Strissel, Wicks square off in race for Hill County Commissioner: Mark Wicks

Republcian Mark Wicks, an Inverness-area farmer and veteran, is facing Democrat, and Bullhook Community Health Center Behavioral Health Specialist Jacob "Jake" Strissel of Rudyard in the Hill County Commissioner 2020 Election to fill the seat of Democrat Mike Wendland, who is not running for re-election.

Wicks said 30 years of experience as a farmer, entrepreneur and veteran make him the best candidate for the position of commissioner, a job he said requires an exceptional breadth of knowledge.

"With the commissioners being involved in so many different things, you need to be knowledgeable in all areas," he said.

Wicks said infrastructure is the biggest issue currently facing the county, especially when it

comes to the condition of the roads, which he said he has plenty of experience dealing with.

"The roads are getting in pretty tough condition," he said. "We haven't seen any gravel put on the roads in 30 years in our area."

He said people in the county need to be able to do their work without the roads damaging their vehicles.

Wicks said he's hoping he

can go through the budget and find some money for road improvements, but he isn't against the idea of proposing a mill levy.

He said he's spoken with people in his area and they are, by-and-large, willing to pay a bit more if it helps get the roads back in order.

He said he's hoping the money can be found somewhere else and there's no need for a levy, but there is nowhere in particular he had ideas when it came to cutting sections of the budget.

Wicks said grants are certainly a possibility and he was looking into reaching out to U.S. Border Patrol or Homeland Security because they use the roads more than anyone.

"I mean, it would be in their best interests to get the roads in better condition," he said.

He said maintaining the roads should be thought of as an ongoing project and not something to be dealt with every few decades, an approach he considers not just ineffective, but financially inefficient.

Another issue he said he has his eyes on is water.

He said Fresno Reservoir has sediment building up and that may need to be dealt with soon along with flood controls for the Havre area.

Wicks said the county's budget is something the commission needs to keep a close eye on, as people are constantly looking to them for money, and a commissioner needs to be vigilant to make sure they aren't being overcharged and find ways to cut costs.

He said he doesn't think the commission is being taken advantage of in any significant ways, but it's something they should always be looking out for.

"Every businessman is going to try to get the best deal for themselves," he said.

He said he's hoping to see some of the revenue from natural gas the county has lost in past decade come back, but it's not something that can or should be counted on.

One thing he believes the county shouldn't be skimping on is the Havre Ambulance Service and Rudyard Rural Ambulance Service.

The city of Havre has been subsidizing the service for years and recently asked the county to help make up for that shortfall as 28 percent of the services' calls come from outside the city limits, but they only receive 5 percent of their income from those calls.

The Hill County Commission was originally considering the creation of a county-wide ambulance district, but has since proposed an eight mill levy to people outside the city limits to make up for the services shortfall which, if unaddressed, could result in service being unable to respond to out-of-city calls.

Wicks said he knows some people in the ambulance service and they are great people who do good work and wants to make sure their service is funded.

"It would be hard for me to say no to them, if they need some more money to keep their services running," he said.

He said he had no opinion on whether the county should have stuck with its plans to create a county-wide district.

Another issue he said he'd look into as commissioner is the need to attract more businesses to the county, something he said would keep young people in the area and help create a more robust tax base for the county.

"A lot of people want to stay, but they can't afford to stay," he said.

One idea he had was to leverage the fact that the county is host to Montana State University-Northern, formerly Northern Montana College, which he said needs to be taken advantage of to draw young people to the area with its more-affordable housing and quality education.

"Northern Montana College is a tremendous thing to have in our county and we have to work with that and use it to our advantage," he said.

When it comes to the pandemic, Wicks said, he thinks the county has done a good job dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think they've done as well as they can with what they have," he said.

Wicks said people in the area should be social distancing and washing their hands, which he said is the only way to keep people safe short of locking down the entire county.

"We need to realize that this is something that is going to be here for a while and we're not going to make it go away just by wearing masks," he said. " ... We're going to have to build up some herd immunity."

Wicks said he believes his knowledge base, as well as the connections he's cultivated in the Montana Legislature, and among Montana's federal representatives makes him a better candidate for commissioner than his opponent but he has no interest in making personal criticism of him.

"I know the entire Strissel family, they're good people, I like them, and I have nothing against Jake," he said.

Wicks said he has no time for nonsense, and he's not looking to flex his ideological muscles as commissioner and wants only to do what is best for the county.