Former commissioner wants job back

Howard Gipe says there’s one big thing that puts him head and shoulders above most of the candidates vying for the District 2 county commission seat: He’s got experience. Lots of it.

“I’ve got an advantage because I can start on Day One,” said Gipe, Flathead County’s longest-serving former commissioner.

“These economic times can’t be put on hold while an inexperienced commissioner takes two to three years to learn the ropes. We don’t have two to three years to waste.”

Gipe, a Republican, will challenge Patrick Nickol and Pam Holmquist in the June 8 primary election. Early voting begins May 10.

A Montana Highway Patrol officer for 25 years, Gipe served as commissioner for three terms, from 1987 until he “retired” in 2004. He never has lost an election, including the two times he ran for the Chinook school board in the 1960s.

For those who argue that Gipe at 78 is too old for the job, he pointed to a recent physical examination that gave him a clean bill of health.

“My doctor says I’m in fabulous shape,” Gipe said. “I told him you gotta keep me alive for six years. I’m just not ready to quit.”

Gipe said he was “sort of drafted” to run once more for the commissioner post.

“People were calling me, asking if I could straighten out the county,” he said.

Gipe left a legacy of fairness and open communications in county government went he left, and he worked closely with the Montana Association of Counties because he believed, and still does, that keeping a close watch on the legislative process ultimately helps Flathead County and its taxpayers.

“I spent a lot of time with the Legislature because I found out you didn’t have control over all you thought you had control over,” he said.

Even though the primary election is still six weeks away, Gipe already has been in contact with MACO and others in Helena.

“MACO has a lot of strength if you use it,” he said.

Gipe wants to get the recent statewide property reappraisal rescinded and admits it “may be the hardest task I will take on.” But it’s imperative, he said, to give property owners a fair shake.

He also wants to get working right away on school funding.

“We can’t afford to continue funding our schools with local bond issues,” he said. “The state of Montana has never fully funded our schools, not even close. This is a huge task that I am willing to take on and have also discussed with MACO.”

Even though he’s been away from the commission for six years, Gipe has kept abreast of county issues.

He’s not sure that consolidating the county landfill and Road Department into a Public Works Department was a good idea.

“The Road Department is way too big to be consolidated,” he maintained. “There’s plenty to do for one [road] director and I think that department needs direction.”

Gipe knows a tight budget awaits him if he’s elected. That’s where his experience would be a plus, he said.

“I’ll look at the budget. I spent 18 years there and I was pretty familiar with the budget,” Gipe said. “Earl Bennett [the late county administrator] schooled me pretty well.”

But given the continuing soft economy here, Gipe said he doesn’t know if he’ll be able “to protect all the county jobs” against potential layoffs.

The number of lawsuits against Flathead County irks Gipe, especially the recent North Shore Ranch settlement that’s costing the county $1 million. If the county ends up paying for roads in the subdivision, it will come out of the Road Department, and that’s just wrong, he said.

Gipe also weighed in on the current controversy surrounding ousted Fair Manager Jay Scott and embattled Planning Director Jeff Harris.

He believes the Fair Board should have discussed any problems with Scott with the commissioners, and noted that Scott typically had gotten good evaluations during his 14-year tenure as fair manager.

“The process was totally handled wrong,” he said.

Gipe said he doesn’t personally know Harris or whether “he’s doing right or wrong,” but he does believe it was foolish for the county to spend $10,000 on an independent investigation of Harris because it was a job the commissioners “should’ve done themselves.”

Gipe has some new ideas he’d like to try out, such as cash incentive programs — one for the public and one for county employees — that would reward citizens and county workers for usable suggestions on how to cut costs in county government.

“I think we have to have people more involved” in local government, he said, because with this economy “it’s really going to get tough.”

But he added: “I’m not willing to raise taxes, period.”

 Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com