Citizens of Gallatin County, are you aware of what your county officials have been doing? They have been changing how county government is run without your vote.

Over the last decade, the County Commission has passed a series of resolutions that shifted authority away from your elected officials and handed it to hired staff. Voters were never asked. Montana law requires voter approval to change a county’s form of government.

Commissioner Zach Brown has said it was his intention to “professionalize” county operations. At this point, the commissioners have assigned oversight of 23 county departments to the hired Administrator. That leaves the commissioners supervising basically one person, the Administrator, while each still makes about $100,000 a year.

If an elected official wanted to professionalize their own department, that is within their job. They can ask for the budget and hire the people needed to carry out the duties voters elected them to perform. The commissioners should be helping that happen. They should not be taking powers that Montana law and the voters gave to elected officials and moving them under a hired administrator.

READ THE REST HERE.

‘NO AD’ subscription for CDM!  Sign up here and support real investigative journalism and help save the republic!