Bull Lake Fire District looks to its first election

Registered voters in the Bull Lake Volunteer Fire District will vote for two-of-three candidates to fill expiring terms in what will be the first election in the district’s 25-year history.

The election will be a mail-in ballot that must be returned to the Lincoln County Courthouse by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, to be counted. Ballots will be mailed April 11. Fire district candidates include Sylvia Maffit, Herb Cargill and incumbent Patricia Sargent. The other current office holder, Stuart Briskin, is not seeking re-election.

Maffit is a past president of the fire district, which was formed in 1989.

“The ballots need to be here by May 6,” said Assistant Election Administrator Leigh Riggleman. “People must realize they need to be here in our office by then. A ballot postmarked May 6 probably won’t get here in time to be counted.”

Riggleman said voters also may hand-carry their ballots to the courthouse. Registered voters who do not receive a ballot by mail by April 18 still may receive a ballot at the courthouse. The last day to register to vote for the May 6 election is April 8.

Special-district and school-board elections are mandated by state law to be on the same day.

The cost of Bull Lake Volunteer Fire District election is estimated to be about $2,000, an expense not previously experienced. Past practices had the district recommending a candidate to Lincoln County commissioners, and commissioners most-often would approve them. However, that has changed since the district sued the county for self-determination. Ultimately, the district won a Montana Supreme Court decision.

Since, the county has made its own appointment to the board, most notably rejecting Maffit last year for Doug Chapel.

“It’s different because now we have to pay for the election, whereas we did not have that expense before,” Sargent said. “But, yes, it does take the politics out of (appointments).”

Fire Chief Clyde Miller concurred.

“It’s fine. We’re OK with the election, but if Bull Lake has to go through the expense of an election, I just want to make sure the commissioners make other (fire) boards do the same thing,” Miller said.

Because this will be the first Bull Lake Fire District election, Riggleman said she still is establishing district boundaries.

“There are approximately 650 properties in the district,” Riggleman said. “We’re thinking there are between 100 to 200 registered voters, but we just don’t know yet.”

She said the district includes Angel Island and parcels along Highway 56, including Porcupine Creek Road and Twin Creek Drive Road.

The primary election for county, state and federal offices is June 3. The General Election is Nov. 4.