Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Colbert enters commission race

Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Brent Colbert has entered the county commission race, bringing a sheriff’s office résumé into a seat that helps steer public safety spending, county services and growth planning. For voters, the question is whether a longtime law-enforcement administrator would push county government toward tighter control over staffing and operations, or toward broader investment in departments under pressure.

Colbert is a Helena native who graduated from Capital High School in 1987 and North Idaho College in 1989. He is identified as undersheriff on the county sheriff’s administration page. By 2020, he had already spent 25 years with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office, beginning as a detention officer, becoming a deputy in 2003 and working in detention and on patrol.

That background lands in a county commission that carries real authority over the basics of local government. Lewis and Clark County was established in 1865, renamed in 1868 and adopted a commission form of government in 1915, and the board now helps set priorities across departments that touch daily life in Helena and across the county. Roads and Bridges oversees design and reconstruction work and handles maintenance such as pothole repairs, chip seals, striping and signage. Health funding has also been a live issue: in January 2024, the county health department faced budget cuts and service reductions, including possible reductions to health inspections and immunization services.

Colbert’s entry also comes as the field for the seat has begun to take shape. Commissioner Tom Rolfe is in the last year of his six-year term, and Jakob Miles has also announced a campaign for the same position. The race is unfolding alongside a broader county debate over infrastructure, after Lewis and Clark County and the City of Helena announced a joint study on Jan. 14, 2025, to evaluate conditions inside the urban service boundary and identify infrastructure deficiencies.

Colbert also brings a wider public-safety profile. He has been appointed to the Montana 9-1-1 Advisory Council and is the current president of the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. That puts him in a position to campaign as someone who understands dispatch, emergency response and the operational demands that come with county government, while voters weigh those claims against the county’s spending choices on roads, health services and development.