McLean, Williams, Odegard face off in commission race: Les Odegard

Hill County resident Les Odegard, an independent, is challenging Republican incumbent Diane McLean for her seat on the Hill County Commission, along with Hill County Commission Executive Assistant Sheri Williams, a Democrat.

Odegard said he feels very strongly that races like this shouldn't be partisan, which is why he is running as an independent, with making all county races non-partisan one of his primary political goals.

"There are 16 counties in Montana that are nonpartisan; I would like to make Hill County the 17th," he said.

He said he feels he'll be able to examine any given situation in a calm fashion, and listen to the people he works with to find reasonable solutions that aren't guided by partisan politics.

Indeed, one of his top priorities, he said, was reestablishing a relationship of trust between the commission and the county's employees and department heads, who he said are very competent within their roles and don't need to be interfered with.

"We've got good people, we need to give them the tools to do their jobs, then just let them do them," he said. "We don't need to be micromanaging."

Odegard said another one of his priorities is evaluating the county's use of American Rescue Plan Act funds, specifically raising concerns about how much is being used to replace the Hill County Courthouse's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system versus something like the Milk River Levee, which he thinks most people consider a higher priority.

He said using money for the HVAC system is legitimate, but if the levee doesn't get certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers people in the floodplain, which includes a large portion of Havre south of the river as well as North Havre, would need to buy flood insurance, which is very expensive.

As for the county's financial state over all, he said, he would need to look more closely at the books but he thinks a good way to improve things over all is to invest in a full-time grant writer, which he said could pull a huge amount of money into the county.

"There's millions of dollars out there," he said.

Odegard also said he feels the county could stand to improve transparency and access to information, especially on its website, where meeting agendas and minutes could be posted for the public to see, but rarely are, with the last one being posted in June of 2020.

Another thing he said he thinks could be improved on is the county's emergency preparedness, something that was drawn into sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said discussions about improving communication and response to things like ice storms should be a constant, but pandemic responses for the future should be folded into those discussions.

Odegard said he thinks the Hill County Health Department did a great job of dealing with the pandemic, getting accurate information out to the public and adapting as best they could as the situation developed.

He said there are always improvements to be made, but the pandemic was a uniquely serious situation and it's easy to talk with the benefit of hindsight, so he feels good about their work overall.

As for the recent legalization of marijuana he said, he didn't support it, but now that it is legal he supports the county putting a 3 percent tax on it, which voters will be asked to approve or reject in the upcoming election.

On the subject of combating the effects of climate change on the county level, he said, he would like to see more investment in things like solar and wind power as well as support for electric vehicles, but he'd also like to hear from the community about what they think the county should be doing.

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Age: 62

Graduated: Flaxville High School

Degrees: Bachelors in finance with a minor in economics, Bachelors in accounting, graduate certificate in pastoral counseling

Military Service: None

Previous Offices held: None