an upcoming meeting.
- Monday, Aug. 30
Public Works Update
Community and Planning Services Update - Tuesday, Aug. 31
Commissioners’ Administrative Public Meeting - Wednesday, Sept. 1
Legislative Delegation Update
Chief Officers Update - Thursday, Sept. 2
Chief Administrative Officer Update
Commissioners’ Administrative Public Meeting
Mayor and Chief Administrative Officers Update
Commissioners’ Public Meeting - Friday, Sept. 3
No department, administrative or public meetings are scheduled on this day.
This press release was produced by the Missoula County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.