Missoula County Government: Missoula County Weekly June 14-18

Press release from the Missoula County Government:

06/14/2021 7:00 AM

Missoula County Commissioners take a few minutes to discuss current issues happening in Missoula County and share insights on local government process in their new, short video series "Tip of the Spear." If you have a topic you'd like them to discuss, send them an email at bcc@missoulacounty.us.

Vaccines are available to everyone 12 and older!  

Make an appointment at covid19.missoula.co, and share your experience on social media with the hashtags #endthepandemic, #vaccinatethe406 and #gotmyshot406. 

Stay up to date with Missoula County's COVID-19 vaccine distribution success! Visit covid19.missoula.co/vaccine-information and click on the Vaccination Distribution Map and Dashboard blue button. The data is updated every Monday. If you would like to track data across Montana, visit the Montana Response page. 

Missoula County Attorney’s Office earns national achievement award 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office has again been recognized with an achievement award from the National Association of Counties (NACo). The award honors innovative, effective county government programs that enhance services for residents. NACo recognized “Calibrate--Missoula’s Prosecution-led Pretrial Diversion” in the category of Criminal Justice and Public Safety as an innovative new program, worthy of sharing with other counties.  

Read more. 

Did you receive your property appraisal notice? Here’s what it means and what you can do about it. 

Did you receive the document to the right in the mail? This is not a tax bill from Missoula County. It’s an appraisal notice issued by the Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) showing the current assessed value of your property. DOR appraises the value of real property every two years, so the value listed on your form applies to tax years 2021 and 2022. The state DOR, not Missoula County, calculates this value, which is a key factor in determining the property taxes you’ll owe this year. Those property taxes help fund several taxing jurisdictions you live in, including the county. 

If you feel the assessed value on your property is inaccurate, you must appeal it by Aug. 9 for the 2021 tax year. Filing an appeal means you are requesting a reappraisal of the property value.  Do not wait until you receive your tax bill in October – it will be too late! 

Read more on the Missoula County Blog.

Operation Shelter – Urgent Response: Outdoor Communities 

The City of Missoula and Missoula County are standing up an incident management team with operations and logistics expertise to identify and vet potential alternative locations for community members currently camping near Reserve Street and elsewhere in the urban wild. The team will assess potential locations using criteria to determine site viability. 

Read more on Engage Missoula. 

Missoula County employees are working hard for you! 

Madeline Gaffigan, Weed District Biocontrol Technician 

"It’s field season and our first seasonal collections of mecinus janthinus, a stem boring weevil, is out and active across yellow toadflax populations within the state! This bug chews holes into the stems of toadflax and limits the plants ability to reproduce. This is just one example of the many biocontrol species I get to see in my work with the Montana Biocontrol Coordination Project.  

It is an honor to be a part of this project, learn the inner workings of bug communities, and help encourage an integrative weed management approach in the state. Landowners will request these bugs for their invasive weed issues, and we will collect, store and ship them throughout the U.S. to help slow the spread of invasive plant populations.  

I absolutely love this work. It is so meditative to zoom in on the plant and watch an entire population of bugs working together on a small scale. To make it even better, I get to work with so many members of the Montana community (including my amazing coworkers) to keep the open spaces and native plants healthy and thriving in this beautiful state and hopefully beyond!" 

What is Missoula County doing about … public engagement? 

Missoula County is consistently looking to improve ways to engage with the public, including in the most recent 2021 Community Needs Assessment conducted by Community and Planning Services to help identify needs and gaps in the community related to public infrastructure and facilities, economic development, housing, human services and COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Other engagements include a Community Survey done in 2020 to gauge the quality of Missoula County’s Services and learn how they can be improved. The county intends to conduct this survey every few years to consistently reassess and improve the delivery of services.  

Also, public comment is always encouraged. If you need a service, please fill out the customer service request form. If you have a comment, question or concern about anything coming before the County Commissioners, email bcc@missoulacounty.us. For the motor vehicle or tax questions, comments or concerns, email missoulatax@missoulacounty.us. For jury duty questions or info on other court proceedings, email clerkofcourt@missoulacounty.us.  

Read more. 

Missoula County in the News: June 5 to June 11 

Groundbreakings, master plans, relief funding boost Missoula’s housing efforts 
Missoula County, city prepare for post-pandemic operations, new security measures 
MDT rehabilitate Orange Street underpass, County urges project to go further 
Missoula Attorney’s Office Honored for Innovative Program 
Missoula jail reopening to the public 
Missoula fairgrounds director promoted to new county economic development job 

Upcoming Missoula Public Library Classes and Events 

Visit Missoula Public Library’s website for more information on these events and classes.

10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 15: Tuesday Tiny Tales
2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, June 15-19: SpectrUM Discovery Science Activity
3:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16: Middle School Writers’ Group
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16: 3rd Wednesday Virtual Book Group
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 16: Rediscovering Moby Dick
10:30 a.m. Friday, June 18: Virtual Story Time
3:30 p.m. Friday, June 18: Young Adult Writers’ Group
6 p.m. Friday, June 18: Online D&D Guild for Adults 
10 a.m. Saturday, June 19: MCAT Facility Tour
10 a.m. Saturday, June 19: Art with a Purpose 

Upcoming Commissioners’ Meetings from Monday, June 14 to Friday, June 18

• Monday, June 14 
  Public Works Update 

• Tuesday, June 15 
  District and Justice Courts Update 
  Commissioners’ Administrative Public Meeting 
  County Attorneys Update 

• Wednesday, June 16 
  Zoning Code Update 
  Chief Officers Update 

• Thursday, June 17 
  Chief Administrative Officer Update 
  Sheriff’s Office Update 
  Commissioners' Administrative Public Meeting 

• Friday, June 18 
  No department, administrative or public meetings are scheduled on this day.

This press release was produced by the Missoula County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.