Lincoln County Commissioner Jim Hammons is ready to step away from a career in government work.

Hammons, who represents the Troy area, recently announced he’s retiring.

County administrator Matt Williams said Hammons’ last day is Nov. 6, three days after the general election. Hammons still has two years remaining on his six-year term after being elected in 2022 and beginning to serve as commissioner in 2023.

The process to replace Hammons includes the Lincoln County Republican Party submitting three candidates for Hammons’ vacant seat. According to state code, the candidates must reside in the district for at least two years immediately preceding the day the vacancy occurs. Also, Hammons can not vote on his replacement. That task will be left to commissioners Brent Teske and Noel Duram.

The appointee will complete Hammons’ term, which ends at the end of 2028.

Hammons was a member of city council and the mayor in Troy. He became Libby’s city administrator in 2010 before being appointed county administrator in the fall of 2021 after Patrick McFadden resigned. 

Hammons continued to serve as county administrator through 2022 and for the first three months of 2023. He surrendered those duties when Jennifer Brown was hired as an administrative assistant and began work in April 2023 before leaving at the end of February 2025. Brown began work at the Lincoln County Port Authority in April 2025 and now is the executive director.

McFadden cited disagreements with District 1 County Commissioner Brent Teske as the reason he resigned. McFadden claimed Teske had shown disrespect and disregard for personal space following his appointment.

Hammons, as many elected and government officials do, had his supporters as well as detractors.

In an April 1 Facebook post, the City of Troy Museum and Visitors Center lauded Hammons for his decades-long civic efforts.

“We want to take a moment and give a shout out of appreciation and gratitude to Jim Hammons. He never stops. Recently we discovered his name on City of Troy Museum and Visitors Center volunteer list from 25 years ago! He's done a lot in the shadows of helping to keep our city of Troy and township borders welcoming. Just to name a few though, because many don't know...he's brushed and downed tree cleaning of Callahan Creek Trail in the spring for many years, he's still keeping the Welcome to Troy sign weed-eated and garbage free, helps maintain benches along the walking path and recently cleaned up the old U.S. Forest Service Sears Flat Lodgepole Sales sign on the highway.”

Earlier this year, Hammons got a shout out from the organizers of the Timberbeast Disc Golf Tournament after seeing to it that the county’s Troy road crew helped in cleanup following a May windstorm. He also bought 18 new baskets for the course.

A Libby businessman who sued the county in 2025 continued to seek information this year about various county operations as well as seeking an admission that commissioners Brent Teske and Hammons had a conversation in a hallway at the courthouse in which they conferred and agreed that they would not hire a woman as county administrator.

Hammons also caught some flack in 2007 while he was Troy’s mayor. According to a previous The Western News story, following a divorce, he moved out of city limits to the Valley of the Moon. Hammons then attempted to have his property annexed into the city because the mayor had to live in city limits. Former Troy councilor Don Banning opposed it in a court action.

When former mayor John Brown resigned in 2005, Hammons was appointed to fill the seat in July, then routed Banning in the November election for mayor. After serving a full, four-year term as Troy mayor, Hammons was hired to be Libby’s city administrator in 2010.

He ran for county commissioner in 2016, but in a five-person field that included Anthony Brown, Rhoda Cargill and Lawrence Dolezal, lost to Jerry Bennett. 

In 2022, he filed for the seat and won it while running unopposed.

Hammons also was embroiled in some controversy in 2024 after he initially opposed the county’s efforts to get a drop-in center where people needing help could gain access to services.

At a July 31, 2024, county commission meeting, Hammons said the drop-in center sounded like a homeless shelter.

Hammons, in a January 2025 interview with The Western News, said the county has not signed contracts from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services for about $1 million in grants that would fund the crisis response team and a drop-in center.

The crisis response team was the invention of county probation officer Vanessa Williamson. She led the effort to build the team after seeing many jail inmates who suffered from mental illness and substance abuse. She attended a training event in 2021 and then developed a local academy in 2022 where first responders learned how to improve their responses to mental and substance abuse crises.

According to Jan. 14, 2025, county Health Board meeting minutes, board member Hammons said Cabinet Peaks Medical Center was going to take over the crisis response team, but that never happened.

The Recovery First Drop-in center grant was eventually approved, but the crisis response team no longer exists.