SUPERIOR – A representative from Montana State Senator Jon Tester’s office was in Mineral County last week at the weekly commissioners meeting to listen to their concerns regarding a variety of issues.

Deborah Francen attended the meeting and listened to what the commissioners had to say and they wasted no time in getting straight to what has been an overriding concern of theirs regarding federal politician’s attitudes regarding the transfer of land from Washington D.C.’s control to the control of local entities on the ground. Mineral County Commissioner Duane Simons immediately made his point clear on the matter.

“I do not feel that taxpayers in Mineral County or any other county that is over 50 percent federally owned should be burdened by this headache,” Simons said. “We should be doing something with this land. We need to create some dollars coming in to the county coffers. I know he (Tester) is having talks. Talks are great but we are in desperate need. That’s the situation. Our services are going to get drastically cut and people aren’t going to like it.”

Simons continued to press the point toward Francen.

“It’s a scary situation because we don’t know where to turn,” Simons said. “The Secure Rural Schools money has been our lifeblood.”

Simons was referring to Secure Rural Schools (SRS) federal funding which the county has relied upon to pay for road maintenance, schools and other essential services ever since logging operations ceased. Congress has yet to approve SRS funds for this year. In past years, Mineral County has received over $1 million in federal aid. So far this year, the county has received a little over $65,000 and it is unknown if Congress will renew SRS.

Francen admitted that land management issues were not her area of expertise, saying she primarily dealt with issues regarding healthcare. Mineral County Commissioner Roman Zylawy told Francen the county would actually prefer to not need the SRS money but actually be allowed to handle land management issues on their own.

“We’d rather have it the way it was when we could log the forest,” Zylawy said. “We’d rather log it but in this short amount of time where we can’t get the legislation changed at the congressional level, we need the SRS money. It’s critical. Talk about a waste of money. If you don’t log it, you get nothing. Something is better than nothing. We are in dire straits. What’s going to happen if counties go bankrupt and can’t sustain themselves? Talk about needing a handout. Someone is going to have to take care of us if we are not going to be able to work. What are we going to do?”