The Great Falls Neighborhood Council #5 Candidate Forum will be on Monday, October 20, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Alliance For Youth auditorium (3220 11th Avenue South). Doors open at 6:40 p.m.
The forum will also be broadcast live on the Neighborhood Council 5 Facebook page.
All six candidates for the mayoral and two commissioner seats have agreed to participate in the forum.
Cory Reeves and Jasmine Taylor are running for mayor.
Pete Anderson, Joe McKenney, Matt Pipinich, Casey Schreiner are competing for two open seats.
Also on the November ballot will be a proposal on whether voters want to ban consumer fireworks within city limits. In August, City Commissioners passed a resolution referring a proposed ban on certain types of fireworks.
If approved by voters, the ordinance would impose some restrictions on the sale and use of consumer fireworks within city limits. It would limit the type of fireworks allowed to only novelty or ground devices, banning anything that leaves the ground or explodes. This would still allow fireworks like sparklers and snap caps.
The election will be on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
The City of Great Falls released the following information about the election:
This year’s November general election will have less municipal races listed on the ballot compared to previous years. This is due to a limited number of candidates running for some positions. Great Falls’ nine Neighborhood Councils each have five positions. Of those nine councils, only Neighborhood Council #3 has more than five candidates who filed to run for those positions this year. According to Montana Code Annotated (MCA), if the number of candidates filing for election is equal to or less than the number of positions to be filled, the election administrator shall notify the governing body of the local government, and the governing body (the City Commission) may cancel the election for those races.
The City Commission voted to remove the races for Neighborhood Councils 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from the ballot on September 16th, as the number of candidates that filed was equal to or less than the number of open positions. The candidates who filed for election for Councils identified above have been elected by acclamation and will begin their term on January 1st, 2026. Please visit the City website to see the candidates who have been elected by acclamation. For Neighborhood Councils that had less than five candidates file for election, the City Commission can fill the remaining position(s) by appointment, according to MCA. The Neighborhood Council #3 race will be included on the ballots for that district, and voters will be asked to vote for up to five of the six candidates.
There will still be several municipal races on the ballot during the general election. Those races include a Mayor position, two City Commissioner positions, Neighborhood Council 3 positions, a Municipal Court Judge – Department B position, and one ballot issue. In past years, write-in candidates have been allowed on ballots for municipal positions. However, the state legislature recently passed House Bill 207, which requires write-in candidates to file for election ahead of time, and no names were received by the time the deadline for filing passed. Residents will receive their ballots for this year’s general election in the mail.
