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. He began serving 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 city councilor in Troy and served as and the mayor. 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.

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," the organization wrote.

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 the cleanup following a May windstorm. He also bought 18 new baskets for the course.

Hammons caught flack in 2007 while he was Troy’s mayor. According to a previous story in The Western News, 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 and then routed Banning in the November election for mayor. After serving a full, four-year term, 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 2024 county commission meeting, Hammons said the drop-in center sounded like a homeless shelter.