[0:02] Uh, 24 questions. Um,
pretty in-depth, but yeah.
[0:07] Good to go?
All righty.
[0:12] We are good.
We have anybody joining us?
[0:15] » Yes, you have Ashley Taylor, Kim Bird,
Brad Tomerup, Lacy Lincoln, Margaret
[0:21] Miller, Riley Keeler, and a smiley face.
>> Perfect.
[0:26] Hello that smiley face.
>> And just to be clear, questions by the
[0:29] commission only. Uh, people on are just
going to be flies on the wall.
[0:34] » Yep, and same questions for all
candidates.
[0:36] » Correct.
>> Uh, you want to get started this time,
[0:39] Mr. X?
>> Perfect.
[0:40] » Uh, Clay, thank you for coming in. Thank
you for stepping up.
[0:43] » I appreciate it.
>> to this
[0:45] job. Uh, and you're willing to be
interviewed for it.
[0:48] » Um,
>> what is your knowledge of what a
[0:51] commissioner's duties are and what the
job entails?
[0:58] » Commissioner's duties
are
[1:01] you know, a lot of it is is motivation.
It's dealing with resources.
[1:06] It's allocating resources to the right
spot.
[1:11] Uh,
the county has lost a lot of funds over
[1:15] the past, you know, 15, 20 years from
oil and gas revenues down to
[1:21] almost nothing sometimes. And
uh,
[1:25] communicating with the public,
uh, communicating with you know,
[1:31] individuals on certain items that
uh,
[1:35] you have to
you have to work it out. I mean,
[1:38] everybody has a different life, they
have different experiences, and uh,
[1:44] their point of view is going to be
different than than um, ours or
[1:49] whatever. So, yeah, it's
and you know, it's just working with
[1:54] um,
the public.
[1:56] You've got You've got unfunded mandates
that you have to do that come out of our
[2:01] taxes.
Uh you've got issues that
[2:05] that uh hopefully grants and stuff that
will support
[2:09] what the county does that the
commissioners have to look at, but in in
[2:13] actuality
roads, health, you know, just the basic
[2:19] things that normal people cannot do.
They can't set up water systems. They
[2:23] can't set up sewer. They can't set up uh
areas, airports, or or roads and and
[2:29] that type of stuff. So, who's taking
care of that? So, that's that's
[2:32] responsibility that I see as a
commissioner.
[2:37] » Definitely.
[2:43] » Your turn.
>> All right.
[2:45] So,
the big question, let's just get it out
[2:48] of the way. Why do you want to be a
commissioner?
[2:51] » You know, I've asked myself that.
>> [laughter]
[2:55] » Um
I've got
[2:58] between 34 and 40 years of experience
with Hill County.
[3:03] Uh
there's a lot of
[3:06] I've dealt with a lot of county
commissioners. I've dealt with every
[3:09] single
um
[3:12] courthouse uh office uh dealing with
everything from A to Z.
[3:18] Uh there's there's wisdom in that.
There's learning.
[3:23] Um
I've had nine different programs and
[3:27] with that comes nine different budgets.
Uh trying to make extend a limited
[3:34] amount of funds,
you know, into a specific area that you
[3:39] have to deal with.
But the laws as you have to deal with
[3:42] even if you don't have
the funds to do it. Uh so, in dealing
[3:47] with that
um
[3:50] I've dealt with the public a lot.
All the regulations, all the things that
[3:55] I've done over that 35 to 40 years of,
you know, trying to make sure they
[4:01] understand why the rule is this and and
why we're trying to get this across,
[4:05] whether it's public health or
or landfill issues or junk vehicles or
[4:10] zoning issues, any of that stuff. Uh
And I think that would come into use in
[4:17] this job. It's not just a
a one,
[4:21] you know, topic thing. There's so many
issues that have to come in
[4:25] uh to do this. And I And I've been
through a lot of that, so
[4:29] I think that's the reason.
[4:32] » Would you have any personal conflict
personnel conflicts? Per- Sorry. Let me
[4:38] start over. Would you have any personal
conflicts with the county if chosen for
[4:44] the commissioner seat?
>> No.
[4:46] No, I've
Again, I've dealt with a lot of people
[4:50] here. There are a lot of new employees,
a lot of new people that I've had some
[4:54] dealings with, but uh
you know, it's a job. You're here to to
[4:58] serve the public, to deal with uh issues
that come up, and
[5:03] that's what you're here for.
[5:07] » All right.
>> [clears throat]
[5:09] » What do you see as being a top priority
as a commissioner? Please explain why.
[5:16] » Uh
[5:19] You know, I I had I had
thought about that uh you know, over the
[5:22] past week or two.
One of the main issues is
[5:28] to communicate with people and to listen
to
[5:33] people and their stories about why they
believe what the topic is that they want
[5:39] done or or that type of thing.
Um
[5:44] It's It's very important to hear both
sides of a story. and then for them it's
[5:48] very important for they hear that you
are limited in what you can do according
[5:53] to both the law and resources and that
type of thing. So,
[5:58] um
>> [clears throat]
[5:59] » motivating employees, trying to make
sure that what is
[6:03] under the state law for
jobs that need to be done get taken care
[6:10] of and and uh
you know, training and stuff like that.
[6:14] So, yeah, that's that's probably the
biggest issue.
[6:18] Definitely.
[6:22] » How would you build consensus among
people who strongly agree? Strong
[6:28] strongly disagree.
>> [laughter]
[6:34] » Uh again, and you're going to get that
and I've seen that in this office for
[6:38] years and years.
Very few people come in here and and
[6:42] pat you on the back for doing such a
fine job. It's always,
[6:46] you know, this has to be done and and my
way is the only way.
[6:50] Uh
people have conflicting views on
[6:55] everything. And again, it's their story.
It's it's how they've grown up. It's uh
[7:01] it's things that they've done in their
life and
[7:03] um
they have to listen. They have to be
[7:06] willing to hear both sides. They have to
be willing to
[7:11] uh
basically
[7:13] say, "Okay, you know, I can see your
side of the story." Communication is the
[7:18] big issue. If they don't communicate,
the problem just festers and it gets
[7:22] worse and worse and worse until at some
point you don't want to hear. And I
[7:28] guess it's it's starting with that
communication and then uh trying to work
[7:31] out the issue.
Things are not black and white. I've
[7:35] learned that
forever that there are gray areas,
[7:38] there's areas in between that you have
to deal with. Uh if it was black and
[7:43] white, it would be yes, no.
We don't have to deal with anything
[7:47] else, but uh
you have to start with communication.
[7:58] » All right. What experience
[clears throat] do you have managing
[8:01] budgets and public funds?
[8:05] » Um like I said earlier, uh nine
different programs.
[8:10] Uh that's all the way from landfill to
planning, subdivisions, zoning,
[8:15] uh junk vehicle, public health, um
I even did uh civil defense uh for the
[8:21] first couple years that I was here.
>> Oh, wow.
[8:23] » Uh sanitarian's budget
I've worked with and almost, well, at
[8:28] least half of those
uh are either grant or or fees for
[8:34] service issues. The others come
underneath uh taxpayer type things and
[8:40] you have to deal with it. You have to
deal with the fact that everybody is a
[8:44] taxpayer here and you want your funds
spent properly.
[8:49] Um and that
you it just comes down to
[8:54] allocating what you have to the right
spot and, you know, not necessarily
[9:00] limiting it, but finding ways
to use them more appropriately.
[9:11] » How would you improve transparency in
county finances?
[9:20] » I don't I don't think that the public
really understands
[9:25] what the county gets versus what
the school district gets versus what the
[9:31] city gets versus all the other 20-plus
things that resources go to. It all adds
[9:38] up to this this big amount at the end.
And and that I really have appreciated
[9:44] looking at, you know, how much goes to
the weed district, to the airport, to
[9:49] all those things. And that
that has to be gotten across that, you
[9:54] know, the county doesn't get all this
money. You're paying this, but you are
[9:59] limited and because
the
[10:03] oil and gas revenue's gone from millions
down to just 100,000 or 200,000,
[10:08] whatever it is.
Uh
[10:10] that's education and it's getting
across.
[10:13] It is being made harder and harder
because we don't have a newspaper.
[10:17] Uh we can we can publish things and put
it on bulletin boards, but that doesn't
[10:22] necessarily get it out to people that
need to know this because again
[10:27] everybody has their own views and if
they don't hear the facts,
[10:30] they just stay with whatever they've
heard and and social media
[10:35] makes that a little bit tougher because
somebody can put something out there
[10:38] that is completely untrue and all of a
sudden it is
[10:42] the fact that everybody knows. So,
um again, trying to find ways uh whether
[10:48] it's talking to groups, whether it's uh
I don't even know what a podcast is, but
[10:54] to put there has to be ways to get that
across to people and I I think this
[10:58] office is doing as much of that with,
you know, the the media thing. Um
[11:04] um
and it's
[11:06] every meeting you go to, okay, here's
the facts, here's what we have to deal
[11:10] with as three commissioners uh
that's what you have to do.
[11:15] » Definitely.
>> [clears throat]
[11:18] » All right.
What are your priorities for roads,
[11:21] bridges, and rural infrastructure?
[11:27] » I heard priorities.
People have to get to town. They they do
[11:32] their own roads.
So, that has to be something that
[11:38] the local government, being Hill County,
has to take care of and do. Yes, there
[11:43] is a
there is a limited amount of money that
[11:46] that can be put into this.
Bridges Bridges wear out. They're no
[11:51] different than
driving a school bus part-time. If you
[11:55] don't work on them and keep them up to
standard, all of a sudden the cost has
[12:00] gone from not a lot to a huge amount
that you don't have.
[12:04] Roads, bridges, and infrastructure.
Again, those are issues the public
[12:10] cannot do.
They can't do water and sewer. They
[12:13] can't do
street lights. They can't do the things
[12:18] that we have talked about, and so it has
to be budgeted. It has to be done such
[12:23] that
the north side, it's our own it's all
[12:26] our SIDs to where they have to pay a
certain maintenance, and you have to
[12:31] have
good people that will go in there and
[12:34] keep it up. Otherwise, it just falls
apart.
[12:38] We've looked at the flood control dike.
That has gone on for years, and that
[12:42] that is an issue that again
one person cannot do. It has to be the
[12:47] governments that work together to say we
don't want to be in the flood plain. We
[12:51] want to make We want to manage this.
Pump systems, you know, they're they're
[12:56] put in in the '50s, and
I just had an a
[13:01] electrician in there, and he just looked
at those things and went, "Oh my gosh.
[13:05] You know, these are old." And a lot of
those types of systems are used in
[13:09] irrigation pumps and stuff, and so
there's there's some information that
[13:13] can be gathered on that, but
[13:17] you got to do maintenance. You have to
do it, and anything that, you know,
[13:21] requires more money, you know, it's
either going to more maintenance type
[13:26] stuff or finding grants or trying to
come up with
[13:30] uh
better ways
[13:32] to take care of it cuz this is the only
group that can do it. Individuals can't
[13:36] do it.
>> Correct.
[13:37] » Yep.
Thank you.
[13:43] » What are your views on the role of law
enforcement in our county? And how would
[13:48] you support both public safety and
community trust as commissioner?
[13:55] » Uh law enforcement is very important. Uh
there I mean we have books on rules and
[14:00] regulations and those rules and
regulations are there for reason.
[14:06] Uh
hopefully
[14:09] the the county sheriff can, you know,
motivate deputies to make sure they're
[14:15] doing education to make sure that they
are getting the word out to people.
[14:19] Uh
jails are [snorts] one of the issues
[14:23] that an individual cannot take up. It is
an unfunded mandate. The county or the
[14:29] city has to do as far as uh
you know, keeping people uh
[14:35] in a locked-up situation.
Um again, communication about why we do
[14:41] this.
Uh it is not a high priority when it
[14:45] comes to taxes because everybody wants
the things that they use all the time
[14:49] versus trying to deal with,
you know, a
[14:53] a jail situation. Well, but
it's a it's a must.
[14:58] Uh
the sheriff needs to work with county
[15:00] attorney. Uh they have to work with all
the different laws that are there and
[15:05] try to get people
to understand why we do this. Um it's no
[15:09] different than anything else. It's it's
unfunded. It has to be funded by
[15:13] taxpayers and we have to work with it.
>> Definitely agree.
[15:20] » [clears throat]
>> What experience do you have working with
[15:22] unions or participating in collective
bargaining bargaining negotiations?
[15:28] » Um the landfill that is the Unified
Disposal Landfill is unionized.
[15:34] Uh and I have dealt with
the union out there for a lot of years.
[15:40] Um
Teamsters,
[15:42] I can't remember the the number that's
on it, but
[15:45] uh there's a reason for unions.
Uh and the biggest one is that there was
[15:50] a lot of unsafe situations that
employees had to deal with and by
[15:55] unionizing
they can say, "Okay, you know, we have
[15:59] to have these safety issues because
people are getting hurt. They can't go
[16:02] home to their families. They can't do
things they want to."
[16:06] Uh and those really need to be pushed.
Um
[16:10] so I I've dealt with uh unions, a little
bit with the road department. Um
[16:15] not too much more than that.
All right.
[16:22] » How have you been involved with the
community and how would you continue
[16:26] engaging with the residents as a county
commissioner?
[16:33] » Obviously, going to functions. Um we've
got a lot of community uh
[16:39] um
organizations that
[16:42] are doing things for our community, for
the citizens that are here.
[16:46] Uh trying to get across, you know, what
the county can do.
[16:50] Uh there's things that that we are
limited by
[16:54] law to be able to do, even though
everybody wants uh I guess their cake
[16:58] and eat it, too. It doesn't work that
way.
[17:01] Um
you know, just
[17:05] you're going to get talked to at every
single event that you go to
[17:09] and
listening, communicating, we can discuss
[17:13] this. We can uh
you know, try to figure out a solution.
[17:19] Um, so
I think you're representing
[17:23] the local government that's here that
taxpayers are paying into and at least
[17:30] letting them know that
you heard them. It's an issue that has
[17:35] to be
gone through and figure out what to do
[17:38] and uh
um, work from there.
[17:45] Cool.
[17:48] » Uh, [clears throat] please share an
overview of your career experience and
[17:52] any leadership roles that have shaped
your approach to public service.
[18:00] » I think the jobs that I've had with Hill
County and others prior to that,
[18:06] uh, the
the planning office, zoning, landfill,
[18:10] uh,
all those different types of jobs have
[18:15] shaped what I feel
needs to be done
[18:19] for the public that's here.
Um,
[18:22] calling the state of Montana, you can
get information, but in reality, there's
[18:26] not a lot of resources that they are
going to give you other than just,
[18:30] you know,
here, here here's some guidance, you
[18:33] know, try to do this.
Um,
[18:37] I feel that every one of those
people say, "Well, you've worked by
[18:42] yourself on all of these jobs, whether
it's the zoning, planning, civil
[18:45] defense, whatever, whatever." But, that
job cannot be done without this office
[18:50] going through and discussing why it's
done. Can't be done without the county
[18:54] attorney's office, can't be done without
the clerk and recorder's to look up the
[18:58] laws to figure out why we're doing this.
Uh,
[19:01] the whole the whole addressing system,
you know, we needed that for
[19:06] 911 and that benefits everybody as far
as emergency services,
[19:12] uh,
mail, everything. Everything is GPS'd
[19:15] anymore and to try to
uh
[19:18] get from point A to point B when you're
in the middle of nowhere it's not easy.
[19:22] Um but
there's a lot of stuff that I have gone
[19:26] through for years in those particular
issues. Running a landfill is not a lot
[19:31] of fun. I mean, 22,000 tons of garbage a
year that this area produces.
[19:38] Um
we don't like garbage. We don't like
[19:42] waste,
>> [clears throat]
[19:42] » but it's a fact of life and so
you have to be able to lead and put up
[19:49] with
you know, the comments or concerns that
[19:51] people have. Um
and that I've learned a lot in the past
[19:58] 30 years of doing that.
[20:12] Hello?
Okay.
[20:15] » Uh tell us about a time you had to deal
with an angry resident or difficult
[20:19] stakeholder. How was it resolved?
[20:25] » I've got a lot of those.
>> [laughter]
[20:27] » Let me just say a sanitarian probably
never had to deal with that.
[20:31] » Um
[20:34] we're in Montana. People don't like to
be told what they can do.
[20:38] Uh I've had a lot of issues with
subdivisions, with zoning issues, with
[20:43] um
you know, just junk vehicles. Oh my
[20:47] gosh, you know, that's
junk vehicles, that is a that is a
[20:52] source of revenue. It's a it's a
prized
[20:56] you know, trophy to have this thing.
Well, there's rules that you have to
[20:59] screen it. You got to take care of that.
Zoning
[21:03] zoning is a tough thing, man.
People don't understand you don't want
[21:08] you don't want to have a residential
house be negatively impacted by a
[21:13] commercial business that's going to have
lights and motors and and uh
[21:18] traffic and everything goes on. You try
to separate that. Um we have we have
[21:24] setback issues that are there for a
reason to be back from streets and
[21:29] street right-of-ways.
Uh there were some people who were not
[21:32] very happy that went ahead and
built
[21:36] um
a big concrete floor about 6 ft from her
[21:41] road and didn't get a permit. They were
not happy. Uh they went to the zoning
[21:46] board and
because this is a fairly common known
[21:52] issue that you had to get a permit for
putting in
[21:55] uh
things that are permanent. Uh we sat
[21:59] down with them and said, "You know,
this is not going to go over. This is
[22:04] not
Well, people brag about the first street
[22:07] down here and having all the businesses
within a a sidewalk's distance of their
[22:11] front door.
That's the reason the county has
[22:14] setbacks. Um we've mostly been able to
resolve things. They might have to tear
[22:19] this stuff out and redo it again, which
would suck to have to do.
[22:22] Um
Again, there's some things over at the
[22:26] dike that we looked at that people don't
like
[22:31] the water issue. They they don't like a
lot of things, but through communication
[22:35] and figuring out who is actually
responsible for this stuff uh and at
[22:39] least getting the facts out there, and
that's probably the best thing that I've
[22:43] had to deal with that a lot.
[22:49] » Describe your process in evaluating an
employee's performance.
[22:55] » Evaluations are very important.
Um
[23:01] I've done evaluations for quite a few
years and that evaluation needs to note
[23:07] both the positive and then if there are
things that need to be worked on, it
[23:12] needs to be put on there and and I think
if done right,
[23:16] it's appreciated by the employee to say,
you know, this is something you have to
[23:20] work on. Okay, you know, here here's our
business, here's what the law says,
[23:25] here's what we need done.
You know, let's get some schooling,
[23:28] let's get some training on this.
Uh but
[23:31] you you have to do those, otherwise
everybody just thinks that everything is
[23:37] is perfect. Um which in a lot of cases
in most cases it's not. There's always
[23:44] things you can work on and and that's
just part of an evaluation to go through
[23:48] that.
Even more
[23:50] um evaluations, if that person needs
more training because they're not doing
[23:56] correctly what they're supposed to do,
then it's the supervisor's job to make
[24:01] sure that that is done and then is, you
know, I guess followed up on to make
[24:07] sure that that gets
followed through, the training, whatever
[24:11] it takes to do it. Uh but um
yeah, it's it's [snorts] very important
[24:16] to do that.
All we can do.
[24:26] » All right. Describe an ethical challenge
you faced at work and how you resolved
[24:31] it.
[24:39] » Ethical challenge.
[24:43] Um
there's a lot of issues again with the
[24:46] the budgets and the topics that I had to
deal with
[24:50] uh that
I believe it has to be done this way.
[24:56] Uh and in communicating with other
people around the state, communicating
[25:02] with this office, uh, county attorney,
um,
[25:08] my way is not always the right way or
the perfect way to do things. And,
[25:13] uh, I've had to
basically say, "Okay, let's try to do it
[25:18] this way." Sometimes you feel that
you just want to go at it, you know,
[25:24] headfirst, and you really just need to
calm down,
[25:29] write out the issue, figure out what the
law say, figure out what other people's
[25:33] opinions are, and, uh,
learn. Learn. Probably learning is the
[25:38] biggest thing that
that I have to do in others that I don't
[25:42] know everything. Uh, that I need to
learn what's there and communicate what
[25:47] has to be done.
>> Mhm.
[25:55] What does good governance mean to you,
and how do you intend to show
[25:59] accountability and transparency?
[26:05] » Good governance, you know, it's
again, you are representing not any one
[26:11] particular group of people.
Uh,
[26:15] you are there to
spend the money that the taxpayer has
[26:20] given you wisely.
You are there to communicate those
[26:24] issues or problems, uh, to the people
who are paying that,
[26:29] uh,
and get that across to
[26:33] the individuals that maybe see this
courthouse once or twice a year. Uh,
[26:39] again, not having a paper, not having
some of the resources that people would
[26:43] read,
it is more difficult. But,
[26:47] uh, communicating, being able to,
uh, you know, talk to people at
[26:52] different functions, [snorts] you know,
attending meetings. Uh, some people are
[26:57] 30, 40, 50 mi from here and they don't
get down here.
[27:00] Uh,
it's nice to have people from different
[27:03] areas, Dukes from regular area and and,
you know, deal It's different to deal
[27:09] with people who are farming versus
people who are ranching versus people
[27:13] who are just business in town here. Uh,
and there's different ways
[27:18] that those people get together. Could be
at church, could be at uh,
[27:22] uh,
you know, at civic organizations. Could
[27:24] be a lot of places and that represents
what Hill County is trying to do with
[27:30] the resources that they have.
Yep.
[27:39] » All right. There is an aspect of our
county government you could change, what
[27:43] would it be and why?
[27:53] » You know, I
in some ways, you know, I I have thought
[27:58] about over the past couple of weeks here
that
[28:03] some of the rules, some of the things
with uh, state laws,
[28:08] we've kind of lost our way in some areas
and some of that is because we've got a
[28:14] lot of brand new people that maybe have
not been trained of what needs to be
[28:19] done.
Uh,
[28:21] you you can you can read something,
but there's a lot of facts and issues
[28:26] that go with that statement that if you
don't know
[28:29] all the things that go with it, you're
not going to do it right.
[28:33] And that not doing it right affects
other offices. It affects uh, people who
[28:40] come in, you know, to get certain
things.
[28:43] Um,
I think it's it's learning what the
[28:47] rules are, you know, being motivated to
do what the job entails.
[28:54] Uh
and
[28:55] then, you know, backing it up with okay,
here's an evaluation, here's what we
[29:00] need to do
um to represent those things.
[29:04] The people in Hill County expect
the courthouse to keep
[29:10] records. No other place does that. They
expect county attorney to deal with
[29:16] crime and uh civil problems. They expect
the sheriff to, you know, deal with
[29:21] handing out warrants and so on and so
forth.
[29:25] They expected my office to deal with
zoning issues and and uh
[29:31] uh licensing issues or or addressing
issues.
[29:35] Nobody else can do that.
And so
[29:39] but I can't do that without other
offices helping
[29:42] figure out why and where and how this is
done. So, yeah, it's uh
[29:49] trying to work together. There's there's
enough issues there that I think
[29:53] trying to get more cohesive
organization, communication, talking to
[29:57] each other. That's that's got to help.
[30:05] » Man, you got a book there.
>> Right?
[30:07] We're getting there though. We're
getting there. This is for the
[30:09] commissioner position. [laughter]
>> We got to be thorough.
[30:13] » That's right.
[30:26] » Did you want to do this three parts
again?
[30:30] Number 18. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes.
I think that would be appropriate. Um
[30:34] so, I'll I'll start with you with the
first part of this question. Okay. How
[30:38] do you view your relationship with other
elected officials.
[30:45] » Uh I don't I don't have any problems
with elected officials.
[30:49] Uh
I know they are elected for the reason
[30:53] that the public feels that they can
do the job that that office requires.
[31:01] Um and that's
that's all I would ask or if you know if
[31:05] I'm on the outside that okay the law
says this I need this done.
[31:10] Um
I don't have any problems with with
[31:12] that.
>> And then how will you go about building
[31:17] a strong relationship with new elected
officials?
[31:21] And then this this other lead on how do
you maintain those relationships with
[31:26] both
prior elected and newly?
[31:31] » A new elected official comes in here
with
[31:34] limited knowledge of what everything is
done. That's why I make a lot of has
[31:40] conferences
to
[31:43] help build
uh
[31:45] you know a
get a a
[31:48] a foundation for that elected official
to say
[31:52] here's what your responsibilities are.
You know
[31:57] you have to come into the job with the
ability to communicate to be able to
[32:01] talk to people uh and then you learn how
that is done with certain jobs that the
[32:08] county requires.
Um
[32:11] I used to come up in this office
once a week whatever
[32:16] and we would just sit and say yeah this
is a person's uh proposing this
[32:22] subdivision or I'm having problems with
this uh restaurant or food facility or
[32:28] we've had you know 30 people get sick
from something that we're not sure of
[32:33] but we're doing investigations on this
this this.
[32:37] Um
you have to you have to represent your
[32:41] office and the job that you are supposed
to do
[32:45] to the commissioner's office because
they only know
[32:49] what you tell them or that what they
hear on the street.
[32:53] Um
it was nice to hear stuff in the
[32:56] newspaper, but
uh in in reality
[33:00] just having a normal conversation about
what is going on in your office. Um and
[33:06] there's usually plenty of things
that they're not aware of. Commissioners
[33:11] have their own concerns. They have
things they have to deal with, but but
[33:15] they're not They don't know what goes on
with a certain dog bite or somebody got
[33:19] bit by a bat over here and we're looking
at, you know, a lady's uh
[33:23] um
problem or, you know, a lot of those
[33:27] things, but it's interesting for them to
hear that so that they know what your
[33:31] office is doing.
Elected officials,
[33:34] I mean, the same thing. They they only
get what you give them. And if I don't
[33:39] tell you anything,
they may consider that
[33:43] you're not a priority and there must not
be a lot going on. So,
[33:48] keeping them up to up to up to par.
[33:58] » All right.
>> [clears throat]
[33:59] » What do you consider to be your greatest
accomplishment relating to employment?
[34:09] » I think probably two things. Some people
would disagree with this, but
[34:13] uh the addressing system that we needed
in the county was very important for
[34:17] emergency services.
Um and there are many, many ways of
[34:22] doing an addressing system.
Um
[34:25] but hopefully
with a, you know, 1 to 100, you kind of
[34:31] know where you are in there as far as
streets. It's like a street and avenue,
[34:34] you first street, second street, so and
so forth.
[34:37] Uh that's something that needed to be
done.
[34:40] Another accomplishment that wasn't
really easy, well, there's two of them.
[34:45] Um the border patrol station that we
have out here.
[34:49] Uh
the zoning in that area was not correct.
[34:53] And listing the procedures you have to
go through to make sure that that can
[34:59] still be done
if the public you know, after public
[35:04] meetings considers it important uh to be
able to work through that.
[35:09] Sometimes we can get caught up in
paperwork and not really
[35:14] use some common sense as to why we're
doing this.
[35:18] Um another instance, uh fish and
wildlife over by the dike that's over
[35:22] there.
You know, they need a bigger place.
[35:26] What a better place
to put something than down close to a
[35:30] river, close to a lot of
habitat things to where kids can learn,
[35:35] whether it's And And again, that was not
zoned appropriately at all. Uh and it
[35:41] had to go through some changes, and
those changes then had to go to a zoning
[35:45] board, which again you have public
meetings
[35:48] uh to make sure that that certain things
are taken care of and it does not
[35:54] destroy or cause problems in the
residential area that it is. Um
[36:01] Those Those are the three items that
were enjoyable to work on and try to get
[36:05] taken care of in a timely manner. So,
yeah.
[36:10] » Why should we appoint you over the other
candidates?
[36:16] » Um
I know the other candidates are good
[36:19] people. They They work in this office.
They know more about, you know,
[36:24] commission meetings and that type of
stuff.
[36:27] Um
the thing that I had thought about
[36:30] experiences were something and I have
not been in this office, but I've been
[36:35] in this office many, many, many, many
times with issues
[36:39] uh that we've had to try to resolve.
Um
[36:43] 34 to 40 years of experience
dealing with the public, dealing with
[36:48] regulations.
Uh
[36:51] you know, just
trying to do stuff on the
[36:55] outside versus the paperwork that's on
the inside. I feel I've got those skills
[37:00] uh
to do that
[37:02] and um
[37:06] I've had to communicate with a lot of
people. I can't just bull rush through
[37:10] things and say this is the way it is.
It's It doesn't work that way.
[37:14] Uh and so I've I've I've had to learn
that over 40 years of uh
[37:20] dealing with people, dealing with their
their side of the story and uh working
[37:25] it out. So,
I would say that.
[37:29] » Thank you.
>> [clears throat]
[37:32] » Uh this is also a three-parter.
[37:36] First one.
How will you approach short and
[37:40] long-term planning processes?
[37:45] » Short and long term?
[37:49] » Short term,
you know, you deal with uh public
[37:52] comments, you deal with issues that you
have
[37:55] at at a particular time in space
uh and you have to make a decision on
[38:01] it.
Uh one of the areas that I have I've
[38:04] thought about a lot is
this office has to look 10, 20, 50 years
[38:10] down the road. We are planning for our
kids, our grandkids. You know, what do
[38:15] they expect? What will they work for? Uh
what kind of jobs are available? What uh
[38:20] what issues
uh need to be maintained so that
[38:25] you know, the millions of dollars we put
into it now is still worth something 40
[38:29] 50 years from now. We don't want to have
to do it again.
[38:32] Um so, short-term
yeah, you you've got to make a decision.
[38:37] Long-term, you have to look at decisions
that are made now will affect people
[38:41] a long ways down the road, which you
know,
[38:44] that's what you do. Your family expects
things to be in good shape
[38:49] 20 50 years from now. So, keeping it up.
>> Definitely.
[38:55] What system do you use to set goals and
objectives?
[39:02] » First off, identifying what the problem
is
[39:07] and then
coming up with at least two or three
[39:10] objectives as to how to deal with that
problem.
[39:14] Um we've had to do that quite a bit in
in
[39:19] both um planning process for civil
defense for [clears throat] disasters.
[39:23] You know, this could happen. This train
could fall off this uh you know, tornado
[39:28] could come through here.
Okay, what objectives do we need to have
[39:32] to make sure that those things
can be planned for. Maybe it's early
[39:36] warning system. Maybe it's uh you know,
shelter systems. Um
[39:41] um it was interesting the just a quick
story.
[39:46] Um
years ago, probably in
[39:49] 1985 86
uh I don't remember.
[39:54] Jake, you were probably around. Both
Amtrak trains had to stop here because
[39:59] there was an issue with uh
possibly [clears throat] a
[40:02] bomb or some type of nuclear thing.
And
[40:08] all those people had to be taken off the
train.
[40:11] Think about the the total amount of
people that were involved in this.
[40:15] Uh and the train then had to be searched
by border patrol and other people, what
[40:21] do you do with these people? We got the
school district involved with buses,
[40:25] went up to the uh, middle school. Uh,
luckily it was a Saturday to where a lot
[40:30] of people could be in the gym and in the
different areas that were up there.
[40:35] We had the Red Cross. We were able to
get uh, food up there.
[40:38] Uh,
Hill County does have some stores of
[40:41] cots and blankets and pillows
um, to
[40:45] help
with an issue that is unexpected. And
[40:50] so,
dealing with that,
[40:52] you you
you have to look to the future and say,
[40:55] "What could happen?" And then uh,
um,
[40:59] at the spur of the moment, what was
that?
[41:01] » Yep.
Yep, sure.
[41:03] And last but not least, how do you
monitor progress against these goals and
[41:08] objectives?
[41:12] » Um, monitoring, it can come down to
evaluations.
[41:16] Uh, it comes down to
uh, I know our
[41:21] disaster committee, you know, looking at
whether fire, uh, law enforcement, uh,
[41:27] public schools, all those things. You
listen to what updates or what people
[41:33] have
pushed forward in in their mind as to
[41:39] you know, what are what our school
district need next over the next 10
[41:42] years. What uh, law enforcement
the jail is a big issue. You know, that
[41:47] has to be looked at. Um,
you [clears throat] know, just
[41:52] And again, that communication with the
people who are responsible for those
[41:56] particular areas, you have to talk to
them and then set a goal that says,
[42:01] "Within this period of time,
this needs to be done."
[42:05] » Mhm.
>> And the job of the commissioners may be
[42:09] to monitor that and push it, but also,
how do we fund it? And then how do we
[42:13] get the public to acknowledge that
this is what we're doing with some of
[42:18] your tax funds, but hopefully there's
other ways to to fund this stuff, but
[42:23] evaluations and and
communication is probably the biggest
[42:27] issue. Everybody has their own thing, so
>> [clears throat]
[42:30] » Thank you.
How do you encourage staff to stay in an
[42:35] organization?
[42:43] » Well,
obviously pay is one thing.
[42:48] Uh but it's sometimes it's not pay, it's
the working conditions.
[42:53] Uh if the working conditions are such
that
[42:56] um
there's too much negativity, there's too
[43:00] much uh infighting,
uh there's not enough knowledge of the
[43:05] job, and people are constantly
complaining about this is not getting
[43:09] done.
Um
[43:11] so having
having the the knowledge to do the job
[43:16] that's there, so that you are are
confident in what you are telling people
[43:22] uh that needs to be done.
Um
[43:25] so
you know,
[43:28] it's just things that you have to work
through, and uh
[43:34] I guess work with each office and go
from there.
[43:45] » All right.
Tell us about your experience with uh
[43:49] TIFs and RSIDs.
[43:58] » I don't know if I know a lot about TIFs.
>> That's pretty new. Um we just got our
[44:02] first TIF district
uh recently, so um yeah, that's that's
[44:07] uh that's a new thing, so.
>> Well, but
[44:10] uh if it's similar to [snorts] RSIDs,
uh Hill County is
[44:15] one of very few
counties in the state of Montana that
[44:20] have RSIDs.
Um
[44:24] there's not a lot of laws on those on
how you do them, and
[44:29] more often than not, you know, the the
the counties will just go to uh
[44:34] um
funding it through taxpayer dollars or
[44:38] or
uh maybe uh just SID and town. A lot of
[44:43] RSIDs that the county has had were taken
over by the city
[44:47] uh for years. You know, once you get
water and sewer established and the
[44:51] roads, all of a sudden the city looks
and says,
[44:54] "I need to expand our tax base, so we're
going to take this in and expand it in."
[44:59] Um
the whole north side of Havre is under
[45:03] several RSIDs for sewer. They don't have
water.
[45:06] Uh and I don't think they want water,
even though the water over there has got
[45:11] consistently harder and
um
[45:15] hard on things in their house. It's it's
gotten worse. The more you use it, the
[45:19] more you draw in and you get a lot more
minerals and stuff.
[45:22] Um
the west end of Havre all the way out to
[45:25] what used to be Big Bud, now Fergusons,
uh that was an RSID and that was not
[45:31] easy to put in because
one person owned a lot of the land and
[45:35] that person
almost went bankrupt because of the
[45:40] costs that were associated with people's
property to pay back
[45:45] uh the the funds for the RSID. And now,
you know, it's caught up and things are
[45:51] going pretty good with them.
Uh it is a funding tool,
[45:55] uh
but
[45:57] there are state rules on how you have to
do it,
[46:00] and it's it comes down to 50 or 51% of
people involved in it or of the land
[46:06] that's
that's in that particular area.
[46:10] Um
50 people cannot make one person that
[46:14] owns most of the land do something. It's
It's got to be,
[46:18] you know, back and forth. So, I've had
quite a bit of
[46:21] dealings with artist ideas as far as
sewer and water and and roads and stuff.
[46:37] » Last question. What questions do you
have for us?
[46:43] » Uh
>> Your turn.
[46:45] » [clears throat]
[46:48] » You know, I I hit on listening a lot
here because
[46:52] people have their own ideas and
their own their own lives have had
[46:58] different circumstances
uh
[47:01] other than what mine are.
Um
[47:05] the commissioner's office you have to
deal with
[47:09] tons of different areas and you depend
on
[47:13] the
the uh
[47:16] elected officials or the department
heads to to know their job and inform
[47:23] you as to what they feel should be done
so that
[47:27] uh you get the best information possible
uh to do this.
[47:32] Um
[47:37] The biggest thing that I would like to
see, and I I know this office is pushing
[47:41] this with Bear Paw Development and other
things, is
[47:44] you want your community to at least grow
or be sustained such that
[47:51] you know, we're What are we, the seventh
largest city in the in the state? Are we
[47:56] right in there somewhere?
>> That ball park, in that ball park. The
[48:00] 12th most uh populated. We have the
sixth, almost fifth most county roads in
[48:06] the state.
So.
[48:08] » The the
the understanding of county roads,
[48:11] trying to figure out what an open
section line is. And a lot of counties
[48:14] don't have open section lines. So, I
think we're
[48:17] » 54 out of 56 do not.
>> Yes. It's uh and that's a that's a whole
[48:22] issue that some people don't like you
driving on the land, but yet it's an
[48:25] open section line and as long as you
stay within this area.
[48:29] Um
So, so dealing with that issue.
[48:32] Um I know that this office has to deal
with a lot of of
[48:37] road issues, monetary issues.
Um
[48:42] and
doing budgets, I'm okay with that.
[48:47] But, I'm really
[48:50] when I when I look at my checkbook it
better not be at zero. I want to make
[48:54] sure that, you know, there's always some
reserve in there to to work on stuff.
[49:00] And I know that's a big area up here
with all the different functions. And
[49:05] that's just part of the duties. I wrote
down, you know,
[49:08] » [clears throat]
>> you want community involvement. You
[49:10] you're responsible to help deal with the
fairgrounds, the weeds, the flood plain,
[49:15] roads, airplanes, jails, water and
sewer, parks, law enforcement. All these
[49:21] things either have some grants, but are
a lot of unfunded mandates.
[49:26] And decisions on those as to I have this
much money. How much do I put here and
[49:31] here? And I can shift this around, but
um
[49:36] that's probably the biggest issue is
trying to make sure that that people can
[49:40] do their job,
but the taxpayer knows that they don't
[49:45] want that money to be
I guess in areas that
[49:50] they're not getting served correctly.
>> Right.
[49:52] » And and I know this office does the best
job you can and people need to
[49:56] understand that. That
you can support something. It may not be
[50:01] monetarily, but you can help write
letters. Maybe you can deal with the
[50:05] state or federal
people to get stuff done. And I don't
[50:10] know how much I don't see what that is
done up here as far as dealing with our
[50:14] Congress or or state legislators or
whatever, but
[50:20] is do we deal that much with them? I
know Paul gets involved in stuff, but
[50:25] who else?
>> We we do touch base with our our
[50:28] representatives at the state level.
Um they do pop in the office every now
[50:32] and again, but um no, we have the
representatives in our phones. Uh
[50:38] they're
local people. Like their offices like
[50:41] Danes's office and and Downing's office.
And they'll pop in every now and again,
[50:46] but you know, we actually have a really
good work relationship with our
[50:50] delegations. And
you know, if something does pop up
[50:53] where, you know, we're very
uh
[50:56] very passionate about. And you know, if
we get uh
[50:59] people coming in and asking about that
uh certain things. You know, we're
[51:03] getting a lot of stuff on data centers
right now. And you know, a lot of people
[51:07] are against the data centers. So, you
know, these are things that we keep in
[51:10] the back of our mind that when our
delegation representatives do come in,
[51:15] we will have those conversations with
them. So, um the nice part is, yeah, we
[51:19] work with
uh quite a few of our local delegates uh
[51:23] from the state level. And we do talk
with them quite frequently. So.
[51:27] » The industrial park. Has anything
happened with that for years?
[51:31] » Uh we're still working on the covenants
and uh we've had we've had some interest
[51:35] in it. Um
and we do take those into consideration.
[51:38] Uh Bear Paw Development just sent us the
name of uh organization that uh is
[51:43] interested in purchasing it. So,
um yeah, we continue you work on that.
[51:48] So.
>> Well, it's it's things like that. We've
[51:50] had that for years out there. And
with the all the development we've had
[51:55] around here, I don't know why people
don't want to do more out there.
[52:00] Um when you've got a well, when you've
got a road, when you've got utilities
[52:03] and all that, you would think that that
would be a plus, but it's um I don't I
[52:08] don't know why
it [clears throat] just hasn't taken
[52:11] off.
>> Uh the
[52:14] the way it was drawn
up in the beginning was very
[52:17] restrictive.
>> Oh, that was very restrictive, yeah.
[52:19] » So, you know, that and that's something
that we're looking at because we it's
[52:23] tough to, you know, we we want
businesses to come in. We want to get
[52:28] that into a working area for Gila
County, you know, get that tax base and
[52:33] whatnot.
Um but the covenants were so restrictive
[52:36] in the beginning. Uh so, we're working
on that right now to make it less
[52:39] restrictive, to make it more
uh palatable for people to come in.
[52:43] » It even has a railroad that goes, you
know, a spur that goes right next to it.
[52:47] And stuff could be And they use it and
use it to store a lot of cars on, but uh
[52:53] » [clears throat]
>> I'm trying to think if there's
[52:55] much else that uh I would have questions
on. I've been up here a lot. I've been
[53:00] in this office. We moved stuff in the
back. We've been in downstairs. So, it's
[53:05] not a new building.
>> All right.
[53:07] » [laughter]
>> Yeah, but we
[53:09] » Um no, I appreciate your time and uh
>> Likewise.
[53:13] » If you have any more questions, I'd be
happy to answer them, but
[53:16] um we'll
You guys good?
[53:19] » I'm good.
>> I'm good to go.
[53:20] » We can call this
>> Yeah, we'll adjourn the meeting.
[53:23] Thank you, Clay.
>> Yes, sir.
[53:25] » Thank you for being willing to step up.
Thank you so much.
[53:28] » on everything.