Rick Tryon

What Are Other Thriving Cities Doing That Great Falls Is Not?

Rick Tryon on February 14, 2019

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Someone sent me a link the other day to a very interesting news piece from KBZK in Bozeman, MT. – ‘Bozeman ranks #1 for strongest micropolitan economy’.

That’s the strongest micropolitan economy in the nation, not just the state. As the report explains:

“According to Policom, an Economics research firm, Bozeman is ranked number one for economic strength in a micropolitan area. This is the second year in a row Bozeman has earned this ranking, out of 551 current micropolitan statistical areas in the United States.”

A micropolitan area is defined as having a population of less than 50,000 people. Here are the 2019 Policom national rankings for four Montana micropolitan areas:

Bozeman ranked 1st
Kalispell ranked 14th
Helena ranked 49th
Butte ranked 104th

I also took a look at the Policom metropolitan area rankings. A metropolitan area is defined as having “…at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more population, plus adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic integration with the core as measured by the location of the commuting workforce.”

There are 383 metropolitan areas nationally. Great Falls, Billings and Missoula are three metropolitan areas in Montana and here are the national 2019 economic strength rankings for each:

Missoula ranked 75th
Billings ranked 87th
Great Falls ranked 185th

Policom lists rankings from 2015 – 2019 for each area and I found the ranking history for Great Falls to be interesting:

Great Falls, MT (MSA)

2019

185

2018

165

2017

151

2016

178

2015

149

Missoula, MT (MSA)

144

188

226

199

Billings, MT (MSA)

128

120

Clearly we’re going in the wrong direction, Great Falls. But why? What are the other communities doing that we are not?

In the coming weeks I’ll be attempting to help answer those questions in a series of articles for E-City Beat. Feel free to send me your suggestions and ideas by commenting here, on the E-City Beat Facebook page, or emailing info@ecitybeat.com.

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Great Falls Needs New Ideas And Real Solutions

Rick Tryon on January 29, 2019

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On January 10 the Montana Office of Public Instruction announced “record high graduation rates for Montana in 2018”.

In today’s Great Falls Tribune, January 29, one of the headlines on the front page is “Graduation rate of GFPS students in 2018 dropped”.

Recent data from City-Data.com shows the Great Falls’ poverty rate above the state and national average and DataUSA reports that Great Falls population declined 0.14% between 2015 and 2016 (most recent data available) and our median household income is below national, state and even county levels.

In an article titled “What city is hit hardest by extreme poverty in your state?”, written by Evan Comen and Samuel Stebbins of 24/7 Wall Street for USA Today, and reported on by E-City Beat, Great Falls gets the dubious distinction of being the hardest hit by extreme poverty in Montana.

State graduation rates are up, Great Falls graduation rates are down. Other Montana cities Are growing while Great Falls struggles to remain stagnant. That’s what the facts show. Isn’t it time we stopped the denial and started to acknowledge the problem here? you know, so we can fix it.

Local school board and city commission elections are coming up this year. I sincerely hope candidates for these leadership positions will propose serious ideas and solutions rather than relying on name recognition and being “nice people” to get elected. We don’t need another popularity contest style election here; the fierce urgency of now requires a lot more if we want to live up to our potential in Great Falls.

And I hope we hear ideas beyond the now standard, “If we only had more money…”. Local “leaders” have been treating taxpayers like their personal ATM machine for too long. Where has it gotten us?

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By The Content Of Their Character?

Rick Tryon on January 18, 2019

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“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by…”

…their political party affiliation or ideological leaning?

…their level of hatred or support for Trump?

Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was that we would judge others based on the “content of their character”. But in today’s hyper-partisan America where Twitter mobs and Facebook arguments are so pervasive, King’s dream seems further from reality than it did 50 years ago, and not primarily for racial reasons. This new breed of discrimination is based on your politics rather than skin color.

Why? Because we have allowed political identification and ideology to become the predominant, and sometimes only, defining characteristic by which we judge our fellow Americans.

If you voted for or support President Trump, well, that’s all some folks need to know about you in order to conclude that you are of low character and an enabler of evil. Your support of or vote for Trump is what defines you, and it means you’re a Nazi racist misogynist homophobe deplorable, unquestionably. Right?

Remember when supporting a duly and fairly elected POTUS because we wanted to see the country succeed was considered a good thing? Not anymore. Now, you must publicly confess that Trump is the full-on manifestation of the Prince of Darkness, because if you don’t then you’re obviously one of his evil minions who will be held equally responsible for the coming Trump-caused collapse of Western civilization.

Because according to some, no good, virtuous, moral person of high character could possibly support any part of Trumps agenda.

How in the world did we come to the place that we actually believe ones character can be determined by a cursory glance at his or hers choice of political platform or candidate?

The political part of a person is only a sliver, a tiny slice, of who that person is, and to make broad and character-defining judgments about folks based solely on the politicians they like or don’t like is preposterous and flat-out wrong. Yet that seems to be the place we’ve come to in America now.

And yes, we saw the same tendencies during the Obama presidency, and Bush before that etc. But it’s worse now than I’ve ever seen it, and I’ve been around awhile.

Trump is a temporary occupant of the White House, he’ll be gone eventually and other presidents after him will have to endure the precedent we’re setting today, and that precedent doesn’t look much like Dr. Kings vision.

It looks more like we’re judging the character of our American brothers and sisters based on an opinion of the content of someone else’s character.

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Response To Sheriffs Office Info Request

Rick Tryon on January 8, 2019

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On Friday, January 4, last week, I hand delivered a request for public information to the Cascade County Attorney’s office regarding employees at the Cascade County Sheriffs Office. The names of the CCSO employees listed here were included in the FOIA because several reliable sources provided information that the CCSO employment status of these individuals had recently changed, not because they are implicated in any wrongdoing or are the targets of any investigation at any time.

Here is the entire text of the request for public information:

“Has there been a change in employment status within the last 3 months at the CC Sheriffs Office for Lt. Dave Phillips, Dan O’Fallon, John Stevens or Scott VanDyken. If so, whether the change is a termination, a paid or unpaid leave of absence, or a move to a different position/pay-scale. The date and reason for any change of employment status for the above named or any other CCSO within the last 3 months – since October 2018.”

On Monday afternoon, yesterday, I received the following email reply from the County Attorneys office.

“Good afternoon Mr. Tryon-

I am in receipt of your request for public information, a copy of which is attached hereto. I am authorized under county policy to confirm dates of employment and positions held for the individuals you requested:

Dave Phillips was promoted from Lieutenant to the position of Undersheriff January 13, 2018. Dave has since retired from the Sheriff’s Office, effective December 31, 2018.

Dan O’Fallon currently serves as Commander with the Sheriff’s Office.

John Stevens served as Undersheriff for Cascade County until his resignation on January 13, 2018. He was hired on January 14, 2018, and currently serves as Cascade County’s Disaster and Emergency Services (DES) Coordinator.

Scott VanDyken was promoted on March 6, 2017, and currently serves as Captain with the Sheriff’s Office. He was also appointed on December 12, 2018, and currently serves as Acting DES Coordinator.

Thank you. Carey Ann Haight, Chief Civil Deputy, CASCADE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE”

The information I requested was only partially provided. I assume that there are legal or other issues preventing the full disclosure of the information I requested pertaining to whether OUR employees have been placed on paid or unpaid leave and for what reason.

It seems to me that the public deserves to know the current employment status of OUR employees since they work for us.

One point of interest here is that it is stated that John Stevens “…currently serves as Cascade County’s Disaster and Emergency Services (DES) Coordinator” while Scott VanDyken “…currently serves as Acting DES Coordinator”.

Are taxpayers paying two DES Coordinators at the same time?

I will continue to dig as much as I am able to provide the public with the information they deserve on this and other local issues and matters. In the meantime readers will have to connect their own dots regarding the employment situation at CCSO, given the murky information so far.

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Vox Populi – Voice Of The People

Rick Tryon on January 7, 2019

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It is never wrong for local citizens to stand up and speak up in order to hold local public officials and institutions accountable and to keep them honest. Yet some folks in Great Falls still think that any criticism of our so-called “leaders” and public policies is somehow wrong, even damaging to our community.

In my opinion the exact opposite is true. Great Falls is becoming a better place to live, not in spite of citizens speaking up, asking questions, and challenging the failed status quo, but because of it.

Our wonderful city, which is so full of potential, will attract new people and development because average citizens are aware and endeavoring to create an honest and open environment, not because we’re pretending everything is hunky dory when obviously it is not.

Here’s just one example of how truth, not denial, makes Great Falls a better place to live – when some of us started raising the alarm a while back, the City of Great Falls was compelled to enact new public ethics measures, including:

None of this happened because of change agents within the city commission or at City Hall, it happened because local folks are becoming more informed, less afraid to speak up and are demanding accountability. Letter’s to the editor, official letters of complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and awareness through social media and local blogs like E-City Beat helped force the City to change some policies and procedures that were wrong.

Conflicts of interest, lack of vision and leadership, self serving public officials, cronyism and corruption have plagued my hometown of Great Falls for years. Unfortunately, many in our local news media have failed to do their jobs by refusing to actually investigate and inform the public without bias or preferential treatment to the local good ol’ boys and gals club.

Thankfully, and for the good of our community, we no longer have to rely solely on the local mainstream media for accurate and honest information about how our local government and its employees are using OUR resources and managing OUR business.

We now have vox populi – the voice of the people.

It’s up to each of us to decide whether we’re going to cowboy up, be honest and deal with reality or if we’re going to continue to accept the failed status quo and pretend we’re being “positive and optimistic” by denying reality.

I know what I’ve decided.

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Cascade County Sheriffs Office Under Investigation

Rick Tryon on December 27, 2018

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By now most local citizens are aware that there’s something going on at the Cascade County Sheriffs Office. And it’s not a “riot down in cell block number 9”. It’s a criminal investigation stemming from “irregularities with regard to some purchases”.

Since I became aware of some activity going on late last week regarding this matter and raised it on my public Facebook page a couple of days ago, local news outlets have come out with a little, very little, information. Basically, all that’s been reported so far is County Attorney Josh Racki’s press release:

“Recently, the Cascade County Auditor noted irregularities with regard to some purchases by members of the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office. The County Auditor reported the matter to the Board of County Commissioners.

The Board consulted the Cascade County Attorney’s Office who referred the matter to the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) of the Montana Department of Justice. DCI assigned an agent to investigate. Once the investigation is finalized, DCI will report its finding to the County Attorney.

Should the outcome of the investigation support the filing of criminal charges, the matter has been referred to the Montana Attorney General’s Office for review. Because this matter involves an ongoing criminal investigation neither Cascade County or DCI are unable to release more information or respond to inquiries at this time.

JAR”

But there’s more information available for anyone, “journalist” or not, who cares to dig a little. Here are a few pieces of information that I have received from reliable sources close to the CCSO with direct knowledge of what’s going on:

Within the last week, at least one mid ranking officer was placed on administrative leave, escorted out of the sheriffs department building and had his/her vehicle taken and locked up pending investigation.
Also within the last week at least one high ranking officer has been placed on administrative leave and replaced for the time being.
Two others of the highest ranking officials have been temporarily banned from the CCSO building and property, at least one of them was escorted from the premises by investigators.
Arrest warrants may be coming soon.

The information above was verified by eye-witnesses and folks with first hand knowledge. I have not named any names yet in the interest of due process and to protect sources.

I’m not making this public in order to stir the pot, spread unfounded rumors or cause trouble, but because we can’t allow this kind of disturbing information and possible criminal behavior to be minimized or swept under the rug any longer, as it has been in the past.

Just off the top of my balding noggin here are several examples of local public officials and/or employees getting sweetheart treatment:

A Great Falls Public School District employee stealing fuel from the taxpayers district pumps – covered up and minimized by the district and local media.
Great Falls city commissioners voting taxpayer funds to organizations that employ immediate family members against HUD rules – not a one of them has apologized or taken responsibility for their actions. Business as usual and a pass from local media.
County fairgrounds manager being let go for incompetence/malfeasance but still got a nice deal and a fat check from county taxpayers.

Everything I’m being told by my sources is that this investigation into the CCSO is a very big deal. We’ll see.

If crimes involving the misuse of taxpayer money, or other crimes, are found to have been committed by Sheriffs Department personnel then we will need a full investigation into the who, what, where, when and how.

And the investigations should be conducted not just by the DCI, but also by those who call themselves “journalists” here as well. Because we need to know just how deep the corruption and theft goes if it’s determined to have occurred. Does it include local vendors? Other public officials outside the CCSO? Family members?

Finally, if you have any information about this or any other local stories that need to be told but aren’t, contact me any time.

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City Of Great Falls Truck On The Old M&D Construction Site

Rick Tryon on December 14, 2018

Today someone sent these pictures to me with the following note:

“Interesting pictures of the City parking their tractor/trailer on M&D’s vacant lot while they are performing asphalt patching on an adjacent street. The same lot that they ran M&D off of for parking the same type of trucks there.”

The ‘M&D’ referred to here is M&D Construction which has moved out of the city since our City Commission unanimously voted against a conditional use permit for the company which employed around 30 people.

This anti-business, anti-jobs unanimous decision by the five Great Falls city commissioners, Kelly, Bronson, Moe, Houck and Robinson, against the conditional use permit was made even though City staff, the City Zoning Commission and Neighborhood Council 7 all voted unanimously IN FAVOR of it.

Why deny the permit? Well, it appears to me the reason is that the Blewett family strongly opposed the conditional use permit because they considered M&D to be a bit of an eyesore in their neighborhood, which also happens to be Mayor Bob Kelly’s neighborhood.

In addition, the Blewetts made campaign contributions to three of the commissioners and several times at the meeting when the decision was finalized, at least two commissioners referred to Blewett as a “friend” or “good friend”. You can look at the minutes, video and further documentation here.

When the Blewetts said “Jump!”, your city commission asked “How high?” on the way up.

Do I believe there’s anything nefarious or improper about the City now parking tractor trailers on the old M&D Construction site while doing work on streets? No. But I do wonder if the Blewetts approve.

And it also raises the very interesting question as to what will happen to that particular piece of property now. Who will own it and what, if anything, will be built or developed there?

I intend to follow this issue very closely and make sure the public is aware of the situation each step along the way.

“I Just Am At The Point That I Can’t Take Much More”

Rick Tryon on December 7, 2018

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I thought it important to share the following letter I recently received from someone in Great Falls and E-City Beat has agreed to publish it with small portions redacted to protect the anonymity of the sender.

Let me say a word about that anonymity, which the writer explains his reasons for in the letter: the usual suspects and self-appointed Great Falls hall monitors screech and whine about anonymous sources on a regular basis as a way of minimizing and discrediting those sources because they don’t like what is said.

Too bad. I will continue to use credible sources, whether they are anonymous or not, to help expose some of the glaring problems in our fine city, and I am sure E-City Beat will do the same. Very often those who decry anonymous sources seem more worried about WHO is spotlighting a serious issue than the issue itself.

So, here’s the letter, agree with it or not, the writer has some important things to say.

“Hi Rick,

First and foremost – Thank You for continuing to shine a light on the current situation in regards to our city government. I own a business in town, but live out of town…and therefore am not allowed to vote in any of the city elections.

My property taxes for my building…this year are $4,662.76. It should be noted that when I bought the building…it was a run-down…lot…The city fought with me on continuing the space as commercial even though it grandfathered in. They even held the project up for 30 days because the city planner was on vacation and didn’t have time to get the paperwork ready for the design board. Of course the interest I paid on the money/delay was not a concern for the city. It was with the help of then mayor Mike Winters that the city finally backed off and allowed me to proceed. I put in $250,000 in improvements and upgrades to the lot, of which the city did not contribute a single dollar. The money is entirely out of pocket and through personal loans…

The first year that I was in the building I had a driver park his pickup on my grass area in front of the building. I called 911 and was told it was private property and therefore they could not do anything about it. At the time I thought it was a drunk driver…which is neither here nor there, the fact that the city wouldn’t respond is the issue.

This summer I saw my water bill double. I called the city to inquire and was told the rates increase in the summer. Ok, I said, but why did my sewer double? I was told for commercial properties that the sewer is based on the water usage. The more water I use, the more they assume I am using for the sewer. I explained that the extra water usage is for irrigation of the grass that the city required. I was told if I want to put in a meter on the sewer at my own expense the city might be willing to use that number to create my bill.

Now today I received the bill for my “city license.” Each year the fire department stops by my building (as they do all commercial buildings) and inspects it. For this inspection I am given a city license. That is something else that continues to increase. I do not remember what the cost was in 2012/13, although I am thinking it was around $75.00. In 2017 it went to $85 and then this year and next it is up to $98.00.

I don’t drink lattes, I drink Folgers, so the $13 increase is about 26-30 cups of coffee to me. I am not against the parks, or the school or the kids or the …………I just am to the point that I can’t take much more. I am contributing to a lot of people’s retirement through my taxes, except my own. I am paying for a lot of people’s expenses through my taxes, etc.

These are a few of things that I am beyond frustrated with, something I know you share in feeling! I ask to be left out of the public debate as a business person I cannot afford to be targeted and vilified. The purpose of this letter is to say Thank You! You are on the right track when you expose the corruption and incompetence that we see on a daily basis.

Thank you for your time!”

In conclusion I would only add that I hear the exact same issues come up time and time again here in Great Falls. And while I do believe our city departments and personnel are for the most part good hardworking people and that some progress has been made over the years, we still have a lot to do when it comes to making Great Falls business friendly and ready for development.

Unfortunately, I can’t say our current city commission is helping in that regard. On the contrary, Kelly, Houck, Bronson, Moe and Robinson have proven to be ineffectual, without vision and incompetent at best and dishonest, self-serving and steeped in cronyism at worst.

More to come on that. Much more.

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Future Of The Falls Requires Action, Not Words

Rick Tryon on November 12, 2018

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Today someone directed my attention to a KRTV Facebook post and news story about the next “Future of the Falls Forum”.

Here’s how the KRTV story describes the Forum events:

“The next “Future Of The Falls” forum will be on Monday, December 3rd, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at the Civic Center.

Focus topics will be:
1. City Government: Help or Hindrance?
2. Economic Opportunities
3. Downtown

Young adults in Great Falls had an opportunity for their voice to be heard by community leaders, and brainstorm ways to make it better though conversation at the first “Future of the Falls Forum” in early October. Now, forum leaders are focusing on feedback and what comes next.”

This effort is organized by Connect Great Falls which is described as an organization of local young professionals and is an “affinity group of United Way of Cascade County”.

This seems like a sincere effort with admirable intentions, but after reading the article and digging a little deeper I have some questions regarding the involvement of the City of Great Falls and a couple of our city commissioners.

Who is paying for the use of the Civic Center and City resources for these events? Is the City charging regular rental fees for the use of the taxpayers facilities to host the forums? If not, why not? I was going to call and ask about this today but City offices were closed for the Veterans Day holiday. Stay tuned.

More importantly, I would ask why Commissioner Mary Moe seems to think we’re stupid?

More importantly, I would ask why Commissioner Mary Moe seems to think we’re stupid?

“How can we attract entrepreneurs, how can we bring higher wage jobs into the community, and we want to make sure we talk with young people who have done just that,” Moe said.

Really? Is that why Moe voted along with the rest of the Great Falls City Commission to deny a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to locally owned and operated M&D Construction even though City staff, the City Zoning Commission and Neighborhood Council 7 all voted unanimously IN FAVOR of the CUP?

As a result of Moe’s actions in part, M&D Construction which employed about 30 people here in Great Falls, is now gone from their close-to-downtown location. Why should anyone believe Moe’s empty words about “attracting entrepreneurs” and “bringing higher wage jobs into the community” when her actions resulted in the exact opposite occurring?

Not A Split Decision, A Draw

Rick Tryon on November 7, 2018

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Well, it’s the day after Election Day 2018 and most observers of the national election results are calling it a “split decision”. Being a big boxing fan I have to disagree a little bit – a split decision means that on two of the three scorecards one of the pugilists scored higher than the fighter on the one other scorecard and is therefore the winner.

Nationally I think this midterm election was a draw, with neither side getting a split decision win. There was no “blue wave” with huge majorities coming out to affirm their hatred and displeasure at President Trump by sweeping all Republicans and Trump supporters from office as many in the “resistance” and the mainstream media punditry had hoped.

But neither was there a “red wave”, or an “orange wave”. The GOP could not beat the odds and hold on to the House in Trumps first term midterm, losing around 30 seats as of this writing. Losing control of the House is a big deal, but so is adding seats to a GOP Senate majority which could go from 51 to 54 by the time the counting is done.

By comparison, in Obama’s first midterm election in 2010 the Democrats lost a net of 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats. As for Clinton in his first term, 1994, the Democrats lost 52 House seats and 8 Senate seats.

Even though there’s been a lot of acrimony and division in our country during this election season I think it’s a positive sign that so many people, especially younger folks, were involved, engaged and excited about the process. This bodes well for our Republic.

We have many challenges here and our biggest enemy has always been citizen and voter apathy when it comes to our city and county governments and public officials.

I hope that kind of interest and engagement can grow locally as well. Now that this national election cycle has come to an end I’m looking forward to once again focusing on local Great Falls and Cascade County issues of importance. We have many challenges here and our biggest enemy has always been citizen and voter apathy when it comes to our city and county governments and public officials.

Let’s change that by paying attention and getting involved in our own local hometown and neighborhood issues, like our school board and city and county commissions and boards, at least as much as we do with the sexier national issues. Please.

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