Ayres, Lanier face off in Hill County Commission election: Democratic Hill County Commission candidate Bill Lanier

Democratic Hill County Commission candidate Bill Lanier said his years in the area and his relationships and ability to communicate, along with his experience in county government, will help him if he is elected commissioner in November.

He said the time in his life seems right for him to run and he wants to try to make positive changes.

He said he wants to put together all of the connections and relationships he has built and the experiences he has had.

"I thought it was just the perfect time," he said. "... I thought, well, the best way to really make a change and make a positive impact is to be in a position to do that, and this is actually a position that can, in fact, maybe make more of a change."

He said one of the things he has built up over time is the ability to work with people.

"You know, I think that started years ago," he said, citing his being in the Boy Scouts as a youth, something he has continued as an adult volunteer and leader in multiple positions locally, in the HI-Line District and in the state organization.

"This is 32 years, after counting," Lanier said.

He said he has lived in Havre the last 40 years, has three sons who grew up here - one - Kade, died at the age gf 28 Sept. 3 in a car crash outside of Roundup - and has made many connections, with people with organizations and with governments.

Lanier said he was born and raised in Great Falls, graduating from Great Falls High School in 1982

"I came to Havre to go to school, Northern Montana College, and I never left," he said.

He said his grandparents lived in Havre, and he he had planned everything out by seventh, eighth grade, to go to school at Northern in drafting.

He earned a two-year degree in architectural drafting and then a four-year degree in architectural mechanical drafting and a master's degree in vocational education.

And then he went to work for the college, where he worked for 23 years.

Lanier started as director of residence life, then changed and morphed into director of student life. He then became assistant dean of students and housing director.

He then got his first taste of county government, working in the Blaine County clerk and recorder's office for five-and-a-half years, were he saw elections from the election administration side.

"I was still living in Havre, commuting to Chinook, using the North Central Montana Transit - which, that's an amazing service they have," he said.

Then he started working again in Havre, with the state Job Service Center.

But he left that job to go back to county work, taking the position of director of the Hill Count Council on Aging and working there a year.

Then, Lanier said, he was recruited back to the Job Service. The interim bureau chief was in Havre and came to talk to Lanier at the North Central Senior Center, saying he was recruiting for a new position, a workforce consultant position.

Lanier said he asked if he had anybody in mind, anybody he could put in a good word for.

"He said, 'Yeah, you. We would like you to apply,'" Lanier said "'We's really like you to come back."

So he has been back at the Job Service Center ever since, but, Lanier said, he thinks this is the perfect time to run for county commissioner.

"I"m at that age in my life," Lanier said. "I've been in Havre for nearly 40 years and have worked for the state, through the university system (and the Job Service), and Blaine and Hill counties, and thought it was the perfect time to put everything together," he said.

He said, as the director of the Hill County Council on Aging, he couldn't really change some things he thought should change, but as county commissioner, he could make some positive changes.

He said one change he wants to make is to improve relationships and morale in the county government.

"Improve relationships within the commissioner's office and with the county employees," Lanier said. "The morale is not where it's optimum for both the county employees and the county residents. And the relationships that I've built up over time, working with people, that's something I feel could be a very impactful, positive change.

County employees are not paid that great, he said, along with many positions and jobs in north-central Montana, and to get and keep good people he would like to improve relationships with those employees and improve morale.

"(Then) you have employees that are happy and are more productive, and that I would really like to see," Lanier said. "Nor that they're not productive, but I think that there's a lot of strain and stress on a lot of them."

He said it's hard to see from the outside what might be causing what he sees as morale issues.

"The county has a lot of really good employees, a lot of people that have spent time and money and effort, and there's a lot of talent there, ... but I think sometimes we may not see, if it's getting more help in finding training for people, and it's also their personal lives. There are things we could to to help them out. I think that's something that, as the county commissioners, we need to work at, is improving the lives of all the employees."

He said funding also would help, and pointed out Gov. Greg Gianforte's veto of Sen. Mike Lang's bill to set spending from marijuana taxes as an example.

Among the various allocations that bill set for spending the marijuana tax dollars was funding for counties to use on roads. Lanier said that would have been a huge benefit to counties in this area.

"You have things like that come out and that doesn't help the morale of the people that are working on the roads," Lanier said.

He said while the county commission has no direct control over the bills in the Legislature, it can work with legislators and Congress on issues and let them know what they think is important, and slo can keep people in the county informed on issues.

The local funding also impacts the level of pay, which leads to people starting working here then moving to other counties where the pay is higher, he added.

He said one way the county government might be able to help with that is working with Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, and working to tie together programs between Northern and Stone Child College at Rocky Boy for training and experiences, to tap into the work force at Rocky Boy and possible job creation starting at the reservation, such as increasing the number of commercial driver's license in the area and in areas like manufacturing.

"You know, there's a lot of talented people in this area and there might be some things we could do to help them out, he said.

He said the county also could be doing more, and working with the governor's office, to recruit more business to the area, increasing wages and revenue for the county.

Lanier said his experience in budgets could help on a lot of these issues, and other issues in the county. He said he directly dealt with budgeting in many of his positions, and has worked on them indirectly in others.

He said he wants to bring his experience and talents to those and other issues facing the county.

"I'm 60 now," Lanier said. "I've held different positions and gathered some life experiences, knowledge, abilities, working with people.

"It's kind of like a capstone job within a career," he added, "is taking all of these things that I've learned to put together in this type of position. That's one of the things I'm probably more proud of than anything is the relationships within the community that I've built up over the years."