County candidates at forum discuss issues

Havre Daily News hosted a local candidate forum Wednesday night at Montana State University's Applied Sciences Center in Hensler Auditorium, with Hill County candidates in contested races introducing themselves and answering some questions from the moderator and the audience.

Montana State University-Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel moderated the forum, asking each candidate questions about their respective positions.

Republican Penny Hadford and incumbent Democrat Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown were the first called up.

Hadford did not attend the forum, however, so Brown was given a few minutes to speak about herself and answer questions from the moderator and from the audience.

Brown said she is from Havre and has been in the treasurer's office for the past 20 years. She started off as a clerk before becoming treasurer, and she likes what she does.

Brown added she assists the county offices with budgeting, although budgeting is primarily done through the clerk and recorder's office.

"I learned how to apply a lot of the different laws they go through because we work with the motor vehicle system and taxes - those are our main ones," Brown said.

Brown added there are two conferences each year which she attends along with treasurer's training that is held every other year.

She said she has helped modernize the office since she took over, something that she would like to continue doing.

"We can always keep improving on the efficiency," Brown said.

One of the things that she has changed is the tax forms. Brown said people with few to no tax receipts won't notice a change on their tax forms, but people with a large number of tax receipts will notice a difference on their forms.

Next up were candidates in the nonpartisan Hill County justice of the peace race, Bruce Grant and incumbent Judge Audrey Barger.

Grant said he is a resident and homeowner from Havre.

Barger said she was born in Malta, came to school in Havre, then got married and had four boys and has lived in Havre since 1979.

The candidates were asked about their knowledge of laws and courtroom procedures.

"I've been in court. I have been in the judicial system from being convicted as a child," Grant said.

Grant added he studied law and the Constitution for the last 10 years while working to obtain his pardon - on a 1982 felony charge of burglary to which he pleaded guilty - which was granted by Gov. Steve Bullock.

Barger said she spent time as a paralegal assistant, worked in the county attorney's office in 1996 and was deputy clerk of District Court for 11 years, where she took minutes of court hearings and trials along with other work. Over the past eight years as justice of the peace she has handled about 21,000 cases. She also participates in two annual training sessions and has either attended or taught 52 training classes also.

The two were asked what they thought were the duties and responsibilities of the office.

"To take care of the people. To be on the same level as the people. The ones that voted you in. And fair. And honest. And justice. And holding up the laws in which we stand for," Granted said.

Barger said the job is tough because of all the different cases that come across her desk.

"You have to run your courtroom. You have to run your docket," she said. "You do have to be responsible to the taxpayers, but fiscally you have to really look at what things are crossing at the same time you have to do your job without care of what the taxpayers or anyone else says because you have to follow the law."

She added it is a balancing act between the ethical responsibility as a judge and being open with the public. A justice of the peace has to be knowledgeable, she said, especially in a court of record like Hill County.

"There are no do-overs. Appeals go up on the record. You make a mistake, it just comes back to you," Barger said. "There's not a second full jury trial held in District court. Everything goes up on the record that you created," she added.

An audience members asked how many different laws there are and the difference between the various levels of law and how each individual is processed according to those laws.

Grant described a search on his house in the middle of the night he said was done without a warrant. He said there are laws for everything and all the other laws are common sense.

"For the most part we don't have to worry too much about federal law unless it's been codified into Montana Law," Barger said. "... We pretty much follow Montana law."

She said it also depends on the case in front of her and she sometimes has to switch her brain to adapt to the different laws that are applicable.

Hill County Commission candidates Dale Hansonl, an independent, and incumbent Mark Peterson, a Democrat were next.

Hansonl said he was born and raised in Hill County. He worked in agriculture for 20 years and then got into trucking for 15 years and has been back in agriculture for the last six years.

Peterson said he has lived in Hill County all his life, as well. He has two boys who are active in the community and he enjoys his job.

"I think our biggest problem is our finances," Hansonl said. "Better communication with all our departments."

Hansonl said one of the biggest issues outside of finances is the condition of the roads, but the solution can only come once the financial situation is resolved.

"It's really hard to know until I get in there," Hansonl said about how he would address the challenges.

"Money is a real difficult situation," Peterson said. "The county has lost close to a million-and-a half dollars in gas and oil funding over the last 10 to 15 years, and it has put a tremendous impact on our budget."

Peterson added, the money the county receives goes into a budget and from there the commission needs to decide how best to allocate those funds. Peterson said he is aware of the condition of the roads and is working toward a solution.

"A grant that's out there is a $1.5 billion grant nationwide and that grant could provide somewhere between $5 and $25 million to the county to go to the roads. That's one of the things I'm looking at," Peterson added.

Candidates were asked how they would increase services to Hill County with a limited budget.

"It's kind of hard for us to bring in other businesses because we're in an area that people just don't want to come," Hansonl said.

Hansonl added he doesn't see what else the commission could do, that hasn't already been done.

"We just got to make do with what we got and do the best we can with what we got," he said.

Peterson said he is working on bringing in businesses from Canada, and county departments are trying to operate more efficiently. He added the commission is working to improve the roads, specifically highway 232, but construction will not start until 2023.

"Nothing happens within a year here," Peterson said. "It takes a long time."

One audience member asked how the county could improve the infrastructure for transporting products in and out.

Hansonl said it comes back to the financial situation, and the county has a lot of roads but not enough funds. He added because the population is centered in southern Montana, most of the funding goes there and counties like Hill County suffer because of their small population.

Peterson said infrastructure was important to people in the past because they needed a road to get to town. Now, people seem to have other priorities that are of greater importance to them, Peterson added, and the commission needs to make decisions on these issues.

Another audience member asked why it takes so long for an item like upgrading roads to make it to the top of the priority list.

Hansonl said it was because road 232 is a secondary state road and has lower priority and receives no federal funding.

Peterson gave an example of Beaver Creek Highway being given priority over road 232 because the commissioners at the time felt that Beaver Creek Highway was of more importance to the county.

"You don't always get your way," Peterson said. "You have to work with the other commissioners that are there and you have a lot of discussions. Then you have to determine what is the best for your people and county."