Missoula County officials on Wednesday outlined a proposed ordinance that would formally establish community councils under the Montana Code Annotated and shift most council seats from election-based to appointment-based selection.

"The Montana Code Annotated requires that, in communities which have an elected official form of government ... we need to establish Community Councils through the County Ordinance process," said Chris Lonsbury, Missoula County chief administrative officer. Lonsbury said the county discovered a discrepancy between how councils were formed historically and what state law requires.

County staff said the ordinance will serve as an overarching framework while each council will continue to adopt a resolution defining its geographic area and membership. The draft aims to standardize quorum and dissolution procedures, set template language for council resolutions and establish consistent financial tracking so the county can transparently report how property-tax dollars are spent.

Staff emphasized implementation details that will affect councils beyond the ordinance text. Kyla (Missoula County staff) said the county will provide a county-controlled email address for each council to ensure messages are archived under Montana public-records law; councils may keep existing Gmail accounts but should forward or CC messages to the county address for record retention. "We would create a county email for each council to capture that public record," Kyla said.

Officials also described how the county will handle social media archiving. "We use a program called ArchiveSocial," Lonsbury said, noting that posts on Facebook, Nextdoor and similar platforms are technically public records and must be retained for records requests.

County staff explained the rationale for moving to appointment-based seats: over the past decade there were roughly 80 opportunities for council elections but only eight contested races, and appointments would let the Board of County Commissioners fill vacancies without waiting for electoral cycles. Lonsbury said the ordinance will be presented to the board in December and, because ordinances require two hearings, is targeted for adoption in January 2026.

The county plans a phased implementation if the ordinance is adopted; staff said many of the operational changes—closing or consolidating checking accounts, migrating billing and invoice processing onto county finance systems, and ensuring administrator access for social accounts—will occur over the following calendar year with one-on-one support for councils.

Public engagement on the draft will continue: county staff said the first public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Dec. 4, when the Board of County Commissioners will open a public comment period, and staff are accepting feedback through the January adoption window.

Next steps: the ordinance first reading will be held Dec. 4; the Board could adopt the ordinance at its Jan. 8, 2026 meeting. County staff said they will follow up with councils on detailed procedures for email forwarding, invoice submission and the timeline for closing or migrating local accounts.