Sign up for the free Missoula This Week newsletter and stay in the loop on Missoula city government, public school meetings, business news and upcoming entertainment and events. Sign up 11/08/2024“Missoula This Week” is reported and written By Katie Fairbanks. Send your Missoula news and tips to [email protected] County saw a busy but smooth Election Day, official says Election official, Lori Wise, 59, collects ballots from Missoula County residents before closing at the Missoula County Elections Office on Russell Street in Missoula, Montana, on Monday, November 4, 2024. Credit: John Stember / MTFPWhen Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman arrived at work at 5 a.m. Tuesday, four people were already waiting to vote. At its busiest, residents waited for three hours in a line snaking around the Missoula County Elections Center on the corner of Russell Street and Wyoming Street, through a heated tent in the parking lot and into the building. The line finished at 11 p.m., and the county released its first batch of results soon after. Seaman said elections staff and volunteers did a great job through the non-stop work. “It’s just a monumental task,” he said. “I’m really proud of the work we’ve done here.” Missoula County’s voter turnout was just under 76%, slightly higher than the state’s 74.5% as of Thursday. The rate is higher than the 2016 turnout of about 74% but below the 2020 turnout of nearly 80%.  The number of ballots cast — 72,188 — is close to the 72,491 cast in 2020 and may exceed that after provisional ballots are counted next week and added to the total, Seaman said. The elections office began counting ballots on Monday and continued on Tuesday without stopping until about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, as required by a new state law. “In the general, the number of ballots was so high we were delayed but in a positive way because we’re getting all these ballots counted,” Seaman said. Tuesday was the first general election implementing rules passed by the 2023 Legislature requiring counties to tabulate without stopping on Election Day and to wait until all voters have cast ballots before releasing results. Seaman said his office doesn’t have enough people to run a continuous count and have it be productive. “We need good trained staff who are alert and ready to go overnight to count,” he said. “We didn’t get a whole group of people who work the graveyard shift at Noon’s [convenience store] so we were taking people in for overnight that had been awake all day.” If election workers could pause counting at midnight and resume in the morning as they did previously, they would likely have finished counting at the same time as they did working throughout the night because people would be rested, Seaman said. “Having people run continuously for 32 hours doesn’t lend to accuracy,” he said. “At the same time, we’re excited because so many people voted.” The office has six full-time staff, including Seaman, and 60 temporary employees who help process ballots, he said. It takes about 600 people, most of them volunteers, to run a countywide election, Seaman said. The drive-thru drop-offs at McCormick Park and Russell Street saw a steady flow of traffic throughout Election Day and likely served thousands of voters, Seaman said. The sites allow voters to quickly and securely turn in their ballots without dealing with the traffic and full parking lot at the Elections Center, he said. On Tuesday, 7,677 voters, more than three times the number in the primary, voted at one of the county’s 20 polling places, Seaman said.  “The turnout number for polling places on Election Day is phenomenal,” he said. “We put a lot of effort to staff the most polling places of any county in Montana and voters appreciate them and use them.” Ballot count and turnout numbers don’t include provisional ballots, cast by voters who show up to vote at a polling place on Election Day but aren’t on the registration list for that location. Seaman said the most common reason Missoula County voters received provisional ballots was because they were signed up for an absentee ballot but went to the polls instead. Election staff will check the voter registration of those who cast provisional ballots and make sure they didn’t also cast an absentee ballot, Seaman said. Either way, the election office will send a letter to those voters letting them know which ballot was counted, he said. After the provisional ballot count on Tuesday, the elections office will audit its equipment on Nov. 15 and canvass the election on Nov. 18. Public Notice Missoula Parks and Recreation is holding a community design workshop for a new 5.4-acre park on Scott Street and Rogers Street and improvements to the Northside Park and Annex. The event, from 5:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Lowell Elementary, will include a light dinner, free childcare and youth design activities, hands-on planning exercises and timeline updates. Residents unable to attend can get project updates and share their ideas at www.engagemissoula.com/northside-parks. The new park will replace the nearby White Pine Park and better serve the growing Northside and Westside neighborhoods, according to the department. Donna Gaukler, parks and recreation director, said the city aims to keep White Pine Park open until or close to the new park’s opening in the summer of 2026. The city plans to spend about $2 million to purchase the land for the park from the Resurrection Cemetery Association by the end of the year. On Oct. 31, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency board approved using $1.6 million in tax increment financing revenue from the North Reserve-Scott Street urban renewal district to purchase the land for the park and $400,000 to purchase half an acre across the street. That parcel is a “missing link” in the city’s ownership of the land off Shakespeare Street and Rogers Street, and the purchase will allow the city to master plan the area for future redevelopment, Gaukler said during the MRA board meeting on Oct. 31. On Monday, the Missoula City Council set a public hearing for Nov. 18 to consider using $530,000 of Open Space Bond funds for the purchase. Design and construction of the new park will cost an estimated $2.25 million, bringing the total project cost to about $4.38 million. The city will sell White Pine Park, and the estimated $1.5 million in revenue will go toward developing the new park, said Zac Covington, open space project manager. The city also expects to receive $750,000 in donations, grants and impact fees to help pay for the project, he said. 5 Things to Know in Missoula  On Thursday, the Missoula County commissioners continued the public hearing on a new  Targeted Economic Development District at Grant Creek Crossing until Nov. 14. The county will use the additional time to work through concerns about the district’s potential impacts on tax revenue for the Missoula Rural Fire District and nearby school districts. The TEDD would allow the collection of tax increment revenue to help pay for infrastructure on the 84-acre site south of I-90 and west of Reserve Street. As improvements are made in the district and property taxes go up, the difference in tax revenue is collected in a fund for further investment in the district. The fire district and school districts raised concerns that the tax increment financing district would hold their tax revenue steady while development at the site would drive up their costs.In a joint meeting on Wednesday, the Missoula County commissioners and Missoula City Council approved spending $688,000 in Open Space Bond funds, evenly split between the jurisdictions, on a conservation easement. Five Valleys Land Trust will hold the easement on about 1,667 acres owned by the Indreland family in the LaValle Creek drainage northwest of Missoula. Grants and donations will cover most of the $2.6 million cost of the easement. The easement will limit where building can occur and prohibit subdivision. The ranch will continue operation and manage the property’s forest. Several council members voiced concerns about spending the city’s bond funds on a property so far from the city and without public access. Others said they support the project, as it meets the criteria outlined in the bond measure passed by voters in 2018, but that the council needs to prioritize spending the remaining funds on projects increasing residents’ access to green space. The University of Montana’s school psychology program recently received a $3.75 million Mental Health Professional Demonstration grant to increase the number and diversity of fully qualified school psychologists at high-needs schools across the state, according to a UM press release. The RAISE Initiative, which stands for rural and Indigenous school-based mental health and empowerment, is poised to generate 27 graduates. The program will provide full tuition and a stipend for three cohorts of students admitted to the school psychology specialist program at UM. The deadline to apply for the first cohort is Dec. 1, and those students will start during the fall semester of 2025.Missoula County will distribute $1.3 million in grants from its Community Assistance Fund and Substance Abuse Prevention Mill Levy, according to a county press release. The 30 organizations receiving funds provide services and assistance to children, youth, families and older citizens. County funds also support grants to rural communities where local groups are actively implementing programs for the benefit of their towns and residents.Advocacy group ProHousing Missoula is holding a presentation exploring ways to “put people over parking and enact creative solutions to housing” at 5:30 p.m. Monday at Headwaters Foundation at 119 W. Main St. The “Unlocking Housing Opportunities with Parking Reform” event will feature Daniel Herriges of the Parking Reform Network, a national nonprofit that educates the public about the impact of parking policy on climate change, equity, housing and traffic. On Campus Before the University of Montana and Montana State University meet on the football field for Brawl of the Wild, the communities compete in their annual food drive. Can the Cats launches Saturday, Nov. 9, and is sponsored by UM and the Missoula Food Bank and Community Center. Missoulians are encouraged to donate food and cash until the Griz-Cat game on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Bozeman, where the food drive winner will be announced. “Last year, UM’s football team and the wider UM and Missoula communities came together to defeat our in-state rival, both on the football field and in this important annual food drive,” UM President Seth Bodnar said in a statement. “We contributed to a new statewide record by collecting over 800,000 in pounds of food and dollars, and I’m confident we can raise that bar again this year.”The drive will kick off with a citywide “Stuff the Bus” event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. Buses will be parked at grocery stores around Missoula where volunteers will collect food and funds. All the food collected on the UM campus will benefit UM Food Pantry efforts to support students experiencing food insecurity. Food collected in the community or other monetary donations will support Missoula Food Bank. Celebrating Veterans Missoula County and city offices will be closed on Monday for Veterans Day. Veterans and non-veterans are welcome to attend breakfast from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at American Legion Post 27 on 825 Ronan St., and from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m at VFW Post 209 on 245 W. Main St. Donations are accepted and encouraged. The American Legion will host its annual Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Doughboy statue outside the Missoula County Courthouse. Veterans are encouraged to wear their uniforms, hats or other clothing representing their branch of service.On Monday evening, Draught Works Brewery will honor veterans and celebrate the launch of Project Healing Waters’ Missoula chapter. The nonprofit helps active military service personnel and veterans in need through a curriculum of fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying and rod building. The event, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., will include drinks and socializing followed by storytelling from local veterans and members of the nonprofit. Veterans can get their first beer at Draught Works for free all day. Through November, community members can purchase a beer for a local veteran to enjoy at any time during the month. The post County election turnout nears 76% appeared first on Montana Free Press.