Published on January 05, 2026
HELENA, Mont. – The Helena City Commission announced today the names of two finalists to fill the vacancy created when Emily Dean took her oath of office as mayor on Dec. 29. The Commission will conduct finalist interviews of Julia Gustafson and Ben Kuiper at a special meeting of the Commission at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7 at the City-County Building, RM 330 and online via the Zoom meeting platform (Link: https://zoom.helenamt.gov/c/36053471/publicmeetings). Following the interviews, the Commission may choose a candidate for appointment to the vacancy, concluding with the Oath of Office for the newly appointed Commission member.
Pursuant to the Helena City Charter (Article II, section 2.01), the appointed Commissioner will serve from January 2026 until the next regular City election in November 2027, at which point the vacancy shall be filled through the election procedure.
The commission accepted applications from Nov. 19-Dec. 10, which yielded seventeen viable applicants. From that pool, each Commissioner submitted their top candidates, ultimately settling on five semifinalists who were interviewed at a public meeting on Monday, Jan. 5.
For more information, please contact Clerk of the Commission, Dannai Clayborn 406-447-8409, or dmclayborn@helenamt.gov.
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