As Flathead County voters contemplate their choices for the next slate of county elected officials, they expect well-qualified candidates but may be surprised that state law requires very few qualifications for most elected positions.

Montana law places only a few requirements on who may run for most county offices. A candidate for county commissioner, for example, must have lived in the county and commissioner district for at least two years preceding the general election, be a registered voter and be at least 18 years of age.

The same general requirements apply to county sheriff, treasurer and clerk and recorder. A county treasurer doesn’t need an accounting or financial management degree. A county sheriff is not required to have any law enforcement experience, and a clerk and recorder isn’t required to have any kind of financial or administrative training.

Only a couple of county offices require some specialized training. A county attorney must have been admitted to the practice of law three years before the date of election, and the county superintendent of schools must hold a current Montana teaching certificate and have a minimum of three years of teaching experience. A justice of the peace must become certified by the court administrator after being elected.

It’s a matter of allowing full access to county elected positions, said Sheryl Wood, associate director of the Montana Association of Counties.

“Everyone has a right to run for office,” she said. By making the minimum qualifications too stringent, “you could be treading on people’s constitutional rights.”

State law defines a qualified elector as any U.S. citizen 18 or older who meets the registration and residence requirements provided by law unless he is serving a sentence for a felony or is of unsound mind as determined by a court.

“A convicted felon may be elected if their rights have been restored,” said Harold Blattie, executive director of the Montana Association of Counties, citing a state constitutional provision that stipulates no person convicted of a felony is eligible to hold office until his final discharge from state supervision.

Dan Clark, director of the Local Government Center at Montana State University, said the Legislature in recent years has considered adding more qualifications to some county offices, such as sheriff, but has declined to make any changes.

“It seems to be the status quo is easier to maintain than to create change,” Clark said.

The most recent proposed legislation would have required county sheriffs to obtain the same level of training that’s required for deputies, Wood explained. Sheriff’s deputies are required within one year of hire to become certified peace officers through training at the state Law Enforcement Academy, but sheriffs don’t have that same requirement.

“There was a concern [among legislators] that the legislation would limit the candidate pool for sheriffs and that the right to run would be compromised,” Wood said.

The candidate pool in sparsely populated counties in Montana could be limited if the requirements to run for an elected office became stricter, Clark said.

“If you think of any rural county, [a candidate] may be willing to serve” but perhaps wouldn’t be eligible if more qualifications were added, he said.

The minimum qualifications outlined in state law represent a conundrum, though, for heavily populated counties that conduct more business and have bigger budgets, and where more experience or education would seem to benefit the county.

It’s too early to say whether there will be legislation in the upcoming session related to changing state laws to alter qualifications for elected officials.

“We haven’t had those discussions yet,” Wood said.

The Montana Association of Counties has a council of county officials to consider legislative proposals, but that group hasn’t met yet, she added.

The Montana Association of Counties posts an explanatory article on its website titled “So You Want to be a County Commissioner” that informs prospective candidates about what kinds of experience are helpful.

“The work of an elected county official involves a more complex environment than your predecessors faced a generation, or even a few years ago,” the article advises. “Most counties today are involved in far more than such traditionally mandated services as public records, law enforcement and tax collection. Today’s county government juggles priorities and concerns in such areas as housing, environmental protection, transportation and economic development.”

Yet as the association explains the magnitude of a commissioner’s responsibility, it also states that “no one expects a commissioner to be an expert in every facet of the job.

“In fact, the job is so diverse that no one is likely to have experience in every area a commissioner must cover,” the online article notes.

The association further advises that no particular job experience or education is known to be the best preparation for success as a commissioner, though familiarity with some aspects of government, budgeting, personnel management, communications and the law can be useful.

Flathead County Clerk and Recorder Paula Robinson said there’s often a steep learning curve for new commissioners that can last several months to a year.

“They set policy and have the ultimate taxing and budget authority,” Robinson said. “Every decision they make has some type of statute or resolution tied to it, so they can’t arbitrarily make promises to constituents.”

Robinson, who is retiring at the end of the year, said she’s well aware of the challenges in providing good governance to Flathead County taxpayers, particularly as it applies to the clerk and recorder position, which is really four jobs in one — recorder, plat room/surveyor, election administrator and auditor — that involves five county departments, including the county’s records center.

The five departments Robinson oversees are staffed by 16 employees with an annual combined budget of more than $2.4 million.

The auditor’s responsibilities alone include auditing all claims against the county for compliance with county policies, state law and generally accepted accounting principles for Flathead County’s $81 million budget, Robinson pointed out.

With all that responsibility, the only requirements for the clerk and recorder job are a two-year county residency requirement for the auditor portion of the position, a minimum age of 18, a registered voter and Montana citizen.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.