County's Dowell Seeks Clerk and Recorder

The impression I want to relay about candidate for Valley County Clerk and Recorder Ruth Dowell is one of competency and attention to detail. Weekly, I find myself speaking to our sitting county commissioners about county business and meeting agendas, always with Dowell present in her current role as the commissioners' administrative assistant. The conversations, always collegial, can cause a crook in my neck as I glance back repeatedly to Dowell's desk in council chambers for confirmation on specifics and timeframes. In other words, amid a clutch of very competent commissioners, Dowell is the one I go to for certainty. She's very good at her job.

Dowell is originally from Glasgow, returning to town after attending college and raising a family in Bellingham, Wash. She has a degree in multidisciplinary studies with an emphasis in business administration and social sciences from Western Washington University.

Other related experience includes two years as an election judge here in Valley County, a presidency with the local chapter of the Relief Society (LDS) and a stint as the chairperson for Head Start of Yellowstone County.

She also has more than a decade of experience outside Montana as a district manager in the financial services industry overseeing operations, auditing procedures and accounting for storefronts in two states.

Keep an eye out for our profile of Dowell's opponent for the Clerk and Recorder position, Taryn Stebleton. The filing deadline for open county positions is March 12.