Oelkers Wants To Focus On Roads During Next Term

After being re-elected to serve a second term, Gordon Oelkers is looking forward to continue serving Roosevelt County as a commissioner. Running unopposed, Oelkers officially was re-elected to the position on Nov. 3.

“I enjoyed my first term and learned a lot,” Oelkers said.

One of the things that he learned was the challenges that the county road department has maintaining all of the county’s roads.

“We have so many roads and so much traffic, it is a concern,” Oelkers said.

A goal for his next six-year term is getting easements and right-of-ways approved on county roads. That process will need to include the county attorney’s office and public meetings.

“That’s something in the future that I would like to work on,” Oelkers said. “It will take time and effort.”

During his first term, he became involved with the Montana Association of Counties and committees for energy, land use, planning and development as well as reservation counties. He serves as vice president for the 16-county Montana Association of Oil, Gas and Coal Counties.

Oelkers is cautiously optimistic about the energy development future in eastern Montana.

“We want to maintain what we have and don’t want to lose any more,” he said.

The decrease of oil activity has been felt at the county level. At one time, Roosevelt County received $1.5 million a year in oil revenue. Oil revenue is now down to about $150,000 a quarter.

Oelkers serves on the board for the Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center and Roosevelt County Health Board. He also served on the county’s boards for aging, airport, fair, local emergency planning, weeds and Unified Task Force on COVID-19.

As far as building projects for the county, Oelkers said the road department has been saving for about eight years to build a new shop. He feels the shop might be completed in a year or two.

His second term begins at the start of 2021.

“I’ve had a lot of positive comments,” Oelkers said of resident feedback. “I’m available for people if they have questions or concerns.”