Valley County Commissioner Candidates

In the race to serve as Valley County Commissioner, The Glasgow Courier interviewed the two candidates vying for the office, incumbent John Fahlgren and Jerry Davenport. Each candidate is vying for one open spot which is currently being served by Fahlgren.

Candidates were offered an in person interview or an email questionnaire. Fahlgren chose the email option and Davenport chose the in person interview. Questions submitted to the candidates in both forums were identical. Fahlgren's answers are in full and have not been edited.

In addition to the County Commissioner race, there is also a special Local-Option Tax Election for medical and non-medical marijuana.

Voters will have the chance to vote on a three percent local-option marijuana excise tax on the retail value of all medical marijuana and medical marijuana products sold within Valley County.

Voters will also have the chance to vote on a three percent local-option marijuana excise tax on the retail value of all non-medical marijuana and non-medical marijuana products sold within Valley County.

On the ballot, these two tax options will require two separate votes, one for medical marijuana and one for non-medical marijuana..

Election Day is Nov. 8 and absentee ballots will be mailed this Friday, Oct. 14. The polling place for all three precincts will be at the Valley County Courthouse.

Individuals can register to vote up until 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8. Absentee ballots can be requested. A form requesting an absentee ballot is available at the Clerk and Recorder's Office, inside of the Valley County Courthouse. For further information on registering to vote or the election, contact the Clerk and Recorder's office at 406-228-6220.

Meet The Candidates For Valley County Commissioner

Jerry Davenport

Jerry Davenport was born in 1956 in Glasgow, grew up west of Opheim, "working the place, being a cowboy," and graduated from Opheim High School in 1974. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1976, attended military police school in Alabama, where after graduation, he was offered the chance to be assigned as a guard for the President's helicopter for two and a half years, which he served. In total, he was enlisted for six years, four active and two years inactive.

After his service, he worked several jobs in Virginia before taking on a position at the Miami-Dade police and Dade County, Fla., which he worked for 30 years and six months. In 2013, he decided it was time to return home and he has resided in the county ever since. He has been married to his wife, Claudia, for 29 years, who has been his sounding board throughout this process of running for Commissioner. "She is a good cook and was good wife while I was a deputy," stated Davenport. He also has a brother who runs steers by Rock Creek when not running a place south of Forsyth.

He admits since moving back, he has been advised by multiple people he should run for County Commissioner, however he never thought he would follow the advice stating "Why would I want to do that for?," however he admits after giving it more thought, he has realized there are a lot of things that need to be improved. "I don't know how much I'll be able to do but I'll give it, you know, I'll give you everything I've got," he said. "There are a lot of unhappy people, not only in the county government but within the county itself. And I mean, unhappy, big time. This is a relatively small community and if you can't keep some of the people happy sometimes, something's not right."

He admits he is running for better roads and bridges within the county. "When you drive around there in the north country, there's some pretty rough roads, and it's just a maintenance issue," he stated. He recognizes it's not possible to pave the roads, though it would be nice, due to costs, however he questions how the PILT money is being spent that could help with county maintenance, including roads. "If you live up in the north country, you don't get a tax break because you live in the north country. You still pay the same tax and there are some people up there, they're forking over a bunch of money in their taxes...they're beating up their vehicles trying to drive their product to market, that's just not right," explained Davenport.

He believes there is a certain level of money availability in different federal and state program that could be looked into as well as grant funding availability to help the county improve certain things, such as the roads, in addition to working with other agencies to obtain the necessary funding. "I think there could be, should be, something worked out with Homeland Security people and Border Patrol because they drive their trucks and stuff over these roads and beat the hell out of them," stated Davenport.

Davenport admits the priorities he has for the county are always going to be the ones that are the most interesting to the people in the community. He stated one of the priorities is the money being spent at Valley View Home, the requests for money from St. Marie, as well as the day-to-day operations of the county and employees. He also stated there are a lot of people who still live here who are getting older and older, the services they utilize need to be funded as well.

He understands when providing or receiving funding, hard decisions need to be made. "When you get voted into office, you are no longer a common citizen looking from the outside in. You are the person who has to make those decisions, one way or another."

He admits the biggest challenge of the position is the funding. "Everything is based upon your ability to fund something," said Davenport. He explained how the pipeline project "just cut to the bone" of what money the county could have had stating "I know that caused a lot of shortfalls."

He believes all areas of the county need improvement stating "I'm getting letters written to me. I get phone calls from people from St. Marie or from the refuse department." However he is ready for the challenge as a possible future commissioner.

He states his strengths are being a reasonable person, as a result of his career with Miami-Dade police and Dade County, he has been exposed to different individuals and he hopes to bring reasonableness to the office, specifically being more transparent when explaining what is going on. He does admit his weakness is his inexperience as he has tried hard to stay out of politics his entire life. However, he is ready to jump in if provided the opportunity.

His greatest accomplishments have been his various career accomplishements throughout his life, telling the Courier how he was a good Marine, a good deputy sheriff and did a lot of exceptional work in the DUI field. He was also an investigator while working in Florida, which allowed him to come across a variety of situations.

"I've looked at my life as kind of like a 'Forest Gump' type of moment, for no particular reason. I go one direction and I'm successful," stated Davenport.

The public is invited to a Valley County Commissioner Candidate Forum at the Nashua Senior Citizens starting Friday, Oct. 14, 1 p.m.

Davenport will also be at the Glasgow VFW on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m. He will be available to answer questions and listen to concerns regarding the running of Valley County. Food will be supplied and everyone is welcome.

John Fahlgren

*Editor's Note – Commissioner Fahlgren provided answers asked by The Glasgow Courier via e-mail. His response is in full and have not been edited.

How long have you lived in Valley County?

I was born in Glasgow in 1950, grew up on a dairy farm west of Hinsdale, graduating from Hinsdale High in '68. I served six years in the National Guard. After earning a degree in Range Management, I started working for BLM at Salt Lake City in 1974. In 1984, I landed back in Valley County to stay. I have lived 56 of my 72 years in Valley County.

Why are you re-running for commissioner?

I want to continue to contribute to the future of the county using the knowledge and abilities I have. I want to continue to work with other commissioners, legislators and the public in the region to thwart the environmentalists re-wilding plans; including APR.

My Family?

I have been blessed to be married to a Houston, Texas lady, Mary Leonard, for 44 years. Mary and I have six adult children, Krista, Anna, Andy, Marcie, Marie and Tess plus four sons-in law and one daughter-in-law Tom, David, Zac , Matt and Madelyn! And best of all five grand-children Liam, Tenny, Edy, Iona and Emiliana. We have a wonderful family who are my great joy!

How long have you been part of the Valley County community?

Throughout the years of raising our family, we were involved in a whirlwind of activities with our kids, first in the Fort Peck community and then Glasgow. School activities, Fort Peck Summer Theatre, 4-H, and involvement in our church kept us deeply involved with our community. My job with BLM connected me to a broader area of the county. I got to develop working relationships with ranchers all over the county, plus agency personnel and members of the public who had a stake in management of BLM lands.

To what extent have you been part of local Valley County government?

I am completing my six-year term as a county commissioner. This experience has been like drinking out of a firehose, there is so much to learn. During my 23 years here in Glasgow with BLM, I had occasions to meet with the county commissioners and always had great respect for their role as elected officials representing the interests of all the citizens of the county. Now that I am in the role myself, I have even more respect for those commissioners who I worked with in my BLM days.

What priorities do you have for the county?

To be a helpful commissioner who contributes to providing all the local government services at a high level of accountability and professionalism.

Right now the runaway inflation is very troubling for everyone, every business has to raise prices to meet the cost of operation, to continue to provide the goods or service and pay the payroll. Some businesses, including farmers and ranchers have to hope that the markets will raise enough to pay off the gamble they made when they paid more than double for fertilizer and fuel this spring. For counties, the means to keep up with runaway inflation is slow and limited. The next few years are worrisome to me; how will we be able to keep our employees as wages escalate beyond revenues coming in? There will no doubt be some very tough decisions.

Keeping Valley View Home in operation is a high priority for me. I hope that efforts from the communities and a united front on part of commissioners across the state will convince the legislature to significantly increase funding levels this winter session.

What are my greatest strengths and weaknesses?

My aversion to conflict makes be a peacemaker, one who looks for a resolution to a conflict that all can live with. This is both a strength and weakness. The greatness of the three member model for our county commission is that each member's way of coming to a decision is moderated by the others. I am one who wants to think about the issue another day, to not act impulsively. Knowing when that is the correct course and not just avoiding a tough decision is the hard part for me.

What do you consider the biggest challenge of the position?

The biggest challenge is learning enough to be helpful. The second is to then keep all the balls in the air, or to at least remember where the balls were put!

What areas need improvement and why?

Somehow improving the connection of the County Commission to the public would be helpful. We get a lot of public input from people who have a concern or issue they want addressed or corrected. The commission generally does not hear from those who don't have a problem. No news may be good news, but knowing the pulse of the community is hard.

What is the greatest accomplishment in my career and personal life?

Having a role in improving the condition of the million acres of BLM land in Valley County was rewarding, establishing a small ranch and building a herd of quality Angus cattle and selling bulls to ranchers who I greatly respect was and continues to be rewarding. Being elected a Commissioner in Valley County was rewarding and serving in this role is rewarding every day. Helping to organize a regional group of counties that is working to maintain multiple use of BLM lands versus re-wilding is my proudest career accomplishment. My greatest accomplishment in my personal life is our family as expressed above.

The public is invited to a Valley County Commissioner Candidate Forum at the Nashua Senior Citizens starting Friday, Oct. 14, 1 p.m.