City Council

Gary Beach

Gary was appointed in September 2016 to fill a vacant seat on the Council. Throughout his professional career, Gary has had a varied history of experiences which include 12 years of managerial, personnel management, project managing, emergency management as well as dealing with large budgets of construction budgets. Currently employed at Timberline Auto as a service manager, other local employers have included, Noble Excavating, Stimson Lumber Co, as well as various others.

Melissa Berke

Melissa was elected to the Libby City Council in November of 2021 and took office in January of 2022.
She was born in Libby and went to school here, graduating from Libby High School in 2002. She worked for the forest service fighting fires for nine years. Melissa owns a small cleaning business serving the Libby community for 7 years. Her two children are growing up in Libby and attend school here. Melissa volunteers at their school and is a coach for their sports. She feels strongly about wanting there to be opportunities for our younger generations to stick around.

Ian Smith

Kristin Smith

Kristin moved to Libby to further her career in community planning and redevelopment in 2009. After the birth of her first child that coincided with reduced workload, she jumped into local entrepreneurship as the co-founder of the Cabinet Mountain Brewing Company. “I knew a move to Libby would inspire life-altering decisions and being surrounded by people with similarly adventurous spirits has been a terrific opportunity in the human experience. On the map of Montana, this small town in the northwest corner of the state is surrounded by the green of public forests that I cherish for all they symbolize, and the opportunity to grow roots here is quite appealing.”

Hugh Taylor

Hugh Taylor was appointed to the council in March of 2018. Hugh is a Libby native, and raised his family here. Hugh is a United States Marine Corp veteran and served on the Libby Volunteer Fire Department for over 10 years. He is employed at Kootenai Truck Repair.

Brian Zimmerman

Brian is the senior Council member being elected to City Council in 2016. He is a resident of Libby for the past 45 years and has raised a family here. Brian is employed by Timberline Auto but has also worked with Noble Excavating, the City of Libby, Stimson Lumber, Big Sky Power and the LP Mill to list a few. Brian was also a Volunteer Member of the Libby Fire Department from 1999 to 2014.