Just what a port authority is and does is something residents of Glacier County will find themselves learning after June 1, as the county, Browning and Cut Bank will have created the Glacier County Regional Port Authority. Cut Bank and Browning's city and town council joined with Glacier County to approve the move in late March. The state code allows two or more local governments to jointly form a port authority.
“A port authority creates a quasi-governmental entity, and it's important because it can move faster than government in building and maintaining support for local business,” said Dr. Johnel Barcus of the Browning Community Development Corporation. “That's why [BDCD] contacted the county commissioners and either the city councils or the mayors of Browning and Cut Bank.”
The function of a port authority, broadly stated, is to encourage economic development. A laudable end that is more intricately broken down in the “purpose statement” issued in the Montana Annotated Code. That detail is also fairly broad and includes such goals as to “promote, stimulate, develop, and advance the general welfare, commerce, economic development, and prosperity of its jurisdiction and of the state and its citizens.” Generally, the five points of purpose enjoin the commission to do everything possible to promote commerce through any means available, including working with other groups and educating and training the citizens.
“They don't have a specific avenue to take now, except the doors are open with a port authority,” said Glacier County Commissioner Michael DesRosier. “The money they can get may not be available to just Browning, Cut Bank or Glacier County. We have regional development corporations...but I realized they're all limited in the area they serve. So for the county as a whole, a port authority opens avenues that include East Glacier, Babb and St. Mary. It gives them more of a voice, but also with a port authority by state law it requires the board to represent all the players - Browning, Cut Bank and Glacier County.”
The Authority will include nine commissioners, three each from Browning, Cut Bank and Glacier County. Those in the final category will be chosen, one each from the three county districts. The first nine commissioners will be appointed by the County Commission and the city and town councils of Cut Bank and Browning. All nine posts will stand for election within the first six years of the Authority's start, in a staggered sequence.
The plan is complex, but one of the commissioners, each from Browning and Cut Bank, holds only a one-year appointment, after which an election will be held for their seats. Two of the county appointments are for two years; two more each from Browning and Cut Bank are for three years; the final appointment from the county expires in four years; and the final appointments from Browning and Cut Bank are up for election in six. The starting terms of the appointees will be chosen by lot.
The new group enjoys the ability to ask for up to two mils in tax money, which stands now at about $17,000 per mil, said DesRosier. “But it's up to the board whether they want to exercise that,” said Barcus.
“The plan is for the port authority to find funding on its own,” said DesRosier, “so it could work without going to the taxpayers.” DesRosier explained when the idea was first floated by the county commission, chairman Ray Salois called several surrounding counties who have established them, what their experiences had been. “They all said they've been a great success; I haven't seen one that failed,” said DesRosier. He noted that Kalispell's port authority got the two mils up front, but banked the money and accrued interest since they were being funded by their own efforts so successfully.
All nine commissioners work in a voluntary capacity, but they may hire a director who would be paid, said Barcus. That decision, and many specifics of direction, have been left for the Authority to decide once it's established.
“It's a really positive thing to bring our communities together,” said DesRosier. “Glacier is one of the largest population counties along the Hi-Line, so economic development is really important, and it has to involve the whole county to be successful.”
“The communities in the county are divided on a lot of issues,” agreed Barcus, “so this makes a way for them to play together. Browning won't be successful without Cut Bank being part of it, too, and vice versa.”
Cut Bank and Browning are left to decide for themselves how to choose their commissioners, and Commissioner DesRosier recommends those interested in this, or any, county board, submit their names to the commission and make themselves known. “Openings are frequently difficult to fill, so we want people to submit their names for the boards they want to serve on,” he said.
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