Lewis and Clark County Commissioner Derek Brown was sworn into office in a brief ceremony Wednesday, and in an interview he promised to bring new perspective, energy and expertise to the three-member board as it begins tackling the issues of 2009.

Brown will officially take his position today, taking the place of single-term incumbent Ed Tinsley, who narrowly lost a re-election bid in November.

A Republican, Brown joins two Democrats: 16-year commission veteran Mike Murray, and incoming Commission Chairman Andy Hunthausen, who earned a seat two years ago.

The 58-year-old former builder, engineer and consultant said he wants to work cooperatively with his new colleagues — sentiments Hunthausen and Murray reciprocated in separate interviews Wednesday.

“I’m very much looking forward to working with them. I think we can work toward common goals,” Brown said.

“There are going to be a lot of things we agree on,” Hunthausen said.

“I will lead by committee … on as many issues as possible, we’ll try to build consensus,” he added. “I want to work together as much as possible.”

Since his election in 1992, Murray has worked with a handful of other commissioners, all from various points on the political and personal spectrum.

“I’m excited,” he said. “(Brown) promises to bring a new perspective and cooperation. I’m looking forward to working with this guy, getting to know him … if I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be doing my job.”

Brown enters the scene in a time when county officials are working with residents and interest groups, aided by planning staffers and volunteers, to solve two questions:

- How will developers and new homeowners be assessed for road improvements made necessary by residential growth?

- How can comprehensive zoning regulations appropriately guide growth in the Helena Valley?

The commission will host a second hearing this month on the proposed revisions to the county’s subdivision regulations. The most significant change is a proposed new method to assess road-improvement costs, on a proportional basis, for new developments.

Officials and interest groups are positive with progress made on the issue, but they’re still wrangling over some of the details, including whether developers should be responsible for a portion of needed improvements from their subdivisions to the nearest state or federal highway, or if their share should be measured by another standard.

Some have suggested capping developers’ responsibility at a specific mileage. Brown on Wednesday suggested setting a minimum level standard of impact, meaning developers would pay toward improvements on roads where they add a minimal impact to traffic counts.

Hunthausen and Murray have asked staff members to provide revised language and more information on proposed new road-standard criteria and other issues. Brown also has suggested county officials schedule a public work session for the commissioners to work through several dozen other proposed changes — new rules and timelines, clarifying language and the like.

Brown also opposes the proposed requirement for paving all internal roads in new subdivisions, regardless of the development’s size.

Hunthausen is welcoming all viewpoints.

“My hope is that we can agree to have open, honest, frank discussions about those things in and out of chambers,” he said.

Brown also said he’s struggling with some parts of the comprehensive zoning package forwarded by an ad-hoc working group in recent months.

Brown wants to include zoning districts that mirror Helena’s designations, allowing the county to require development near the city to ready itself for potential annexation.

He also doesn’t like the proposed inclusion of rules regulating septic system mixing zones. The amendment would require mixing zones, the area where septic effluent filters through soils, to be kept within users’ property boundaries or easements.

Brown noted state officials are considering implementing a similar rule, and he doesn’t believe sanitation rules should be included in zoning regulations.

Hunthausen and Murray have been generally supportive of the proposal — Brown also has been generally supportive of permanent zoning rules — but the commission hasn’t held extensive public discussions on the document.

Planning staffers have been turning the proposal into a set of regulations. It should work its way through the Planning Board sometime early this year, possibly hitting commissioners’ desks by winter’s end.

Murray sounded optimistic tones.

“I’m confident some form of that will pass and we can immediately get rid of interim zoning, which seems to be a thorn in everybody’s side, even though it did what we intended it to do,” he said.

The interim zoning regulations that have spawned lawsuits and headaches will expire in May and cannot be extended. The original version of the interim rules was based on an attempt to protect groundwater quality in the Helena Valley from residential impacts. It’s been twice amended.

Initially, all residents installing a new or replacement septic system — or addressing a nonconforming, existing system — were required to install more expensive Level II treatment systems. The rule spawned some unforeseen, pricey complications, and was abandoned.

Commissioners also reduced the amount of land affected by the rules, and are using new data to determine affected properties.

The interim zoning process has been long and contentious, and Brown still has a question he wants answered. This fall, officials realized they’d made a mistake when calculating the increase in nitrate contamination in valley groundwater.

They had partly based the case for a water-quality emergency on the fact that nitrate figures rose 800 percent over three decades. The actual increase is much less, some 20 percent or 50 percent.

Brown has said he believes the county lied about the existence of a water-quality emergency.

Officials have stressed the mistake was an honest one, and Hunthausen and Murray, along with Tinsley, have stuck with their belief that the valley’s groundwater is threatened. They point to other studies showing a general, long-term degradation of the valley’s water sources, and specific increases in some contaminants.

Brown said he believes county residents are due an explanation.

“Where’s the emergency? There hasn’t been a definitive response from the Health Department,” he said. He met with Health Department officials, including Environmental Health Administrator Kathy Moore, who put together the nitrate figures and assembled other relevant water-quality documents for the interim zoning hearings.

He’s also met with his new colleagues and discussed the subject.

“I really want to make an effort to work with the other two commissioners,” Brown added.

Also early this year, commissioners will tackle midterm budget revisions and begin the process of building the fiscal-year 2010 budget.

Murray said it takes a new commissioner about six months to get a handle on the job.

“You’re dealing right off the bat with a $65 million budget,” he noted.

Hunthausen agreed.

“It’s a flood of information,” he said. “You’re overwhelmed.”

Brown is looking forward to starting his new job off on the right foot.

“I’m really looking forward to a positive six years,” he said.