Brewer, Lipp file in Havre, Hingham elections

With the filing deadline fast approaching, two more candidates have filed to run in city elections in Havre and Hingham.

Denise Brewer filed Tuesday to run for the Ward 2 seat on the Havre City Council, while Dillon Lipp filed Wednesday to run for a full term for his seat on the Hingham Town Council.

Both Brewer, a retired student activities director at Montana State University-Northern, and Lipp, who works in construction and farming, are running unopposed as of Thursday, the Hill County Clerk and Recorder’s office said.

Candidates have until 5 p.m. Monday to file to appear on the ballot for city elections.

Council members voted 6 to 1 at their June 5 meeting to appoint Brewer to the seat that had been unoccupied since Brian Barrows resigned from the Council in April. She serves on the Council’s Fire and Police; Finance; and Labor Relations Committees

If Brewer is elected in November, she will serve the last two years of Barrows’ term.

A newcomer to political office, Brewer said she decided to run because she believes her professional experience, including several years as president of a union at Northern, could be useful to the city.

Brewer said she is excited about the adopt-a-park program being spearheaded by fellow Council member Caleb Hutchins. Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss suggested creating an adopt-a-park program where businesses, civic organizations or churches volunteer to clean up a park on a regular basis.

In a Facebook post Monday, Hutchins said he has seen “great interest” from the community.

As Havre is a city with a limited budget, Brewer said, she would like to see the  council think “more outside the box” and make decisions that engage the community.

“We are a small community,” she said.  “We are not as large as we used to be, and I think community support is the direction in which we should go,” she said.

Brewer is a graduate of Henry High School in South Dakota, where she grew up.  

She has been married Dave Brewer, now manager of the Great Northern Fairgrounds, since 1972. The couple moved from Great Falls to Havre in the late 1980s when Dave Brewer enrolled at Northern.

Brewer is the mother of three grown children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

In Hingham, Lipp is running for a full term two months after he was appointed to the council to fill a vacancy.

He said he is running because he was asked to by members of the council.

A Hingham native, Lipp has associate degrees in diesel technology and agriculture from Northern.

In Havre, Mayor Tim Solomon and City Judge Virginia Siegel have filed to run for re-election. As of this morning neither yet has an opponent, the Hill County Clerk and Recorder’s office said.

Havre City Council members Terry Lilletvedt in Ward 1 and Karen Swenson in Ward 2 have filed for re-election and are so far unopposed. Neither Jay Pyette in Ward 3 nor Matt Boucher in Ward 4 have filed for re-election.

Lindsey Ratliff and Marc Whitacre have filed to run for Pyette’s seat, while Sarah Griffith and Will Lorett have filed to run for Boucher’ s seat.

Hingham Mayor Ray Lipp and Town Council members Roger Haas have also filed for re-election and are as of Thursday running unopposed.