LeRoy Kountz, Candidate For Commissioner

Leroy Kountz is one of three candidates for the position of county commissioner in Valley County.

Kountz joined the Montana National Guard at the age of 17, and graduated from Glasgow High School in 1980. After graduation, he attended mechanic school in Fort Knox, Ky, as part of his national guard service. Kountz received an honorable discharge from the Guard in 1985.

He has been employed by BNSF since September of 1980. Initially hired to work in the track department, he was promoted to engineer in 1993, a job that he says he enjoys very much.

While working for the railroad, Kountz also worked several part-time jobs to keep him busy. He began doing construction work twenty years ago, which consisted of building roads, providing ground work for complete subdivisions, and overseeing a gravel crushing operation. He is also certified in waste water treatment.

Kountz said his most recent accomplishment was getting a medical endorsement and working as an EMT, which he finds rewarding. He explained that it allows him to help people in the community while working with the fine people at FMDH.

Leroy Kountz on the issues:

Free Roaming Bison:

"I'm not that well educated about it, but from what I've heard about it, I don't like. This is an agricultural community and I think that anything we take away from agriculture for free roaming bison would be a mistake. I don't see it helping the the community, the city, or the county.

Skylark Road:

"The first thing I would do is build a road out of it with the equipment we've got, and the qualified people we've got to run it. That road was a trail that they put a top on it and called it a road. I think we should do a little bit of homework. I think we should get some easements. I'm not talking about spending a million dollars doing this stuff, and we have got the equipment to do the basic dirt work. Let's build a road out of it first, because no matter what you do with it now its never going to be good. You've got water standing on both sides of it, you're always going to have soft spots, and it's not wide enough. The one end of the road with the trailer court should be twice as wide as it is and ought to have a walking path on one side of it. None of that stuff costs high dollar when you have the equipment and the man-power to do it. To be honest, I could personally fix that road with my equipment. I know what it would cost and it's not what everyone is saying. As far as getting it paved or putting millings on it again, I think you got to use your head and time that to when the stuff is available to where you not putting the cost on the property owners. There isn't a thing that the County Road Department has got that I haven't done in one form or another as far as building roads and putting in culverts. I know what it should cost because I've done it as a business. That business is kind of retired now, but this stuff is not new to me. I realize that the commissioner's job is to run the budget, but I know what things should cost and I know how to take what you've got and make do."

Committing Funds to City Pool:

"I think it ought to be a City/County Pool to be honest. I think we need to figure out a way to have a pool for the community but we need to think outside the box a little bit, like how the Event Center happened. That happened because some people got their heads together. I think that the community could do that all over again with the swimming pool. I also think we need to keep it in reality. We don't need one that is blown out of proportion that cost too much. We don't need the type of pool to draw people in to shop in Glasgow. We just need one that families can use. On the same token there are some grants out there and I think it can be done, but not just by the city or just by county but as the whole community pulling together to do it. It shouldn't be on the tax roll of every farmer or home owner in Glasgow, we need to find a way to pay for it without just putting it on property taxes."

Elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8. For more information about voting and polling places contact the Clerk and Recorder at the Vally County Courthouse or by calling 228-6220.