Commissioner candidate claims city, county experience

One of seven Republicans running for the late Jim Dupont’s seat on the Flathead County Commission, Mike Shepard says the most precious thing government officials are responsible for is “the intelligent use of people’s taxes.”

Shepard grew up north of Pittsburgh, Pa. He received his bachelor’s in education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he joined ROTC. He served in Army Airborne units and later in the Pittsburgh area under his father, a colonel in the Army. He is a lifetime member of the Army Reserves Officers Association.

After teaching for 1 1/2 years and attending graduate school classes, Shepard took a job at the ARCO Aluminum smelter in Columbia Falls and moved to Montana in 1977. He worked as a purchasing agent at the plant until 1985 and then worked for a Honda dealership and a plumbing supply house until he retired. He’s lived in the same house in Columbia Falls since October 1979.

A past master of the Columbia Falls Masonic Lodge, a former post commander at the American Legion Post in Whitefish and an active singer in the Columbia Falls Methodist Church choir, Shepard is a member of numerous outdoors and hunting clubs — especially bowhunting clubs. He’s also an avid Harley rider and has biked to the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, S.D. five times.

Shepard is currently in his fourth four-year term as a Columbia Falls city councilor. He was first elected in 1996 and has served on the city council 14 of the past 16 years. He’s also represented the city on the county’s Solid Waste Board and the county’s 911 Board, which he co-chaired with the late Jim Dupont.

“I was the most engaged councilor on the board,” he said, noting that he logged 5,900 miles driving to 911 Board meetings over the past two years.

Shepard says one reason he decided to run for county commissioner was his experience.

“I don’t need a learning period,” he said. “I’ve been doing this way too long.”

Besides understanding the practical matters of government, Shepard says he came to appreciate the importance of taxes while serving on a school board in Pennsylvania when he was 26.

“I learned about having the privilege of spending someone else’s money,” he said.

Overall, Shepard says he believes Flathead County government is “run pretty effectively,” but “some areas need tweaking.” In-house costs should be compared to real-world costs to find the most cost-effective way to complete a project. He’d also like to talk to some department heads about property rights.

“Land-use issues are always the most contentious,” he said, recommending greater use of neighborhood planning.

Shepard takes a hard stance on lawsuits filed by environmental groups. He says groups should be required to post a bond equal to the value of a timber sale when suing to stop a sale.

“I believe we should take care of the earth, but we should have dominion over it all,” he said. “That’s the way I was raised.”

Timber harvests should be stepped up on Forest Service lands to increase road and school payments to rural counties, Shepard said. He also wants Flathead County officials to meet with commissioners from Gallatin and Ravalli counties to develop a large-predator policy. Northwest Montana now has 50 wolf packs and 1,000 grizzly bears, he said.

“The enviros are going to use this to try to stop any use of natural resources,” he said. “What is next? Wolverines, lynx?”