The St. Ignatius City Council will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 24, with a special guest and updated maps of the areas they’d like to annex.  

An expert in annexing and land use from the Montana Municipal Insurance Authority will give a presentation during the special meeting. Mayor Daren Incashola said anyone interested should attend. The previous map published on Dec. 25 by the Lake County Leader is from early council discussions on annexation, and the council is in the process of updating those maps. 

Incashola asked how the council can support Fire Chief Paul Adams in updating the fire department’s ISO rating — an assessment of the department's ability to respond to fire that evaluates factors such as training, equipment and water supply. ISO ratings can affect homeowner insurance premiums, which led Councilman Steve McCollum to bring it to Adams' attention during a heated exchange at the previous meeting.  

Adams said he is working through the process right now, but the ISO office contact is busier during this time of year. Incashola asked Adams to notify the council if anything comes up that they can help him with during this process.  

McCollum again reiterated that he had not been picking on the fire chief.  

"But this is one way we can help everybody to bring insurance rates down,” he said.  

McCollum noted that the department's 6.9 rating is high and said he would like to see it drop to a 5. Adams said it would be impossible to achieve a 5 rating. McCollum said that even if the rating drops by a point, every homeowner should notify their insurance company to have their premium reassessed.