The county executive is hereby authorized and empowered to use or to direct the use of any and all facilities, equipment, buildings and land belonging to the county, including trucks, school buses, motors, tools, buildings and any other equipment and property of the county for such purposes and in such manner that shall be necessary for the welfare and benefit of the citizens of the county for the duration of the war or other public emergency and thereafter and also, subject to any contractual obligations to the contrary, to direct any employees hired by the county in connection with the operation and maintenance of facilities, equipment, school buses and trucks to perform such duties, as will, in the discretion of the county executive aid the war effort and any other emergency use to promote the general welfare and benefit of the county; and the county executive may prescribe a pecuniary charge against any person, using such equipment, facilities, buildings and land provided by the county executive in the exercise of authority and power, and in the exercise of this power and authority the county executive is further authorized to purchase and hire additional equipment to carry out the purposes of this section and to establish parking lots. The jurisdiction or regulatory power of the public service commission shall not extend to the special transportation facilities, activities and services furnished in the exercise of authority and power by the county executive and the county executive is hereby further authorized and empowered to pay for the services, facilities, and the purchase and hire of additional equipment from any fund that may be available or that may be made available or levied for. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 2-18; 1943, ch. 188; 1970 L.M.C., ch. 9, § 1.)
Editor’s note—See County Attorney Opinion dated 10/29/21
explaining that, although the capital budget limits the County Executive’s expenditure of money for a capital project, the Executive can use that completed facility for any legitimate governmental purpose absent a law or appropriation limiting the Executive’s use of that facility.