Columbia Falls City Council Selects Candidate to Fill Councilor Vacancy
Councilors selected Staci Bloomberg to replace former Councilor Christopher Semok, who resigned on June 28. Bloomberg will serve in the role until the November 2027 election.
By Lauren Frick
Columbia Falls city councilors on Monday night tapped Staci Bloomberg to sit alongside them until the November 2027 election following the June 28 resignation of former Councilor Christopher Semok.
The July 27 special meeting came in quick succession after the city council narrowed down a 12-person candidate pool to four finalists — Bloomberg, Roger Hopkins, Elizabeth McBride, and Kaitlyn Seemiller — to fill the vacant seat last week. Seemiller withdrew her application, leaving Bloomberg, Hopkins and McBride to participate in Monday night’s interviews.
After roughly an hour of alternating through council members as they asked each of the candidates a series of questions, the councilors opted for little discussion, instead casting a written vote on who they wanted to be Semok’s replacement. After a few minutes of counting the impromptu ballots, Bloomberg was announced to the small group of meeting goers as the city’s next councilor.
“It was close,” Mayor Donald Barnhart said. “It really was.”
Bloomberg, a Montana licensed attorney currently working as a human resources consultant, has called Montana home for 25 years, living in Columbia Falls for the last 10 years. She currently serves on the Columbia Falls/Woodlawn Cemetery Board and as a volunteer youth soccer coach with Flathead Rapids Soccer Club.
“I’m a part of a family that has committed to serving the community for a long time,” Bloomberg told councilors on Monday night. “That includes my husband, that includes my father-in-law, and many other members of my family. I’m grateful to now have the capacity in my professional life where I too have that opportunity to possibly give back and serve as well.”
Pulling from her extensive experience in the human resource field, Bloomberg cited her conflict resolution skills, familiarity with budgets and experience teaching effective communication trainings as useful expertise that will bear fruit while serving on the council.
“I’m thankful that my background, having worked professionally in human resources, has been one where I’ve come into organizations, I’ve helped to further missions, visions, and values while understanding what leadership needs, and then listening to employees,” Bloomberg said. “I think that this position would be very similar in terms of helping to forward the community, our city mission, thinking about what is possible and permitted by law, and then listening — not in this case, employees — but to our residents and see how do we further what’s important to them. Helping people has always been my goal.”
Bloomberg said she sees growth and development, community safety and city infrastructure as top priorities for the council over the next three to five years. However, she also noted it will be important to be adaptive as new matters will always arise when seeking input from residents.
“I’ve learned a long time ago that thinking about predicting the future and after asking candidates about three to five years, something different always pops up that’s new and interesting,” Bloomberg told the councilors. “My understanding of the city council role really is listening to the members of our community and hearing what they feel is important at any given moment and giving them the time to express their thoughts, and then to consider … what matches with our goals through the city mission and what’s permitted by law.”
Impressed with all three candidates — and noting the large number of letters of interest initially submitted for the role — the city councilors urged McBride and Hopkins to run in the next election, saying they hope the general interest in city government continues.
Bloomberg will serve until the next municipal election, which will be in November 2027. That year the city will have a total of four council seats on the ballot.
Both Bloomberg and McBride expressed a strong interest in running in the future, while Hopkins — who is no stranger to Columbia Falls city government, serving as the city’s first city manager more than 30 years ago and most recently assuming the position of vice chair of the Columbia Falls Local Government Study Commission —stayed true to his message in his letter of interest, saying he hopes to recruit younger candidates to run.