City Commission

Foot In The Door: More Great Falls Cronyism?

Philip M. Faccenda on November 12, 2020

THE GREAT FALLS AQUATIC CENTER – BOON, OR BOONDOGGLE?

In 2018, Great Falls’ only indoor swimming pool, the Morony Natatorium, or Nat as it was affectionately known, was closed after 52 years of service to the community. It replaced an older Natatorium which was demolished in 1963. You may be reminded of the original Nat with frozen haired students walking back from swimming class to Paris Gibson Junior High.

Both structures were plagued with structural problems resulting from poor soils conditions at the site.

A 2016 Park and Recreation Master Plan identified the need for a new aquatics and recreational facility and earlier this year the city learned of a possible grant that could bring the dream to reality. The Defense Community Infrastructure Pilot Program administered by the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) provided the opportunity.

In short, the facility would also fill unmet training needs for Malmstrom and MANG airmen and contribute to the quality of life for airmen and their families. The pool and recreation center would be owned and operated by the City Park and Recreation Department and located on City property.

The City would fund 50% ($10M) of the project cost ($20M) using a portion of Park District One funding, and the Federal grant would provide another $10M.

As reported by The Electric, in May, City Manager Greg Doyon informed City commissioners that to complete the 18-page grant pre-application and develop early concept designs, a professional consultant would be needed to make a competitive application and that Park District money could be used to fund those services.

On June 16, in collaboration with MAFB, the City Commission authorized Mr. Doyon to submit a proposal to construct a new aquatics facility to the OEA.

Subsequent to the June 2, commission meeting where the City Manager was quoted as saying, “There’s a lot of hoops to jump through” relative to the Federal grant pre-application, City Park and Recreation Director Steve Herrig solicited proposals to complete the pre-application from three hand-picked architectural firms. A fourth invitation was made to a firm who contacted the Mayor.

Since the project was initiated without a public notice being issued, several local architectural firms were excluded from consideration.

By June 16, a joint venture firm and been chosen to complete the pre-application, and by the deadline of June 26, it was completed.

On August 10, the City of Great Falls was invited to submit a complete grant application due August 26.

Late in August the City advertised the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the architectural and engineering services for the $20M Aquatics and Recreation Center. Proposals were due September 21.

Ten firms submitted proposals, one was chosen by the selection committee and approved by the City Commission with a 4 – 1 vote on October 13. Ironically, the firm chosen was the same firm who was selected to complete the grant pre-application in June. At the meeting, two local architectural firms raised concerns about the City’s selection process.

Questions that need to be addressed:

Did the winning firm have an unfair advantage by having been awarded the unpublished pre-application commission in June?

Did the winning firm benefit from a longer time period to work on their design?

Why didn’t the only woman owned architectural firm receive affirmative consideration as required by Federal, and City requirements?

Why is the new facility planned to be located on a site with the worst soil conditions in the City?

Why did the City trade city park property for a swamp owned by the school district when a more centrally located city owned site with ideal soil conditions was available?

Why weren’t City Commissioners allowed to see the other nine design solutions?

Is the result that a “Foot in the Door” is good strategy, or is it just the “Good Ol’ Boys” at work again?

Video Link To Commisison Public Comments At Nondiscrimination Ordinance Commission Meeting

ECB Staff on September 14, 2020

Editors note: E-City Beat has requested and received permission to copy and paste Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon’s reports from his public commissioner’s Facebook page, ‘Rick Tryon for a Greater Great Falls’.

COMMISSIONER TRYON’S GREAT FALLS CITY COMMISSION REPORT

“Here is the link to the video of the special work session the city commission held on Tuesday to hear public comment on the proposed nondiscrimination ordinance.

It is very informative and interesting and I would urge interested citizens to give it a look or listen.

It starts with a presentation from the Great Falls city attorney and her legal analysis of the NDO and then a presentation from representatives of the Great Falls LGBTQ+ Center.

Then there’s a couple of hours of public comment both for and against, one hour given to each side, and finally comments from each of the commissioners on the issue.

Commissioners Kelly, Moe, Robinson and myself agreed in determining that an NDO is not necessary, primarily due to the recent SCOTUS Bostock vs Clayton County decision.

In addition, my opinion that we should not go forward with the NDO is also partially based on my view that the GF city commission does not have the legal or constitutional authority to make anti-discrimination law which is appropriately decided at the state and federal level.

The session is about 3 1/2 hours long so you might want to watch it in segments over the weekend. It’s well worth it to hear the different views of so many of your fellow citizens and to see how the process played out imo.

We will not be moving forward with the NDO. However we will be working on and discussing the language for a nonbinding resolution which would include all classes of constitutionally protected citizens.”

‘Pigeon Poop Factory’ In Downtown Great Falls?

Rick Tryon on August 24, 2020

Since I was elected to the Great Falls City Commission I’ve been hearing a lot of questions and concerns about the Rocky Mountain Building on Central Avenue in Great Falls. The building was gutted in a fire about 11 years ago and has come to being regularly and derisively referred to as the Downtown Pigeon Poop Factory, the Pigeon Rookery and several other even less complimentary names.

Here’s the most recent comment I heard in a conversation with a local downtown business owner: “…no other city would allow such a blighted, mold invested building to continue to mar their downtown area.”

I agree that it is an impediment to downtown development and community aesthetics as well as being a potential health hazard and a magnet for crime and indigence. So, for the citizens who have been wondering about it I’ve been making inquiries and putting together information that I hope will be useful in continuing a productive community conversation about the Rocky Mountain Building.

Several groups, including NeighborWorks of Great Falls, the City County Health Department, and a private investment group have all at one time or another announced plans to purchase and renovate the building, none of which have panned out.
The latest such group is Alluvian Health and according to City Planning and Community Development the current status is that Alluvian’s plans to renovate the building are on hold and we don’t know just how long a delay they are expecting or if they have abandoned the project altogether.
As to the nuisance, blight and public health aspects of the abandoned building, to date nobody has been willing to file a formal complaint.

After an email exchange with City management, here is what I have come to understand as to what would happen if the City was to embark on a code enforcement case.

As always, PC&D will work with the owner/tenant of the property and give them the opportunity to resolve the nuisance on their own willingly. If that doesn’t work, either because they refuse to comply or lack resources to resolve the situation on their own, there’s a choice of two directions to take the case:

First is take them to municipal court through that legal process. The judge has some options to levy fines per City code in an attempt to gain compliance. That may or may not work.

The other avenue is to initiate the abatement process through the City Commission. The case can be brought to the Commission to order the nuisance abated. Again, if the owner refuses to comply or cannot comply due to lack of resources, the City then is compelled to step in and do the abatement itself (paying the bill), effectively cleaning up the property and attaching a lien to the property.

That second approach has not been taken to this point. Around 10 years ago the City received an estimate that it would cost around $300,000 dollars to demolish the building. That figure would likely be much higher today.

The City’s Hazard Removal Fund balance is somewhere less than $50,000, so the bill would have to be paid out of general fund dollars or possibly the Tax Increment Finance District balance.

There is no doubt that the blight removal is eligible to be paid by TIF but until very recently, there wasn’t anywhere near the kind of money necessary in the TIF to pay the bill. Also the Civic Center facade is competing for some of this same money. It’s likely the City could swing both after completion of the bond sale process and current balances and obligations are fully understood but it will take a little while to get there.

Please let me know what you think. Email me your thoughts and concerns at rtryon@greatfallsmt.net

Commissioner Tryon Responds To ‘Homophobic, Misogynistic, Bootlicker’ Comment

Rick Tryon on August 3, 2020

It’s rare, but occasionally a moment comes along that serves as perfect confirmation for something you say or do.

Such a moment popped up for me this morning after I posted the following on my personal Facebook page:

“…I have always endeavored to express myself and exercise my First Amendment rights with civility, good humor, and a sense of goodwill towards those who disagree, even those who strongly disagree.

Lately that has become increasingly difficult and I’ll tell you why.

Somewhere along the line those on the fringe left thought it was OK to call me deplorable without actually knowing me and that I just have to nod in agreement.

They thought they could call me a racist without ever having had even one conversation with me and that I should be cool with that.

They assumed they could refer to me as a misogynist and a bigot without having spent even five minutes with me, and that I should just meekly agree.

Somewhere along the line the folks in the ‘resistance’ decided that anyone who doesn’t join in their creepy, 24/7/365 hate orgy against our President must be a traitorous cultist.

Somewhere along the line the American neo-socialist movement thought they could spit on and burn our flag and if we object we’re the fascists.

They thought they could throw all of our law-enforcement folks into one big barrel of ‘systemic racism’ and murder and that if we try to stand up for our police we’re the bigots.

They’ve tried to make us think that if we don’t kneel to their political and cultural demands, if we don’t abandon our faith and our institutions and give in to their calls for physical, spiritual, and emotional reparations then we are the dividers and haters.”

Shortly after my post someone sent me this screenshot of a different FB post by someone from several days ago:

Can’t you just feel the love, tolerance, progressiveness, and virtue oozing from Angela’s post here?

I mean, there’s nothing quite like calling someone you don’t know, whose name you misspell, and who you have never met a ‘homophobic, misogynistic, bootlicker’ to prove your own virtue, tolerance and love for humanity.

Oh, and don’t get all technical about it and ask for any actual examples of anything that I have ever said or done that’s homophobic or misogynistic. Angela has spoken and that’s all you need to know about my ‘hate-filled’ ‘ramblings’ and ‘trash’.

By the way, if you’re reading this then you too are trash because my bootlicking articles ‘attract trash’ like you.

How silly of you to ask how Angela can call you ‘trash’ when you have no idea who she is and she has no idea who you are! Angela has spoken.

All you need to know is that if you ‘agree with anything’ I say then please just get in line for your lobotomy.

In addition, a couple of other local Great Falls ‘activists’ got in on all of the love and tolerance on Angela’s post.

What? You didn’t know that it’s okay for folks like Sara to presume that she knows what someone with whom she has never had a conversation ‘hates’, what their expectations for their work is or their level of understanding of ‘the rules’? You should know better, because obviously Sara received permission from Angela to fabricate criticisms of folks about whom she knows nothing.

And of course we can also rest assured that Maribeth knows for sure that the people who read this blog or who comment on my personal FB page are nothing more than ‘bootlicking cronies’ sucking at my teat.

I actually have three teats. I’m not even kidding. I could prove it by posting a photo but life is too short to subject you to the trauma of seeing my naked upper torso, an image you would never be able to unsee.

The point is that there is room for three bootlicking cronies at a time at my teats.

Sorry, I digress.

Of course none of this kind of garbage is new or surprising, it’s just the same old boring, ineffective tactic the fringe left has been using for a long time on anyone who doesn’t fully sign on to their agenda.

The only thing that’s surprising here is that folks like Angela, Sara and Maribeth haven’t yet figured out that their brand of criticism is actually harmful to the causes they claim to espouse.

I’ll end with another snippet from my FB post this morning:

“I refuse to be called a hater by haters, a divider by dividers, or a bigot by bigots.”

Maclean Animal Adoption Proposal & City Budget On GF City Commisison Agenda

ECB Staff on July 17, 2020

Editors note: E-City Beat has requested and received permission to copy and paste Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon’s reports from his public city commissioner Facebook page, ‘Rick Tryon for a Greater Great Falls’.

Information on the July 21 Tuesday night Great Falls City Commission work session and regular meeting:

Work Session – Once again we’ll be hearing about and discussing the Maclean Animal Adoption Center proposal to take over the adoption services currently provided by the Great Falls Animal Shelter.

Regular Meeting – There are two public hearings on the agenda –
1.) Budget Hearing on Resolution 10350, Annual Budget Resolution – Because of the pandemic this years budget is basically a hold-the-line proposal by the City Manager with no new taxes and no new spending.
2.) Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) 2020/2021 Budget and Work Plan.

The public may attend in person or remotely. Work session: Commission Chambers, Civic Center July 21, 2020 5:30 PM Agenda & Details here –
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/greatfls-pubu/MEET-Agenda-116eb4a2a082429f88b3f9787156ead2.pdf

Regular meeting: Commission Chambers, Civic Center July 21, 2020 7:00 PM Agenda & Details here –
https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/greatfls-pubu/MEET-Agenda-41390998d4a24c3692421776e9d83ec3.pdf

Meetings are also available live on cable channel 190.Comments may be sent via email before 5:00 PM on Tuesday, to: commission@greatfallsmt.net.

The public may call in during specific public comment periods at 406-761-4786. All callers will be in a queued system and are asked to remain on hold and be patient.

Great Falls LGBTQ Center’s NDO Proposal

Rick Tryon on July 7, 2020

Kudos to the Great Falls LGBTQ Center for making their draft proposal for a local non-discrimination ordinance available to the public on their Facebook page. Our community deserves transparency and plenty of time to analyze, study and fully vet the information before beginning the formal process of taking public comment and considering the proposal.

Below is the text of the proposal as posted on the LGBTQ Center’s Facebook page.

“This is the NDO draft we are asking the Commission to consider.

INTENT AND PURPOSE:
State and/or federal law prohibits the denial of civil rights or discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, marital status, familial status (solely for housing), and physical or mental disability. In addition to these protections, it is the intent of the city of Great Falls that no person shall be denied his or her civil rights or be discriminated against based upon his or her sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The city commission declares that such discrimination prohibitions are necessary and desirable because existing state and federal laws regarding discrimination do not expressly or clearly address all discriminatory acts reported by the city’s diverse residents. Therefore, the city deems it necessary to adopt local regulations adapted to the needs of its citizens. Nothing in this chapter is intended, however, to conflict with such state and federal laws, or to alter or abridge other rights, protections, or privileges secured by state or federal law, including state and federal constitutional protections of freedom of speech and exercise of religion. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
DEFINITIONS:

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions apply:

DISCRIMINATION: “Discrimination”, “discriminate” or “discriminatory” means any act, policy, or practice that has the effect of unfavorably subjecting any person to different or separate treatment on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, or because of their association with a person or group of people so identified. “Discrimination”, “discriminate” or “discriminatory” also means any act, policy, or practice that has the effect of unfavorably subjecting any person to different or separate treatment on the belief that a person has a particular sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, even if that belief is incorrect.

EMPLOYEE: An individual employed by an employer.

EMPLOYER: An employer of one or more persons or an agent of the employer, but not including a fraternal, charitable, or religious association or corporation unless the association or corporation is organized either for private profit or to provide accommodations or services that are available on a nonmembership basis.

EMPLOYMENT AGENCY: A person undertaking to procure employees or opportunities to work.

GENDER IDENTITY OR EXPRESSION: A gender related identity, expression, or behavior, regardless of the individual’s sex at birth.

HOUSING ACCOMMODATION: A building or portion of a building, whether constructed or to be constructed, that is or will be used as the home, domicile, residence, or sleeping quarters of its occupants.

LABOR ORGANIZATION: An organization or an agent of an organization organized for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining, of dealing with employers concerning grievances or terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid and protection of employees.

PERSON: One or more individuals, labor unions, partnerships, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint stock companies, trusts, unincorporated employees’ associations, employers, employment agencies, organizations, or labor organizations.

PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION: A place that caters or offers its services, goods, or facilities to the general public, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable to all persons. It includes, without limitation, a public inn, restaurant, eating house, hotel, roadhouse, place where food or alcoholic beverages or malt liquors are sold for consumption, motel, soda fountain, soft drink parlor, tavern, nightclub, trailer park, resort, campground, barbering, cosmetology, electrology, aesthetics, or manicuring salon or shop, bathroom, rest house, theater, swimming pool, skating rink, golf course, cafe, ice cream parlor, transportation company, hospital, and all other public amusement and business establishments.

Public accommodation does not include an institution, club, or place of accommodation that proves that it is, by its nature, distinctly private. An institution, club, or place of accommodation may not be considered by its nature distinctly private if it has more than one hundred (100) members, provides regular meal service, and regularly receives payment for dues, fees, use of space, facilities, services, meals, or beverages, directly or indirectly, from or on behalf of nonmembers, for the furtherance of trade or business. For the purposes of this definition, any lodge of a recognized national fraternal organization is considered by its nature distinctly private.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED:

A. No employer shall discriminate in the employment, failure to hire, refusal to hire, compensation, work classification, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, including promotion, demotion, or termination of employment.

B. No employer shall fail or refuse to refer for employment, or give negative information to a potential employer of an individual, in such a manner that would deprive or limit an individual’s employment opportunities or that would otherwise adversely affect an individual’s status as an applicant or prospective employee, for a discriminatory reason.

C. No labor organization shall discriminate in limiting membership, conditions of membership, or termination of membership of any person in any labor union or apprenticeship program.

D. No employment agency shall discriminate in the procurement or recruitment of any person for possible employment with an employer. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
DISCRIMINATION IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS PROHIBITED:

It shall be unlawful for a place of public accommodation to deny, directly or indirectly, any person full and equal access or enjoyment of the goods, services, activities, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations for a discriminatory reason. (Ord. 3224, 1-9-2017)
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED:

It is unlawful for any person, owner, manager, employee, or any entity whose business includes engaging in any residential real estate related transactions to discriminate in the sale, lease or rental of any housing facility, or to otherwise discriminate in the terms, conditions, maintenance, improvement, or repair of any housing facility. The rental of sleeping rooms in a private residence designed as a single dwelling unit in which the owner also resides is excluded from this section provided that the owner rents no more than three (3) sleeping rooms within the residence. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
RETALIATION PROHIBITED:

No person shall coerce, threaten, discharge, expel, blacklist, or otherwise retaliate against another person for opposing any practices prohibited by this chapter, making a complaint, or assisting in an investigation or proceeding regarding an alleged violation of this chapter; nor shall any person require, request, conspire with, assist, or coerce another person to retaliate against a person for making a complaint or assisting in an investigation or proceeding. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
VIOLATION; CIVIL REMEDY; EXHAUSTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS BUREAU REMEDY:

Any illegal discrimination specifically addressed by Montana state law shall be submitted to the Montana department of labor and industry, human rights bureau, pursuant to title 49, chapters 2 and 3, Montana Code Annotated (MCA), for processing by the state of Montana.

Any person claiming a violation of this chapter may seek civil remedies, injunctive relief, attorney fees or other equitable relief by petitioning the Great Falls municipal court. Prior to the filing of any petition in Great Falls municipal court under this chapter, a person must have:

A. Filed or sought to file a timely complaint with the Montana human rights bureau alleging discrimination in employment, public accommodations or housing, or retaliation; and

B. Received a written disposition of the complaint from the Montana human rights bureau, Montana department of labor and industry hearings bureau, Montana human rights commission, or any Montana court indicating that the acts of alleged discrimination or retaliation underlying the complaint do not fall within the scope of the Montana human rights act.

For purposes of this section, the term “timely” shall mean filed with the Montana human rights bureau within the time frames set forth in section 49-2-501, Montana Code Annotated.

Any person claiming a violation of this chapter must file a petition with the Great Falls municipal court within ninety (90) days of receipt of the written disposition referenced in subsection B of this section.

The initiation of or the granting of relief under a grievance procedure shall not preclude or limit any other claims or remedies available under this chapter. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)
SEVERABILITY:

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The city commission hereby declares that it would have passed this chapter and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, and words thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases or words have been declared invalid or unconstitutional, and if for any reason this chapter should be declared invalid or unconstitutional, then the remaining ordinance provisions will remain in full force and effect. (Ord. 3162, 12-17-2012)”

A Tale Of Two Emails

Rick Tryon on June 25, 2020

Not surprisingly, my Great Falls City Commissioner email inbox has been very interesting recently.

So in doing my best to respond to citizen’s demands for transparency, here are two emails representing the current social and cultural divide in our country, both of which I received within the last three days.

Here’s the first.

Here’s the other.

Great Falls, our beautiful corner of creation isn’t as removed from the big, bad world as it once was or as we might like it to be.

Better get used to it.

Issues On Tap For Great Falls City Commission Meeting, 6/16/20

ECB Staff on June 15, 2020

Here’s some helpful info for Tuesday nights Great Falls City Commission work session and regular meeting.

There are a few items of special interest to the public on the agendas.

Work Session – We will be getting a presentation from Craig Raymond on financing options for the Civic Center façade and a 2020 Budget primer from the City Manager Greg Doyon and Finance manager Melissa Kinzler

Regular Meeting – Among several other items we will be voting on rate increases for local ambulance service. We’ll also be voting on a resolution aimed at reducing litigation risks associated with Geologic Hazards.

The public may attend in person or remotely.
Work session: Commission Chambers, Civic Center June 16, 2020 5:30 PM Agenda & Details here – https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/…/MEET-Pack…

Regular meeting: Commission Chambers, Civic Center June 16, 2020 7:00 PM Agenda & Details here – https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/…/MEET-Pack…

The public can also live stream the meetings here https://greatfallsmt.net/livestream.

Meetings are also available live on cable channel 190.
Comments may be sent via email before 5:00 PM on Tuesday, to: commission@greatfallsmt.net.

The public may call in during specific public comment periods at 406-761-4786. All callers will be in a queued system and are asked to remain on hold and be patient.

Who Is Sending ‘Defund GFPD’ Emails To Commissioners?

Rick Tryon on June 9, 2020

As of this afternoon I have received 14 robo-emails addressed to each of us Great Falls City Commissioners ‘demanding’ that we ‘defund’ the Great Falls Police Department. I also got a call from a Kalispell city commissioner this morning informing me that they have been receiving the same emails.

See my response to the emails here.

I’ve been asked to publish the names of the senders of these emails, and I could do that since they are all subject to a public information request and available for anyone to see at any time.

But actually there’s not much sense in publishing the names because the email is a form email and most of the names and emails are not local or wouldn’t have any relevance to Great Falls.

Here’s a breakdown of the 14 emails:

Nine have various names with no indication as to where they are from or with an out-of-state return email indicator – for example vccs.edu, which is from Virginia I believe.

One is from Philipsburg MT and one from Billings MT.

Three say they are Great Falls residents. Checking several online resources for the names given, only one of them appears in a search and matches as a Great Falls resident, but it appears to be the persons parents who currently live here. The emailer’s age is given as “in 20’s” and an address listed online as being in Missoula.

So out of 14 robo-mails so far only one of them appears to actually be a possible current Great Falls resident.

If that person, or anyone else, would like to contact me and discuss the issue of defunding the Great Falls Police Department, I will be available to do so any time. But there are three things I would ask beforehand:

You are currently a taxpaying resident of Great Falls.
You use your real name and are willing to do so publicly without ‘demanding’ things.
You discuss the issue using a local context and data, in the full light of objective scrutiny and without using a mass form letter containing outrageous, false, ignorant accusations against our local law enforcement.

I’m not sure why some folks think that George Floyd’s murder by a bad cop in Minneapolis means that we need to ‘defund’ the Great Falls Police Department but I’m willing to discuss it honestly and openly, not with form letters, baseless accusations against our law enforcement community in Great Falls, and anonymous demands.

By the way, one of the emailers forgot to fill in the form data on their little robo-email and I’m including a screenshot here. If the group behind this campaign to ‘defund’ police would let us know who they are, or if anyone else knows and could reveal their identity, it would be helpful.

Commissioner Responds To Demands To Defund GFPD

Rick Tryon on June 8, 2020

Here is the text of an email which all five members of the Great Falls City Commission received on Monday, demanding we defund the Great Falls Polices Department. This is apparently a form email because I received it from four different individuals.

I read it with a mixture of disbelief and, I admit, a little bit of anger. I have included my response here as well.

“Dear Great Falls City Commissioners,

I am writing to demand that the City Commission adopts a budget that prioritizes community well-being and redirects funding away from the police.

Many Montanans may be tempted to think the unique nature of such a vast, yet sparsely-populated state minimizes the likelihood of police brutality in our small city communities. However, as reported by the Billings Gazette last year, Montana ranked ninth in killings by police per capita. In 2017, the Great Falls Tribune reported Montana police killings reached a total higher than the previous six years. These figures are alarming, but don’t tell the full story. Under Montana Code § 2-6-102 and Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution, police disciplinary records are exempt from disclosure if there is an “individual privacy interest that clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure.” Montana police forces operate within a culture of impunity, and as the members of the communities they are supposed to be protecting, we can’t even begin to grasp the scope of their violence.

We are in the midst of widespread upheaval over the systemic violence of policing. Empty gestures and suggestions of “reform” are inadequate and unacceptable. I am demanding that real change be made to the way this city allocates its resources.

Support for communities in need is necessary now, more than ever. I am demanding that the City Commission meaningfully defund the Great Falls Police Department. I join the calls of those across the country to defund the police. I am demanding a budget that adequately and effectively meets the needs of at-risk Great Falls residents during this trying and uncertain time. I am demanding a budget that supports community wellbeing, rather than empowering the police forces that tear them apart.

As the City Commission, the budget proposal is in your hands. It is your duty to represent your constituents. I am urging you to completely revise the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and to fund the social programs proven to be more effective than policing at promoting community safety and equity. Have the courage to be a leader of the change this city, state, and country desperately needs.

Thank you for your time,”

My response:

“Dear ——,

I have received and read your form-letter email and I must say that I am offended. First, because it appears to me that you don’t actually live in Great Falls (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about that), because if you did live here you wouldn’t make ignorant and idiotic statements which suggest our Great Falls Police Department “tears apart” our community or that “we can’t begin to grasp the scope of the violence” our officers are engaged in here. What rubbish!

Secondly, because you seem to think that you can lecture us and “demand” actions when you obviously have no idea what you’re even talking about when it comes to how Great Falls citizens regard our awesome local law enforcement community. We love, respect and appreciate the officers and employees at the GFPD and the Cascade County Sheriffs Office.

No institution is perfect but our community recognizes that the overwhelming majority of our local LE personnel do their jobs responsibly with dedication and fairness. And they do it every day, faithfully and with courage.

So, no I won’t be supporting any half-baked, knee jerk, ridiculous “demands” by you or anyone else to “defund” our police department here.

As a matter of fact I will be fully supporting our local LE enforcement and I will continue to advocate for more resources to help them do their job and keep our streets safe from criminals.

I hope that’s clear enough.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Rick Tryon”