Lindsey Richtmyer Elected County Commissioner
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Political newcomer Lindsey Richtmyer scored a stunning upset victory over incumbent Broadwater County Commissioner Michael Delger in Tuesday’s general election.
Unofficial tabulations with all five precincts reported showed Richtmyer with 1,859 votes and Delger with 1,322 votes, or 58-41 percent.
Richtmyer, an assistant physical therapist at Billings Clinic Broadwater, talked about a need to manage the county’s rapidly expanding population. She also saw a need to improve communications between the public and county government.
Delger, for many years a construction contractor, was seeking to a second six-year term.
In a statement Tuesday, Richtmyer said the need for improved county-wide communication was the leading concern of her campaign, and “one I will address promptly as commissioner.”
“As a county we need to provide consistent, transparent information that is proactive and explanatory. This can be accomplished by disclosing and addressing public county business, specifically the most controversial, through multiple channels including county website posts, opinion editorials and articles in the local papers, county commissioners’ social media pages and press releases to various media. This is a crucial factor as our county grows and we are faced with more challenges,” she continued.
In an unusual public letter published a week ago before the election, Delger confronted rumors about his health. He acknowledged that he suffers from kidney disease but said he is not physically incapacitated and is on a list for a transplant. He said medical care of the kidney ailment is covered by the Veterans Administration. “I am not running for commissioner to get health insurance,” he said.
Among accomplishments of his term in office, Delger listed a $750,000 loan from the county that led to the sale of Broadwater Health Center to Billings Clinic, thus relieving taxpayers from annual taxes to support the hospital. Loan repayment to the county allowed the county “to retire outstanding debt across the board” and to purchase the former Opportunity Bank building.,” he wrote.
Delger also cited the county’s establishment of the Targeted Economic Development District in the southern end of the county. He said the TEDD project will ultimately have a taxable value of $10 million. In addition, Delger cited improvements made to the county’s budgeting process.
All county positions are nonpartisan, and all are for terms of four years except for six years for commissioner.
Article Images
Click on Image Thumbnail(s) to view fullsize image
