94^th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MONTANA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES

Lewistown, Montana

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

GENERAL SESSION

Carol Brooker, MACo President, Sanders County

The 94^TH annual Conference of the Montana Association of Counties opened at 9:00 am. The Lewistown Post of the American Legion presented colors and led the delegates in the Pledge of Allegiance. Rev. Paul Carlson, Lutheran Church, conducted the Invocation. Lewistown City Manager Kevin Myhre welcomed the delegates. Commissioner Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County, responded with gratitude for the hospitality.

President Brooker introduced the head table:

Doug Kaercher, Second Vice President, Hill County

Bill Kennedy, First Vice President, Yellowstone County

Gary Fjelstad, Past President, Rosebud County

Howard Gipe, Urban Representative, Flathead County

John Prinkki, Parliamentarian, Carbon County

Dan Watson, Fiscal Officer, Rosebud County

ROLL CALL

Dan Watson, MACo Fiscal Officer, Rosebud County

At the call of the roll, 51 of 56 member counties responded and Watson announced quorum present to conduct business.

MEMORIAL RESOLUTION

Vern Petersen, Host, Fergus County

The seconded motion to adopt the Memorial Resolution passed by unanimous consent.

RESOLUTION IN MEMORIAM

WHEREAS, the members of the Montana Association of Counties, with great sorrow and a deep sense of loss, wish to remember and honor those members who have been taken by death since the last annual convention of our Association; and

WHEREAS, each of these county commissioners has rendered innumerable public services to his or her respective county, to the State of Montana, and to the people thereof; and

WHEREAS, the absence of these persons is keenly felt as a great personal loss to their families, friends and colleagues,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Montana Association of Counties in convention duly assembled in Lewistown, Montana, this 22nd day of September 2003, that the Association does hereby pay tribute to the memory of Commissioners:

John Kerr, Carter County

Magnus Markuson, Carter County

Alvin Mathison, Dawson County

Robert Phipps, Garfield County

Eugene Cowan, Phillips County

Spencer “Ole” Redland, Treasure County

Alvin “Buzz” Galle, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County,

and on behalf of its members and the citizens of the State of Montana, does hereby express gratitude for their achievements and contributions to the public good of their counties and to Montana.

ANNOUNCEMENT

Kathy Alley, former Dawson County Commissioner, is very ill. Dawson County Commissioners have a card at the registration table to sign.

PRESENTATION OF RESOLUTIONS

Mike Murray, Chair, Lewis and Clark County

“In your packet you should have two resolutions. (See Attachments)

Resolution 2003-1, Utility Rate Energy Crisis

Resolution 2003-2, Exemption to Nepotism.

We were handed this morning Resolution 2003-3, State Land Right of Way.

I will take these three resolutions to the Resolutions Committee tomorrow. The Committee will assign them to the appropriate MACo committees, which will have them ready for Wednesday.

The renovation of our State Capitol in Helena was made possible by counties donating several million dollars in CTEP funding two years ago. If this year you have CTEP funding that you do not intend to use, it will fall back into the abyss of Federal budgeting at the end of the year. So, Betty Babcock, former first lady who is the president of the Montana Capitol Restoration Foundation, has been asking cities and counties to donate any unused CTEP funding for renovation of the steps in the front of the Capitol. So far seven counties (Lewis and Clark, Golden Valley, Prairie, Lake, Glacier, Roosevelt and Jefferson Counties) have all donated money. This is enough for the engineering work for renovation of the grand steps. We ask you to consider donating your time-encumbered CTEP funding to this project. The letter being given you from Mrs. Babcock has the protocol and procedure to donate to the state capitol steps. Please consider this. You will receive a CTEP appropriation next year also. So this isn’t the last shot at MDT funding that you are going to get.”

MSU EXTENSION SERVICE--UPDATE

Leroy Luft, Interim Vice Provost and Director

The text of this session is in the Presentations Section attached to these minutes.

FISCAL REPORT

Dan Watson, MACo Fiscal Officer, Rosebud County

PILT Assessment: (See Attachments)

“This is to cover additional costs for WIR dues and adding another WIR Board member. There is a total increase to the Association of $9,129. The WIR special assessment is for a two-year period and has been presented to the Board. It comes at the time when we are seeing increases in our PILT payments. Some of us have seen 40% to 60% increases. It’s not at full funding yet, but it is one of the issues that will continue to be worked on.”

QUESTIONS

Anita Varone, Lewis and Clark County

When was the last time the dues were increased, both MACo and WIR dues?

For MACo dues, the last increase was 1984. WIR dues also have not increased since beginning in 1983. This will be a short-term assessment.

Jean Curtiss, Missoula County

Is this a two-year assessment or is this to add a new assessment?

This will be an additional two-year assessment, in addition to your regular dues. We are looking at this as a special assessment for the current budget year.

Connie Eissinger, WIR President, McCone County

“WIR is a group of western states. In the beginning, they established a Public Lands Trust. This Trust was to grow and to pay for expenses of the WIR Board to lobby in DC and to go to meetings around the United States. The PILT Fly-In is held every year in Washington DC to lobby very intensively for two days. They try to make it to the Eastern states’ congressional delegations because we need to get Eastern states to help get those increases. It’s an educational lobbying effort so that people know how important PILT is, especially in the West where there is so much public land. It’s been very, very successful. The Public Lands Trust has been decreasing because there have been so many people using it over the years. This is an effort to bring the Trust up to $75,000 and then maintain that level. In future years, the interest can be used to continue with this project.

Paul Beddoe is here. He is our NACo staff person for the Public Lands Steering Committee and also for the Western Interstate Region Board. He can answer any questions you might have.

Last summer we had a workshop in Lewistown on federal land payments. One of the NACo staff from DC, who is a liaison with the Bureau of Land Management, was here and spoke on federal payments to counties. On the Public Lands Steering Committee and also at Western Interstate Region Board we enjoy access to some of the top officials in these agencies. It is good to be able to be on a first name basis and to be able to let them know what our problems are.

Western Interstate Region has been a good thing for Montana.”

Cynthia Johnson, Pondera County

It is my understanding that if the assessment was less than $50 then it would actually be zero. It says with a minimum of $50 per each member county.

You are correct. That statement is misleading. If you look at the schedule, it says, “Zero, if less than $50.” In other words if the county is at $50 or more, it would have an increase; but if it’s not up to $50, there would be no special assessment.

COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Carol Brooker, MACo President, Sanders County

The WIR Board wants more urban representation. They have asked for an urban representative from Montana. If this passes, we will have two positions on the Board.

Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County

Yesterday we were asked to look at another position, also with funding. If that position were looked at for Public Lands and if this position were looked at for WIR, is there enough money from the total assessment to do that?

Watson: At the Board meeting yesterday, we had a request for an additional member on the NACo Public Lands Committee. With the current proposal, MACo would continue to pay the current NACo costs, and the PILT Assessment would pick up the additional board members in the special assessment. There would barely be enough to cover those additional costs and it would not provide any future relief to the Association.

MACo Dues Increase (See Attachments)

“We were trying to base the dues on taxable value only and not take into consideration other items. We struggled with several different methods to assess dues. We will still study those and in the interim we are proposing a temporary dues increase. This particular proposal is for the year 2005 only. It has to be approved by the membership, according to the bylaws.

The Board was quite concerned as to the timing of this particular request along with the PILT Assessment. We tried to clarify that this is for the next budget year, not the current budget year.

During the district meetings we had some questions about budget cuts, cost containment or keeping the cost down, rather than increasing dues. We have identified four particular areas where we feel that we have some control over the cost of MACo expenses: the NACo Committees, the MACo Committees, the staff travel and the printing costs.

The changes in the current revenues have come over the years from a decline in interest earnings, re-classification of counties which has caused decrease in dues, and reliance on outside one-time funds like the GPS-GIS project. If we are to head off a future problem and if we are to continue to provide current activities, then we need revenue increases. The revenue would have to come from membership or from outside sources.

The Committee recommended building up the reserves. 25% basically was an interim proposal. We didn’t want to put the dues increase strictly into operations, but have some used for reserves. The reserves we are most concerned with are the operating cash reserves. (We have other reserves for planned expenditures such as retirements, building replacement, etc.) The problem is that the operating cash reserve is roughly a third of what it was three years ago. The proposed increase of 25% would generate roughly $53,125 over the current dues level.

Visit further with your Board member, the District Chair, who can describe the discussions at our Board meetings and some possible alternatives that are being considered.”

COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John Prinkki, District 7 Chair, Carbon County

In the vote that we will take Wednesday, you have all the options that you have with any other vote. You could either vote to support the 25% increase, or any amendment that you would like to have with that, or you could balance reductions in services just like we do within our county budget. One of these proposals at our board meeting was to postpone the decision on the dues increase until our midwinter meeting and look at some other alternatives. So we have at least those three different options that we can work within. It’s not a yes or no vote. We do have other choices.

Gary Fjelstad, MACo Past President, Rosebud County

There was conversation as to whether or not the Committee’s recommendations should be taken to that leadership meeting in December, really worked on and brought to the full membership at the Midwinter meeting. I encourage everybody to talk with their District Chairs so that we could make a good decision on Wednesday.

Carol Brooker, MACo President, Sanders County

At that Board retreat we would also have the Finance Committee there to share what they were thinking with this proposal so we would be able to bring the ideas back.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

Carol Brooker, President

The three nominations for Fiscal Officer are:

Bill Nyby, Sheridan County

Rita Windom, Lincoln County

Allan Underdal, Toole County

President Brooker called for further nominations. There were none.

Bill Nyby, Sheridan County

I thank Districts 1, 2 and 3 for nominating me for this position. First, I would work to keep MACo a vibrant, strong organization, working to serve the member counties. Second, I would work on a tax reform package that we could take to the Legislature.

Rita Windom, Lincoln County

I’m on my second term as County Commissioner. I am here because my fellow commissioners asked me to come here. I only have one job--that’s being a County Commissioner, so I have the time to devote to this position.

My background is in small business, college courses in accounting, business law, real estate law and banking. I’ve been doing our county budget since I took office in 1997. I am one of those people who enjoys working with numbers and I’m good at it.

After having worked on Taxation, Finance and Budget Committee for the last year or so, it’s been very obvious that our economy has hit MACo hard. Our reserves are low. We need to work on getting those up.

And we need to work at more efficient use of the resources that we have at hand, like having telephone conferences. We don’t all need to be in the same room to make decisions. We just have to have the same information.

Our uncertain economy, particularly in our rural areas and particularly in my county, leads me to believe that we need tax reform and we need it sooner than later. We have to be working immediately to inform our legislators so that everyone understands our economic situation. We need to be prepared to be major players in the next legislative session. Without major tax reform our counties and our State are not going to thrive.

Allan Underdal, Toole County

I would like to have the chance to serve you again as Fiscal Officer.

Tax reform is the issue that we need to pursue as an organization. The time is coming when it will be more palatable to the legislators.

I am a third generation Montanan; I have a wife of 28 years and four children. This year was a momentous year for me because 1) I turned 50 and 2) I became a grandfather for the first time. I have been a commissioner for 10½ years and been on the Board of Directors for MACo for five years, two of those as Fiscal Officer. I also represent MACo on the NACo Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. I do have some experience in this position and I would like to put that to work for you.

I want to maintain fiscal accountability in MACo. We talked about the dues increases. They are necessary if we are to maintain the level of service we have going.

The Urban Counties will meet and decide their representative for the Executive Board. That name will be brought forward on Wednesday.

The remaining Executive Committee nominations are:

Carol Brooker for President

Bill Kennedy for First Vice President

Doug Kaercher for Second Vice President

Gary Fjelstad for Past President.

CONFERENCES FOR 2004 and 2005

Carol Brooker, President

The 2004 Conference will be held in Missoula.

Jean Curtiss, Missoula County

On behalf of Missoula County I welcome you and invite you to come to Missoula County next year for Conference. We look forward to having you there and we promise you won’t have any smoke--it’s all cleared up.

Two counties bid for the 2005 Conference--Yellowstone County and Flathead County.

Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County

We have a great meeting facility at the Holiday Inn. We have great shopping and entertainment throughout the City of Billings. We would like to invite all of you to come to Billings in 2005 for the Annual Conference. We are looking at some options for taking you off campus and for other fun and entertainment. We hosted the WIR Convention two years ago and we had a great time. We ask you to support Billings as your stop in 2005 for the Conference.

Gary Hall, Flathead County

Flathead Lodge is by Flathead Lake, about ten minutes from downtown Kalispell. So far they have invested $2 million into the property there. It is a beautiful facility with many rooms and the view of Flathead Lake. In my past life I was a conference organizer, so I’m excited and looking forward to the possibility of doing this. Howard Gipe will have just recently retired after 18 years as a commissioner, so one of the highlights of being up in the Flathead will be an opportunity to roast Howard. We will make this work for you.

2004 LOCAL GOVERNMENT VOTER REVIEW REQUIREMENTS

Jane Jelinski, Directory, MSU Local Government Center

Judy Mathre, Associate Director, MSU Local Government Center

The text of the session is in the Presentations Section of these minutes.

Sample ballot texts are in the Attachments to these minutes.

WEST NILE VIRUS

Maggie Bullock, Administrator, MT DPHHS Health Policy and Services Division

Jim Murphy, Communicable Disease Surveillance, DPHHS Health Policy and Services

Amy MacKenzie, Communicable Disease Surveillance, DPHHS Health Policy & Services

Dr. Michael Spence, State Medical Officer, MT DPHHS Health Policy & Services Division

The text of this session is in the Presentations Section attached to these minutes.

Dr. Paul Beddoe, Associate Legislative Director for NACo and WIR, was the luncheon speaker.

PROXY VOTES

John Prinkki, Parliamentarian, Carbon County

“The question was asked whether or not we would allow proxy votes. In the Delegate Assembly Rules, Rule 3 reads, ‘Each regular member has one vote. Regular members shall be those counties which contribute annually to the financial support of the Association. There shall be one county delegate and one alternate with the authority to vote. The delegate and the alternate must be elected county officials.’ Rule 5 reads, ‘All voting shall be by show of hands or voice vote.’ That would tell you that you have to be present to vote. Rule 7 says there can be a suspension of the rules. So it is my interpretation of our Delegate Assembly Rules that if we want to grant any county the right to use a proxy, we should vote for the suspension of the rules. That will require a motion to suspend the rules, stating the purpose of the suspension. Then it would require 2/3 of the assembly to vote in favor of the motion.”

DISCUSSION

Nancy Espy, Powder River County

Powder River County made this request for the proxy vote. However, after reading your rules for hand vote or voice vote, I don’t feel that it is possible.

Prinkki: By suspending the rules we will allow for a different type of a vote, for you to offer a proxy. If the assembly will approve that, then you can leave your proxy with whatever county or individual you want. A proxy is similar to the power of attorney. You can give that to whomever you want and then they would present your vote.

Espy: I move to suspend the rules to allow for a proxy vote for any county that is in attendance and registered at this Conference and forced to leave early. The motion was seconded by Joan Stahl, Rosebud County.

We came to the conference planning to be here for the three days. We have to leave early due to a medical problem. We came together. Our representative to vote is riding with me and I’m the one who has the problem. We feel very strongly about the importance of voting and that is why we have asked for the suspension of the rules so that we can have a proxy vote for the items to be voted on at this Conference. That means our vote would go to some individual, a member, who would vote at our direction.

Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County

Are you asking for counties that came to this Conference and may have to leave early or does this mean if we suspend the rules, we wait for someone to call from a county that didn’t come to the Conference and ask to assign a proxy, too? If a county makes an effort to come to the Conference and is here, a proxy is not a concern. But if a county didn’t come at all, are we granting them also the opportunity to vote?

Espy: No, this would be only for a county that is here and has to leave early. A county couldn’t vote which isn’t attending. We are here; we came to stay and we are not able to.

Joan Stahl, Rosebud County

We are making this much more complicated. Powder River has asked for permission to suspend the rules so they can have a proxy vote. We are asking for this on a one-time, now, Powder River County only, thing. This is a one-time one-instance. Someone else may come next year and ask for this.

Mary Sexton, Teton County

Aren’t we doing two things at once? Don’t we suspend the rules, then we ask for the purpose for the suspension?

Prinkki: My interpretation is that the suspension of the rules has to clarify why you are suspending. This is a suspension of the rules to allow a proxy vote. Whatever motion you want to make regarding suspension of the rules is appropriate. We just need to be clear. I don’t anticipate any other county having to leave early, but you could leave that open to any county that is here and has to leave early.

Lance Olson, Cascade County

It’s possible that we will have to leave early also and my understanding of the motion, which I support, would be that any county that was in attendance and registered would be allowed a proxy vote. If that’s not true, I still support the motion if she wants to amend that to be just her county. My understanding is that a county in attendance and registered would be allowed that proxy vote.

Voice vote was declared and then President Brooker called for the vote by roll. Fiscal Officer Watson called the roll. The motion carried by vote of 42-yes; 6-No; 8-No Response.

NOMINATIONS FOR SECOND VICE PRESIDENT

Carol Brooker, President

Nominations were opened for MACo Second Vice President.

Art Kleinjan, Blaine County, nominated Doug Kaercher, Hill County.

Following three calls for nominations, there were no further nominations and nominations were closed.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

Carol Brooker, MACo President

The Urban Counties picked a new Representative, Jean Curtiss of Missoula County. Missoula County is not a member of the JPA Workers’ Compensation Trust, so there will be an election for the JPA Board of Trustees position.

Following meetings of individual MACo Committees, the Committee Chairs reported in the General Session.

Agriculture Committee

Kathy Bessette, Hill County, Chair

“Concerning the resolution for rights of way, we wondered why private individual rights were not addressed. We will talk about that when the resolutions are brought forth.

I did visit with Anita Varone, but did not have a chance to visit with Connie Eissinger, about having a meeting of the Agriculture Committee, the Economic Development Committee and the Public Lands Committee to address issues of common interest. We feel that in order for Montana to thrive and survive, economic development needs to include agriculture.

We are working on a January meeting, before February calving starts, with a fantastic speaker who is the Denver area director of the SBA. He spoke not only at the NACo meeting, but also at our Rural Caucus. He said that in order to improve the economy, agriculture and rural areas have to be drawn in. We want to meet with Stockgrowers, Graingrowers, Farm Bureau and find what we can accomplish for rural areas and especially our agriculture communities.

We are concerned about lack of staff at MSU in the agriculture area. I don’t know if we are willing to put together a resolution so we can tackle that like we did with the extension agents.

A huge area of concern is the water issue. At a recent meeting the few of us who were there felt that the philosophy of DNRC and the Bureau of Rec. was towards urban areas assuming our water. That is critical to our State. A controversial water trust has been formed by a group in Missoula. We have members of the Agriculture Committee who are on this trust.

We talked about weed management plans. The weed representative on our Agriculture Committee mentioned that there will be more dollars sent from the Department of Agriculture for control of saltcedar.

We had a resolution to encourage counties to form drought committees. In Hill County, the drought committee’s first meeting had maybe ten people; at the last meeting about a month ago, 23 people were there. If you don’t have your drought committee formed, please do so. There was an email questionnaire sent from Jesse Aber from the State Drought Committee not too long ago. I advise you to fill it out and send it in. They want to hear from local people.

The lines of communication are opening between agencies and it’s really good as far as actually knowing about your fire danger, knowing about water issues, talking about weeds, the whole gamut. The key word is communication.”

Economic Development Committee

Anita Varone, Lewis and Clark County, Chair

“This is the fifth meeting that we have held since we were established at the beginning of the year. Our energy and excitement about economic development is critical to MACo.

We are reviewing the policy statement. We established what we want to do for Montana. What we don’t want to do is pit east against west, urban against rural, democrats against republicans. Our goal is to work for the gains of the State.

We decided to work, if we can, on the state of the economy and the communities. We started by inviting individuals from economic development corporations to give us an overview. We spoke with Gateway Economic Development of Helena and the economic development group in Havre. Sue Mohr also joined us and talked about the job training programs. Mark Lindberg from the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity spoke to us in Fort Benton.

We asked the members what they do in economic development in their areas. It was interesting to learn what similarities and what differences we have. Economic development touches every community and every county. We are excited that economic development will be in the forefront.

We decided that we had to see what communities across Montana were doing that was successful. First, we went to Fort Benton and visited with the businesses. Jim O’Hara set this up. We visited with Bob Quinn who owns a wind energy company with a cousin in Europe. They are going to be establishing one in the Judith Gap area. We toured a hotel, a grain mill and Taylor Aviation. Taylor Aviation has the largest single engine fire-hardened plane corporation in the United States and maybe in the world.

In November we will meet in Hamilton. Betty Lund in Ravalli County is setting that up for us. She is planning to have some successful business folks give presentations and will put together some tours for us. The Director of Department of Commerce, Mark Simonich, asked to come to our next meeting, so either he or his chief deputy Ann Fuller will be attending the meeting in Hamilton. They want to let us know what is happening in development programs. MACo is a highly respected organization in the State. We decided that it is important, if possible, to partner up when we go to the legislature for economic development issues. So early on we met with the Montana Economic Development Association. They are very interested in partnering with us. We made contact with several Montana Ambassadors who also will attend our meeting in November in Ravalli County. Mike McGinley is on the MEDA Board and Jim O’Hara is a Montana Ambassador. We believe that three well-respected organizations going to the legislature is stronger than individually or independently. We are discussing legislative issues that MEDA is already working on. Several of us will be attending that meeting next month.

We also have written several letters of support for grants for corporations that are either established or want to come into Montana. In Washington DC, we all met with the person Kathy described. He indicated that there is money in the Farm Bill for economic development, so we feel it is important for Montana to ask him to come. Hopefully in January we will see him.”

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County, Chair

“We are going to have a summit in January or March. The Committee to plan this will meet October 10 at 10:00 am at the Mental Health Center in Miles City. We will also be meeting October 31 in Missoula at 10:00 am. If you would like to join us as we discuss the summit, we would love to have you there. We want to update everyone on the current law, what needs to be offered for mental health services in every county, problems in the community--both urban and rural, legislation for the 2005 session and funding. Those are the four basic areas we want to discuss in the summit. We would like to have a list of names of people to be invited to the summit from every county to give us their input.

We talked about the alcohol tax dollars. As you remember, Rep. Edith Clark carried a bill that 20% of the alcohol dollars that are collected in the State of Montana go back to counties for alcohol treatment programs. In a presentation today, they proposed having a contract with each county, but there’s a twist to it. They would like the alcohol dollars to stay with the State and they could distribute dollars back to us. We would like the dollars to come to the counties, just like we do with every other governmental transfer, and do a trade back to the State to increase the rates for alcohol providers in the counties. Here is an opportunity for us to do like we do with mental health dollars and get that money out to the providers. We are working on that and we will get something out to each of you.

We are going to be working on resolutions coming up for the 2005 session, so if there is anything that you feel that we need to be looking at, let us know.”

Gordon Morris: In regard to the transfers, is it the case that this has to be uniformly applied across the State? Do all counties have to do this?

Kennedy: We were told today that the Department said that the intergovernmental transfers have to be done by all 56 counties before the Department will even look at that. But, we are trying to get an opinion from Greg Petesch on what the actual Edith Clark bill stated. We will get back to you on that.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

Mary Sexton, Toole County, Chair

“We talked about two things in the IT Committee. The first is a draft RFP for self-funded electronic government services through MACo. Counties could participate in the ability to pay taxes, fees, etc., through electronic check or with credit card. Gordon Morris gave us a draft proposal for vendors to supply this service to the counties. Some counties have already started and other counties see a need for it but know that it is expensive. At least a summary of this proposal should go out to all counties so that you know what is being considered.

Before we move with this effort, we do need to contact the Clerks and Recorders and Treasurers and have them participate in this effort, because this is very important to them. We want to consider this possibility for having self-funded e-government services through MACo. We may have Montana Imaging International, that does the State’s Discovering Montana and all their applications for e-government, present what the State is doing so that we have a better idea of what might be available for counties. If you have further questions, people from the State are here and Art Pembroke from Lewis and Clark County is here.

Second, information has been provided by the Geographic Information Council, which uses Cadastral and the various layers available from ENRIS. There is a question about funding to keep this information updated. We all use it in various ways, whether it’s rural addressing or DES or for planning or by different entities. So there is an effort to go to the legislature regarding the Montana Geographic Information Act and find a funding source for keeping up the current data.”

JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

Roddy Rost, Fallon County, Chair

“We had a proposal dealing with housing of inmates, asking the State to pay a portion. We are still looking at ways of re-wording that, keeping it as legislation. We will ask the Peace Officers Association and the County Attorneys Association for some support. Credit for time served is basically mandatory, so if the law says they get credit for time served and that time has been served in the county jail, the State should pick up that tab or even a portion of that. We have had this before the legislature twice and it hasn’t gone anywhere because of budgets, but we don’t want it to die because we strongly feel that it affects every county and it is an obligation of the State. (President Brooker assigned this to the Resolutions Committee.)

On the county attorney pay issue, drafted by Leo Gallagher, Lewis and Clark County, and given us by the Resolutions Committee, we had a lot of questions. Everybody needs to take this back and talk with their attorneys and commissioners.”

LAND USE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

John Prinkki, Carbon County, Chair

“We intend to draft a resolution to reinstate the community technical assistance program that was eliminated by the State Legislature. We feel that the $260,000 cost to the State was some of the best money spent.

Of interest is the inconsistency between the Sanitation and Subdivision Act and the Subdivision Platting Act. The Subdivision Platting Act has a 160-acre limit; the Sanitation and Subdivision Act has 20 acres. We want to visit with DEQ and the Interim Legislative Committee about bringing consistency back. We want to have the same number of acres per review.

There is concern about the non-fed. rules with DEQ and the ARMS. Paddy Trusler from Lake County has a strong background in this issue and said that there isn’t scientific basis for establishing the rules. So we would like to work with DEQ and their ARMs. A subcommittee of the Land Use Planning Committee will try to meet with DEQ to do that.”

PUBLIC LANDS COMMITTEE

Connie Eissinger, McCone County, Chair

“We had Paul Beddoe with us to give us in-depth discussion of full funding of PILT and the forest legislation. We need a statement from this group to support full funding of PILT to be sure that we are on record.

Donna Sevalstad has worked on the healthy forest legislation and will be presenting it to the Forest Counties. I would like the Public Lands Committee to meet just prior to their meeting so that we can look it over. We will act on it at that time.

The Cooperating Agency workshop will be held in Billings on Tuesday, October 14. Most of us have public lands and it’s an important workshop for us to attend. Cynthia Nedd-Moses, who gave us the public lands workshop last summer, will be attending. It will be at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center and you can register with the MACo office.

We would like to meet on the State Lands Right-of-Way resolution. We are not comfortable with the language that was presented. We would like to work with the Transportation Committee and meet with DNRC for more input on what we need to say. We would like to do this before the end of the year.

Off-highway vehicles are not collecting the weed tax and we think that it would be a good idea to have them participate in the tax. We will be doing some investigation on that and a resolution may be brought forward.

We didn’t discuss working with the Agriculture Committee and the Economic Development Committee on the economic development. I think that would be an important thing to do. A resolution from our State could go to NACo to help us to work on a better situation between the Small Business Administration and rural counties.“

RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE

Mike Murray, Lewis and Clark County, Chair

“There is a procedure for the introduction of resolutions. There is also a sample of how a resolution should be written. If you get close to that, the Resolutions Committee or MACo staff will take care of it. (See Attachments)

Resolution #1 on utility rates was introduced by Teton County. The Resolutions Committee asked that this be re-written to take out the specific references to the companies involved. The Committee considers this to be a very important issue and we would like to have it re-submitted at the Mid-Winter Conference, so letters can be sent dealing with this.

Resolution #2 is a resolution for exemption to nepotism that is designed after the school nepotism law. The Resolutions Committee decided to keep this in the Resolutions Committee. The recommendation is “Do Pass” with Medium Priority. We will hold it until next year when the full body will act on it.

Resolution #3, State lands right-of-way, was referred to the Public Lands Committee. We expect it to be worked over, changed and brought back, along with their recommendation that it also go to Transportation Committee.

Resolution #4 is the County Attorney pay issue. The only way this can be introduced is to give it to the Board of Directors prior to coming to the Resolutions Committee. It is important to know that this exists. It’s an attempt to have a cooperative resolution between the County Attorneys Association and counties. The intent here is not to have counties assume full pay out of your tax dollars for county attorneys, but to put part of the county attorney salaries in the big bill and have that money flow to counties, rather than the nightmare we have now where two different agencies paying your county attorney. If my commissioners agree, we will introduce it at a district meeting, since Leo Gallagher, from Lewis and Clark County, is a representative of the County Attorneys Association. It is the intent of the Resolutions Committee to move this to the Justice and Public Safety Committee. So if you have recommendations or suggestions, get them to Justice and Public Safety or to the Resolution Committee.”

Harold Blattie: During the legislative session, we came very close to losing the funding for county attorney salaries. In the subcommittee the chairman wished to remove that funding completely. He was unsuccessful in the subcommittee meeting; but in the House, we did lose $481,000. In the Senate Finance and Claims we were able to restore $286,000. That restored funding to the Department of Justice for 50% of the 2003 county attorney salaries. We still have issues with the State not fully funding 50% of the salaries and we have budget timing issues.

The Interim Justice Committee met. Attorney General McGrath presented this issue to the Committee and I spoke with the Committee later that day. Basically, we (MACo and the County Attorney Association) were assigned, “Why don’t you two groups go and work out a solution to this problem and bring it back to us.” When we think about having the endorsement of that Interim Committee, it would be very instrumental in moving that proposal forward.

We are asking for your help. One of the options would be to put the money into the entitlement share, where it would then grow by the annualized growth factor and then the counties would assume all the responsibilities for payment of the county attorney salaries. Another option, 180 degrees from that, would be in 2005 we would lose the entitlement share, and the State would become responsible for the payment of all the county attorney salaries. We could even say that the county attorney would become a state employee. That’s just a couple of options. We are asking for your help with ideas. Please get your suggestions to us because it is an issue that does need to be addressed. We want to find a solution that is agreeable to everyone.

Murray: On the full-funding for PILT, there will be a proposal at the General Session tomorrow that the full body can vote on. That’s allowable because of the committee presentations.

TAXATION, FINANCE AND BUDGET COMMITTEE

Dan Watson, Rosebud County, Chair

“We dealt basically with two issues. We have been asked to form a coalition or a task force on tax reform from the MACo point-of-view. We are asked to use members of our Committee to host a group including legislators, school boards, schools, the ag. community, the Montana Foundation, to come up with some meaningful tax reform. This is in addition to the Interim Legislative Committee, which has already met. Hopefully, we can do this in a shorter time period so we can get out in front of the Legislative Committee and be in conjunction with what they are trying to do. We have at least three members of our committee willing to do that. We will be working on the calendar shortly to get invitations out to the stakeholders and hopefully get ahead of the game.

We also dealt with the proposal before you for the dues increase. The Committee has asked me to clarify the reserve amount that we are trying to target. We based that on the possibility of our budget for MACo at $600,000, setting a 20% reserve at $120,000. So, we need to set a specific amount of dues increase to meet that target for the reserve. Initially we were looking at a figure of roughly $40,000, assuming that would take us several years to get to the target.

The Committee is committed to working on changing the dues structure, not based on the ability to pay and not based on the current classification that is being used. We will continue that process, which we began almost a year ago, trying to put together something that we feel would be more equitable and fair to the membership.

We would encourage your continued discussions on the proposed dues increase. Did we spend much time looking at the expenditure side for cost containment or cost reduction? No, we were looking specifically for the reasons of the decreasing reserves. It’s been due to a combination of the reduction of revenues and increases in services. We have expanded our services at the same time we’ve had reductions in revenue from changes in classifications.”

TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

Vern Petersen, Fergus County

“On Friday afternoon I was informed by Melody Haynes, Sharon Peterson’s replacement in Max Baucus’ Billings office, that everything was in place for a four-month continuing resolution for the highway funding bill, so there won’t be a glitch. There were concerns that a central resolution wasn’t enough this year and she maintained that all three hurdles had been addressed by Congress. It is good news that we can keep going until they get a bill passed.

We did talk about the state land rights-of-way resolution that was presented here yesterday. We have no problems supporting that or a similar concept, whatever comes out of the Resolution Committee. We think it needs to be kept on MACo’s plate because it is a big issue statewide.

President Brooker put together a field trip with the Executive Board and three members of the Transportation Committee. We visited with the counties that the Contractors Association continually brought up in the hearings for SB 46 and used as models to punish the rest of us. We visited with those folks in their counties. I wish we had done that prior to the session. It was really, really informative. Those people are doing what is right for their taxpayers beyond question. They are keeping records that we will have available to put this to rest. The one thing that I ask you to do is to visit with your legislators prior to the session and try to get them to understand the issue. It’s difficult when they get up there in those hearings and hear innuendos and total falsifications that are being passed out, such as the Contractors were representing the taxpayers and you were the one out to take advantage of them, and so forth. So, it would be in all of our best interests if we could visit with those folks on this topic prior to the next session.

How do we mitigate the costs for the use of our roads by other agencies when they approve a camping spot or a fishing access and add another 1,000 cars to our roads? We met with MDT about a week ago. Their concern is primarily with the cities. They have a problem, when they have a road contract through a town, for example, and the town wants to tack on a sewer improvement project with the contract because it affects that system. The town lets them know what it’s supposed to cost but by the time the RID is done and they let the contract, the price has doubled. So, how do they fund that increase? We’ll keep working on that.

The State is enforcing the all-road language that is in their special provisions. In most cases, the State does enforce that provision.

The Secondary Roads policy, according to both Mr. Blacker and Mr. Galt, is working very well in their opinion and the Committee members agree with that.”

MONTANA ECONOMY

Larry Swanson, Center for the Rocky Mountain West, University of Montana

The text of this session is in the Presentations Section of these minutes.

Luncheon speaker was Mike Kadas, Mayor of Missoula. A synopsis of his remarks is on page 59 in the Presentations Section attached to these minutes.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

GENERAL SESSION

President Carol Brooker, Sanders County

The September 24, 2003, letter from US Senator Max Baucus was read aloud.

A video from US Senator Conrad Burns was viewed. A synopsis of the Senator’s comments is in the Presentations Section attached to these minutes.

President Brooker introduced the head table:

Dan Watson, Fiscal Officer, Rosebud County

Gary Fjelstad, Past President, Rosebud County

John Prinkki, Parliamentarian, Carbon County

Howard Gipe, Urban Representative, Flathead County

Bill Kennedy, First Vice President, Yellowstone County

Doug Kaercher, Second Vice President, Hill County

Gordon Morris, Executive Director

ROLL CALL

Dan Watson, MACo Fiscal Officer, Rosebud County

At the call of the roll, 52 of 56 member counties responded and Watson announced quorum present to conduct business. One proxy was present for Powder River County

2005 CONFERENCE LOCATION

Flathead County, Commissioner Gary Hall

We would love to be the host. We have a new property called “White Oak”, which is about ten minutes from downtown Kalispell. There has been $2 Million in renovation. It has beautiful banquet rooms and beautiful hotel rooms. We would love to have you in the Flathead. Thanks for this opportunity to be a part of these meetings.

Yellowstone County, Commissioner Bill Kennedy

We would like to have the annual conference in Billings because the Mayor called us and asked if we could have Billings Day at the MACo Conference. We would like to submit our “day” bid. The Holiday Inn has excellent convention facilities. With that we have shopping malls, entertainment and we are looking forward to doing something extra special off-site. If we are able to host you in 2005, we will be sure to have Commissioner Jim Reno at the front door to greet each of you and to carry in your bags.

President Brooker called for voice vote, for which there was no clear majority. Vote by hand was conducted and Yellowstone County was named the site for 2005 Conference.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Fiscal Officer Candidates

Rita Windom, Lincoln County

I am Rita Windom from Lincoln County and I am extremely privileged and honored to run for the fiscal officer position. I really would like to have that position.

I love working with budgets; I love making things work and being fiscally sound and responsible. If you give me that opportunity, I assure you that I will take that responsibility and do the best I can for you.

Bill Nyby, Sheridan County

If you feel I am the best candidate, I would appreciate your support.

Allan Underdal, Toole County

I am grateful to be able to run for this position again. I would like to be able to represent you on the Board as fiscal officer and I would use my experience to serve you as best I can. I would appreciate your vote.

President Brooker appointed Dave Reinhardt, Valley County, and Donna Sevalstad, Beaverhead County, to count the ballots.

On the first ballot, Rita Windom and Bill Nyby received the most votes. So another ballot was circulated for those two candidates.

On the second ballot, the vote was tied 26 to 26, with 52 counties voting.

On the third ballot, the vote remained tied.

John Prinkki, Parliamentarian

“During a recent state election there was a one-vote win. One candidate asked for a recount and after a recount, it was a tied vote. They decided to have the decision made by lottery and used a coin toss. After the decision by coin toss, the losing candidate decided he didn’t like that, so he took it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that the coin toss was a legitimate way of making the decision. Rita and Bill can confer to decide if they want to have another ballot or if they would rather have it decided by some form of lottery like a coin toss, drawing straws, etc.”

Mike McGinley, Beaverhead County

Powder River County asked for a proxy vote the other day and received permission to do it. A few people asked why Beaverhead County voted against it. This could be the very reason. I do believe that Powder River County was here, intended to stay and had to leave. I can agree with that, but we have to be really careful about proxy votes. I am a firm believer that you have to be here to vote, so if that comes up in the next meeting, I would like the delegates to really think about what you do with a proxy vote. If we decide to debate, it is critical to be here. That is one of the reasons Beaverhead County voted against the proxy. Bear in mind that this is two years in a row we have had a tied ballots.

Bill Nyby and Rita Windom conferred and decided to do a coin toss.

Bill Nyby won the coin toss and became the new MACo Fiscal Officer.

The slate of candidates for the remaining MACo Officers was elected by unanimous ballot:

President Carol Brooker, Sanders County

First Vice President Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County

Second Vice President Doug Kaercher, Hill County

Past President Gary Fjelstad, Rosebud County

Pat Conway, Hill County

“Generally when people are nominated for office, there would be a nomination speech. Since Doug Kaercher, Hill County, was never given that opportunity, I think it only right that the delegates of this assembly have a history of Doug Kaercher. (Parliamentarian concurred.)

I have known Doug for a long time and Hill County totally supports his election to the Board of Directors. He comes from a family of great community commitment. Of his siblings, a brother was in the Peace Corps and four sisters are participants in community affairs. One sister is in Billings and works for the Boys and Girls Club. Doug was the instigator of establishing a boys and girls club on the Highline. In Havre we have over 600 kids that are enrolled in the Boys and Girls Club--a great accomplishment.

Doug was elected to the Havre city commission and served for a few years. He also worked as an airplane mechanic. I question that because he never flies. He has a book on it and he can’t sell it. So I wonder…

He worked on the family farm. He farmed a few years and then was elected into the County Commission. As far as his expertise within the county commission, he has been our IT guy. Prior to his coming to Hill County, we were on the verge of centralized computer system. When Doug got there, he took that horse right by the reins. We call it ‘Seabiscuit’ now.

He has done a great job in Hill County and we are very proud of him.

For all of you to know, his nickname is not ‘Doug’, it’s ‘Dough’.”

Doug Kaercher, Hill County

“I really couldn’t do this without the support of my commissioners in Hill County. They have been really great during this. Hill County does have an investment because it takes quite a time commitment to do this. I really appreciate the honor and it has been a great pleasure to serve you this first nine months in this Second Vice Presidency.

It’s been quite an eye-opener for me to go around to these district meetings to see the diversity. When you come to these conferences you think that commissioners think similarly all across the State. But when you go to these district meetings, you see that every district has its own little quirk. It’s really quite amazing and has been an educational learning experience.

Thank you all for the vote of confidence and I look forward to serving you all in the next three or four years. I, too, am going to be past, past, past President someday.”

P I L T ASSESSMENT

Dan Watson, Fiscal Officer

Discussion is now open. You have had the last couple of days to visit among yourselves and visit with the Board of Directors to ask any questions or concerns you may have had on this. I ask for your consideration on the proposal. On behalf of the Tax, Finance and Budget Committee, I move for the adoption of the PILT Special Assessment. (See Attachments)

After a second to the motion, ballots were given to voting delegates.

The motion for an additional PILT assessment was seconded and passed.

MACo DUES

Dan Watson, Fiscal Officer

Gary Fjelstad, Past President

I move to postpone and send this to the Board of Directors for work at the leadership retreat. We need to look at the budget, make possible cuts, and come back to membership in February. I mean to have discussion now so we can hear concerns and what you think should be considered. If you have no discussion today, please get ideas to your District chairs for the leadership retreat. (See Attachments)

The motion was seconded.

Howard Gipe, Flathead County

This is exactly what the urban counties have asked be done.

Carol Kienenberger, Phillips County

I appreciate the motion to wait on this.

Yesterday during Committee reports, we heard about several committees planning to meet in different locations. One of the suggestions the dues increase did not have was to possibly limit the funding for committee travel. Is each committee given a certain amount of dollars and they operate within that spectrum or can they set as many meetings wherever they want. How is that figured?

I talked to Dan during the budget committee meetings yesterday. I was surprised when it seemed like our budget had been going along fairly well without any problems. At several meetings we were asked to approve different things and we were told it could be done within the existing budget. Now all of a sudden we are out of reserves. That frustrated me because, every time, we were asked to approve something within the existing budget. Maybe it wasn’t apparent at the time that this affected the reserves, but we should have been told. And maybe we should have looked ourselves.

I did ask, too, about the health insurance for the employees. We know all counties struggle with health insurance costs for their employees. The MACo policy has been changed; they had looked at that and put a cap on that. That is an area where the Board was trying to control some costs and I appreciated it.

Basically my question is on the committees, how they operate and how they are funded.

Watson: The committees are budgeted historically by the number of committees and the number of times they met. It doesn’t mean that they don’t meet more times or, in some cases, fewer times than what they are normally scheduled. We have an overall budget for all committees. It’s a shared pot of money. It’s not specifically assigned to any one committee, with any one committee having an exact dollar amount to use. As in any budget, it’s our best estimate based on historical information as to the activity level of committees, the size of committees and the kind of distances that they will possibly be traveling. Many committees are moving around to be centrally located so that they can cut down on some of that travel for the members, rather than always holding meetings in the same places and having some travel extreme distances and some not so far.

Regarding the health insurance benefit, it was recommended to the Board as a Personnel Policy change. A cap was adopted at the current plan level. (We converted to the Lewis and Clark County plan in 2002.) The current employees are being capped at the current Lewis and Clark plan level and then new employees will only be allowed to come on at the single employee rate. Our intention is that future increases in that adopted plan will be passed on to the employee. That policy was proposed at the Board meeting, effective retroactively to July 1 of this year.

We did convert to the Lewis and Clark County plan. The reason that was done was a cost savings. The plan we were previously on would have increased roughly $58,000. Because we changed the plan to a different carrier, we ended up saving actual costs in the neighborhood of $9,000-- $10,000 over the prior year. That has been a good step for us.

President Brooker called for a hand count for the vote on the motion to postpone. The motion carried.

President Brooker announced that one of her goals this year is to take a hard look at the committees, their functions, what they provide for MACo, travel costs, etc., to evaluate the whole committee system. She asked for suggestions to go to the Executive Committee.

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION

WHEREAS, the 2003 Annual Conference of the Montana Association of Counties is the 94th such meeting; and

WHEREAS, attendance of member counties marks its success; and

WHEREAS, the fine facilities in Lewistown and Fergus County made us feel welcome;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 94th Annual Conference of the Montana Association of Counties express its sincere appreciation for the sponsorship of this convention to the Fergus County Commissioners , spouses and staffs:

Vern and Dana Petersen

Kenneth Ronish

Carl and Cathy Seilstad

The seconded motion to accept the resolution was passed on voice vote.

OTHER BUSINESS

PILT AND REFUGE REVENUE SHARING

Connie Eissinger, McCone County

The Public Lands Committee asks for a letter of support from the MACo President for PILT and Refuge Revenue Sharing permanent funding. Gratitude for past support is also to be included. We ask that the letter go to Senator Conrad Burns, Representative Dennis Rehberg and Senator Max Baucus. The motion for the letter was seconded and passed.

NATURAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Art Kleinjan, Blaine County

After the Oil, Gas and Coal meeting on Monday afternoon, we composed this letter to Senator Max Baucus. I’m looking for a letter from MACo President supporting this letter:

Dear Max,

The Montana Association of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties, Inc., met yesterday to discuss the development along the Rocky Mountain Front. After a very good discussion, we voted unanimously to support responsible development of oil, gas and other alternative energy sources along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The Montana Association of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties, Inc., is a state association made up of county commissioners from 36 oil, gas and coal producing counties, as well as many cities and towns, school districts within these counties. We as county commissioners from the oil, gas and coal producing counties know this development can be done in a responsible manner. We work on a regular basis with this industry to ensure that development impact is minimal.

Senator Baucus, we need to develop our natural resources. We need the industry and the jobs it brings to Montana counties. Our constituents are tired of the out-of-state environmentalists having their way in this State. They have almost altered all industry in this State.

Senator Baucus, we hope you will reconsider your decision on the Rocky Mountain Front and vote for the energy bill to include this development as well as ANWAR.

If you would like further information, please do not hesitate to call Willie Duffield, our Executive Director, or any Board member.

Thank you for your prompt consideration of this very important issue.

Sincerely,

Montana Association of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties

The motion to write a similar letter of support was seconded.

Mary Sexton, Teton County

I did speak to the Oil, Gas and Coal Counties regarding this issue. It is a very controversial issue in our area. This has been an ongoing issue for 20+ years. The community is split. I think Senator Baucus’ bill had been an effort to at least look into the study of buyouts and trade-outs of this area. I have spoken with Senator Burns and his staff. He and Senator Baucus realize the controversy that’s involved in this area.

Yesterday it was borne out well in the presentation that Larry Swanson gave us. There is a mixed economy in Montana. In our area we have developed a tourism economy.

There are certainly local people and people in the State who are concerned about this.

I think that it’s inappropriate for this body as a whole to endorse this letter. The Oil, Gas and Coal Counties took a vote during their meeting. I think that’s perfectly appropriate, but I don’t believe it’s an appropriate thing for this full body to take a stand. It is a very complex issue, with many sides, so for that reason I think it would be inappropriate for this body to support the letter.

Mack Cole, Treasure County

I feel it would be appropriate to say a few words as Chair of Montanans for Responsible Energy Development and as a new county commissioner.

We had legislation on this two sessions ago when I was on the Natural Resources committee as a State Senator. I would like to disagree with recent comments that this can’t be done appropriately and responsibly. If we are looking to improve the well-being of our state, I think it is very important that we get behind this and we do support it as an organization.

Without adding development of our resources, regardless of where they are, we can see what has happened in the comments on the second page. We have organizations which are out-of-state, funded very heavily, that have created almost a standstill on our resources and improvement of the State. We only need to take a look at our good neighbors to the south in Wyoming who have surpluses. Their taxes are not as high and they have more money for both local government and all of the other services.

I hope we could support this. I think it would be very beneficial to MACo and Montana.

Gary Fjelstad, Rosebud County

I support this and I have one question on one statement in the letter. Why would we put ANWAR in there? Is that our business to get into that debate? I don’t know if this is part of the federal legislation.

Willie Duffield, Director of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties

At the present time the energy bill includes ANWAR and the Rocky Mountain Front. This past week, in conference committee, Senator Baucus indicated that, as a compromise, he has offered to vote for ANWAR if they take the Rocky Mountain Front out of the energy bill. As you recall, last year the energy bill came to a tie vote and Senator Baucus voted against it. This year this is his compromise.

We would like to see both. We need the gas and we believe it’s a benefit for everybody.

Bill Icenoggle, Glacier County

I support the motion. We have a large amount of tourism in Glacier. We have the big hotels that are basically in the Park or right on the fringe of the Park. Glacier Park, Inc. runs the majority of the hotel and tourist industry and is a large out-of-state corporation. The other big corporation is the St. Mary’s Hotel, a Minneapolis-St. Paul based corporation. The economic benefit for Montana is questionable. In the past, most of those summer jobs went to summer employees from the universities in the east. We are finding that recently those people can no longer afford to work for the wages that the tourism industry pays. So now the majority of the employees for the big lodges and concessionaires are from Europe and the Pacific Rim. They are summer employees that are transported to the United States for summer employment only. This summer we saw a lot of kids from Poland, Croatia, Thailand, etc. Where is the huge benefit for the residents of Glacier County?

Jim Durgan, Park County

We see the same thing in Yellowstone Park. We aren’t offering the jobs to Montana people, or at least Montana people are not in those jobs.

Tom Gordon, Toole County

We have a lot of natural gas development in our area. It can be done efficiently with very little damage done to the surface. Natural gas drilling is not a big deal, and we do need the production. It will help our state and our local economies. We have seen the pipelines that go across our land and some of those areas, where the pipelines are, produce the best vegetation. The destruction that is being slated to happen most often would not.

Ed Arnott, Judith Basin County

I support this motion. We have recreation in our area. For the last fifty years it has increased ten-fold. When we talk about how bad the damage is from oil and gas exploration, our damage from recreation is increasing to the point where they are talking about closing it down. Everybody wants the government to support recreation, but we don’t want to support development that is good for the county. This won’t deteriorate the property as much as what some of the recreation does. I hope we can support this letter.

The question was called and a hand vote was taken.

The motion to write a letter of support for energy development passed.

MACo Van License Plates

Gordon Morris, Executive Director

There is a suggestion of a controversy out there that I would like to put to rest right now.

My wife and I are Grizzly supporters. (There was much cheering and jeering in the crowd.) My wife has a personalized Grizzly plate on her vehicle. This last Christmas she gave me a license plate holder, which I reluctantly put on the MACo van. Several people have commented about that.

What I propose is based on the outcome of the Grizzly / Bobcat football game. I would put a license plate on the van in conjunction with whomever wins it. But I point out that it might be another seventeen years.

Mike Murray, Lewis and Clark County

There has been a great injustice done.

The last national championship football team in the State of Montana was Carroll College in Lewis and Clark County. We would ask this body to support that Gordon Morris put a Carroll College license plate on the van until one of our other fine schools wins a national championship again.

Hopefully the delegates will support us in our request.

The meeting was adjourned.

The luncheon speaker was Linda Francis, Director of Montana Department of Revenue.

A synopsis of her remarks is in the Presentations Section attached to these minutes.

JOINT OPENING SESSION

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION INSURANCE POOL (JPA)

AND

PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE POOL (JPIA)

Monday, September 22, 2003

Gordon Morris opened the Joint Annual Meeting of the Joint Powers Authority Workers’ Compensation Trust and the Joint Powers Insurance Authority Trust. He took Roll and announced a quorum to be present.

Morris explained the Board of Trustees positions. Current terms for the at-large positions include:

Vern Petersen, Fergus County (2002-2005)

Mike Murray, Lewis and Clark County (2001-2004)

John Prinkki, Carbon County (2000-2003)

Ted Coffman, Madison County (balance of Brooker term 2000-2003).

There are two positions up for election: the position held by John Prinkki and the position held by Ted Coffman. Both positions are for three-year terms (2003-2006).

Vern Petersen, Fergus County, nominated John Prinkki and Ted Coffman for the next terms of their positions on the JPIA Board.

Further nominations would be accepted on Wednesday.

In JPA, the MACo Executive Committee acts as the Board, when each individual is a member of the insurance pool. The current officers will be continuing. However, a new Urban Representative may not be from a member county. If that should be, then nominations will be solicited for the Urban Representative on the Board.

JPA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ANNUAL REPORT

Ray Barnicoat, Risk Manager

I reported on rates for the Work. Comp. program during the district meetings. The short story is that rates are up and reserves are down. I explained, then, why they were trending upward so I don’t need to rehash that today. However, feel free to ask questions. It’s your program and I’m totally open to share with you anything that relates to the program, be it rates or otherwise.

We’ve had a couple of years of rate increases and are probably faced with a couple more. I would like to talk with you from the risk management perspective about what we need to do to minimize the increase in rates. I have identified members who are our loss leaders; a second list is a watch list; but my appeal is to all.

We need to control frequency, because in controlling frequency we also control severity

I know you will be doing these things I will give you, because my horoscope today reads, “Today is an excellent opportunity for you to speak to people in high positions. It’s a time they will listen to you and take your recommendations home.”

1. Years ago, all member counties passed a resolution of commitment to safety in county facilities and worker / public safety. Reaffirm that safety resolution by updating and distributing it to all employees.

2. Hold supervisors and elected officials accountable for accidents that occur in their areas of responsibility.

3. Inquire into all accidents that occur in your county.

4. Follow through on your inquiries.

a. Be satisfied that accidents are being investigated and that the cause(s) are identified, whether it is an unsafe act or an unsafe condition or a combination of both.

b. Be satisfied that corrections have been made to prevent repeat accidents from occurring.

c. Verify that the injured are treated and return to work as soon as possible.

5. Monitor your claims. If you have questions about any claim, call the adjuster at 888-442-8552 or call me at 406-457-7210.

6. Be convinced that safety activities are effective. This includes regular and ongoing hazard identification and resolution, safety training and motivation. Some member counties also have safety incentive programs.

7. Use MACo Risk Management to help you with programs and training.

8. Attend the Annual Loss Control Conference and regional training programs.

I have already talked to the counties about claim frequency. I have had wonderful response. I know that will continue. We need to press this issue of doing whatever we can to reduce frequency.

JPIA PROPERTY AND CASUALTY ANNUAL REPORT

Greg Jackson, Insurance Marketing

The claims administrator and managers have been our long-time partner in both pools since the beginning. Larry Zanto and Keith Stapely are to be recognized. As you know, claims administration is very important and they do a very good job of doing that.

In the annual report is a cover letter by our Chair Vern Petersen. He has made some good points about the Pool and our success currently, in the past and, hopefully, in the future.

I want to highlight the last few years since 1996 when we re-structured the program. We established goals when we first started the program in 1987. We have achieved all those since 1996. For the goal to increase membership, I announce that we have two new counties this year. We welcome Gallatin County and Pondera County. That brings the number of counties to 47. In 1992 we also opened the program to special districts. Currently we have 158 special districts in the program. We have in excess of 200 “eligible insureds” which are not members of the Pool, but take advantage of our program. Since 1996 our membership has grown 97%. Since last year, our membership grew 20%.

A major goal was to establish positive financial equity. When we re-structured the program in 1996, we had a $1.4 Million unfounded liability because we had to pay for previous claims prior to the restructuring. As of last year, our surplus or equity is $1.8 Million to the positive. You can see that we have made large gains in regard to our overall equity position. Our actual cash flow, not audited, in 1996 was $2.5 Million for that one policy year. At the end of this last policy year, our actual cash situation is close to $7 Million. That provides our membership and our Trustees the flexibility to completely manage the program with the amount of equity. The Trustees have used part of that equity to increase the amount that we self-insure from $2.4 Million to $3 Million a year without assessing the membership. Another goal is to establish cost stability. Thanks to the membership, this year we issued a $5 Million 20-year bond for ten years to stabilize our costs to provide re-insurance, over and above our self-insurance. The Trustees would like to thank the membership for taking that option into consideration and signing the promissory notes for the bonding. This will be a benefit in the long run for all the members.

The last goal is to provide reliable risk management. We have done that in a proactive manner--Ray has the risk management program and Jack Holstrom has the personnel assistance. Since 1996 our loss ratio has gone down 44%. That is very good. There are reasons for that. One is revenue, which has a bearing on the loss ratio compared to the premium. But more important, our risk management programs do an outstanding job. As Vern mentioned in his cover letter, it’s also due to you folks and what you have done with your safety committees and the awareness for safety.

Congratulations to all.

Vern Petersen, Chair

I echo Greg’s sentiments to thank you for making those decisions to go with the bond issue. That was extremely wise on your part and will save countless dollars over the years. With it comes responsibility and some risk. We are on the hook, now, for the first $8 Million in liability claims, but those are all something in which we are in total control. Property is a different story--we can’t control a hailstorm or a flood--but there is no reason to ever loose a wrongful discharge suit with the tools that are available to you today. I’m not saying you won’t be sued, but you shouldn’t lose. IF you have patience enough to do as Jack tells you, you will be bullet proof. It DOES take patience, but he is right and it does work. We are going down the right path and thank you for participating and making it all work.

18^th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MACo JOINT POWERS AUTHORITY

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION TRUST

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Lewistown, Montana

JPA Secretary Gordon Morris called the roll. 41 of 53 member counties responded. Quorum was present.

Secretary Morris announced the current members of the Board of Trustees and noted that the Urban County Representative position is open because the new MACo Urban County Representative is not a member of the JPA Trust.

Mike Murray, Lewis and Clark County, was nominated.

Following the calls for further nominations, no other names were put forth. The nominations were closed and a unanimous ballot was cast for Mike Murray as Urban County Representative.

The 2003--2004 JPA Board of Trustees are:

MACo President Carol Brooker, Sanders County

MACo First Vice President Bill Kennedy, Yellowstone County

MACo Second Vice President Doug Kaercher, Hill County

MACo Fiscal Officer Bill Nyby, Valley County

MACo Past President Gary Fjelstad, Rosebud County

Urban County Representative Mike Murray, Lewis and Clark County

The Annual Meeting was adjourned.

17^th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MACo JOINT POWERS INSURANCE AUTHORITY

PROPERTY AND CASUALTY TRUST

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

Lewistown, Montana

Chair Vern Petersen, Fergus County, called the meeting to order.

Gordon Morris conducted roll call. 43 of 47 members answered the call; quorum was present.

ELECTION OF TRUSTEES

Two positions were expiring--those of John Prinkki (position A) and Ted Coffman, who was previously elected to complete one year of Carol Brooker’s term after she moved to the Presidency (Position B).

Paddy Trusler, Lake County, asked for clarification on the two positions and which areas the two represented. Chair Petersen explained that the positions were elected to represent all the membership statewide, not by district.

Position A. John Prinkki was nominated. No further nominations were presented after the three-time call from the Chair. The nominations were closed and a unanimous ballot was cast for John Prinkki to fill a term through 2006.

Position B. Ted Coffman, Madison County, was nominated.

Howard Gipe, Flathead County, was nominated.

The motion to close nominations was seconded and passed.

Written ballots were distributed to member counties.

Gordon Morris explained that, in the JPIA bylaws, the Trustees consist of two of the MACo officers--the President and First Vice President if they are members--and four at-large members. Ted Coffman, Mike Murray, John Prinkki and Vern Petersen are currently at-large trustees. Carol Brooker, MACo President, and Doug Kaercher, MACo Second Vice President, are the MACo Officer Trustees. He noted that the current MACo First Vice President, Bill Kennedy of Yellowstone County, would have been a Trustee if his county were a member of the pool. But since they are not in the pool, the position is passed to the Second Vice President.

John Prinkki clarified that he and Ted Coffman were candidates this year because they are the least at-large. Mike Murray and Vern Petersen are the most at-large members.

Ted Coffman was elected to retain his seat on the Board of Trustees.

WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT

Gordon Morris

Myra Shults, who was on the program yesterday during the land use presentation, is our expert on land use litigation. The Trustees entered into a professional services agreement with Myra for three regional information / training sessions on land use management. They will be in Miles City on November 10, in Lewistown on November 12 and in Missoula on November 14. You are encouraged and urged to attend and to invite the county planning staff and county planning board. The intention is to address the 2003 legislation and its affects on subdivision review, growth policy law and code enforcement, along with a review of recent court decisions and the effect on subdivision review, as well as basic information on subdivision and zoning issues.

Myra Shults

Two years ago we did a pilot project and invited certain counties, most of which had been already sued. It was successful. People took the materials home, referred to them, called me, etc. Hopefully we obverted some lawsuits. At least we educated people. Now we are going to do this on a statewide basis. We are going to Miles City because we would like to see the eastern counties be involved. Even if you don’t have any development pressure now, when that first subdivision comes in, you will have some frame of reference. We think that’s important and we are trying to spread it across the state so nobody has to travel too far. It will be an all-day session, even though (as Ted Coffman pointed out.) 9:30 to 4:30 is not all-day for ranchers.

With respect to county attorneys, we will have a round-table workshop, organized with the County Attorneys Association. We will invite all county attorneys and the attorneys who are interested in land use. We will meet to discuss the issues that we are all facing.

What I am going to do will not be as legally specific as the County Attorney meeting will be.

I encourage you to come. It’s an opportunity to bring your questions, your subdivision regulations or growth policies for discussion.

Gordon Morris suggested that the session be open to non-members for a fee.

The meeting was adjourned.

ATTACHMENTS

RESOLUTION 2003-1

UTILITY RATE ENERGY CRISIS

Whereas, prices for natural gas and electricity have risen precipitously in the past two years, averaging a 30% increase, and

Whereas, Montana now claims one of the highest energy costs in the Northwest, and

Whereas, the stability of energy procurement and delivery in Montana is questionable due to the worsening financial condition of NorthWestern Energy, and

Whereas, property taxes in many Montana counties have not been fully paid by NorthWestern Energy, and

Whereas, property tax reassessments on NorthWestern utility property in some Montana counties may be challenged, and

Whereas, the Montana Public Service Commission has begun hearings regarding energy procurement and delivery in Montana, and

Whereas, Governor Martz has established a task force to investigate the impact of the current increases in energy prices on low-income Montanans,

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Montana Association of Counties strongly urges the Governor, Public Service Commission, and other appropriate agencies to further investigate the causes and impacts of the current energy crisis on all Montanans, and

Be it further resolved that the aforementioned agencies consider also the consequences of the NorthWestern Energy tax delinquencies and possible tax protests on the financial stability of Montana cities and counties, and

Be it further resolved that MACo strongly recommends that the Governor, Public Service Commission, and other agencies devise a realistic plan for providing cost-efficient energy procurement and distribution to Montana citizens and businesses.

SPONSOR: Teton County

RECOMMENDATION:

PRIORITY:

REFERRED TO:

ADOPTED:

RESOLUTION 2003-2

EXEMPTION TO NEPOTISM

WHEREAS, in many small counties it is difficult to find qualified candidates for employment; and,

WHEREAS, it is often the case that the best qualified candidate for appointment to a position is related to one member of the county board of commissioners; and,

WHEREAS, Montana law provides an exemption for school trustees for appointment to employment.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Montana Association of Counties seek legislation to change Section 2-2-302 M.C.A to allow for the appointment to a position by a Board of County Commissioners, providing that certain requirements are met.

7-2-302. Appointment of relative to office of trust or emolument unlawful -- exceptions -- publication of notice.

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), it is unlawful for a person or member of any board, bureau, or commission or employee at the head of a department of this state or any political subdivision of this state to appoint to any position of trust or emolument any person related or connected by consanguinity within the fourth degree or by affinity within the second degree.

(2) The provisions of this section and 2-2-303 do not apply to:

(a) a sheriff in the appointment of a person as a cook or an attendant;

(b) school district trustees if all the trustees, with the exception of any trustee who is related to the person being appointed and who must abstain from voting for the appointment, approve the appointment of a person related to a trustee;

(c) a school district in the employment of a person as a substitute teacher who is not employed as a substitute teacher for more than 30 consecutive school days;

(d) the renewal of an employment contract of a person who was initially hired before the member of the board, bureau, or commission or the department head to whom the person is related assumed the duties of the office;

(e) the employment of election judges; or

(f) the employment of pages or temporary session staff by the legislature.

(g) county commissioners if all the commissioners, with the exception of any commissioner who is related or connected to the person being appointed and who must abstain from voting for the appointment, approve the appointment of a person related or connected to a commissioner;

(3) Prior to the appointment of a person referred to in subsection (2) (b) or (g), the school district trustees shall give written notice of the time and place of their for the intended action The notice must be published at least 15 days prior to the trustees' intended action in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the school district is located or the county office or position is located.

SPONSOR:

RECOMMENDATION:

PRIORITY:

REFERRED TO:

ADOPTED:

Resolution 2003-3

State Lands Right of Way

The Montana Association of Counties opposes mandates to Counties to purchase existing rights-of-way across state lands.

WHEREAS, Montana Counties are considered to be subdivisions of the State of Montana, and

WHEREAS, Counties of the State of Montana maintain roads that are part of school bus routes, which routinely cross school trust property and are necessary for school transportation, and

WHEREAS, School Trust Lands are more valuable with access than without, and

WHEREAS, the Montana Board of State Lands has now defined state lands to be "used by the public in general," and

WHEREAS, Montana counties have invested a tax dollars to provide access to the public on and over state trust lands, and

WHEREAS, purchasing state land right-of-way will set a monetary precedence for the value of right-of-way purchase over private and other public property, and

WHEREAS, Montana counties have the authority of eminent domain to acquire right of way, and

WHEREAS, roads existing before 1997 that cross state property have record of historic public use,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Montana Association of Counties (MACo) opposes mandated right of way purchase for existing county roads over state trust lands, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that should it ultimately be determined that counties have to pay for right of way for county roads for public use to the State of Montana for deposit to the School Trust, that counties be reimbursed a like amount from the state general fund.

SPONSOR:

RECOMMENDATION:

PRIORITY:

REFERRED TO:

ADOPTED:

COUNTY ATTORNEY PAY ISSUE

WHEREAS, Montana counties are subdivisions of the State of Montana; and

WHEREAS, Montana county attorneys are obligated to represent the State of Montana in the courts of their respective counties in the enforcement of Montana’s Constitution and legislative enactments; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to provide an adequate salary for county attorneys and a mechanism to fund these salaries; and

WHEREAS, Section 7-4-2503 MCA authorizes Montana counties to establish the salary for their county attorneys through Salary Compensation Boards; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature has failed to appropriate the funds necessary to pay one-half of the salaries established by the County Salary Compensation Boards; and

WHEREAS, the State and county governments spend unnecessary funds in dividing the responsibility for the payment of county attorney salaries; and

WHEREAS, members of the Legislature have asked the Montana County Attorney Association and the Montana Association of Counties to develop legislation to address the county attorney pay issue; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Montana County Attorney Association has expressed a desire to work with the Montana Association of Counties to develop legislation to transfer the responsibility and funding for the payment of county attorney salaries to Montana’s counties; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Montana County Attorney Association has further expressed a desire to work with the Montana Association of Counties to develop legislation to provide a revenue source to provide Montana counties the funds necessary to finance the payment of county attorney salaries;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Montana Association of Counties shall work with the Montana County Attorney Association to develop a joint legislative proposal to fund and pay county attorney salaries by Montana counties.

SPONSOR:

RECOMMENDATION:

PRIORITY:

REFERRED TO:

ADOPTED:

RECOMMENDATION FOR A PILT SPECIAL ASSESSMENT

MACo ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2003

TAXATION, FINANCE AND BUDGET COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN DAN WATSON, MACo FISCAL OFFICER

The Taxation, Finance and Budget Committee is requesting Association Member approval for the establishment of a “special assessment” tied to Payments in Lieu of Tax receipts. This request would add $15,963 in revenue to the Association to address increased and on going costs associated with Western Interstate Region efforts on behalf of PILT funding. Part of the proposal is to establish a “war chest” to fund WIR efforts in regard to PILT lobbying. This would increase current WIR expenses by $4,129 in each of the next two years.

In addition to the special assessment for the war chest, the WIR Board has increased the WIR Board of Directors to achieve greater representation from the urban member counties. Montana would have a second member on the Board at an estimated cost of $5,000 per year.

Currently, MACo pays the following expenses on behalf of Montana counties:

Current WIR Dues $5,900

Current Board Participation $5,000

Total Current Costs $10,900

Additional Costs:

Special Assessment $4,129

Additional WIR Board Member $5,000

Total Additional Costs $9,129

Total Annual WIR Costs $20,029

The proposed “special PILT assessment” would address the major portion of these expenses. The Committee respectfully requests member approval to assess counties an amount equal to 1/10^th of 1% of the prior year PILT payment, with a minimum of $50 per each member county.

NACo WESTERN INTERSTATE REGION PILT SPECIAL ASSESSMENT

	P.I.L.T PAYMENT	PILT ASSESSMENT	PILT ASSESSMENT
	FFY-02	at .001	at .001
		(1/10 of 1%)	Zero Less than $50
Beaverhead	$502,724	$503	$503
Big Horn	$48,148	$48	$0
Blaine	$358,310	$358	$358
Broadwater	$325,315	$325	$325
Carbon	$541,960	$542	$542
Carter	$99,002	$99	$99
Cascade	$236,641	$237	$237
Chouteau	$181,126	$181	$181
Custer	$389,742	$390	$390
Daniels	$233	$0	$0
Dawson	$75,341	$75	$75
Deer Lodge	$221,332	$221	$221
Fallon	$80,287	$80	$80
Fergus	$557,567	$558	$558
Flathead	$1,441,781	$1,442	$1,442
Gallatin	$815,683	$816	$816
Garfield	$101,396	$101	$101
Glacier	$473,847	$474	$474
Golden Valley	$34,930	$35	$0
Granite	$125,143	$125	$125
Hill	$56,430	$56	$56
Jefferson	$501,736	$502	$502
Judith Basin	$152,810	$153	$153
Lake	$175,103	$175	$175
Lewis and Clark	$1,187,404	$1,187	$1,187
Liberty	$39,490	$39	$0
Lincoln	$281,797	$282	$282
McCone	$154,437	$154	$154
Madison	$457,383	$457	$457
Meagher	$107,187	$107	$107
Mineral	$189,797	$190	$190
Missoula	$740,216	$740	$740
Musselshell	$82,895	$83	$83
Park	$723,202	$723	$723
Petroleum	$39,084	$39	$0
Phillips	$244,702	$245	$245
Pondera	$116,819	$117	$117
Powder River	$131,131	$131	$131
Powell	$427,143	$427	$427
Prairie	$69,150	$69	$69
Ravalli	$1,282,827	$1,283	$1,283
Richland	$62,076	$62	$62
Roosevelt	$4,820	$5	$0
Rosebud	$384,326	$384	$384
Sanders	$147,452	$147	$147
Sheridan	$2,106	$2	$0
Silver Bow	$256,609	$257	$257
Stillwater	$220,596	$221	$221
Sweet Grass	$275,850	$276	$276
Teton	$312,686	$313	$313
Toole	$53,313	$53	$53
Treasure	$877	$1	$0
Valley	$480,083	$480	$480
Wheatland	$71,330	$71	$71
Wibaux	$30,973	$31	$0
Yellowstone	$89,540	$90	$90
TOTALS / AVG	$16,163,888	$16,164	$15,963

RECOMMENDATION FOR A MACo DUES INCREASE

MACo ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2003

TAXATION, FINANCE AND BUDGET COMMITTEE

CHAIRMAN DAN WATSON, MACo FISCAL OFFICER

The Taxation, Finance and Budget Committee, during the process of wrestling with the MACo budget for fiscal year 2004, has come to the conclusion that a dues increase is essential in order to maintain the level of services that member counties have come to expect. The Committee has considered a substantive change in the structure of the dues, but has been unable to develop a well thought out proposal possibly using a variety of factors to create an equitable and sustainable dues structure.

The Committee will continue to study the issue and hopes to be able to make a recommendation to the membership in the near future. However, in the short term, the Committee is recommending an increase effective for fiscal year 2005 equal to 25% of current dues.

Without an increase at this time, the fiscal year 2005 budget would have to address possible expenditure reductions in the range of $50,000. These reductions would appear to be possible in regard to the following current expenditure categories:

1) A cut in NACO expenses achieved through reduced participation, currently budgeted at $45,000.

2) A cut in MACo committee expenses by reducing the number of committees and the number of meetings, currently budgeted at $30,855.

3) A reduction in staff travel, currently budgeted at $19,593.

4) A reduction in printing, currently budgeted at $27,502.

It is the Committee’s contention that any of the above would be impractical and result in a significant loss of services to members. As a consequence the Committee recommends the interim increase as proposed and commits to further analysis and possible full restructuring of MACo dues in the near future.

		BUDGET PROPOSAL EFFECTIVE FY 2005
	2003	CLASSIFICATION TOTAL TAXABLE	FY '04 COUNTY	FY ' 04 COUNTY		DUES PROPOSAL
COUNTY	POPULATION	VALUATION	CLASS	DUES		$250/$1,000
BEAVERHEAD	9,100	$18,739,234	4	$3,000		$3,750
BIG HORN	12,800	$94,268,757	1B	$6,000		$7,500
BLAINE	6,900	$50,158,041	1B	$6,000	*	$7,500
BROADWATER	4,500	$11,350,326	5	$2,000		$2,500
CARBON	9,700	$36,462,654	2	$5,000		$6,250
CARTER	1,400	$11,463,555	5	$2,000	*	$2,500
CASCADE	79,300	$130,525,256	1A	$7,000		$8,750
CHOUTEAU	5,700	$26,799,393	3	$4,000		$5,000
CUSTER	11,400	$18,454,201	4	$3,000		$3,750
DANIELS	2,000	$5,889,617	6	$1,000		$1,250
DAWSON	8,900	$22,786,712	3	$4,000		$5,000
DEER LODGE	9,200	$10,774,955	5	$2,000		$2,500
FALLON	2,800	$108,977,076	1B	$6,000		$7,500
FERGUS	11,700	$26,833,903	3	$4,000		$5,000
FLATHEAD	76,300	$161,981,569	1A	$7,000		$8,750
GALLATIN	69,400	$154,100,166	1A	$7,000		$8,750
GARFIELD	1,200	$5,904,661	6	$1,000		$1,250
GLACIER	13,100