BUTTE - Butte’s chief executive-elect is feeling the pressure as he takes over during a time of big challenges and big changes.
“This is kind of like drinking from a firehose right now, it’s a lot coming in,” said J.P. Gallagher.
Gallagher, who takes over for the current Chief Executive Dave Palmer next month, will be trying to create economic growth for a city that’s expected to see an increase in growth from the real estate market since the pandemic hit this year.
“I think there’s been a lot of light brought to our community with the pandemic that people realize we have a great community and it’s a good place to move to, and so we see a lot of growth and activity happening within the real estate market as well,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher has been meeting with health department officials to learn how distribution of the new vaccine will be handled and making it a priority to get it to front-line responders and those most vulnerable.
“We’re talking about rest homes and assisted living facilities, and from there I think you’re going to look at teachers and others that go on that priority list,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher said he’s confident because St. James Healthcare and Montana Tech have the specialized freezers needed to store the vaccine at very low temperatures.
“So that gives us a little bit of advantage, as far as we know that we can store it; we have the availability that a lot of other communities don’t,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher said Palmer has been working with him during this transition.
