Flathead County Commissioner primary: Incumbent touts conservative values, her accountability

Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist said she has spent the past 5 1/2 years making good on campaign promises she made in 2010 and intends to stay true to her conservative values.

“I’m doing what I said I’d do,” the incumbent commissioner for District 2 said.

Holmquist, a Republican, is being challenged by county Fairgrounds Maintenance Supervisor Tim Harmon in the June 7 primary election. The Republican winner faces Democrat Eileen Lowery in the general election.

The longtime Evergreen businesswoman charted her political course toward less government, lower taxes and fewer regulations when she first ran for commissioner.

Holmquist said the county budget is in excellent shape and construction is winding up on two major construction projects — the $7 million South Campus Building and $4 million County Attorney Office complex in the refurbished historic jail building. Both building projects are being paid for with federal money from a long-running payment-in-lieu-of-taxes appropriation that compensates local governments for nontaxable federal land.

Holmquist takes pride in the fact that her property owners’ “bill of rights” was included in the 2012 growth policy, and that she had a hand in restoring county planning control in the Whitefish “doughnut” area so that those county residents could be represented by county government.

She said she has voted against increased county property taxes except in cases where property owners are able to have a voice, such as rural special improvement districts or the 911 tax district that voters rejected last year.

While Holmquist initially voted against the county levying the maximum number of mills to begin setting aside money for a jail, she acknowledged she voted for the mill levy last year because it is being earmarked for a pressing county need.

She and other county officials just returned from a four-day jail planning conference in Colorado to learn how to plan for building a new jail.

“The take-away is we have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We learned we need a transition team, and it will probably take five years just to plan” for a new jail.

“We know it will be $40 million to $50 million,” Holmquist said. “We’d have to do a bond, and the biggest thing about the funding is to get the community involved.

“Government works on crisis,” she said. “You can’t sell the public on a new jail” if the need isn’t demonstrated.

Holmquist said when she began her term as commissioner in 2011, the sheriff acknowledged the overcrowding but said at that time the situation was still workable.

“We take our signals from the sheriff,” she said.

Holmquist said she learned at the conference that a treatment center should be incorporated into a new jail facility.

Regarding the equipment upgrades and ongoing maintenance needs for the 911 consolidated dispatch center, Holmquist said none of the current commissioners had a hand in how the funding — or lack thereof — was set up.

“We’re left to find a funding source,” she said.

For years the county and its three incorporated cities have tried to identify an equitable long-term funding source to operate the consolidated 911 center. A third-party study underway to determine whether the scope of the 911 center is on target in terms of staffing levels and other measures is a good start to addressing the needs, she said. 

Holmquist has been very involved in local economic development efforts, serving on the Montana West Economic Development board since she became a commissioner. She testified in support of the funding needed to finish the U.S. 93 bypass and also supported the federal grant that was awarded to create the Glacier Rail Park.

“I feel we’re better off job-wise, and the rail park will help,” she said.

Holmquist said she saw the job potential in the creation of the zoning overlay district in Evergreen that gives small business more commercial options.

An open-door policy and accessibility to the public have been a hallmark of her time in office, she said.

She also noted she opposed the tribal water compact throughout its entire process.

Holmquist continues to tout her business experience and her ability to “crunch” a budget as assets to running the county.

The issue of her residency in Evergreen continues to cast a shadow over Holmquist. Some citizens have alleged Holmquist does not live full time in District 2.

“I know people find it hard to believe, but we have been in the apartment in Evergreen for about 11 years,” she said. “I know I’ve been followed home a few times.”

The Holmquist family has property elsewhere, including a home west of Kalispell where larger family gatherings occasionally are held.

Pam Holmquist

Age: 63

Family: Husband, Wes; three grown children, 10 grandchildren

Occupation: Flathead County commissioner, District 2

Background: Co-owner of Rocky Mountain Marine; third-generation Flathead Valley resident; Flathead High School graduate; life member of National Rifle Association; member of Flathead County Republican Central Committee and Flathead County Republican Women, Glacier Pachyderm Club, Moose Lodge, Eagles, Kalispell Pool League; member Evergreen Chamber of Commerce; past member Flathead County Water and Sewer District Board, Evergreen Business 7 Property Owners Association and Flathead Regional Wastewater Management Group.

Online: www.homquistforcommissioner.com; Pam Holmquist for Flathead County Commissioner on Facebook