Author: ECB Staff

E-City Beat recently submitted three questions to each of the six Great Falls city commission candidates and published the responses from the four who answered our request. Tracy Houck and Jasmine Taylor did not respond.

We thought it would be helpful to post each question one at a time and include each of the candidates responses together so voters can compare.

Do you consider the current relationship between the city commission and the citizens of Great Falls to reflect an adequate level of mutual trust, respect and engagement and how would you improve that relationship?

Bruce Pollington

The City Commission continues in its efforts to be completely open and transparent in all its activities. Commission work sessions and Commission meetings are open to the public and simulcast to the community. In addition, they are recorded and made available on the City’s web site. The City holds scheduled public information/comment meetings when appropriate as well as public comment periods in every Commission meeting. The City’s web site is an excellent source for Commission, government and community information. When major issues are under consideration, mailings are sent to citizens which provide basic information and web links for more detailed information.

Conversely, citizens have an obligation to seek information regarding issues that concern them. The City’s web site is a great place to start, but one of the best methods is through the City’s nine Neighborhood Councils. The Councils are a two-way conduit for information to and from City Government. Citizens can get information and clarification on neighborhood and city-wide issues as well as have their comments and concerns transferred to City Government.

Engagement is a two-way street. Ongoing participation and desire for improvement by Commissioners and citizens alike is essential for government to be effective from both viewpoints. At the same time trust and respect can only be accomplished through appropriate, two-way engagement. Increased engagement in Neighborhood Councils and Commission Meetings by citizens and City Government officials will automatically increase trust and respect.

Rick Tryon

No, the level of trust is not what it should be. The lack of transparency and the conflicts of interest in our city commission have done great damage to the public trust. The remedy is to elect city commissioners who will unfailingly adhere to the Title 2, Chapter 21 Code of Ethics requirements in the city code.

Kim Rodriguez

I don’t feel the current relationship between the citizens and City Commissioners is a positive one. Due to the past actions of closed door meetings, lying, taking funds for personal gains and lack of transparency. As a citizen of Great Falls I know our needs and desires are at the very bottom of the spectrum.

Our city government needs to realize they work for the citizens. The only way to make a change is to vote. Vote for two candidates that have no personal agenda! Candidates that will put citizens first! We have to make a change with in our City Commission to see a positive change for Great Falls.

Terry Thompson

No, I would say it’s not at an adequate level by either the commission or citizens. Creating better communication and trust between the public and commissioners is one of my priorities. Constituents who have talked to me prior to and during the campaign have voiced frustration about the lack of access to commissioners. Citizens feel the commissioners have their minds made up before a vote so why should they participate in the public hearings. Clearly, citizens may not be familiar with the work sessions that are open to the public, and are where commissioners discuss city business weeks prior to any vote.

I believe the key is educating the public on how city government works and where to find the information. Last year the city hosted City 101 Academy – Building Community Engagement. I encourage staff to proceed with conducting future sessions.

I served two terms on Neighborhood Council 3 where no more than three or four neighbors were present at any meeting. As a candidate, I will have visited eight of the nine councils. With the exception of Council 5 conducting the candidate forum that was well attended, there are very few neighbors in attendance at these meetings. It’s unfortunate because the councils are a great place to gather information and share concerns because they have direct access to commissioners and staff. As a commissioner, I will visit the councils periodically to interact with citizens directly.

E-City Beat recently submitted three questions to each of the six Great Falls city commission candidates and published the responses from the four who answered our request. Tracy Houck and Jasmine Taylor did not respond.

We thought it would be helpful to post each question one at a time and include each of the candidates responses together so voters can compare.

What do you consider to be the most important issue for Great Falls right now and if elected how would you respond to it. Please be as specific as possible by describing why you consider the issue to be the most important and the action you feel is necessary to address it?

Kim Rodriguez

One of the important issues Great Falls is facing, is the priority of Public safety.

Crime in Great Falls, Montana

Great Falls violent crime is 21.8. (The US average is 22.7)
Great Falls property crime is 65.2. (The US average is 35.4)

Statistics from https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/city/montana/great_falls

Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

Property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims.

Great Falls Police Department needs more officers on Patrol.
There are approximately 6 officers on a shift. This number goes down due to vacations or sick calls. With the high call volume they deal with, it is extremely hard for them to be expected to randomly patrol areas to deter crime or actively stop it while it is occurring. To better serve the community there should be at least 8 officers on patrol per shift.

I feel this has to become a priority when doing the yearly budget. If the City Commissioners could meet ahead of the timeline for the budget and decide on what is most important, and plan a 5 year or more commitment to add 1 or 2 officers each year. By doing this, it allows the City Manager to know what is expected prior to putting the budget together.

I don’t like the idea of citizens voting on a safety levy. We should be voting on recreational such as parks, pools, how many trees that need to be planted or what graphics to put on a water tower ect…

Safety with in our city is a right not an option!

Rick Tryon

According to the US Census Bureau interim report released in February of this year, in an 8-year span between 2010 and 2018:

• Gallatin County (Bozeman/Belgrade) population increased 22,363 = 25% growth.
• Flathead County (Kalispell) population increased 11,179 = 12.3% growth.
• Missoula County population increased 9495 = 8.7% growth.
• Lewis & Clark County (Helena) population increased 5305 = 8.4% growth.
• Yellowstone County (Billings) population increased 12,155 = 8.2% growth.
• Silver Bow County (Butte) population increased 784 = 2.3% growth.
• Cascade County (Great Falls) population increased 320 = 0.4% growth.

If we don’t change this trend we will not have the tax base or resources necessary to adequately fund quality public education, public safety, or infrastructure going forward, because those costs will continue to rise while we continue to struggle to remain stagnant – and we won’t be able to maintain and grow the modern workforce necessary to attract and retain business.

Like it or not, ready or not, we are competing with other state and regional cities for resources, taxpayers, and the growth necessary to prosper in the 21st-century.

One of our top priorities must be to create a local environment conducive to better jobs and more opportunities for ALL of our citizens – starting with a streamlined development process, an unmistakable ‘open for business’ attitude and a new culture within our city of ‘How can we help you?’, rather than ‘You can’t do that here!’

Terry Thompson

I believe the lack of population growth to be the most important issue. We can’t grow our tax base without an increase in population and development. I have seen first-hand that one of the reasons is because Great Falls has a reputation for being non-development friendly. Developers are building homes and commercial businesses in the County where the regulations are less, time-frames are shorter, and costs are predictable. This directly decreases the tax base to bring needed services to the city and our school system.

We need affordable workforce housing so existing businesses can recruit employees, and new businesses will trust we have the resources for potential employees to view Great Falls as a desirable place to live and work.

The permit numbers for the last five years identify that homes are primarily being built in the County by double the amounts being built in the City.

Permit Totals for Single Family Homes

2019  2018  2017  2016  2015

Great Falls                               33    45      54     52      39

Cascade County                       63    89    108     87      71

We must decrease the over regulation and partner with land owners and developers to jointly create a vision of how we want our city to grow.

Bruce Pollington

While there are several issues that need to be addressed or need to continue to be addressed, I believe that our most important issue is population growth. According to data released from our Development Authority, Great Falls has the second lowest per-capita personal and commercial property taxes of any city in Montana. If we are to raise the funds needed to properly insure public safety, add to and maintain our city’s infrastructure and promote growth we need to increase tax income to the city. I believe that the best way to accomplish that is to add to our businesses and population and thereby spread the required tax income across a larger number of tax payers.

Accomplishing that is not a simple or short term task. The second goal listed on the City Commission’s list of goals is, “Manage growth to preserve our resources, environment, and sense of community.” I couldn’t agree more with that goal. As is obvious by the number of “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” signs in front of city businesses, we don’t need more jobs as much as we need more high salary jobs that require education, skill and experience. With our current unemployment rate at less than 3%, a business seeking new employees will almost certainly have to “steal” them from other local businesses. In addition, the current shortage of appropriate housing for medium to higher income workers inhibits business efforts to recruit those workers to our city.

       

_______________________________________________________________________

E-City Beat recently submitted three questions to each of the six Great Falls city commission candidates and published the responses from the four who answered our request. Tracy Houck and Jasmine Taylor did not respond.

We thought it would be helpful to post each question one at a time and include each of the candidates responses together so voters can compare.

Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance thereof, for you while conducting city business as a commissioner? If so how would you deal with the potential conflict?

 

Terry Thompson

No, currently I am not sitting on any boards and have declined two offers since I filed as a candidate. Professionally, I lead the Realtor advocacy efforts with community projects related to homeless and disadvantaged youth. Currently, I am participating in the Converge task force comprised of various community members that is meeting to create a youth resource center under the direction of Alliance for Youth. My husband and step-son are on the MT Expo Park Board which is a board of the County not the City.

I have been a certified Professional Standards Administrator for the Great Falls Association of Realtors for 12 years. In this capacity, I manage the code of ethics complaint process between the public and Realtors, and complaints between Realtors. I think it’s unfortunate the city had to create an ethics board.

I have a clear understanding and responsibility to remove myself from any potential conflict of interest while conducting city business.

 

Bruce Pollington

In a word, no. I have been retired for ten years and hold no particular allegiance to any of my former employers or coworkers. My wife, Roxanne, works for Easterseals Goodwill and my son, Sean, is a mechanic at Lithia. While I am proud of them and the work that they do, I hold no allegiance to their employers. Same holds for the boards of directors on which I served. I have resigned from the River’s Edge Trail Board of directors and from the EPA/DEQ Technical Advisory Group. I have chosen to remain on the Missouri-Madison River Fund Board based on assurances from the Great Falls City Attorney and the River Fund that doing so does not present any conflict of interest concerns.

Editors note: After Pollingtons original response it was brought to our attention by a reader that his wife, Roxanne Klose, is a past president of the Animal Foundation and that along with Owen Robinson she went before a city commission work session in October 2016 to advocate for a taxpayer funded partnership between the city and the MacLean Animal Adoption Center. You can find Pollington’s response here.

 

Kim Rodriguez

I have no potential conflicts of interest as a City Commissioner. In light of this if it were to come up, I would be honest beforehand, follow protocol and recuse myself.

 

 

 

 

 

Rick Tryon

I’ve been a community volunteer for many years and for different organizations and causes, including the following:

• Founder of the Local Artists and Musicians Project, for which I received the Bread Winner Award from Wheat Montana for volunteerism raising resources for the Great Falls Community Food Bank.
• Received the RSVP Presidential Silver Award for volunteering locally in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
• Volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program.
• Volunteer reader for Great Falls Clinic’s Reach Out & Read program.
• Board member and Chair of the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts advisory board.
• First and several time volunteer performer for the Four Seasons Sports Foundation fundraisers.
• 2016 and 2017 winner of the Mighty Mo Charity Sing Off, raising the most money for the local Casa-Can and Make-A-Wish Foundation, Downtown Great Falls Association Christmas Tree Fund and the Great Falls Clinic Legacy Foundation Bumble Bee Fund.

However, I’m not currently involved in those or any other organizations with business before the city commission.

I’m not a candidate because I have a personal pet project I want to work on, an organization or “special” part of town I want to “help”, or an agenda to accomplish for friends or family.

I’m running so that the average citizens in Great Falls who’ve been left out of the conversation for too long have a clear voice and a sharp pair of ears on our city commission. No special attention or treatment for anyone. Period.

I don’t foresee any conflicts of interest arising if I were to serve as a commissioner. But if a conflict were to come up I would deal with it by strictly adhering to the Title 2, Chapter 21 Code of Ethics requirements, going above and beyond in full disclosure before the matter is vetted, and by recusal from the issue if necessary.

________________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Editors note – last month we asked each of the six candidates running for the Great Falls city commission to submit answers to three specific questions. We will be publishing the answers from the candidates who responded, in the order we received the responses, exactly as submitted and without editorial comment, starting today.

 

Kim Rodriguez

What do you consider to be the most important issue for Great Falls right now and if elected how would you respond to it. Please be as specific as possible by describing why you consider the issue to be the most important and the action you feel is necessary to address it?

One of the important issues Great Falls is facing, is the priority of Public safety.

Crime in Great Falls, Montana

Great Falls violent crime is 21.8. (The US average is 22.7)
Great Falls property crime is 65.2. (The US average is 35.4)

Statistics from https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/city/montana/great_falls

Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

Property crime includes the offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The object of the theft-type offenses is the taking of money or property, but there is no force or threat of force against the victims.

Great Falls Police Department needs more officers on Patrol.
There are approximately 6 officers on a shift. This number goes down due to vacations or sick calls. With the high call volume they deal with, it is extremely hard for them to be expected to randomly patrol areas to deter crime or actively stop it while it is occurring. To better serve the community there should be at least 8 officers on patrol per shift.

I feel this has to become a priority when doing the yearly budget. If the City Commissioners could meet ahead of the timeline for the budget and decide on what is most important, and plan a 5 year or more commitment to add 1 or 2 officers each year. By doing this, it allows the City Manager to know what is expected prior to putting the budget together.

I don’t like the idea of citizens voting on a safety levy. We should be voting on recreational such as parks, pools, how many trees that need to be planted or what graphics to put on a water tower ect…

Safety with in our city is a right not an option!

Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance thereof, for you while conducting city business as a commissioner? If so how would you deal with the potential conflict?

I have no potential conflicts of interest as a City Commissioner. In light of this if it were to come up, I would be honest beforehand, follow protocol and recuse myself.

Do you consider the current relationship between the city commission and the citizens of Great Falls to reflect an adequate level of mutual trust, respect and engagement and how would you improve that relationship?

I don’t feel the current relationship between the citizens and City Commissioners is a positive one. Due to the past actions of closed door meetings, lying, taking funds for personal gains and lack of transparency. As a citizen of Great Falls I know our needs and desires are at the very bottom of the spectrum.

Our city government needs to realize they work for the citizens. The only way to make a change is to vote. Vote for two candidates that have no personal agenda! Candidates that will put citizens first! We have to make a change with in our City Commission to see a positive change for Great Falls.

Kim Rodriguez

________________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Editors note – last month we asked each of the six candidates running for the Great Falls city commission to submit answers to three specific questions. We will be publishing the answers from the candidates who responded, in the order we received the responses, exactly as submitted and without editorial comment, starting today.

 

Terry Thompson

What do you consider to be the most important issue for Great Falls right now and if elected how would you respond to it. Please be as specific as possible by describing why you consider the issue to be the most important and the action you feel is necessary to address it?

I believe the lack of population growth to be the most important issue. We can’t grow our tax base without an increase in population and development. I have seen first-hand that one of the reasons is because Great Falls has a reputation for being non-development friendly. Developers are building homes and commercial businesses in the County where the regulations are less, time-frames are shorter, and costs are predictable. This directly decreases the tax base to bring needed services to the city and our school system.

We need affordable workforce housing so existing businesses can recruit employees, and new businesses will trust we have the resources for potential employees to view Great Falls as a desirable place to live and work.

The permit numbers for the last five years identify that homes are primarily being built in the County by double the amounts being built in the City.

Permit Totals for Single Family Homes

2019  2018  2017  2016  2015

Great Falls                               33    45      54     52      39

Cascade County                       63    89    108     87      71

We must decrease the over regulation and partner with land owners and developers to jointly create a vision of how we want our city to grow.

Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance thereof, for you while conducting city business as a commissioner? If so how would you deal with the potential conflict?

No, currently I am not sitting on any boards and have declined two offers since I filed as a candidate. Professionally, I lead the Realtor advocacy efforts with community projects related to homeless and disadvantaged youth. Currently, I am participating in the Converge task force comprised of various community members that is meeting to create a youth resource center under the direction of Alliance for Youth. My husband and step-son are on the MT Expo Park Board which is a board of the County not the City.

I have been a certified Professional Standards Administrator for the Great Falls Association of Realtors for 12 years. In this capacity, I manage the code of ethics complaint process between the public and Realtors, and complaints between Realtors. I think it’s unfortunate the city had to create an ethics board.

I have a clear understanding and responsibility to remove myself from any potential conflict of interest while conducting city business.

Do you consider the current relationship between the city commission and the citizens of Great Falls to reflect an adequate level of mutual trust, respect and engagement and how would you improve that relationship?

No, I would say it’s not at an adequate level by either the commission or citizens. Creating better communication and trust between the public and commissioners is one of my priorities. Constituents who have talked to me prior to and during the campaign have voiced frustration about the lack of access to commissioners. Citizens feel the commissioners have their minds made up before a vote so why should they participate in the public hearings. Clearly, citizens may not be familiar with the work sessions that are open to the public, and are where commissioners discuss city business weeks prior to any vote.

I believe the key is educating the public on how city government works and where to find the information. Last year the city hosted City 101 Academy – Building Community Engagement. I encourage staff to proceed with conducting future sessions.

I served two terms on Neighborhood Council 3 where no more than three or four neighbors were present at any meeting. As a candidate, I will have visited eight of the nine councils. With the exception of Council 5 conducting the candidate forum that was well attended, there are very few neighbors in attendance at these meetings. It’s unfortunate because the councils are a great place to gather information and share concerns because they have direct access to commissioners and staff. As a commissioner, I will visit the councils periodically to interact with citizens directly.

Terry Thompson
www.voteterrythompson.com

________________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Editors note – last month we asked each of the six candidates running for the Great Falls city commission to submit answers to three specific questions. We will be publishing the answers from the candidates who responded, in the order we received the responses, exactly as submitted and without editorial comment, starting today.

 

Bruce Pollington

What do you consider to be the most important issue for Great Falls right now and if elected how would you respond to it. Please be as specific as possible by describing why you consider the issue to be the most important and the action you feel is necessary to address it?

While there are several issues that need to be addressed or need to continue to be addressed, I believe that our most important issue is population growth. According to data released from our Development Authority, Great Falls has the second lowest per-capita personal and commercial property taxes of any city in Montana. If we are to raise the funds needed to properly insure public safety, add to and maintain our city’s infrastructure and promote growth we need to increase tax income to the city. I believe that the best way to accomplish that is to add to our businesses and population and thereby spread the required tax income across a larger number of tax payers.

Accomplishing that is not a simple or short term task. The second goal listed on the City Commission’s list of goals is, “Manage growth to preserve our resources, environment, and sense of community.” I couldn’t agree more with that goal. As is obvious by the number of “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” signs in front of city businesses, we don’t need more jobs as much as we need more high salary jobs that require education, skill and experience. With our current unemployment rate at less than 3%, a business seeking new employees will almost certainly have to “steal” them from other local businesses. In addition, the current shortage of appropriate housing for medium to higher income workers inhibits business efforts to recruit those workers to our city.

Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance thereof, for you while conducting city business as a commissioner? If so how would you deal with the potential conflict?

In a word, no. I have been retired for ten years and hold no particular allegiance to any of my former employers or coworkers. My wife, Roxanne, works for Easterseals Goodwill and my son, Sean, is a mechanic at Lithia. While I am proud of them and the work that they do, I hold no allegiance to their employers. Same holds for the boards of directors on which I served. I have resigned from the River’s Edge Trail Board of directors and from the EPA/DEQ Technical Advisory Group. I have chosen to remain on the Missouri-Madison River Fund Board based on assurances from the Great Falls City Attorney and the River Fund that doing so does not present any conflict of interest concerns.

Do you consider the current relationship between the city commission and the citizens of Great Falls to reflect an adequate level of mutual trust, respect and engagement and how would you improve that relationship?

The City Commission continues in its efforts to be completely open and transparent in all its activities. Commission work sessions and Commission meetings are open to the public and simulcast to the community. In addition, they are recorded and made available on the City’s web site. The City holds scheduled public information/comment meetings when appropriate as well

as public comment periods in every Commission meeting. The City’s web site is an excellent source for Commission, government and community information. When major issues are under consideration, mailings are sent to citizens which provide basic information and web links for more detailed information.

Conversely, citizens have an obligation to seek information regarding issues that concern them. The City’s web site is a great place to start, but one of the best methods is through the City’s nine Neighborhood Councils. The Councils are a two-way conduit for information to and from City Government. Citizens can get information and clarification on neighborhood and city-wide issues as well as have their comments and concerns transferred to City Government.

Engagement is a two-way street. Ongoing participation and desire for improvement by Commissioners and citizens alike is essential for government to be effective from both viewpoints. At the same time trust and respect can only be accomplished through appropriate, two-way engagement. Increased engagement in Neighborhood Councils and Commission Meetings by citizens and City Government officials will automatically increase trust and respect.

________________________________________________________________________

 

_______________________________________________________________________

Editors note – last month we asked each of the six candidates running for the Great Falls city commission to submit answers to three specific questions. We will be publishing the answers from the candidates who responded, in the order we received the responses, exactly as submitted and without editorial comment, starting today.

 

Rick Tryon

What do you consider to be the most important issue for Great Falls right now and if elected how would you respond to it. Please be as specific as possible by describing why you consider the issue to be the most important and the action you feel is necessary to address it?

According to the US Census Bureau interim report released in February of this year, in an 8-year span between 2010 and 2018:

• Gallatin County (Bozeman/Belgrade) population increased 22,363 = 25% growth.
• Flathead County (Kalispell) population increased 11,179 = 12.3% growth.
• Missoula County population increased 9495 = 8.7% growth.
• Lewis & Clark County (Helena) population increased 5305 = 8.4% growth.
• Yellowstone County (Billings) population increased 12,155 = 8.2% growth.
• Silver Bow County (Butte) population increased 784 = 2.3% growth.
• Cascade County (Great Falls) population increased 320 = 0.4% growth.

If we don’t change this trend we will not have the tax base or resources necessary to adequately fund quality public education, public safety, or infrastructure going forward, because those costs will continue to rise while we continue to struggle to remain stagnant – and we won’t be able to maintain and grow the modern workforce necessary to attract and retain business.

Like it or not, ready or not, we are competing with other state and regional cities for resources, taxpayers, and the growth necessary to prosper in the 21st-century.

One of our top priorities must be to create a local environment conducive to better jobs and more opportunities for ALL of our citizens – starting with a streamlined development process, an unmistakable ‘open for business’ attitude and a new culture within our city of ‘How can we help you?’, rather than ‘You can’t do that here!’

Do you or any of your immediate family members, business partners, employer, or employees hold any positions, professional or volunteer, recent past or present, that would constitute a conflict of interest, or appearance thereof, for you while conducting city business as a commissioner? If so how would you deal with the potential conflict?

I’ve been a community volunteer for many years and for different organizations and causes, including the following:

• Founder of the Local Artists and Musicians Project, for which I received the Bread Winner Award from Wheat Montana for volunteerism raising resources for the Great Falls Community Food Bank.
• Received the RSVP Presidential Silver Award for volunteering locally in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
• Volunteer driver for the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program.
• Volunteer reader for Great Falls Clinic’s Reach Out & Read program.
• Board member and Chair of the Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts advisory board.
• First and several time volunteer performer for the Four Seasons Sports Foundation fundraisers.
• 2016 and 2017 winner of the Mighty Mo Charity Sing Off, raising the most money for the local Casa-Can and Make-A-Wish Foundation, Downtown Great Falls Association Christmas Tree Fund and the Great Falls Clinic Legacy Foundation Bumble Bee Fund.

However, I’m not currently involved in those or any other organizations with business before the city commission.

I’m not a candidate because I have a personal pet project I want to work on, an organization or “special” part of town I want to “help”, or an agenda to accomplish for friends or family.

I’m running so that the average citizens in Great Falls who’ve been left out of the conversation for too long have a clear voice and a sharp pair of ears on our city commission. No special attention or treatment for anyone. Period.

I don’t foresee any conflicts of interest arising if I were to serve as a commissioner. But if a conflict were to come up I would deal with it by strictly adhering to the Title 2, Chapter 21 Code of Ethics requirements, going above and beyond in full disclosure before the matter is vetted, and by recusal from the issue if necessary.

Do you consider the current relationship between the city commission and the citizens of Great Falls to reflect an adequate level of mutual trust, respect and engagement and how would you improve that relationship?

No, the level of trust is not what it should be. The lack of transparency and the conflicts of interest in our city commission have done great damage to the public trust. The remedy is to elect city commissioners who will unfailingly adhere to the Title 2, Chapter 21 Code of Ethics requirements in the city code.

Rick Tryon
www.tryon4commission.com

________________________________________________________________________