Missoula County Government: Missoula County Weekly: Oct. 11-15

Press release from the Missoula County Government:

10/11/2021 4:00 PM

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As a reminder, Missoula County offices are closed Monday, Oct. 11, in observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Offices will reopen Tuesday, Oct. 12. 

General election ballots mail this Wednesday, Oct. 13 

Ballots will be mailed this Wednesday, Oct. 13, for the Nov. 2 general election. Ballots cannot be forwarded, so if you find you do not receive your ballot within a week after they mail (by Wednesday, Oct. 20) make sure to check your registration status at My Voter Page, https://app.mt.gov/voterinfo, to verify the address your ballot was sent to. As a reminder, all postage is prepaid for this election. 

Other important dates to remember: 

• Tuesday, Oct. 26: If you haven’t mailed your ballot back by this day, make sure to drop it off in person at the Elections Office to ensure it makes it there before Nov. 2. 

Find out more 

Commissioners open public comment period on tabulation practices at Elections Office 

Missoula County is currently the largest county to utilize tabulation equipment at each polling location. The County is at a decision point of either continuing that practice, which would require buying new equipment, or tabulating ballots at a central location with existing equipment. The commissioners opened the public comment period on this question at their public meeting Thursday, Oct. 7, and will take up the item again at their public meeting this week, Thursday, Oct. 14. Members of the public can send comments to bcc@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-4877. 

Watch the Thursday, Oct. 7, public meeting. 

Missoula City-County Health Department changes case investigation, contact tracing processes to quicken response time 

Missoula City-County Health Department is implementing several changes to its case investigation and contact tracing efforts to streamline the processes for the public and health department staff.  

From here on, residents identified as positive cases or close contacts will receive a text message from the health department with a link to a form they must fill out. This process is largely replacing the phone call notification system; however, residents without cell phones will still be notified with a phone call. MCCHD does not want the public to confuse these text messages with spam or phishing attempts. Website links sent by the health department will begin with http://missoula.co and residents with questions regarding their forms are welcome to call 406-258-INFO (4636).  

Over the next few weeks, the health department will also redesign its missoulainfo.com website to make it easier for the public to navigate. 

Read more. 

Commissioners to proclaim Hispanic, Latino, Latina and LatinX Heritage Month 

Missoula County Commissioners at their Thursday, Oct. 14, public meeting will proclaim Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, as Hispanic, Latino, Latina and LatinX Heritage Month to celebrate the independence won by a number of Latin American countries from Spain and recognize that the Hispanic, Latino, Latina and LatinX community make up the largest percentage of Missoula County’s non-white racial and ethnic demographic at 3.4%.  

Read the full proclamation and find the agenda to join the meeting. 

Tip of the Spear: Conversations with Dave, Josh and Juanita – Office of Emergency Management 

Commissioners are joined by Office of Emergency Management Director, Adriane Beck.  

Adriane highlights how OEM responds to 9-1-1 calls, wildfires, floods and, new to her realm, the pandemic and varying incidents it has created.  

OEM's work captures the resiliency of Missoula County and community relationships throughout. In these 20 minutes, you'll find humor, intrigue and heartfelt appreciation as well as a great reminder that when we come together as a community, we can accomplish more than we think. 

Missoula County Employees are working hard for you! 

Ray Reiser, Calibrate Pretrial Division Program coordinator in the County Attorney’s Office 

“I came on board at the Missoula County Attorney’s Office in 2019, following 25 years of work in criminal justice in western Montana. It’s an exciting time to be a part of criminal justice reform efforts, seen both locally and on a national level. I have had the privilege of developing and implementing Calibrate, a prosecution-led pretrial diversion program based in the Missoula County Attorney’s Office.  

Calibrate is a voluntary program that provides certain individuals facing a criminal charge the opportunity to address the root causes of why they are in trouble. Acceptance into the program involves consultation with victims and law enforcement. Successful completion of the agreed-upon case plan means dismissal of the criminal charge. Equally beneficial is fewer people being involved in both the court and corrections systems, resulting in a clear savings of taxpayer dollars. Calibrate was recently recognized for its innovation and creativity with an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties. 

It’s an honor to work for Missoula County and to provide pretrial diversion to its citizens. The support from County Attorney Pabst and the staff at the County Attorney’s Office has been extraordinary. I look forward to working for the people of Missoula County for many years to come.”  

Learn more at missoula.co/calibrate.” 

Upcoming Events: Oct. 11-15 

• Parenting Montana Workshop 
  7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct 13, virtual event through the Missoula Public Library 
   

• Creative Community Art 
  3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Missoula Public Library – Level 2 
   

• Family Movie Night 
  6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Missoula Public Library - Auditorium 

Find more events this week on the County’s Event Calendar! 

Missoula County in the News: Oct. 2-8 

Missoula County signs off on $12.2M contract for Exploration Center, butterfly house  
Carbon Neutrality Team to spearhead Missoula County’s race to curb emissions 
Missoula’s new Crisis Intervention Team looks to data, outcomes with new grant 
Missoula Co. commissioners get update on JEDI resolution progress 
COVID-19 contact tracing procedures changing in Missoula 

Vaccines are available to everyone 12 and older!  

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. 

Upcoming Commissioners’ Meetings: Oct. 11-15 

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, Oct. 11 
  No department, administrative or public meetings are scheduled on this day. Offices closed in observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. 

• Tuesday, Oct. 12 
  No department, administrative or public meetings are scheduled on this day. 

• Wednesday, Oct. 13 
  Zoning Code Update 
  Treasurer’s Office Update 
  Chief Officers Update 
  Community and Planning Services Update 

This press release was produced by the Missoula County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.