Heart of the Flathead

From Coast Guard Cockpit to County Hall

• David Wigginton • Episode 8

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Flathead County Administrator Pete Melnick brings an uncommon résumé to local government—Coast Guard helicopter pilot, counter-drug operations leader, and DHS culture strategist. In this conversation with David Wigginton, host of Heart of the Flathead, Pete shares how mission discipline, systems thinking, and a deep curiosity for frontline work now drive better roads, smarter budgets, and more transparent decisions across one of Montana’s fastest-growing counties.

From disabling cartel boats to navigating Montana’s open-meeting laws, Pete reveals what effective leadership looks like when stakes are high and accountability is real. He breaks down how to think in systems, listen across perspectives, and dig into the “five whys” to find root causes. Along the way, you’ll hear lessons from military command, mistakes that shaped his civilian leadership style, and why trust—and listening—remain the most underrated tools in public service.

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Heart of the Flathead, is produced by David Wigginton, in partnership with LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at HeartoftheFlathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrain Marketing at lbrbm.com. The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights are reserved. Reproduction and rebroadcasting, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact David Wigginton by clicking the Send Us a Text link at the top of the episode description.

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services, or opinions discussed. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal, medical, or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to the Heart of the Flathead, where we sit down with the change makers, the unsung heroes, and everyday folks who give this place its fault. If you live here, love here, or just want to know what makes Calisbell and the Valley tick, you're in the right place. And now here's your host, Dave Wigginton.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to another uh episode of the Heart of the Flathead. Uh, this is Dave Wigginton. Happy to be here today with uh Flathead County administrator Pete Melnick. Pete Melnick, Pete, welcome to Heart of the Flathead.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks, Dave. I appreciate you having me on. I'm excited to talk to you.

SPEAKER_02:

I I I am excited to talk to you as well. I think you've got uh super interesting background on how you ended up here in the Flathead is pretty uh remarkable in a lot of ways. But so maybe to help us get started today, give us a little bit of background about who Pete is, where Pete's from, and and what you've done in your career and and how you ended up as the administrator for Flathead County.

SPEAKER_03:

Sure, sure. Yeah, it's remarkable and highly unlikely. So those of you that deal with improbabilities, this is one of those uh black swan events. Flathead County landed with a helicopter pilot as a county administrator. And I was a Coast Guard helicopter pilot. I graduated the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and did a number of leadership roles throughout my time in the service, in addition to flying helicopters for the Coast Guard. And in any military organization, it's kind of an upper out. I kept getting promoted, getting promoted, ended up working as a press secretary for our CEO equivalent. He's called the Commandant. He's a four-star admiral, had some good success there, some great stories there, and then got promoted to a HR-type position where I had a tremendous amount of responsibility that had a lot of functions and duties that had nothing to do with HR, but that that was in that sort of directorate. And then I ended up working at the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction at DHS. So that was an absolutely natural fit to come over here to Flathead County, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_02:

So when you say weapons of mass destruction, then I mean this is like nuclear bombs and and things like that, or is it some something else in addition to that?

SPEAKER_03:

No, nuclear bombs, chemical bio, kind of warfare, anthrax, all that kind of stuff. There was some food security. It was a very interesting role. An assistant secretary asked me to come over. Uh, he kind of handpicked me. I was getting out and COVID hit, and the job market definitely took a nosedive. So I ended up staying in for one more year. And an assistant secretary found me, asked me to come over and help him with the uh culture of the office. They were having some struggles. And I did, and it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. And I remember telling the uh assist the assistant secretary, hey, I don't know anything about nuclear weapons. I don't know anything about chemical, biological hazards. He's like, don't worry about it. I got scientists that know all that stuff. I just need you to help be a leader.

SPEAKER_02:

And I said, okay, I can do that. And so what uh what type of leadership then did that position entail?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, it you know, the CWMD was going through some growth challenges. What's CWMD? Countering weapons of mass destruction. Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_02:

You mentioned that earlier. I just just to make sure we know that. Countering weapons of mass destruction. Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Countering weapons of mass destruction. So it was sort of a defensive but offensive capability. And it had started off as a very small office, and through some reorganization efforts that took place, I believe during the Obama administration, it had taken on some different offices that were in DOD, that were in uh Department of Energy, and sort of combined them all into DHS. So you had very different cultures all kind of smashing together. And you had operators, you had scientists, you had food security people, you had analysts, you had brick and mortar type bureaucrats, and they all had come from different backgrounds. And the office wasn't functioning as well as it could have. So the assistant secretary said, Hey, I saw what you did in the Coast Guard, I saw what you're capable of. I need to bring all these people onto one tent working together, all pulling on the same oars. Can you help me out? And so I did, and it was a lot of fun.

unknown:

Cool.

SPEAKER_02:

So and DHS, just for the civilian audience, Department of Homeland Security, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Department of Homeland Security, another sort of odd organization where it has customs, Secret Service, Coast Guard. A lot of organizations were sort of jammed in there to make this defending the homeland initiative real. And that of course happened after 9-11 with George Bush.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. So Coast Guard is obviously it's it's a branch of the military. And I think that it's not maybe as well known or understood as, say, the Marines, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Army. So maybe give us give us a little color. What does the what did the what does the Coast Guard do? And you said you were a pilot, right? And in the Coast Guard. And so what specifically did you do in as an officer in the Coast Guard?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the uh Coast Guard is definitely a very unique organization. It is a quasi-military organization, and it fits under DHS and not the Department of Defense. A lot of people don't realize that. And that's because the Coast Guard has a law enforcement and regulatory mission. So it is authorized by Congress to make arrests on the high seas of the navigable waters of the United States, has administrative law capability, particularly in the commerce side. So it started in 1796 under Alexander Hamilton as the revenue cutter service, and it has grown from there. And we have an AIDS to navigation, like Lighthouses Buoys mission. We have a law enforcement counter-drug counterterrorism mission. We have a commercial vessel regulatory mission, an icebreaking mission, search and rescue mission. And I was mostly on the search and rescue side in a little bit of counter-drug, counterterrorism as an aviator. So 50,000 members worldwide, and I and I mean that worldwide. We have a pres the Coast Guard has a presence in all seven seas, almost on every, in fact, every continent, including Antarctica, all over the United States, Great Lakes, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam territories.

SPEAKER_02:

This is the U.S. Coast Guards in all these places, or this is the U.S. Coast Guard?

SPEAKER_03:

The U.S. Coast Guard, yes. Wow. We have blue water ships. Yeah, we have uh we have blue water ships. We actually are used quite extensively right now in the South China Sea to help, they call it soft power, to help some of the tensions that are going on with China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and aircraft are a lot less provoking than Greyhall or a Navy ship. So it helps sort of diffuse tensions, but provide that U.S. presence in there that has been very influential in maintaining order throughout the world.

SPEAKER_02:

Then the Coast Guard does not engage in combat then. Is that correct? Or would they engage in combat?

SPEAKER_03:

We would engage, yeah. We we have the ability to engage in uh combat. We have a national defense mission. In fact, uh under an act of Congress, the Coast Guard could become part of the Navy during times of war, and it did that in World War II. In fact, we have a Medal of Honor winner, uh Douglas Monroe, who gave his life rescuing a ton of Marines in during World War II. So we were the same rank as the Navy. I retired as a captain, which is a colonel equivalent, and uh we are afforded the same privileges that our DOD brethren have. So it's a great service. It's been it was great for me and my family. We even have astronauts in space, Coast Guard astronauts. So we we're even in an in the uh in the zero G world. So we're so what coast are they guarding in space? Yeah, yeah. I didn't, you know, it's uh kind of a unique opportunity. My uncle, believe it or not, was the first Coast Guard astronaut. He was an aviator and he applied to test pilot school and he got accepted. So we have, like I said, coasties are everywhere, we're even here in Flathead County.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's awesome. That's super awesome. And so just going back to what you said initially, then, so you have uh law enforcement capabilities that the traditional branches of the military typically do not. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_03:

That's right. That's a constitutional protection. You know, you don't want the army kicking down your door and taking you in the middle of the night. Nobody wants that. There's due process.

SPEAKER_02:

But the Coast Guard can then, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, not in land, but we have the ability to make arrests at sea. So our any officer or Coast Guard petty officer is authorized by Congress to make arrests at sea under a federal statute. So we do that a lot when we're doing counter-drug missions or or counterterrorism or or fisheries. So we, you know, we are we're boarding ships up in uh the Bering Sea off of Newfoundland just to make sure they're complying with fishery regulations.

SPEAKER_02:

So has the Coast Guard been involved with any of these targeting missions by the U.S. government of like drug trafficking ships and and on the seas?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, we were doing it before the DOD was. We were doing less lethal, though, or somewhat lethal, I guess. And again, that's what I did in the Coast Guard as a counter-drug helicopter pilot. We taught all the aircraft pilots and gunners how to shoot out the engines of boats. And there's a whole process for that. So a Coast Guard cutter would be off the coast of Central America or South America, and it'd have a it'd have a helicopter on its flight deck, and that helicopter would be armed. They intercept a drug boat, the Coast Guard processes to tell them to stop. If they stop, we do a boarding and seize the contraband. If they are, if they don't stop, we have this instant process to work through the State Department to get a statement of no objection to stop that boat uh lethal. So they'll use area fire, they use an M240 machine gun and provide three stitches of warning shots across the bow. They still don't shop. We switch to a 50 cal and we shoot out the back of the engines. That's been going on since the early 2000s, and it's been tremendously successful. So successful. We have incredible intelligence that allows us to know that there are more boats out there than we can stop. And I've been on the backs of cutters. I did one with our Commandant. We had a huge press event. Jeff Sessions, when he was the attorney general, attended it, and there was about 32 to 35 metric tons of contraband on that flight deck. Tons? Tons. Oh my gosh. Metric tons. The street value, because it's all uncut. It's pure. And it's all cocaine, a little bit of fentanyl. And that's just flooding into the United States. And that just comes from two or three boats. It's incredible what is the appetite for drugs here in the count in the country.

SPEAKER_02:

So is that why the DOD's gotten involved then? Is because there's more boats than the Coast Guard could ever possibly deal with?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I I can't speculate that. That that's a kind of a new process. I'm I would imagine that the Trump administration views those drugs as a a national security threat and is as operating under those rules. So probably a better question for for those folks. But in my personal opinion, I'm awfully glad that attention is being paid to the amount of drugs coming into this country.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I'll try and get Pig Heggseth on here at some point. Yeah, there you go. Sure. That's awesome. So you were in the Coast Guard for how many years then? Four years at the Academy and 25 active duty. So I guess you could say close to 30. Close to 30. So what do you think are some of the most important things that you learned during your time in the academy or in the service that have shaped maybe who you are today and kind of impact how you do your job and live your life?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, what's great about the Coast Guard is you are thrust into leadership positions and you're thrust into them at a almost right out of college. And I can say with absolute certainty, I have made incredible mistakes as a leader, especially as a young leader. And the Coast Guard gives you the leash, I guess, of the boundaries to make those mistakes, as long as they're not egregious or anything like that. But you make these leadership mistakes. You make mistakes with people, and you and those that learn from them can continue to accelerate and promote into that organization. So I have learned through mistakes. I have led people, I have led divisions, I have led departments, I have led organizations. And every one of those steps, there's a there's a learning curve, and every one of those offers you the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them. So I'm very grateful for that because in a lot of places you can make mistakes and you're gone, right? But the Coast Guard has invested in you. It knows that as a junior person, as a young person, you're gonna take some risks in your career. And some of those pay off, some of them don't. So I'm very pleased to have had that opportunity.

SPEAKER_02:

And your job today as the county administrator, what what tactics are you using from your experience and your leadership roles in the Coast Guard?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's a great, great question. One of the things the Coast Guard brings out in people is a sense of curiosity. Because yes, I was a pilot, but I had different roles in there. So I did HR, I did public affairs, I did finance, I did recruiting. All these different sort of business lines give you the opportunity to learn on how those operate. So you develop a sense of care, you develop a sense of curiosity because you need it to lead people. You need to learn what they're doing. You just can't parachute into some of these departments and expect to be excellent in it. So you have to learn from the people who are actually boots on the ground doing it. And that's what I have done here in Flathead County. I did know nothing about a road department. I know nothing about a library. I know, I knew nothing about a motor vehicle department, the bridge department, any of that stuff. But I have rolled up my sleeves, I've got my hands dirty, and I have engaged with those folks that do those roles every day. And what I have found is they're incredibly competent, very caring, they love Flathead County, and they just want it to succeed, even though we have very limited resources here. So I've been blessed to work with these folks and uh learn from them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So you and you probably bring a fresh perspective to sometimes what can be mundane and and repetitive and I guess rigid as far as like structure and operation procedures. And so perhaps maybe bringing new ideas, new ways of doing things that that can improve the overall process. Do you think that maybe one of the reasons you were selected in the interview process?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, maybe. You know, I have like three leaders, I have this three, three, three leadership triangle that I teach new people when they come in or anybody that asks. And one of those, one of those threes is like some habits you need to develop. And those three habits are thinking and systems, uh, asking different questions, and see the other point of view. So when I go in into the library, I start asking different questions. I try to see all the blind spots and angles, and I don't have the solutions, but often, Dave, often the people in the office do. They know what they need to have fixed. And sometimes they just need to have it pulled out. They need someone to show that they're interested and will listen and take their take that advice. And uh some some changes you just can't make, some problems you just can't fix because of your resource limited or whatever. But asking those different types of questions, almost like a child, like why, why, getting to why, right? Asking those five whys. I think Simon Sinek teaches that. Getting asking those questions, you'll often be able to pull just like a thread at the solution. It's it's there, you just gotta find it. So I go in and meet from the lowest level to the director, and I want to talk to everybody. I want to see what those roadblocks are. I want to engage with them. I never make a promise, but I just listen. And you'd be surprised what people tell you when you show that you are capable of listening.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I would imagine they really appreciate that and uh the patience and the general curiosity. People probably feel like you care at that point and really want to find the right solution versus just checking a box and saying, hey, we got this done. Do you do you find that to be the case generally?

SPEAKER_03:

Definitely. You know, most roles, and I know you, you know, when we you and I talked about one of your business lines, I think it was the hotel, hearing the nuances of a job. Most people, like let's say a hotel, most customers go in, they check out a room, they go in there, they use the room, they leave. They don't know all that goes into keeping that room clean, to marketing that room, to making sure the parking lot is cleared of snow, the safety and the security, how food is done, how the you know, the training the staff to make sure they don't overserve someone in alcoholic beverage, right? They don't see all those behind the scene functions that make an experience when you go into your hotel enjoyable. And that's very similar to driving on a road. They don't know what goes into the background to make a road smooth. And the engineering that goes in behind it, the work, the analysis, the studies. So learning from all that stuff and listening from listening from your team can really pull out some of those solutions. And it also gives you an appreciation for what they do. And more importantly, it lets you defend what they do, particularly in local government. You get a lot of criticism. And being able to explain to someone who is criticizing something that local government has done makes it a defensible proposition to them. There's more to this than you think, Mr. Public, right? And that is very important in some of the most biggest decisions that our county commissioners make, and that is land use. There's a lot of controversy with subdivisions and new neighborhoods and houses being built. There is so much forethought and analysis that goes in before the decision gets to the commissioners. Uh, but a lot of people don't see that. They just think, oh, the commissioners are approving something just to approve it. You know, that's not that's not the case, I can assure you.

SPEAKER_02:

So what what is your relationship with the commissioners as far as business? What what how do you how do the two of you interface? Are they your what are they to you or you to them?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, this is really unique because uh the state of Montana has something called open meeting laws. And if there's a quorum that has to be noticed 48 hours in advance, and the public must be able to attend. So the so I I have three commissioners. If two are together, I generally have a quorum. And so I have to keep all three of them separate all the same time, or I have to notice that they are all going to an event at the same time. And so the public can be there and and and and engage with them. If they're just by themselves, that's fine. Or if they're passing in the hallway, you know, good morning, how's the grandkids? That's that that's or not, there's no business taking place there. So that's not an issue. But if they are in this, if they're in the same event at the same time, I need to qu I need to notice it. So a lot of times, my role is just going between the three commissioners and engaging, engaging with them to kind of tease out where they are on an issue. Then I will kind of synthesize their thoughts and then bring that forward for their consideration. And then once it's noticed, put on the agenda, and the public is allowed to digest it and maybe comment on it, only then is that is it ready for them to make a decision. It's that's why sometimes government is slow, is because I have to go through that transparent process. Things just can't happen quickly as they can in the private sector. And that's a good thing. But it frustrates people because they often think, well, this is taking so long. Why why can't I just get an immediate answer? I talked to one commissioner, he said shouldn't be a problem. That's not always the case. I'll tell you this, Dave. All three commissioners, they're all from the same political party. They are all philosophically aligned from my perspective. All three of them will see a problem from a different perspective and they may have a different view on it. And sometimes they don't align. Even though they're human nature, human nature, right? So there's no slam dunks, you can't count on like groupthink. They are all going to take things and apply their own background, their own perspective, their own experiences to making that decision, along with the facts and along with what the law says they are required to do.

SPEAKER_02:

In addition to interfacing with the commissioners, what else do you do? And how does what you and your team do make the county function, I guess? Because that that's ultimately what you guys are doing, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. In the end, we're operators too. So as the chief of staff or county administrator role, all those department functions flow through me and the commissioner's vision uh flows down towards them. Our elected officials and our department heads are giving an extraordinary amount of autonomy. They can make decisions at a certain level. They can help make the county run. And they have a lot of authority. Once their budget is set, they can navigate within that budget to make things happen. Often they'll call me and say, hey, this is what I want to do. What do you think? I said, Yeah, I think you're good, you know, or hey, let's look at it from a different perspective. A lot of times I'm just a sounding board. Sometimes I'm a referee. I'm choosing between option A, option B. And sometimes I'm calling balls and strikes, right? Like, yeah, you can do that. No, you can't do that, buddy. You got it, we're gonna have to uh tighten this up. A lot of this happens in the background with the commissioners only having a little bit of visibility on it once it's kind of baked and we got an outcome. Then I'll go brief and say, hey, this is where we want to go, this is what we want to do, this is how we approach this. And if they have any issues with it, then we kind of restart the process. For the most part, they they like what we're doing, they like where the county's going. We're keeping taxes low, we're delivering uh budgets on time and actually under budget, we're under-levying everybody. And so I think we're we're in a good spot here in Flyhead County.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, just going back to your comment about having to go, you know, in between the the commissioners and and kind of figure out what's going on, you know, that the different perspective, the different view, different way to handle things is definitely just it's common in any organization, even if you've got people that quote unquote are philosophically aligned. How do you how do you navigate that and make sure that, you know, things are happening in a balanced way and you're not necessarily I don't know, sometimes it can be hard to build consensus when there's different viewpoints on that. What what what how what what do you do to build consensus?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I I try not to build consensus. I try, I try to inform them. Consensus will happen when they make a vote, right? Or not consensus. Whatever that's what that's what will take place. So what I try to do is inform them. I know that Commissioner Holmquist is gonna see things from a small business owner perspective, because that's what she was for a long time. And she's also gonna see it from her conservative perspective. I know Randy Brodel, he's got a public safety background. He also has a legislative background. That's how he is gonna see things. So I kind of have a mind meld, and I know Commissioner Abel, he's gonna come from a blue-collar perspective. He worked at Warehouser, he was a ranch hand and a cowboy. He sees things from those perspectives. So I kind of can anticipate where they're gonna be on an issue, and then I'll talk to them, I'll tease it out of them, and then I'll go talk to another commissioner and I'll tease out their thoughts. And I what I'll do is I'll synthesize those those different perspectives and try to try to get some sort of an agreement that I know that they can all buy off on. And once we're there, that's when it goes to the the commissioners. But it takes a lot of talking. I'm in I'm in my office talking to those commissioners all the time. They'll come in, close the door, and we'll just have a conversation. It's just getting to know where they're at on a certain thing. Sometimes they're not asking for my input, they just want to say it out loud. I just listen. I just listen.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. You know, that's uh that's a lot of uh lot to do though. I mean a lot, a lot to process. I'm sure I'm sure your your training and experience in you know your various roles prior to this one have really helped you assume this position and and manage it well.

SPEAKER_03:

Admirals were very much the same way, all right. They often operated in a silo as well. They had different uh incentives and motivations, but they would come in and they would close the door and you know, I'd come to attention and they'd carry on, we'd sit down and uh and an admiral would just sort of, you know, tell me what's on his mind. What was the most attractive or interesting thing is when I worked with the service chief and I'd spent some time with him alone on an aircraft or in, you know, he we had a security detail that would drive us around, and he would just bounce things off of me and or just talk out loud. You just want to get things off his chest and just to hear how it sounded. And it was very it was critical to hear those, your principals say those things, because then you could take that back to the the staff at large and really develop products, develop policies, let the other admirals know this is where the this is where you're our our four-star is on this. Are you in line or not? If if you aren't, let's take it to him and and try to get some alignment. So I think at the senior executive level, the the ability to listen is tremendously undervalued right now. We kind of think as senior leaders is they're gonna give these directions, right? They're shooting from the hip. Senior leaders really need to listen first. You know, the old Stephen Covey thing, uh seek first, understand before being understood. There is so much truth to that. And the senior leaders that I see who are most successful are the ones who listen first.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I like that. Listening first and instead of shooting first and asking questions later. Let's uh let's ask the questions first. Absolutely. I love that. So, Pete, how long have you been in this position?

SPEAKER_03:

Almost five years. It'll be five years in uh May of 20. What's this year? 25, it'll be May of 26th. And I came during COVID. I came during an awful time, but I really love it here. The the people are great, the can't beat the views, can't beat the uh the recreational activities. My family has flourished a lot a lot better than it was in Washington, DC, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm sure, I'm sure. And you you're in a unique role too, in the sense that you are at the you know top of the county with the commissioners. And so as you look at our county, how would you like to see it improve and and and be stronger going forward?

SPEAKER_03:

You know, that's a that's a very thoughtful question. And let me try to give you a thoughtful answer. I think the the county is a gem in Montana, and one of the reasons why is we have a very conscious board of commissioners that is aware of the challenges that growth brings, but also mindful that you as a property owner have rights. And they're also mindful that this is a very expensive place to live. So they are trying to balance all of those conflicting nuances. Again, in my 3-3 leadership, one of the threes is you have to respect the past, deliver in the present, and predict the future. You have to do it all at the same time. And I think the commissioners are always trying to balance that. And I'm working with them to help them balance that. They have to respect the past of Flathead County. A conservative county has conservative values and it is more resistant to change than another county. You have to deliver in the present. You have to deliver services. Roads must be plowed, budgets must be kept. But you also have to predict the future. Where are we going? That's where we're at with this jail, right? We're looking at the future, we're looking at the growth. The current public safety system has a gap, and it is the the jail right now. That's where we are doing it, in my opinion, better than most counties in the country in balancing those three narratives. And so uh it's not so much where where do I where do I want to see change, it's I want to make sure we preserve what we have here.

SPEAKER_02:

I like that. Yeah. Maintain the values and and uh the the direction. So that's great. Well, Pete, before we uh we wrap up today, we uh we've got our standard uh flathead five questions that we ask. And I recognize you're you know a transplant, but still I think you know, after if you've been here for five years, you've probably got some uh good answers to these. So let's let's dive into those. So what's your what's your favorite uh hidden gem here in the flathead?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, I love the Bob Marshall Wilderness. That is my happy place. If we can go out to spotted bear on a given weekend, that is I love to camp out there. I love to fish out there, hike. It's quiet, peaceful. It's a bit of a drive, so a lot of the public doesn't get out there. That's my that's my hidden gem right now. And everybody knows it, but that's my hidden gem.

SPEAKER_02:

That's your happy place. I love it.

SPEAKER_03:

That's a great spot.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, so you're you're you're a cadet, but uh Grizz or Bobcats?

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Well, my son is a freshman at Montana State, and he's in the RTC program. So officially I am a bobcat fan, but I watch the Grizz every Saturday too. So I love the the quarterback there, ayat. So I I'm kind of torn, you know. It was like when I was growing up in Florida. I I I loved the Seminoles, but I respected the Gators too. So I I'm gonna, I'm gonna. be neutral on that right now and and maybe you're Switzerland is what you're saying, right? So I'm Switzerland. I'll give a little edge to MSU because I'm writing a check to them right now. For the most part, I'm pretty neutral.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice. Okay. So you may have already answered this, but what's your favorite activity, outdoor activity in the valley?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh fly fishing. Fly fishing. Okay. I grew up in Florida on the water and I learned how to fly fish in Alaska one of my tours there and I've never looked back. And so this has been a paradise for me on the weekend.

SPEAKER_02:

What what do you know now that you wish you knew when you started out?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh. I learned very quickly that civilians have a lot more rights than active duty. So my very first week on the job here we had someone in my office who was going going to leave us and take another position. We were going to get gapped and I went to the HR director and I said oh don't worry about it. I'll just order her to stay and my HR director said Pete you can't do that. She could leave any time and then it occurred to me oh this is this is a whole nother whole nother ball game so the learning curve has been tremendous transitioning from active duty to to a civilian life. So I wish I would have known some of those challenges but I I got my feet under me. We're we're doing okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Final the flathead five when when your story's over uh what do you want the one or two sentence review on your book to be I thought about this a lot so I'm just gonna keep it simple.

SPEAKER_03:

This is the story of Pete Melnick. He committed his life to making people places and things better I like that very thoughtful thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Pete thank you for uh for coming on Heart of the Flathead it's been a pleasure getting to know you a little better and learn more about who you are and what you do and we're we're appreciative of your service to the county and and your service in the Coast Guard obviously before that. So thank you for uh for your commitment to to our community and everything that you and and your team do. And again thanks for being here today.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks Dave it was an honor and privilege to serve so thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks for listening to this episode of Heart of the Flathead. We'd love to hear your thoughts about today's episode and the podcast in general. You can listen at heartoftheflathead.com or wherever you listen to podcasts and you can reach David via the contact page at heartoftheflathead.com or by clicking on the send us feedback link at the top of the episode description in your favorite podcast app. Heart of the Flathead is produced by David Wigginton in partnership with Left Brain Right Brain Marketing. Listeners can find the podcast online at heartoftheflathead.com and LeftBrainRightBrainmarketing at lbrbm.com The content for Heart of the Flathead podcasts and any show notes and transcripts are copyrighted by David Wigginton. All rights reserved reproduction and rebroadcasting in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission. Contact DavidWiginton at heartoftheflathead.com with your request the views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or the production team. Appearance on the show does not constitute an endorsement of any goods, services or opinions discussed. The podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered professional, legal medical or financial advice. Always consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on the content of this show