J.P. Gallagher had only been Butte-Silver Bow’s chief executive for a few days in January 2021 when he walked into a Butte restaurant packed with local business owners angry about COVID restrictions.
He didn’t promise to lift or ease the orders then, saying they were county Health Department directives designed to save lives, but he listened politely, absorbed the darts and said he’d try to help everyone get through the crisis. COVID hit in March 2020 when Dave Palmer, the chief executive Gallagher later defeated in the November election, was still in office. But the pandemic was still roaring nine months later.
“People wanted answers and they were hurting,” Gallagher said. The county refunded local business licenses to help some, was a key part of a vaccination campaign funded by the Town Pump Foundation and worked with the Butte Local Development Corp. in supporting economic recovery, he said.
“All those things helped unite us as a community instead of really being polarized by COVID like a lot of other communities,” Gallagher said. Gallagher was parks director when he defeated Palmer with 60% of the vote in late 2020. Palmer became the third consecutive incumbent chief executive to lose a re-election bid, following Matt Vincent in 2016 and Paul Babb in 2012.
Gallagher faces longtime Butte sportswriter and columnist Bill Foley on Nov. 5, and like many incumbents, he says there are numerous successes and key initiatives he can point to during his first term. �.