Missoula County Government: Missoula County Weekly: July 12-16

Press release from the Missoula County Government:

07/12/2021 7:00 AM

Visit our Missoula County Events Calendar to see what events and classes the county is hosting! 

The Missoula City-County Health Department, in partnership with several local organizations and businesses, will host multiple COVID-19 vaccine clinics throughout the community for the month of July. 

The mobile event schedule is as follows: 

Missoula ADA picnic: Monday, July 12, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meadowlark Shelter at Fort Missoula Regional Park

Council Groves Apartments: Wednesday, July 14, from 4 to 6 p.m. at 1904 S. 3rd St. W.

Missoula Paddlehead’s game: Friday, July 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field, 700 Cregg Lane

Ace Hardware: Saturday, July 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tremper's Shopping Centre, 2301 Brooks St.

WinCo Foods (Rescheduled): Friday, July 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. at 2510 S. Reserve St.

The mobile vaccine clinic will offer the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines to patients 18 or older and the Pfizer vaccine to patients 12 and older. Patients ages 12 to 15 must be accompanied by a guardian, while those ages 16 to 17 must bring a guardian-signed consent form, found on missoulainfo.com, if a guardian cannot accompany them. The Health Department will announce further mobile clinics taking place toward the end of July later this month.  

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. 

Read more

The Missoula County Commissioners are slated to make a final decision at their Thursday administrative public meeting on whether to put the 3% marijuana excise tax on the ballot for voters to approve, as well as direct staff on next steps for Operation Shelter If you have comments on the excise tax item, email bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877. If you have comments on the Operation Shelter, email solutions@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877. 

Watch previous meetings on these topics
Find the agenda and link for the Thursday, July 15 meeting at 10 a.m.

The Missoula County Elections Office will conduct a municipal primary election Tuesday, Sept. 14, for the offices of Missoula mayor and city council wards 1 and 6. Since the Missoula City Council voted to conduct the election by mail, polling places will not be open on Election Day. All active and provisional registered voters will receive a ballot after they’re mailed Wednesday, Aug. 25. Ballots are due back to the Elections Office by 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 14. Postmarks are not sufficient. Return postage is paid. 

Read more

Join the Missoula Public Library and their partners -- Missoula's Community Media Resource, Families First Learning Lab, SpectrUM and UM Living Lab -- as they take a day to celebrate Missoula Public Library's grand opening! Come and discover all the amazing things they have to offer on every floor. The festivities begin with a ribbon cutting ceremony and there will be plenty of extra special things happening throughout the day, including tours, science demos, virtual reality activities, music from Cowboy Andy and The Salamanders and Bob Wire, a live broadcast of the Pea Green Boat, cooking demos in the demonstration kitchen, a talk with Missoula Public Library's building designer, an author reading with Heather Cahoon and Chris La Tray, a champagne reception and more.

Please note the library will not open until after the ribbon cutting ceremony, and building services will be limited. They will not be offering public computer use, printing, faxing, passport processing, notarizations or public meeting room or study room use that day. There will be free designated parking all day at UM's Adam Center. Shuttles will run continuously between the Adams Center and the Missoula Public Library from 1 to 4 p.m.

Find out more

Wildfire smoke is already creeping into the valleys, and local public health experts, climate advocates and elected officials are encouraging Missoula County residents to educate and prepare themselves for the hazards of wildfire smoke during Wildfire Smoke Ready Week.  

The Missoula County commissioners proclaimed July 12 through 18, as Wildfire Smoke Ready Week. To help educate and prepare residents, a Missoula-area Wildfire Smoke Ready Team has organized a week of outreach and events about the risks posed by wildfire smoke and the simple strategies everyone can take to reduce their exposure and protect their health. 

Watch the July 1 commissioners’ public meeting where the proclamation was read
Read the press release

Missoula’s climate is changing. How are we building resilience and making sure our entire community is prepared? In this session, City Club will address Missoula’s climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, including implementing the Climate Ready Missoula Plan; what it means to be Wildfire Smoke Ready; and the City’s and County’s collaborative efforts to reduce our contribution to climate change and achieve 100% clean electricity. Join the meeting at 11:30 a.m. Monday, July 12, via Zoom. 

Register to attend

The presentation is open to the public and local businesses are encouraged to attend. Topics covered will include:   

• An overview of the program 

• What businesses are allowed to be registered as a DBE 

• The advantages of being registered as a DBE 

• How to register as a DBE 

The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program encourages and supports the participation of companies owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in transportation and other contracts. More information about the program is available at https://www.mdt.mt.gov/business/contracting/civil/dbe.shtml  

The meeting will take place 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 27, via Microsoft Teams. Missoula County Auditor Dave Wall is available to answer additional questions at dwall@missoulacounty.us. 

Join the meeting

The Missoula City-County Health Department is encouraging residents to make use of its free COVID-19 testing services at its Flynn Lane clinic (4025 Flynn Lane) to keep everyone’s summer safe and healthy. Even if residents aren’t displaying symptoms of COVID-19, screening individuals for asymptomatic cases can help stop community spread of the virus. Furthermore, occasional screening for COVID-19 in children who are too young to be vaccinated can put parents at ease. 

Read more.  

After the receipting process, the signature is verified on the ballot by comparing the signature on the affirmation envelope to registration information on file. Ballots are rejected if the signature is missing or does not match the ones in the system. If a ballot is rejected, staff contact the voter. These factors are considered when reviewing signatures: if the capital letters match, the letters tail off similarly, the letter spacing is similar, the overall appearance is similar and the relationship of the signature to the signature line is similar.  

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. 

Billie Ayers, Events and Operations Manager, Fairgrounds 

“My job is to present a show worthy of the County’s fantastic new fairgrounds. This challenges me to draw from all my life experiences as a 4-H and Future Farmers of America alum, a Miles City Bucking Horse Sale volunteer, a livestock judge, a show team member, a rodeo committee chair, riding instructor, horse show manager, fair board president, festival organizer and backcountry horsewoman. These were the extracurricular activities I devoted my time to while working as a designer and public relations professional. While working in Kansas, I learned firsthand the tremendous benefits of a free fair provided to the public through the generosity of sponsors. Our goal is to design the Western Montana Fair in a way that maximizes each fairgoer’s experience to be as rewarding as possible.   

I’m new to Missoula so when I am not planning the Fair, I’m out connecting with groups and individuals gathering insight for future programs at the Fairgrounds. I compare this with my experiences touring the nation’s top exposition centers. Then I apply my design and marketing training to analyze the opportunities we need to create or recruit to further the Fairgrounds’ economic role within the community. 

We’d love to see you Aug. 11-15 at the Fair!  

Visit WesternMontanaFair.com  and share your ideas with us.” 

Missoula County Commissioners introduce new program for recreational river safety 
Missoula primary slated for mid-September, mayor and two City Council races 
A look at wildfire preparedness in Missoula County 
Missoula health department encourages residents to make use of its COVID-19 testing services 
City, county discuss ideas as Missoula’s homeless population grows 

To join commissioner department, administrative and public meetings via Microsoft Teams and view the agendas, please 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 leave a voicemail at 406-258-4877 if you have any questions or comments on an upcoming meeting. 

• Monday, July 12 
  Public Works Update 

• Tuesday, July 13 
  Commissioners’ Administrative Public Meeting 

• Wednesday, July 14 
  Zoning Code Update 
  Treasurer’s Office Update 
  Chief Officers Update 

• Thursday, July 15 
  Chief Administrative Officer Update 
  Sheriff’s Office Update 
  Commissioners’ Administrative Public Meeting 

• Friday, July 16 
  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.