Missoula County Government: Missoula County Weekly: June 6-10

Missoula MT

08 June, 2022

5:45 AM

Description

Press release from the Missoula County Government: June 6, 2022 The Missoula County Elections Office encourages voters to drop off their ballots instead of mailing them to ensure they will be counted for the June 7 election. Voters can drop off their ballots any time in the secure afterhours dropbox at the Elections Center, located at 140 N. Russell St. in Missoula, and a drive-thru drop-off also will be available at the Missoula County Fairgrounds from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, June 7. Voters should use the entrance on Russell Street next to the YMCA to access the drop-off, which will be located in the southwest corner of the Fairgrounds. Voters can also drop ballots off at any polling place on Election Day. Find your polling place at www.MyVoterPageMT.com. Residents who voted by mail can also confirm the Elections Office has received and accepted their ballot by visiting this same site. Voters must return their ballots by 8 p.m. on Election Day. Postmarks are not sufficient. Find out more about the primary election on June 7 Missoula County invites community to Lunch on the Lawn at courthouse Missoula County invites members of the public to join county staff and officials this summer for Lunch on the Lawn, a new community-oriented event outside the Missoula County Courthouse. The program aims to provide an opportunity for community members to gather and enjoy one of the few public green spaces downtown while also supporting local food vendors. The County will host the event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Fridays through Labor Day, with food and beverages available for purchase from local food trucks. Two food trucks will be one site for each Lunch on the Lawn. On Mondays, options will rotate between Kamoon, Ragheef, Qatayef and Mr. Kushary, which serve Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. Options available on Fridays will be Wok-ee Mountain, which serves Thai and Chinese food, and Sonora Shack, which offers Mexican-style hotdogs and empanadas. Find out more about Lunch on the Lawn Missoula County Voice project: Increase to building permit rates The Missoula County Building Division is proposing an increase to building permit fees to accommodate unprecedented growth in staff workloads resulting from a growing number of new, more complex building projects and required implementation of new codes. The Building Division is funded entirely with fees and does not rely on property taxes. Learn more about the increase to building permit rates and provide comments or questions at http://MissoulaCountyVoice.com Missoula County Voice project: Clearwater Meadows Ranch Subdivision Let the planning board and commissioners know what you think about the Clearwater Meadows Ranch Residential Subdivision. The subdivision is proposed with 20 lots over 199 acres, located off Highway 200 near the Blanchard Creek Road intersection, west of Clearwater Junction. Visit http://MissoulaCountyVoice.com to voice your thoughts or questions about this project. Tip of the Spear – History as it happens: Documenting the COVID-19 pandemic in Missoula County Since 2020, Missoula County – along with the rest of the world – has been living through a major historical event. There has not been another pandemic like COVID-19 since the 1918 flu, but this time around, we have the technology to document this moment in history while it happens. In this episode of Tip of the Spear, the commissioners talk with Leif Fredrickson, adjunct assistant professor and Director of the Public History Program at the University of Montana, about a project the County and University jointly launched to document the COVID-19 pandemic. This project seeks to create a rich collection of sources to help us understand the pandemic: how people responded to it and how decisions shaped people's experience of the pandemic. The collection is being cataloged and made available to scholars and the public through a digital portal administered by the Archives & Special Collections Department of the Mansfield Library: http://missoula.co/coviddocumentation Anyone – individuals and organizations alike – can submit materials to this archive online at https://www.lib.umt.edu/asc/covid-project/default.php Leif has also been collecting a series of oral history interviews from officials, business leaders, nonprofit administrators and community leaders around Missoula County and their experience of the pandemic. Take a listen to sections of interviews with COVID-19 Incident Commander Cindy Farr, Senator Diane Sands and Harvest Home Care CEO Kavan Peterson. Missoula County employees are working hard for you! I have worked for Missoula County for 16 years. I started out in the County's telephone services and currently work in the Commissioners' Office and help with answering calls, providing information to visitors and assisting with other special projects the commissioners' office needs help with. I love my job here at the County. My duties consist of providing administrative support to callers and visitors to county offices. Before I worked for the County, I worked for Planned Parenthood of Missoula. This is where I got all my training for the telephone system. As a family planning specialist, I counseled on birth control and positive STDs. All contacts were done through the phone, so we were able to get our training by state-certified trainers. I have a great passion to help others in getting the resources and information they need, so I went back to school and graduated with a master's in social work. When a caller calls in, I need to know all county department and program information. I also must know all outside resources to get the callers to the right places or information. All information changes. For example, we are going into spring runoff season where snow melts and it rains a lot. So, the public will need sand and sandbags, which are out at Fort Missoula. If we can get another COVID variant and the public needs vaccine information, I route them to the Missoula County Health Department. It helps to keep up with all the current news and events happening in Missoula and surrounding areas. I also help visitors at the front desk of the Administration Building when they come in for meetings or appointments. I must make sure people have the right IDs and route visitors to the right departments to ensure the County has a safe work environment for employees. My favorite part of the job is working with my Missoula County co-workers. Everyone is so nice, pleasant and very kind. Upcoming Events: June 6-10 Election Day Until 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 7, at the Elections Center Montana Knifemakers Association Show All day event Friday, June 10, and Saturday, June 11, Missoula County Fairgrounds The Pillowcase Project – Natural Disaster Preparedness Program 2 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at the Missoula Public Library Election Day Until 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 7, at the Elections Center Find more events this week on the County's Event Calendar! Missoula County in the News: May 28-June 3 Missoula Co offers prescription medication discount card Missoula County backs United Way's proposed childcare program, grant application Missoula County launches 'Lunch on the Lawn' Commissioners declare June Pride month in Missoula Co Missoula Co approves emergency proclamation for possible flooding Josh Slotnick: Requiem for dreams, or not Upcoming Commissioners' Meetings: June 7-13 To join commissioner department, administrative and public meetings via Microsoft Teams and view the agendas, visit the Missoula County Commissioners' Meeting Minutes and Agenda Portal. Please note that agendas for department and administrative meetings are published two business days before the meeting, and public meeting agendas are published the Friday before the meeting. Administrative and public meeting video recordings are available on the Missoula County YouTube page after the meeting, and MCAT plays the public meetings live on their Spectrum Channel 190. Email [email protected] or call 406-258-4877 if you have any questions or comments on an upcoming meeting. Tuesday, June 7 Commissioners' Administrative Public Meeting Land and Economic Development/Fairgrounds Update Wednesday, June 8 Clerk and Treasurer's Office Update Chief Officers Update Thursday, June 9 Chief Administrative Officer Update Commissioners' Administrative Public Meeting Commissioners' Public Meeting Friday, June 10 No department, administrative or public meetings are scheduled on this day. Monday, June 13 Public Works Update This press release was produced by the Missoula County Government. The views expressed here are the author's own.