Taking a look at the ADLC Charter amendment on the ballot for the 2026 primary

With the Tuesday, June 2 Primary Election coming up soon, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Study Commission held a public forum on Wednesday, May 13 at the Smelter City Senior Citizens Center at the Metcalf to address another question on the ballot besides the levies for the Metcalf and ADLC Head Start: the proposed amendment to the ADLC Charter.

The proposed amendment is as follows: 

"Shall the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Charter be amended to change the process for replacing a vacant County Commissioner seat to be appointment by the remaining Commissioners through an application, interview and appointment process; this shall become effective upon passage." 

If passed, the language of the ADLC Charter would change to state that "In the event of a vacancy on the County Commission, the remaining commissioners shall advertise the vacancy, accept applications and interview eligible citizens from within the district, and select an eligible citizen to fill the vacancy."

That would change the existing charter language, which states "the candidate for the vacant commission district receiving the second highest total of votes in the previous election for that district shall assume the office of County Commissioner. In the event the candidate is ineligible, unable or unwilling to assume the office of County Commissioner, the remaining commission shall advertise the vacancy, accept applications from eligible citizens, and choose an eligible citizen to fill the vacancy." Note that per state law, if such vacancies occur prior to the next election cycle, the person would serve until a special election can be held if the vacancy is in the first half of the term, or at the regular election time if in the second half of the term.  

This was the only ballot question the Study Commission – a five-member board elected by the voters in November of 2024 as part of the local government review that's allowed under the Montana Constitution every 10 years – had voted in favor of placing on the ballot. 

At the forum on May 13, Study Commission member Terry Vermeire said that "there was a finding that there were difficulties getting things on the agenda [for ADLC Commission meetings], so we recommended that it be addressed via the Administrative Code." 

That recommendation is included in the Study Commission's Final Report, which also includes the ADLC Charter and the Minority Report, all of which are available to read online at https://www.adlc.us/DocumentCenter/View/5705/FINAL-REPORT. That document is also included in the online version of this article below.

Questioned by members of the public why the change to how vacancies on the Commission are filled was the only proposed amendment to the Charter, Study Commission ex officio member Kevin Hart said it was the only one that the members agreed to place on the ballot. That vote was taken at a previous Study Commission meeting last fall.

Study Commission member Bill Dee reiterated his disagreement from that meeting, saying that "people should have had the right to vote on the issues," but also said that while "people told us they wanted us to look at it [the Charter], they didn't tell us what to look at." 

"Our Charter is regarded as one of the better ones in the state, but there are things that could be improved," he said. 

Dee and Hart were in agreement on the point about public engagement, with Hart saying that he had been involved with the two previous Study Commissions as well, "and this is the least-attended one I've been involved with out of all three." 

He also said that the lack of public participation he felt "speaks volumes that people are satisfied with the charter."

Dee disagreed with that point, saying "people are dissatisfied, but they aren't speaking out," but he did agree that "we didn't have a lot of public input until the last two meetings."

"We needed that all year," he said.

One question concerned the process of how people would be chosen by the Commission to fill a vacancy. Hart said that when Study Commission Chair Mike Huotte had been a County Commissioner but stepped down, the other Commissioners including Hart had used a scoring process from their interviews with each candidate and had asked them all the same questions. 

"That was a fair process," Hart said. 

Late voter registration is still open through Election Day, which is Tuesday, June 2. Visit the County Election Office on the second floor of the ADLC Courthouse.