Cost Of Rent In Montana And Innovative Housing Alternatives

Rick Tryon on June 28, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

Here’s an interesting item recently sent to me by a friend – according to ‘Business Insider’, a Montana household needs to earn $49,360 per year in order to comfortably afford rent.

The estimate is based on a study done by GoBankingRates which “…revealed how big your annual salary needs to be to afford rent in every US state, including Washington, DC. To determine the list, they used the budgeting rule of thumb that one should spend no more than 30% of their annual income on housing.”

Here are the numbers for Big Sky Country, which comes in at #32:

Annual income needed: $49,360

Monthly income needed: $4,113

Median rent: $1,234

#1 Washington D.C., has the highest cost:

Annual income needed: $108,440

Monthly income needed: $9,037

Median rent: $2,711

Looking at these numbers made me think that if there’s a study measuring the frequency and severity of windy, blustery days in every state, Great Falls and Cut Bank would push Montana’s average up considerably. I’ll bet Bozeman does the same when it comes to housing costs averaged statewide.

Nevertheless, the struggle is real for renters here and nationwide. Hopefully we will continue to see more rising incomes to offset the housing costs.

Or perhaps even more promising is the trend towards innovative housing alternatives like tiny homes or small, cost effective domiciles made from shipping containers.

Stay tuned for more on the innovative affordable housing front.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Public Accountability For Tracy Houck

Rick Tryon on June 13, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

What someone does in their private life is none of my business, we all have our own character flaws, sins and foibles. But when a local public official lies, cheats and tries to cover up to avoid accountability then it is my business. It’s your business too, literally, because it directly affects you, your family and everyone else that lives in this community.

That’s why when I learned that Tracy Houck has filed to run for another term as a Great Falls city commissioner I was very troubled.

By way of a brief reminder here is the record and legacy left by Houck in her tenure so far as city commissioner.

  • Lied to the public repeatedly about the status of her campaign finances. Lied to the local press repeatedly about the same.
  • Lied to the Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices in her official written responses to the COPP about the status of her campaign finances.
  • Was found guilty and fined $1200 for violating Montana’s campaign finance laws.
  • Attempted to deposit left over campaign funds into the bank account of her employer, Paris Gibson Square.
  • Used her position as city commissioner to get a do-over and change Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding decisions to benefit her employer, Paris Gibson Square.
  • Was named by the federal Department of Housing and Urban development, along with Bill Bronson and Bob Kelly, as one of 16 Great Falls individuals engaging in intentional conflicts of interest surrounding the disbursement of CDBG funds.
  • Had to be warned and reprimanded in a hand-delivered letter from the city attorney for her blatant conflicts of interest concerning CDBG funding.
  • Was brought up on an ethics complaint in February and found to have been engaged in an appearance of an ethical violation surrounding the improper use of her commission Facebook page.

This list is not comprehensive, nor is it simply an outline of my opinion. These are all documented, readily provable facts.

In addition, these examples are not exaggerations of innocent clerical errors, naive missteps or as Mayor Kelly put it, “pettiness”. No, these are examples of intentional dishonesty and corruption by a local public official who is now asking us to vote for her again.

To add insult to injury, Houck has never owned up, asked the public she deceived for forgiveness, or admitted to her blatant dishonesty.

And while there was a small measure of accountability when she was found guilty and fined for violating campaign finance law, there has been zero accountability for her repeated lies to the public about that matter and zero accountability for her continuing corruption and self-serving dishonesty.

Here’s Houck’s chance to take responsibility and salvage what little integrity she has remaining. I’m asking her publicly to answer these three questions honestly and truthfully:

  1. Do you still swear that you twice sent amended C-1 forms to the Office of Political Practices during your first campaign, as you repeatedly promised the public and local press including in a Great Falls Tribune article by Jenn Rowell?
    “Houck told the Tribune on Monday that she did send an amended (C-1) form in mid-July by mail (to the Office of Political Practices)…Houck said she used a copy of that form to open a campaign bank account in July.”  Or were you lying to us?
  2. Did you intentionally and fraudulently backdate official COPP finance documents and submit them to the state in an attempt to cover up the lies you told as mentioned in question #1?
  3. Who rejected your failed attempt to deposit your leftover campaign contributions into your employers bank account, and why was that attempt rejected?

These three simple questions are the first of several more to come.

And I hope Ms. Houck remembers that I have copies of all the pertinent documents obtained through public records requests that prove the truth about these matters beyond doubt.

If Houck doesn’t answer, or answers less than truthfully, I’ll immediately make all of those documents widely available to the public. They speak for themselves.

In the meantime I urge all concerned citizens who care about the direction of our community to contact Houck and insist she answer these first three questions ASAP. Here’s her contact information:

Tracy Houck, 781-8958, thouck@greatfallsmt.net

________________________________________________________________________

 

Ideas From Citizens For A Greater Great Falls – Part Two

Rick Tryon on June 10, 2019


_______________________________________________________________________

A couple of weeks ago I posted the following question on my public Facebook page:

What does, or what would, make Great Falls unique in terms of being a destination hot spot for tourism, business, and new residents?

There are currently 389 responses. Here I am continuing this regular series of blog posts on E-City Beat highlighting some of the great ideas coming from the taxpaying citizens of our wonderful community. You can read Part One of the series here.

I’ve heard variations of the theme suggested in the following comments many times over the past couple of years.

A little innovation and thinking outside the box would go a long ways towards revitalizing our town.

Here’s some more excellent ideas to chew over in the comments below. What can we do better to make Great Falls a real destination spot?

One of the major criticisms I hear most often of our current ‘leadership’ in Great Falls is that they don’t really listen to the citizens of our community when it comes to ideas and suggestions to pull us out of our funk. As far as I can tell, the BEST ideas come from the ‘bottom’ up, not the top down.

Stay tuned for more, lots more. Feel free to contribute your ideas to the comments section on this blog or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________________

 

GF Mayor And Commissioners Continue Ducking And Dodging

Rick Tryon on June 7, 2019


_______________________________________________________________________

The recent behavior of Great Falls mayor Bob Kelly and the other commissioners on our city commission is unacceptable and should be alarming to every citizen in our community.

Here is a brief recap:

  • Commissioners Robinson & Moe have been conducting secret meetings with the Maclean Animal Adoption Center to negotiate a partnership with the City and draft documents outlining the terms, without public input or a public record.
  • When pressed on the issue Mayor Kelly was not entirely honest or forthcoming about the secret negotiations, saying it was an “example of the types of meetings we do every day in this community”.
  • The mayor and commissioners seem to think that scolding and lecturing taxpaying citizens and not answering our questions is just fine. They do so behind the pretense that they can’t discuss issues that aren’t on the agenda and that public comment time is only for comments, not questions. Hogwash and flapdoodle.

The mayor and commissioners have been dodging, ducking and lying about this issue long enough now, time to DEMAND answers and accountability.

Because of technical glitches in the City of Great Falls video of the June 4, 2019 city commission meeting resulting in some of the audio being garbled and video being disjointed, some of the comments from citizens were missed. Following are the comments at the meeting given by Pam Hendrickson and Jeni Dodd.

Pam Hendrickson comments:

“Once again I am asking Commissioner Robinson to remove himself from all discussions related to a potential partnership with the Maclean Animal Center and the City animal shelter. As past president of the Animal Foundation there is no reason in the world to believe that you have no vested interest in assisting Maclean in their lengthy and ongoing efforts to talk the City into paying their bills.

And I am asking Commissioner Moe to recuse herself due to her duplicity in this matter, and to provide documentation about where these huge cost savings are coming from.

I am asking Commissioner Bronson to stop worrying so much about the supposed integrity of these two people and start looking at the facts of the matter.

Lastly I am asking the Mayor to stand up for transparency in City government, and to allow taxpayers to participate in discussions they have interest in.

In closing I would like to respond to the lectures from Commissioners Bronson and Moe about those of us who are “holding on to grievances of the past.” Do the hairs on the back of my neck go up when I hear about the City talking with Maclean? Absolutely. But this isn’t sour grapes. It is justified alarm at the prospect of spending more tax funds than we already are.

It’s about my objections to bailing out a nonprofit that always assumed the City would step up and therefore failed to plan appropriately for the long-term. And maybe more than anything, I am determined to stop the smoke and mirrors that seems to be so prevalent with this particular City Commission.”

Jeni Dodd comments:

“I feel Commissioners Moe and Robinson are misleading the public about the potential partnership between the Maclean Animal Shelter and the city.

Moe mentioned visiting Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter in Bozeman and that Bozeman and other area communities contract with Heart of the Valley for animal services. She stated, “I believe if we contracted with the Maclean under the same circumstances, we would save half a million dollars a year.”

That may be true, but that’s not what Moe and Robinson are proposing. The “Joining Hands” proposal she authored doesn’t even come close to the contract between Heart of the Valley and Bozeman. Bozeman pays $10,850 dollars a month to the Heart of the Valley. That figure is from an article in the Bozeman Chronicle and it appears that’s the all-inclusive cost of sheltering impounded animals for the city of Bozeman.

That is a far cry from what Moe and Robinson are proposing for our city/Maclean partnership. It clearly states in Moe’s document that our city would be responsible for all services in its responsibility areas regardless of location. Those responsibility areas include retrieving stray animals, providing medical care, providing temporary housing and care and facilitating successful adoptions. Also included as city expenses are the insurance and legal services for the Maclean and insurance for the Maclean director. Looks to me like that’s the bulk of running the cost of the Maclean, as well as the current city shelter.

In addition, in an email between Moe, the Maclean folks and Robinson, Moe states, “My notes for next steps are: How to do the lease?”

So its sounds like, in addition to our city paying all expenses related to animals in both facilities and other Maclean costs, the city would also pay rent to the Maclean.

Either Moe and Robinson don’t understand what they’re proposing, which makes me question their intelligence, or they know exactly what they’re doing, which makes me question their integrity.”

________________________________________________________________________

 

Great Falls City Commissioners Draft A Secret Joint Mission Statement With Maclean Animal Adoption?

Rick Tryon on June 3, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

Below is information provided by Great Falls resident Pam Hendrickson which is making the rounds on Facebook. I was asked to post the piece on my public Facebook page and did so yesterday.

Every concerned citizen in Great Falls needs to read this and understand what is going on with our city commission. This is the opposite of transparency and honesty. To think that they are drafting a joint mission statement with a non-profit and doing it in secret behind the taxpayers backs is alarming. And it is totally unacceptable. Remember Electric City Power?

Please share this information widely.

“The City of Great Falls and the MacLean Animal Adoption Center are having private talks about a partnership between the two entities. While this could be a good situation for the animals, which is great, can it be done without additional cost to the taxpayers?

And shouldn’t those discussions involve public participation before it’s too late?

Here are my primary concerns:

  1. The two commissioners involved are Mary Moe and Owen Robinson. Mr. Robinson is a past president and long-time board member of the Animal Foundation/MacLean Center. Several of us have objected during City Commission meetings that Robinson has a conflict of interest. The City refuses to acknowledge his conflict, and Robinson refuses to recuse himself.
  2. Because only two commissioners are involved, they are not required to include the public, post meeting notices or provide any information to the taxpayers. These meetings resulted in the postponement of the cattery contract award on April 2 (there are emails that prove that). Ultimately public outcry and a legal notification resulted in the commissioners rescinding that decision and voting to proceed with the cattery and award the contract.
  3. When I questioned Mayor Kelly about the lack of transparency involving these discussions, he advised that the meetings were not official City business, and were “exploratory at best.” However, a FOIA request  (Freedom of Information Act) (Editors note: submitted to the City submitted by Jeni Dodd), produced a “Joining Hands” mission statement document that looks like it is ready to be printed (document attached). In addition to the mission statement, it outlines the shared and separate responsibilities of both the City Animal Shelter and the MacLean Center. While it does not provide any specific dollar amounts, it does stipulate that the City will “provide insurance, maintenance, personnel and legal services for both organizations”; also the City will fund all of its normal operations; the City will pay for [health] insurance for the Foundation director; and the City will provide insurance for the MacLean Center building. The Foundation retains ownership of the building (but essentially doesn’t pay for operating it). It also appears (based on an email from Mary Moe) that the City will be leasing space in the MacLean Center.

Since the City is already nearly $500,000 in the red every year, operating the current shelter according to the fiscal 2018 budget statement, how does it save money to work with MacLean under these agreements?

If any readers of this post have an opinion one way or the other, the next City Commission meeting is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday June 4 at the Civic Center. Public comment, with a 3 minute limit, is available to anyone at the beginning of the meeting. Even if you do not want to get up and speak, one of us will ask for a show of hands in support of more transparency in this process, and against more taxpayer funds being spent. You do not have to stay for the rest of the meeting.

For those who don’t know me, I have been rescuing animals in Great Falls for the past 18 years. Animal welfare is of utmost importance to me. The City Shelter staff are doing a very good job. I am not in favor of a taxpayer bailout of the MacLean Center.


If you would like to talk to me for more specifics, you can call me at 453-9459.
Pam Hendrickson”

________________________________________________________________________

 

Great Ideas From Current And Former Great Falls Citizens

Rick Tryon on May 30, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

Recently I posted the following question on my public Facebook page:

What does, or what would, make Great Falls unique in terms of being a destination hot spot for tourism, business, and new residents?

Not surprisingly so far I have received 376 comments and ideas coming from a wide variety of Great Fallsians. Or is it Great Fallsites?

Either way I’m going to do a series of posts on E-City Beat highlighting some of  the responses and a few of my thoughts as well. So here we go, some great ideas from the people of Great Falls. That’s where the real solutions are.

The first comment here is spot on. Our leadership can’t be afraid to look at what other state and regional towns and cities are doing to be successful. And then we need to be nimble and humble enough to adjust, adapt and adopt.

The ideas about a racing/motorplex are interesting because that idea plays into what our strengths are in Great Falls.

We are a blue collar, working class town and motor sports fit right into our sweet spot.

I love this. We need to think outside the box here and come up with new ways of doing things, because a lot of the same-old-same-old just doesn’t work anymore and hasn’t for a long time.

I would add that the fairly recent issue of a Great Falls park tax is a prime example of what I mean when I say our city commission hasn’t exactly been dealing honestly with us.

I believe the evidence is clear that the city commissioners intentionally left the Park District 1 fiscal impact language off the ballot in an effort to deceive voters, making it more likely they would vote “yes”. You can find a more detailed account of this issue here.

Stay tuned for more innovative ideas and suggestions coming from ‘average’ citizens, who are not so average after all, on how to build some new glory days for Great Falls. Feel free to contribute your ideas to the comments section on this blog or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Commissioner Bronson Lectures Great Falls Residents

Rick Tryon on May 23, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

Here’s another little window into what’s going on at our city commission meetings from May 7, 2019.

In this episode Bill Bronson launches a scoldy, pointy little diatribe against Great Falls taxpaying citizens concerning the secret meetings Commissioners Robinson and Moe were having with the GFAS MacLean adoption center about a possible private-public partnership.

Which reminds me, remember the private-public partnership the City of Great Falls entered into called Electric City Power? That little venture almost sent our city into bankruptcy and nearly into receivership thanks to geniuses like Bronson.

Anyway, back to the scolding citizens were subjected to because they dared to ask questions and point out that something didn’t look right with the backroom deals and the apparent conflicts of interest involving Robinson and Moe.

(If you have trouble playing this video you can see it online here – Bronson’s comments start at around 1:48:00.)

Bronson: “It doesn’t mean my colleagues should not continue to have those conversations…and again, they’ve put up with a lot of abuse over the last month or so and they’ve done a pretty good job of defending themselves to the point where I didn’t feel that I had to step in, but I’m going to tonight.”

“…they’ve put up with a lot of abuse over the last month or so”? Oh my, those poor, poor city commissioners! Can you imagine how abused they must feel?

I mean, how dare the taxpayers of Great Falls abuse and treat their elected public officials so horribly as to attempt to hold them accountable.

Good thing for them that their hero Bill Bronson showed up just in time to “step in” and defend them from those old mean old citizens.

Bronson: “This community, like all communities, has really got to learn you can have a difference of opinion about something and it doesn’t mean that they’re corrupt, it doesn’t mean that there’s conflict of interest…”

Said the guy who was smack dab in the middle of the shameful and corrupt Community Development Block Grant conflict of interest debacle. It’s not the citizens of Great Falls who have “really got to learn” something, Mr. Bronson, it’s you and your “colleagues”.

I guess that by thumping the table and shaking his finger at the hardworking citizens who pay ALL the bills in this community, Bronson thinks it makes him look genuinely, righteously indignant.

Naaaaahhhhh. His pontificating just make s him look like arrogant, out of touch, and undeserving of the office he holds.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had to endure Bronson’s preaching. I for one am sick and tired of him lecturing the good citizens of my hometown while he has presided over a failing status quo and a city struggling to remain stagnant for 12 years now. Go away.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Don’t Buy The ‘Non-Partisan’ Flapdoodle

Rick Tryon on May 22, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

Editors note: due to a technical issue this is a re-post from a story originally put up on 5/21 but later deleted.

Someone recently sent me a link to an organization I had never heard of called ‘Forward Montana’. Ostensibly, the groups mission is to get young folks involved in the political process and registered to vote. Sounds good, right?

However, after scrolling through their website and Facebook page I have to agree with one of the reviews on their FB page:

“I respect what they do to get young people to vote but make no mistake about it folks……they also want to indoctrinate young people. They want to “educate” young people on leftist causes yet claim they are “non-partisan.” That is false. They are a leftist organization bent on only caring about partisan issues. I encourage young conservatives when approached by Forward Montana folks to tell them you are conservative. See if they still want to register you.”

I suggest that folks do the research and check it out for themselves before buying into the ‘we’re non-partisan’ nonsense ‘Forward Montana’ tries to sell.

What’s wrong with just coming out and saying “Hey, we’re a left wing Democrat organization committed to progressive causes and we want to get young people to the polls to vote for liberal candidates and policies.”?

Anyway, you can find their FB page here and their website here.

Now here’s whats really interesting and relevant to Great Falls locals – Forward Montana is in a partnership with Great Falls Rising to bring their advocacy in a big way to our community leading up to the 2019 and 2020 elections.

From the Forward Montana: Great Falls Rising Facebook page:

“Join Forward Montana, Great Falls Rising, and our host committee to learn about Forward Montana’s plan to make our work even bigger and better and how YOU can help.

Host Committee:
Bill and Carol Bronson
Shelley Fagenstrom
Ben Graybill and Laura Weiss
Turner Graybill and Jessica Crist
Marisa Graybill
Jim and Jane Weber
Gary and Nancy Zadick
Larry and Nancy Anderson
Tammy Lacey
Gerry & Chuck Jennings
Jim & Justine Zadick”

Take a good look at that list. Recognize any names? Any public officials?

The Great Falls Host Committee list not only reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of progressive liberal movers and shakers in Great Falls, but also reveals the partisan political proclivities of a few of our ‘non-partisan’ elected officials. And it reveals some of the old money elites and good ol’ boys and gals who really control much of our local government.

Is it any wonder there has been such an emphasis on government, non-profit organizations and social services in our local policies and decision making?

If you don’t know what I mean just Google some of the names on the list and look at their professions and affiliations etc.

I have no problem with anyone’s honestly held convictions. In fact I have a near equal number of ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ friends and loved ones. But let’s stop pretending that Great Falls Rising, Forward Montana and the Great Falls Host Committee are anything other than progressive, liberal Democrat organizations.

Two final points, if I may. First I find it hilarious that Claire here thanks Forward Montana for giving her the tools to “challenge white supremacy”. Really? I would challenge Claire and anyone else who entertains such a naive notion to look at the Forward Montana Board of Directors – all eleven of them are white yuppie looking dudes and dudettes.

And the Great Falls Rising Host Committee look to be all upper-crust beneficiaries of ‘white privilege’ as well.

Finally, I respect the efforts being made by these groups to push their agenda and get young folks involved, both sides should be doing more of it. The GOP in Great Falls could learn a lesson or two from Forward Montana about this kind of advocacy, but they’ve been too busy calling each other ‘RINO’s’ and ‘swishes’ and fighting among themselves to notice.

________________________________________________________________________

 

Video Of Great Falls Mayor Scolding Citizens

Rick Tryon on May 16, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

For those Great Falls citizens who don’t attend city commission meetings, I thought it would be enlightening to provide a little window into the May 7 meeting along with some of my own observations.

First up is Mayor Kelly explaining why it’s just business as usual for city commissioners like Moe and Robinson to negotiate possible mergers between non-profits and our city government without the benefit of a public record or public input:

 

This also raises an issue that I and many others have been concerned about for some time now – the focus of our city commission on supporting and emphasizing non-profit and social services programs above private business development.

Kelly: “We go to lots of meetings in tandem, never as three because that’s a quorum and that requires all different types of things, and with a lot of situations around town to find out things about homelessness, about child abuse, about women against violence and about some of the other agencies that are operating in this town.

If we can bring assistance to them from our positions we’ll bring information back to the commission.”

Homelessness, child abuse, and violence are all things we should all be very concerned about. And public resources at various levels are allocated to professionals to address these problems, resources which won’t be there in a stagnant economy which doesn’t maintain a vibrant private sector business environment.

But are these the kinds of things we want our city commission engaged in?

Do we have a city government whose primary responsibility should be to babysit and take care of social services agencies? I don’t think so.

Perhaps Bob Kelly missed his calling and should have been a social worker or a pastor rather than a mayor. Nowhere in his lecture did I hear Kelly mention going out and doing “lots of meetings” with local businesses or with the many folks working three jobs to make ends meet in Great Falls to “bring assistance to them”.

In fact, this current city commission has not just ignored local private business but has actually intentionally run at least one of them out of town – M&D Construction.

In this clip the mayor continues to scold a taxpaying citizen, defend the overtly inappropriate secret meetings with a non-profit held by Robinson and Moe, and inform us that these are “the types of meetings we do every day in this community”. Really?

 

Why so defensive? Why so offended that you were previously “not questioned to this extent as to the purpose and intent” of the actions you are supposed to be taking in the interest of the citizens and taxpayers of Great Falls?

And finally, here’s the icing on the cake – well Suzie Q. Citizen if you don’t like it go talk to our lawyers.

We deserve better than this.

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Great Falls City Commission Ethics Problems

Rick Tryon on May 7, 2019

_______________________________________________________________________

If we really want to change the ‘negative narrative’ about Great Falls then we need to address the actual reasons for that narrative. There’s no better place to start than the ethics and conflicts of interest problems that have plagued the Great Falls city commission for a long time.

Let’s do a quick review of some recent examples of whats wrong and why so many citizens are losing trust in our city commission. Keep in mind these examples are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are deeper and far more troubling examples which will be explored in future articles, but the following will suffice for now.

Commissioners ‘Pet’ Projects

At the April 2, 2019 city commission meeting and vote on the issue, Commissioner Owen Robinson revealed that he and Commissioner Moe had been secretly meeting with a group called Animals First to discuss plans for a partnership between the city (taxpayers) and Maclean Cameron Animal Adoption Center. After lots of public outcry about conflicts of interest and backroom dealings the commission was forced to revisit the issue.

Unfortunately, and almost unbelievably, according to a report from KFBB News neither Robinson or Moe seem to have gotten the message, “During this waiting period, two city commissioners Owen Robinson and Mary Moe continued their work looking into a potential joining of the GFAS MacLean adoption center.”

Here’s a novel idea for Robinson and Moe – instead of secret meetings with GFAS MacLean’s board members to negotiate a merger between them and the city animal shelter, why not invite them to a city commission work session to discuss the issue in public?

See, that way the taxpayers who pay for ALL of the city’s facilities and resources can have the benefit of transparency and an official record.

Houck’s Ethics Panel Debut

On February 6 of this year the newly constituted Great Falls Ethics Panel met to deliberate on an ethics complaint concerning Tracy Houck. No surprises there.

But here’s something that is surprising – according to the city information packet concerning this hearing, “The City has retained outside legal counsel Jordan Crosby, of Ugrin Alexander Zadick,P.C., to represent and advise the Ethics Committee during the hearing.”

The Zadick partner in the law firm hired with your tax dollars is Gary Zadick, who is a past board member of Paris Gibson Square and the husband of Nancy Zadick. Nancy Zadick is the president of the Board of Directors for Paris Gibson Square. Tracy Houck is the paid Executive Director for Paris Gibson Square.

Of course, this is no reflection on either of the Zadicks, who are both longtime active members of our community.

It is however a questionable decision by the City of Great Falls to retain legal counsel to advise the ethics panel on an ethics complaint against a city commissioner who is  employed by the wife of a partner in that firm.

Additionally, three months later there are still no posted minutes on the city website from that 2/6/19 Ethics Panel hearing in which Houck was found to have engaged in the appearance of an ethical violation. Where’s the transparency? We have to do better.

The solution going forward? Zero tolerance for conflicts of interest in our city government and a demand for transparency and honesty at all times.

Here are three action items to help solve some of the problems discussed here.

  • Prohibit any employee or board member of any organization receiving taxpayer funds or resources from serving on the committee/board that recommends or approves allocation of those funds or resources.
  • Require all local elected and appointed public officials to fill out and sign annual conflict of interest forms and agreements.
  • Require the mayor and city commissioners to make public on the city website a list of any of their personal potential conflicts of interest. This would include business/professional associations and clients, personal and family member affiliations with organizations who lobby the city for resources, and campaign donors who do business with the city or seek official consideration from the Commission.

________________________________________________________________________