Denis Pitman said he is excited to run for re-election as Yellowstone County Commissioner. His four-year term ends at the end of next year and the position is up for election in November 2022.
Pitman sees all that he has worked for in his first term coming together during the next term – the beginning of construction of the Inner Belt Loop, the continuation of the development of the Billings Bypass, the completion of the expansion of District Court, and continued improvements to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. It will be an opportunity to go “from good to great,” he said in a recent interview with the Yellowstone County News.
“I want to be able to complete these programs and projects,” said Pitman, a Republican.
Pitman, who previously served eight years as a Billings City Councilman, said, “The last ten years has been a focus of getting things in order for things to happen. Now, all the triggers are there.”
Pitman is rather amazed at the windfall to local government that is coming to the county and city which will assure that there will be funding for the projects that he sees as vital to the community’s future. The county will be receiving $32 million for projects as part of the state’s almost $3 billion from federal COVID relief funds.
The funding will advance “a lot of infrastructure” for the county in the areas of public safety, public health and mental health, said Pitman, who sees all these as important issues to be resolved. “It gives us a lot of opportunities for infrastructure development.”
Improvements at Metra Park are unfolding, an advancement of which Pitman is excited to be part. “We have an opportunity to add another ‘leg to the stool,’” he said, using the words of a former mayor who recognized Metra Park as an important leg to the local economy.
Many improvements to Metra Park and for other needs in the county have already been accomplished, “and all that we have done has been done without new mill levies – except for the public safety mill levy,” Pitman pointed out.
Pitman said that a surprising aspect of county government that he discovered in taking office was a lack of accountability in some areas of operation. How mental health services were being provided, which is partially funded by a dedicated county mill levy, is an example. Programs and processes had been functioning for years without any adjustment to changing circumstances. For example, said Pitman, the HUB was no longer doing what it was created to do.
When pushed to reorganize and re-evaluate there was some initial resistance, said Pitman, but once everyone realized that commissioners were serious, the players started coming together, figuring out new strategies and solutions. He is now optimistic about the future of that segment of community services.
Pitman said that he has come to better realize “the real power of commissioners to get people to the table…to get things done. I realized that a commissioner is less of a bureaucrat and more of an ambassador. . .. we are a catalyst in the middle of all of it …my job is to listen to people.”
Pitman credits his wife, Paula, for much of his success because of her patience and support, as well as that of his family which is comprised of seven children and two grandchildren (with another on the way). “She has to decompress me and say ‘relax’ at times,” said Pitman, who also keeps busy as a licensed mortician. Pitman commented that as a mortician he has had a unique perspective about the COVID crisis – including a greater understanding of how much people want to be able to honor loved ones.
As County Commissioner, Pitman has served on a variety of boards, committees and commissions. He has been a member of the board for the Montana Association of Counties, and a member of the Energy, Environment and Land Use Committee of the National Association of Counties. He has also been actively involved with the Downtown Billings Partnership, Friends of the Yellowstone National Cemetery and Friends of the USS Billings LSC15.
So far only one other person—Mark Morse — has announced their candidacy for Yellowstone County Commissioner. As, also a Republican, Morse will challenge Pitman in the primary election next May. No Democrat candidates have announced.
