MISSOULA — The Missoula City Council voted Monday evening to approve a mail-in ballot-only election for the upcoming municipal election, as well as allowing for primaries to take place within that election for various municipal seats.
The city also released the developer from the Scott Street development from their daycare clause.
Councilmembers voted to have primaries for City Council seats and the office of Mayor when three or more candidates file for office.
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The election will also be a mail-in ballot-only, meaning no in-person voting will be held. City officials say that by making the election a mail-in ballot-only, the potential savings could be up to $200,000 as compared to an election with in-person voting.
The City of Missoula now also has an interlocal agreement with Missoula County for how to handle the upcoming Lolo Street Bridge project, one that has secured $3 million in federal funding.
The city also released White Pine Parcel, LLC, from the clause where a daycare would have had to be placed within the Scott Street development. The decision was echoed with disappointment from many council members, including council member Gwen Jones.
“Sometimes we are a little bit too aspirational and we need to tether that to reality. And we need to, I think we've also learned you really have to have the developers in at the beginning of the conversations. So they can say, instead of just signing onto the entire project, they can say, I think that'll work or I think that won't work. Here's why,” said Jones.
It’s also Pollinator Week in Missoula, with Mayor Andrea Davis encouraging the public to take a second and appreciate the many pollinators that exist in Missoula and the jobs that they do.
