Missoula County - The Last Best Place

It really goes without saying, but Missoula County is an amazing place. And in a county that is home to 119,000 souls, spanning terrain from rugged wilderness to the second largest city in Montana, county government plays an important role in our day-to-day lives, whether we realize it or not.

Over the next year, to better communicate the many facets of county government (arguably one of the least understood levels of government), Missoula County elected officials will contribute monthly columns to the Pathfinder. And, you're right, that's elected officials in the plural.

Missoula County government includes 11 elected officials who administer specific departments or portions of county operations. These officials include: three county commissioners, auditor, sheriff, county attorney, clerk of district court, clerk-recorder/treasurer (combined office), two justices of the peace and superintendent of schools. All these individuals are independently elected, responsible for their own department and accountable directly to the voters of Missoula County. Contrary to what some may assume, these public servants do not report to the county commissioners, even though the commissioners are responsible for adopting all departmental budgets and approving contracts. You'll hear from all these officials in the months to come.

Most of the 56 counties in Montana are represented by three commissioners who serve six-year terms in dual executive and legislative capacities. Missoula County is no exception.

Our county government operates under general powers granted by the Montana constitution and state law. What that means in practice is that we can only do precisely what the constitution and state law authorize us to do. This is just the opposite of self-governing local governments, like the City of Missoula, which can do whatever they are not prohibited from doing. The upshot of this is that Missoula County government is much more limited in its powers than municipalities.

Two components of county government - the City-County Health Department and Partnership Health Center (which has a branch in Seeley Lake) - are governed by independent boards, distinct from the Board of County Commissioners. Similarly, sewer, water, fire and cemetery districts operate largely independent from county government, notwithstanding initial establishment of the districts and occasionally when board members need to be appointed outside an election cycle.

Your three commissioners reflect a variety of walks of life and public and private sector experience. Our daily duties range from helping constituents navigate local government, adopting our annual budget and figuring out how best to achieve our county-wide mission to provide quality public service to protect and enhance the well-being of the people, communities and environment of Missoula County.

As your employees, we want to hear from you on what works and doesn't work in county government and how we can do a better job of keeping this slice of Montana the Last Best Place for current and future generations. We look forward to providing a window into county government in the months to come.