Lilletvedt files for re-election on Havre City Council

Havre City Council member Terry Lilletvedt filed to run for re-election Thursday, her papers filed with the Hill County Clerk and Recorder’s office say.

Lilletvedt has represented Ward 1 on the council for four years. As of Friday morning, Lilletvedt is the only candidate who has filed to run for the seat.

“The city is just a complicated place and there’s always new issues,” she said. “I just feel like maybe there is some more I can do.”

Lilletvedt said she would like to give people a better understanding of how government works adding that people often don’t understand the budget and personnel limitations the city has to work with.

As a member of the council’s Streets and Sidewalks Committee, Lilletvedt has been a major proponent of a proposed 75 mill levy increase that would fund improvements to the city’s streets. The committee voted unanimously Monday to send the proposal to the full council to consider placing it on the ballot in November’s city elections.

If the proposal is ultimately approved by voters, the owner of a house with a commercial value of $100,000 would pay about $101.25 in additional property taxes and about $202.50 for a home valued at $200,000.

Aside from three years living in Missoula, Lilletvedt has lived in Havre all her life. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business from Montana State University-Northern, and later worked for 25 years as director of Northern’s career center.

Lilletvedt is now marketing director for Independence Bank.

She is married to Brian Lilletvedt, an attorney in Havre, and has one grown son.

Candidates have until June 19 to file to appear on the ballot for city elections.

In Havre, Mayor Tim Solomon and City Judge Virginia Siegel have filed to run for re-election.

Havre City Council member Karen Swenson has filed for re-election to her Ward 2 seat. Neither Jay Pyette in Ward 3 nor Matt Boucher in Ward 4 have filed for re-election. Lindsey Ratliff and Marc Whitacre have filed to run for Pyette’s seat, while Sarah Griffith and Will Lorett have filed to run for the Ward 4 seat held by Boucher.

As of Friday, nobody has yet filed for the Ward 2 seat Denise Brewer was appointed Monday to temporarily fill.

Hingham Mayor Ray Lipp and Roger Haas, who sits on the Hingham Town Council, have filed for re-election.