An old mistake comes back to haunt commissioners

“It’s messy — government is messy.”

County Commissioner Mark Peck said summarizing the long and difficult process the county commissioners have in front of them to make the right decision on a path to correct their mistake in 2009.

People went to the polls in 2009 to officially vote on making the county’s election non-partisan. Since there’s no procedure and little precedent, the county commissioners and state government are perplexed on what the next step should be.

One is to seek an opinion from an attorney general, the second is to take it to court, and the third is to work on a piece of legislature with the state.

The best option, Peck said, would be for the commissioners to vote to go back to partisan elections. However, after talking to several experts, Peck believes that would entail overturning a vote by the people — something only a judge could do.

Having a judge overturn the vote is also tricky, because the new judge is going to be sworn in on Dec. 19.

“We need to get this done correctly,” Mark Peck said. “I don’t care how long it takes, because rushing something like this is how you find yourself in court.”

Finding themselves in court, Peck said, is the worst case scenario. However, since they’re trying to take it slow and steady, he said, they may not have to face that.

“We know where we’re at,” Mike Cole said. “How we get to where we want to be — that’s the question.”

Another problem is that one of the commissioners, Greg Larson, is leaving at the end of the month. Meaning the new commissioner will have to be briefed on the issue before they can proceed — another speed bump in the commissioner’s’ long road ahead.

The mistake stems from the original form of government implemented after Montana adopted its new constitution in the 1970s. Counties were given a mandate to form review commissions in the first year, 1976, and those commissions were ordered to present at least one option for change to county electors. Lincoln County’s voters decided not to change the form of government during that election, and in two other elections since, voters have also chosen to maintain the default form of government.

The default form of government created in the Montana Constitution is known as “the county elected officials” form of government. Lincoln County, along with several other counties, operates like a commission form of government, even though they never officially adopted that slightly different form. In fact, the Local Government Center’s materials even erroneously list Lincoln County as a commission form of government.

“I understand that there’s a lot of emotion on both sides of this thing,” Peck said. “I just want to do what’s right. It’s about the process, and what is the right process. That’s what I care about.”

Bethany Rolfson is a reporter at The Western News and can be reached at 293-4124, or by email at reporter@thewesternnews.com.