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Local veterans volunteer sought after county lacks funding for full-time veteran service officer
Summary
During public comment, resident Bill Willing urged the county to find local, trained volunteer help for veterans because a full-time veteran service officer is not funded for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County; he volunteered to recruit and have the volunteer trained by state officials. The commission received praise for library and parks maintenance as well.
At the public-comment portion of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission meeting, resident and former veterans-affairs board chair Bill Willing urged local action to help veterans after explaining the county lacks funding for a full-time veteran service officer.
Willing said Montana’s staffing standard is roughly one veteran service officer per 3,000 veterans and that Anaconda does not have 3,000 veterans; as a result, "we have one full time veteran service officer right now that covers the six counties," and residents cannot rely on a local full-time officer. He said he will contact veterans organizations to recruit a volunteer to serve locally and has discussed training that volunteer with Kelly Ackerman, identified as director of Veterans Affairs, if a candidate is available. "I'm going to go to all the veterans organizations and look for another veteran representative," Willing said.
Willing also described outreach he will undertake to find local volunteers and asked community members to provide names and contact information so the county can arrange training and local support.
Other public commenters praised recent repairs and maintenance: a speaker thanked staff for repairs to the library steps and Colleen Riley thanked the commission for park and trail maintenance and the addition of a splash park in Washoe Park.
County staff noted Butte will be hiring additional phone support in roughly 120–150 days to help field veteran calls centrally; no new county-funded veteran-service position was proposed or approved during this meeting.
What happens next: Willing said he will seek volunteer candidates and coordinate training; the commission took no formal action on new staffing or funding at this meeting.
