Ravalli County Veteran's Service Center

Section 10-2-115 lets a Montana county run a veterans' service office, staffed by service officers "trained, accredited, and supervised in accordance with applicable provisions of 38 CFR 14.629", and fund it by a mill levy election under 15-10-425 or other means (see the Montana entry). Ravalli County does both. How it came to be. Resolution 3970 (November 27, 2019) recites that Ravalli voters approved a levy of up to 1 mill in June 2010 and up to 2 mills in June 2018 "to provide operational funding for the veterans service center that would assist veterans filing claims for benefits"; that the office had been run with the Valley Veterans Service Center, a Montana non-profit; and that from December 1, 2019 "Ravalli County through the BCC shall directly manage all operations of the veterans' service office". The same resolution set up the Veterans' Services Advisory Board, five volunteer veterans appointed by the Commissioners "to provide advice to the BCC in all aspects of veterans' affairs" (members in 2026: Lynn Hellegaard, Jim Henningfeld, Kristen Davis, Jim Costello and Lisa Montgomery, appointed June 1, 2026). Money and events. On July 30, 2026 the Commissioners approved the Montana Veterans Affairs Division's service office grant, contract HB 178, for $30,000. The center runs a Veterans Resource Fair with the Southwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry at the county Event Center (presented to the Commissioners April 1, 2026). Contact. "RCVSC can be reached by calling (406) 363-9838"; the staff directory lists Jamie Smothers. The county's page gives no street address and its link to the center's own website points at a parked domain, so call first. The Montana Veteran Services Program's field officers also take claims (the Montana entry).