Mark Peck was elected to the Lincoln County Commission on Nov. 4, replacing former Libby mayor and commission chairman Tony Berget, who was ousted during this year’s primary election.
The open commission seat was one of four high-level county positions that were on the ballot this year in Lincoln County.
Roby Bowe was re-elected as sheriff in a three-way race that included Bill Clark and write-in candidate Darren Short. Robin Benson beat incumbent Tammy Lauer in a hotly contested clerk and recorder race. And Libby Judge Jay Sheffield beat Eureka Judge Stormy Langston after the two justice of the peace positions were combined as part of ongoing budget cuts.
Peck’s election to the commission solidified the makeup of the county government that was shaken up earlier this year when Berget lost the primary. The day after the primary, long-time Commissioner Ron Downey announced he was stepping down from the commission for health reasons. A few weeks later, Gregory Larson was appointed to represent Troy. The resignation and election results means that Eureka representative Mike Cole is the longest serving member of the commission.
Peck, a Libby native, was in the Air Force for 20 years and was Flathead County’s Emergency Services Director from 2006 to 2010. Since then he has served as a unit manager for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Peck beat Russell Bache, a retired Navy veteran, with 71 percent of the vote. Peck said he was surprised by his decisive victory.
“It was very humbling,” he said. “It sort of puts a lot of pressure on you.”
Peck said he hopes his background in natural resources will give him an edge when working with the DNRC, where he is currently employed, and the U.S. Forest Service. He said with new faces on the commission and at the Kootenai National Forest, where a new forest supervisor was appointed earlier this year, there are opportunities to forge new partnerships; ones he hopes benefits the area’s struggling economy.
Peck will be sworn in in early January and sometime before that he will resign from his post at the DNRC. In the coming weeks he plans on meeting with every department head and the current clerk and treasurer so that he has a good understanding of the government’s budget and how things work. Tackling Lincoln County’s shrinking budget will be the biggest issue facing the government next year, Peck said.