Roads, weeds, poor rural representation top Frenchtown complaints to county
by John Q. Murray
Frenchtown/Ninemile residents are unhappy with poor roads, untreated noxious weeds, and the uncertainty surrounding the county’s new building inspection program.
They don’t feel that the tax dollars they pay into the system are being fairly distributed back into the area, and don’t feel they are well represented by the current system with three county commissioners.
The issues raised at the local government commission meeting Thursday night were very similar to those heard at other meetings from Lolo to Seeley Lake, said Dale Mahlum, the commission chairman.
Are you adequately represented by your elected officials? Mahlum asked.
“I think I can speak for the residents out here,” said Harlan Ockler, who served 17 years on the school board and is currently serving on the Frenchtown Fire board. “No, we do not.” The residents feel “outcasted, foreigners,” he said.
A few years ago the commissioners came out for a meeting in Frenchtown and one of them arrived late after getting lost. “How many taxpayers, how many tax dollars does she represent? She should have known where Frenchtown, Montana is. She should have been embarrassed to even speak those words,” Harlan said.
Other participants have also identified that the city of Missoula with its 63,000 residents is significantly different from the rural county and its 25,000 residents, Mahlum pointed out.
“I think we have to separate the city and the county somehow,” suggested Stella Van Loh. “I’m not sure how you do that but I believe it has to be separated.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can build a fence around Missoula,” said Stan Lucier. “I don’t think they should be let out into the county.”
The review commission is charged with researching and recommending possible changes to the forms, functions, and powers of local county government.
Based on their comments at the meeting, the reviewers appear to be leaning toward recommending a charter form of government and increasing the number of county commissioners so that at least one represents the county’s rural areas.
The review could propose five commissioners, with one from the rural areas, or seven commissioners, with two from the rural areas, suggested Ron Erick-son. He emphasized that the group is still listening to county residents and it will be quite a while before they make their official recommendation.
Whatever it is, Missoula County voters will have the final say. They must approve the commission’s recommendations, which would appear on the ballot in November 2006.
Four of the seven review commission members attended the meeting at Frenchtown Fire Station #1 on Oct. 6. Dale Mahlum, Julie Hacker, Diana Mitchell, and Ron Erickson were present, while Tracy Stone-Manning, Kari Samuel, and Ann Wake-Zahn did not attend. They heard from about a dozen local residents.
Roads: Harlan Ockler expressed concern about the condition of Conifer Drive, and about the potential damage that could be caused by the failure of a dike there. When the area was first developed, the county started to maintain it and graveled it at least once. But former county surveyor Horace Brown decided to remove one rugged stretch of Conifer Drive from the county maintenance and posted signs at both ends. The road now poses a safety threat, Harlan said.
Randy Evans pointed out that Touchette Lane is “dusty and rutty and miserable to drive on.” If the county health department is so concerned about particulate in the air that it bans burning, perhaps it should also start taking a look at the particles in the air caused by road dust. “Let the county be the first one to clean up their act to set a precedent,” he suggested.
West Fork Petty Creek resident Doug McCoy pointed out that the federal government has started a major $5 million paving project up Petty Creek. While attending several public meetings involving the project, he has seen representatives from the state and federal governments, but he has never seen anyone from the Missoula County road department. “I was disappointed to see no one from the county there,” he said.
Doug said he also learned that the Forest Service gave the road to Missoula County in 1997 or 1998, and the county should have been responsible for road maintenance all these years. It is possible that the change got lost in the bureaucracies, Dale Mahlum said.
Weeds. Karen Orzech said that she has noticed during her hikes in the woods that the weeds have expanded further and further out. “It would be good to get some enforcement,” she said, and recommended that homeowners be ticketed for not controlling noxious weeds on their property.
Stan Lucier said he is on the weed board, agreed that homeowners are responsible for weeds all the way to the road, and said the county is about $10 million short of what it would take to effectively tackle the weed problem. “If I had the money, I’d hire a 747 and spray it all over the county,” he said. He also said that Frenchtown residents would be amazed at how many people come to the weed board meeting, opposed to any action to combat the weeds.
Lance Collister suggested an education campaign that would include photographs of noxious weeds for easy identification.
Subdivisions and building codes. Jane Derleth of Ponderosa Acres shared stories about contractors who performed substandard work on her home, and said she had to take them to court.
Shad Ockler also shared horror stories about encounters with various inspectors. “We all have absolute horror stories about the city inspector just vapor-locking an operation for what we consider a whim,” he said. One inspector told him that he would need to construct a commercial building if his garage were to house his company vehicle.
Shad said he had heard that the county had adopted its own building inspection program, but he was not clear on its current status. Missoulian reporter Mea Andrews told the Chronicle after the meeting that Shad’s comments reminded her to interview county public works director Greg Robertson about the new program.
Julie Hacker said her neighbors have suggested a licensing program for building contractors to make sure they are qualified and up-to-date on current regulations.
Shad said he thought such a program would go a long way toward helping to reduce the number of problems. Randy Evans said that if contractors are to be licensed, building inspectors should be licensed too.
Jane said the state law regarding subdivisions seems to favor developers and realtors, and said that while lobbying for its change, she is also working with neighbors on citizen-initiated zoning to protect her area. Ron Erickson said he lives in Pattee Canyon just outside the city limits, and they have citizen-initiated zoning, and it works quite well.
Jane also suggested that the Frenchtown Petty Creek station was built on what was supposed to be open space for the subdivision, and asked how it was possible that open space could be negotiated away. Dale Mahlum encouraged her to discuss the issue with Harlan Ockler, who serves as a director of the fire district.
Public transportation. Lance Collister said he would like the county commissioners to help set up trial routes for the Mountain Lion bus through Frenchtown. The bus currently runs to the Smurfit-Stone mill on Mullan Road and turns around. But with so many Frenchtown residents commuting into Missoula every day, it would be worth diverting the route, he said. Instead of turning around at the mill, the bus could continue down Mullan Road to Frenchtown and then return to Missoula along the interstate.
A bus that arrives before work in the morning and returns after the end of the work day would get good ridership, he suggested. “I think if you ran it at a time when people are going to go, rather than some bizarre time when nobody’s going in that direction, you’re going to have high use,” he said. “Especially with the price of gas and energy efficiency, it makes sense to at least explore it,” he said.
He said he would post sign-up sheets at Broncs’ Grocery and at other spots around town.
Stan Lucier said the community could guarantee its own bus route by having residents sign up to pay the special bus line taxes. He agreed to put his property on the Mountain Lion tax rolls when he built a subdivision, and now he has buses rolling past his house three times a day, he said.
Lack of representation. Jane Derleth pointed out that parts of Petty Creek in Missoula County are within the Alberton (Mineral County) school district, and some residents have an Alb-erton zip code (59820) . They often miss out on meeting notices from both counties. The local government study commission itself did not notify area residents about its meeting in Frenchtown, and the Alberton school district often does not pass along information about school board meetings and school levy elections.
Jane said as a Missoula County resident, she does not vote for the Mineral County school superintendent, who oversees the Alberton school district, and wondered what role the Missoula County school superintendent played in representing her interests as a taxpayer regarding the Alberton schools.
Harlan recommended that the county commissioners hold traveling meetings so that they visit each area and become more familiar with the issues in that area. When the school board held its meetings at different sites, people spoke more freely, he said. “It was not like coming to a school board meeting and being intimidated.”
Stan Lucier agreed. “It makes it difficult to know what’s going on here if you don’t come out here,” he said. He said he would like to see county commissioners who are rural county residents rather than city residents.
Social ills. Stella Van Loh of Huson expressed a desire to provide a resource officer within the schools, ever since the D.A.R.E. program was discontinued. Such an officer would be able to stop bullying. “From what these young people have told me, they do need someone,” she said. “There are children who have fears and I don’t feel that a children going to high school should be afraid.”
Karen Orzech expressed concern about the area’s growing problem with methamphetamine, and pointed out that with a full jail, the county’s criminal justice system is not functioning. She can’t even jail a repeat DUI offender, she pointed out.
“What are we doing as a community? Communities that have peace, quiet, tranquility and such are the communities that can hold their people accountable from here all the way up. If you don’t have a functional jail where you can put people when you need it...it’s sad,” she said. “You see people over and over and over again.”
The review commission meets for its regular monthly meeting Friday at 2 p.m. in the courthouse.
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Frenchtown/Ninemile residents are unhappy with poor roads, untreated noxious weeds, and the uncertainty surrounding the county’s new building inspection program.
They don’t feel that the tax dollars they pay into the system are being fairly distributed back into the area, and don’t feel they are well represented by the current system with three county commissioners.
The issues raised at the local government commission meeting Thursday night were very similar to those heard at other meetings from Lolo to Seeley Lake, said Dale Mahlum, the commission chairman.
Are you adequately represented by your elected officials? Mahlum asked.
“I think I can speak for the residents out here,” said Harlan Ockler, who served 17 years on the school board and is currently serving on the Frenchtown Fire board. “No, we do not.” The residents feel “outcasted, foreigners,” he said.
A few years ago the commissioners came out for a meeting in Frenchtown and one of them arrived late after getting lost. “How many taxpayers, how many tax dollars does she represent? She should have known where Frenchtown, Montana is. She should have been embarrassed to even speak those words,” Harlan said.
Other participants have also identified that the city of Missoula with its 63,000 residents is significantly different from the rural county and its 25,000 residents, Mahlum pointed out.
“I think we have to separate the city and the county somehow,” suggested Stella Van Loh. “I’m not sure how you do that but I believe it has to be separated.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can build a fence around Missoula,” said Stan Lucier. “I don’t think they should be let out into the county.”
The review commission is charged with researching and recommending possible changes to the forms, functions, and powers of local county government.
Based on their comments at the meeting, the reviewers appear to be leaning toward recommending a charter form of government and increasing the number of county commissioners so that at least one represents the county’s rural areas.
The review could propose five commissioners, with one from the rural areas, or seven commissioners, with two from the rural areas, suggested Ron Erick-son. He emphasized that the group is still listening to county residents and it will be quite a while before they make their official recommendation.
Whatever it is, Missoula County voters will have the final say. They must approve the commission’s recommendations, which would appear on the ballot in November 2006.
Four of the seven review commission members attended the meeting at Frenchtown Fire Station #1 on Oct. 6. Dale Mahlum, Julie Hacker, Diana Mitchell, and Ron Erickson were present, while Tracy Stone-Manning, Kari Samuel, and Ann Wake-Zahn did not attend. They heard from about a dozen local residents.
Roads: Harlan Ockler expressed concern about the condition of Conifer Drive, and about the potential damage that could be caused by the failure of a dike there. When the area was first developed, the county started to maintain it and graveled it at least once. But former county surveyor Horace Brown decided to remove one rugged stretch of Conifer Drive from the county maintenance and posted signs at both ends. The road now poses a safety threat, Harlan said.
Randy Evans pointed out that Touchette Lane is “dusty and rutty and miserable to drive on.” If the county health department is so concerned about particulate in the air that it bans burning, perhaps it should also start taking a look at the particles in the air caused by road dust. “Let the county be the first one to clean up their act to set a precedent,” he suggested.
West Fork Petty Creek resident Doug McCoy pointed out that the federal government has started a major $5 million paving project up Petty Creek. While attending several public meetings involving the project, he has seen representatives from the state and federal governments, but he has never seen anyone from the Missoula County road department. “I was disappointed to see no one from the county there,” he said.
Doug said he also learned that the Forest Service gave the road to Missoula County in 1997 or 1998, and the county should have been responsible for road maintenance all these years. It is possible that the change got lost in the bureaucracies, Dale Mahlum said.
Weeds. Karen Orzech said that she has noticed during her hikes in the woods that the weeds have expanded further and further out. “It would be good to get some enforcement,” she said, and recommended that homeowners be ticketed for not controlling noxious weeds on their property.
Stan Lucier said he is on the weed board, agreed that homeowners are responsible for weeds all the way to the road, and said the county is about $10 million short of what it would take to effectively tackle the weed problem. “If I had the money, I’d hire a 747 and spray it all over the county,” he said. He also said that Frenchtown residents would be amazed at how many people come to the weed board meeting, opposed to any action to combat the weeds.
Lance Collister suggested an education campaign that would include photographs of noxious weeds for easy identification.
Subdivisions and building codes. Jane Derleth of Ponderosa Acres shared stories about contractors who performed substandard work on her home, and said she had to take them to court.
Shad Ockler also shared horror stories about encounters with various inspectors. “We all have absolute horror stories about the city inspector just vapor-locking an operation for what we consider a whim,” he said. One inspector told him that he would need to construct a commercial building if his garage were to house his company vehicle.
Shad said he had heard that the county had adopted its own building inspection program, but he was not clear on its current status. Missoulian reporter Mea Andrews told the Chronicle after the meeting that Shad’s comments reminded her to interview county public works director Greg Robertson about the new program.
Julie Hacker said her neighbors have suggested a licensing program for building contractors to make sure they are qualified and up-to-date on current regulations.
Shad said he thought such a program would go a long way toward helping to reduce the number of problems. Randy Evans said that if contractors are to be licensed, building inspectors should be licensed too.
Jane said the state law regarding subdivisions seems to favor developers and realtors, and said that while lobbying for its change, she is also working with neighbors on citizen-initiated zoning to protect her area. Ron Erickson said he lives in Pattee Canyon just outside the city limits, and they have citizen-initiated zoning, and it works quite well.
Jane also suggested that the Frenchtown Petty Creek station was built on what was supposed to be open space for the subdivision, and asked how it was possible that open space could be negotiated away. Dale Mahlum encouraged her to discuss the issue with Harlan Ockler, who serves as a director of the fire district.
Public transportation. Lance Collister said he would like the county commissioners to help set up trial routes for the Mountain Lion bus through Frenchtown. The bus currently runs to the Smurfit-Stone mill on Mullan Road and turns around. But with so many Frenchtown residents commuting into Missoula every day, it would be worth diverting the route, he said. Instead of turning around at the mill, the bus could continue down Mullan Road to Frenchtown and then return to Missoula along the interstate.
A bus that arrives before work in the morning and returns after the end of the work day would get good ridership, he suggested. “I think if you ran it at a time when people are going to go, rather than some bizarre time when nobody’s going in that direction, you’re going to have high use,” he said. “Especially with the price of gas and energy efficiency, it makes sense to at least explore it,” he said.
He said he would post sign-up sheets at Broncs’ Grocery and at other spots around town.
Stan Lucier said the community could guarantee its own bus route by having residents sign up to pay the special bus line taxes. He agreed to put his property on the Mountain Lion tax rolls when he built a subdivision, and now he has buses rolling past his house three times a day, he said.
Lack of representation. Jane Derleth pointed out that parts of Petty Creek in Missoula County are within the Alberton (Mineral County) school district, and some residents have an Alb-erton zip code (59820) . They often miss out on meeting notices from both counties. The local government study commission itself did not notify area residents about its meeting in Frenchtown, and the Alberton school district often does not pass along information about school board meetings and school levy elections.
Jane said as a Missoula County resident, she does not vote for the Mineral County school superintendent, who oversees the Alberton school district, and wondered what role the Missoula County school superintendent played in representing her interests as a taxpayer regarding the Alberton schools.
Harlan recommended that the county commissioners hold traveling meetings so that they visit each area and become more familiar with the issues in that area. When the school board held its meetings at different sites, people spoke more freely, he said. “It was not like coming to a school board meeting and being intimidated.”
Stan Lucier agreed. “It makes it difficult to know what’s going on here if you don’t come out here,” he said. He said he would like to see county commissioners who are rural county residents rather than city residents.
Social ills. Stella Van Loh of Huson expressed a desire to provide a resource officer within the schools, ever since the D.A.R.E. program was discontinued. Such an officer would be able to stop bullying. “From what these young people have told me, they do need someone,” she said. “There are children who have fears and I don’t feel that a children going to high school should be afraid.”
Karen Orzech expressed concern about the area’s growing problem with methamphetamine, and pointed out that with a full jail, the county’s criminal justice system is not functioning. She can’t even jail a repeat DUI offender, she pointed out.
“What are we doing as a community? Communities that have peace, quiet, tranquility and such are the communities that can hold their people accountable from here all the way up. If you don’t have a functional jail where you can put people when you need it...it’s sad,” she said. “You see people over and over and over again.”
The review commission meets for its regular monthly meeting Friday at 2 p.m. in the courthouse.
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