A packed election season has opened, with over three dozen seats on local district boards and two key county posts up for grabs, in addition to a raft of state and national offices.
Elections will be held May 7 for 12 fire, ambulance, water and/or sewer, and library districts across the county. Those seeking board seats must file their declarations of candidacy with the County Clerk and Recorder’s Office by Monday, Feb. 12.
The Clancy Water and/or Sewer District, which is working through the ongoing challenge of finding an acceptable water supply to replace contaminated private wells, has four trustee seats coming open. It also must fill a board seat whose term is unexpired. Basin Water and/or Sewer District, facing significant repairs and upgrades to its system, must fill two seats in the May election.
Fire districts for Basin, Bull Mountain, Clancy, Elk Park, Jefferson City, Jefferson Valley, and Montana City all will elect at least one trustee, according to the county Elections Department. The Jefferson Valley Ambulance District will have three board seats up for election.
In addition, six county school districts will fill trustee positions in the May vote. Basin Elementary will have one seat up for election; Boulder Elementary two seats; Clancy Elementary one; and Jefferson High School three, including that of Chair Cami Robson, according to the state Office of Public Instruction. The Cardwell School will fill one position, and Whitehall Public Schools three. School board candidates must file their declarations with their school district’s clerk by March 28.
In the fall election, Jefferson County will replace two senior officials. Dorianne Woods plans to retire from her post as clerk of the 5th Judicial District Court on March 31. The county is searching for an interim administrator to fill the clerk’s position until the Nov. 5 election.
Bob Mullen, who has served as a county commissioner since 2014, has decided not to run for reelection. “I love it; it’s a great job,” Mullen said. “But it’s a younger person’s job.”
Mullen has been a commissioner for a total of 19 years, including nine years in Richland County. He was appointed to serve out the term of Jefferson County Commission Chair Tom Lithgoe, who resigned due to illness; Mullen then was elected to a full 6-year term in 2018.
In his time on the Commission, Mullen has taken special interest in mental health services. He also has overseen the county’s annual budgeting process, and has tended toward fiscal conservatism in his discussion of and voting on county activities.
Candidates for commissioner and court clerk must file by March 11 with the Clerk’s office.
The nomination window also has opened for state and national elections. In House District 75, which includes most of Jefferson County, incumbent Marta Bertoglio (R-Clancy) has filed with the Commissioner of Political Practices and said she plans to file with the Secretary of State.
In the newly redistricted Senate District 38, which will encompass Jefferson, Powell and Granite Counties, Becky Beard of Elliston, the incumbent in the former SD-40; and Jeremy Mygland of Clancy, both Republicans, have filed to be candidates in the June 4 primary.
At the national level, Republican Joel G. Krautter of Billings filed Jan. 11 to run for Montana’s 2nd Congressional District seat, currently held by Rep. Matt Rosendale, who has not yet declared his candidacy. Rosendale is rumored to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat of Jon Tester; Tester and Republican Brad Johnson of Helena have both filed with the Secretary of State.
