Barely a year into assuming the leadership reigns of the Lincoln County Port Authority, Executive Director Kate Stephens has resigned.

Stephens took over the lead role in the much-maligned authority in January 2025.

She announced her resignation at a special meeting Feb. 23 in the authority’s conference room in Libby. Stephens is going to work for W.R. Grace as its community liaison.

“I really wasn’t looking for another job, but this came up and I’m excited to get back to doing public relations,” Stephens said in an interview with The Western News. 

Stephens’ last day leading the authority will be Friday, March 6.

District 1 county Commissioner Brent Teske, a member of the port authority’s Board of Directors, wasn’t thrilled Stephens was resigning.

“You’re gonna be missed,” he said following his motion to accept her resignation. “It’s a very reluctant motion.”

Jennifer Brown, who was the Port’s Grants and Contracts Manager, will still handle those duties while taking on the Executive Director role.

“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Brown said last week. “Kate laid a good foundation and I’ve been included in a lot of what she’s done, so that will make the transition easier. The end goal is still the same, to get a wood processing facility here so we can get the small-diameter trees out of the woods.”

Port Authority Chairman Jerry Bennett said Brown’s salary would be about $90,000.

Teske said Brown shouldn’t be reluctant to seek assistance.

“You’ll need help and you should ask for it,” Teske said.

Another member of the Port’s board, Tony Petrusha, asked if the job needed to be posted or advertised.

“No, it’s not a new position, just new responsibilities,” Bennett said.

When Stephens was selected to head the authority, county officials hoped her reputation and skills in the fields of health care, banking and volunteering would serve the quasi-government entity well.

But less than four months after Stephens took over, the authority was hit with a suit by Libby local Dan Torgison alleging it violated open meeting and public participation laws.

The suit accused the Lincoln County Commission, Port Authority and others of hiding its business dealings with Noble Investment Properties, Inc., specifically the sale of 107 acres, owned by county taxpayers, from the Port Authority to Chris Noble in 2023.

Noble Investments inked a deal in 2025 with Comfort Inn & Suites, a subsidiary of Choice Hotels, to sell a portion of the acreage bought by Noble to the chain to build an 80-room hotel.

Then, on July 18, Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Luke Berger denied Torgison’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

One week later, on July 25, Torgison’s attorney, Amy Guth, filed an appeal directly to the Montana Supreme Court.

While Berger’s written order primarily discussed Torgison’s efforts to halt further dealings or nullify previous decisions between county officials and developer Chris Noble, Torgison’s appeal to the state’s high court mainly references open meeting law violations.

Development of the hotel is on hold while the Montana Supreme Court hears the case. According to the high court’s online docket, Feb. 18, the case was approved to be heard by a five-justice panel.

The lawsuit, and other problems, created other difficulties for the authority.

According to the July 21, 2025, meeting minutes, Stephens said 

grant opportunities were limited due to the ongoing litigation. She also said previously awarded grants from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) were on hold because the state may need use the money for fire season. Stephens reported the U.S. Forest Service had “shovel-ready” projects, but no money to pay for them.

In meeting minutes from Oct. 20, 2025, Stephens said staff were actively pursuing grant opportunities, though finding matching funds remained challenging. She also reported that a grant application was unsuccessful. It would have provided $3.2 million in funding to the Port Authority.

She also said she learned County Forester Jennifer Nelson had no plans to retire, which could cause a potential overlap in responsibilities and competition for grant funding.

The authority has also heard public criticism for the debacle involving the construction of a swim pond on its property.

The pond, which has cost between $125,000 and $150,000, currently amounts to little more than a local watering hole for wildlife that live in the area.

The Libby Park District was set to seek a levy in a special purpose election May 5 that would have provided it $74,000 annually. The money would have been used for further work on the swim pond as well as park district operations in the future. 

The question would have been on the ballot for the school trustee elections, but since it appears those will be decided by acclimation, the trustee election will likely not be held.

Stephens said she was pleased with the staff that the authority was able to hire and the formation of the wood bank.

“Instead of unmerchantable wood being burned up in refuse wood piles, now we have a good supply of fire wood for those who need it,” Stephens said. “I have to give Jen a lot of credit, she really ran with that project.”

The authority also secured a $50,000 grant to assist private landowners with forest fuels reduction.

The port authority also secured a contract with the U.S. Forest Service to install and maintain access berms on public lands. The first phase of the project includes the construction of 59 berms designed to help prevent unauthorized motorized use in sensitive forest areas. This work is critical for achieving wildlife habitat management objectives, particularly in managing grizzly bear habitat within designated Bears Outside of Recovery Zone (BORZ) and Bear Management Unit (BMU) areas. By controlling access, the project supports long-term forest health, wildlife conservation, and safe recreational use.

Stephens said they are in the process of expanding it in 2026.