Great Falls Dem Melissa Smith Agrees ICE And Filibuster Are ‘White Supremacy’

ECB Staff on March 29, 2021

In our continuing series of articles concerning state public officials’ and political candidate social media pages, we’re highlighting Democrat Melissa Smith, who lost to GOP incumbent Fred Anderson in Cascade County’s HD 20 in 2020.

Here, in someone else’s poke at Governor Gianforte, Smith equates a vague reference to a ‘gun’ as an example of a ‘cult of toxic individualism raging’ across the land.

And here is Smith’s take on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement service and the use of the Senate filibuster – ‘yes yes yes yes’ they’re examples of ‘white supremacy’.

Never mind that Smith’s own party, the Democrats, used the filibuster in the U.S. Senate over 300 times last year alone. Does that mean that Kamala Harris is a ‘white supremacist’?

Interestingly, Smith is still using the @Melissa4HD20 Twitter handle. We take that as a fairly obvious sign that she intends to be back on the ballot next year.

We also see this as the obvious reason that every single Democrat on the ballot in Great Falls lost last year.

Local Dem Bessette Sports ‘Hail Satan’ Shirt, Vows Return To Legislature In ’23

ECB Staff on March 25, 2021

As we continue our series on the revealing social media posts of local and state candidates/politicians we return to Democrat Barabara Bessette, a former Great Falls Representative incumbent who lost to GOP newcomer Steven Galloway in Cascade County’s HD 24 in 2020.

After we posted our piece earlier in the week about Bessette’s nasty, extremely partisan social media accounts a reader sent us this photo taken from her Facebook page:

After receiving the photo and checking her accounts we discovered that this picture has apparently now been removed. There’s probably a lot of social media scrubbing going on right about now.

The rainbow unicorn Hail Satan shirt is no doubt considered to be ‘cute’ by some.

However, an upside down cross, two pentagrams and a hearty ‘Hail Satan’ is offensive and sacrilegious to a great many people who don’t consider it cute or funny at all.

Since she is confidently assuring us that she’ll be back in the legislature in 2023, we wonder how the voters who live in Great Falls’ HD24 feel about the symbolism of Bessette’s choice of attire here.

Here’s another of Bessette’s Facebook predictions:

It will be interesting to see whether Bessette will wear the ‘Hail Satan’ shirt while knocking on doors in HD24 during the campaign next year.

Failed Great Falls Dem Bessette Shows Nasty True Colors

ECB Staff on March 22, 2021

This is the second in our series of articles with screenshots from local and state public officials’ and political candidate social media pages.

Last time we featured the not-so-nice 2020 Montana gubernatorial candidate Mike Cooney.

Today we’re highlighting Democrat Barabara Bessette, a former Great Falls Representative incumbent who lost to GOP newcomer Steven Galloway in Cascade County’s HD 24 in 2020.

Here’s what Ms. Bessette thinks about the will of Montana voters in the 2020 election:

And here’s another example of Bessette’s lack of civility and grace in the wake of her own defeat and rejection by Great Falls voters last November in the GOP Montana election tsunami, arrogantly mocking and belittling a young man and pointing out his racial profile in this ugly display of sour grapes:

We noticed Bessette’s Twitter tag is @bessette4mt. For Montana? Really?

E-City Beat will continue to make sure as many voters as possible get to know the true colors of candidates, like Bessette, who portray themselves one way during campaign season and a different way when they think voters aren’t paying as much attention.

Tryon: What’s The Mission Of Local Police And Justice System?

Rick Tryon on March 2, 2021

The responsibility of government isn’t to solve all of our problems but rather to ensure our safety in the free exercise of our individual God-given, natural rights.

Now think about that in light of our local crime problem.

The primary job of Great Falls law-enforcement and our local criminal justice system is to protect and serve the law abiding citizenry and to help ensure that we are safe in our persons and in our property, NOT to ‘help’ criminals or to solve all of the problems of addiction, mental health, poverty and homelessness.

We seem to have lost sight of that to some degree here in Great Falls and we need to refocus.

Our local law-enforcement and criminal justice folks work their tails off to serve this community and do the right thing.

Unfortunately, too many citizens are becoming frustrated and losing faith in local LE because of rampant crime in Great Falls.

We have to change that. Together.

Over the past several weeks I’ve been meeting with law-enforcement personnel at several levels, including Federal, to discuss appropriate membership and work scope for a proposed Great Falls Crime Task Force.

Last week I met with the three Division Captains from the Great Falls Police Department, Chief Bowen, and a couple of folks on the front line fighting serious crime and drug issues in our hometown.

And I can tell you that those who say that our crime problems in Great Falls aren’t that big of a deal because “it happens everywhere” are dead wrong. We have serious and unique challenges here and I think anyone who is paying attention understands that.

“It happens everywhere” is nothing more than a lame excuse which leads to doing nothing. We don’t live “everywhere” – we live in Great Falls/Cascade County.

Everyone I talk to, including local LE, says they’re sick and tired of doing nothing but talking around the issue of crime in Great Falls.

It’s time to get something done. And that starts with an honest community conversation and a focused effort designed to produce specific and targeted action.

We need to know what the solutions are, how much they cost, and their effectiveness in protecting the law abiding folks and their property in this community.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be meeting with community groups and with local justice system professionals to continue the prep work for the task force. It is my goal to have the task force in place by April to begin the process of producing a set of actionable recommendations to be presented to the community by late summer, early fall.

Unfair Or Illegal?

Philip M. Faccenda on February 19, 2021

Did the City’s Indoor Recreation Center and Aquatic Facility consultant selection process violate the Federal Procurement rules?

In June of last year, the City hired a local architectural/geotechnical engineering team, without advertising so all interested local firms could compete for the Department of Defense $10M grant pre-application project.

After the award, the City Manager said, not to worry, all local firms would be given equal opportunity to respond to a request for proposals (RFP) for the much larger commission for architectural services for the $20M project if the DOD approved the grant application.

Some firms questioned if the actual design commission would be handled more fairly and suggested a blind open design competition, a selection process that the city rejected.

In late August, the city issued an RFP with submissions due on September 21. Ten architectural firms submitted proposals, and the selection process began. In my opinion, the RFP was the most poorly done RFP that I have ever seen, and I’ve seen a few. I questioned whether the author of the RFP had any experience writing RFPs for architectural services.

To make matters worse, the RFP contained a site plan, floor plans and renderings produced and identified as work by the firm who was awarded the pre-application commission. Something I’ve never seen before. At this point, some architectural firms suspected that the selection could have been predetermined.

Additionally, and in spite of the fact that Montana law and city code requires an architect to provide professional services for the project, the RFP addresses the request to “consultants and not to architectural firms.

At this point, some might say the issues presented here are only circumstantial evidence of a shady process, or a wild conspiracy theory. You can be the judge.

The real issue is, was an unfair advantage given to the eventually chosen architectural/engineering team. Here is what the Federal Rules have to say about the prohibition of “Unfair Competitive Advantage”.

2 CFR part 200.319 “requires that entities that develop or draft specifications, requirements, statements of work, invitations for bids, or requests for proposals must be excluded from competing for such procurements”.

Federal Regulations also address “Unfair Competitive Advantage” in terms of Unequal Access to Information, or Biased Ground Rules:

“Without limitation, an unfair competitive advantage exists where a contractor competing for an award possesses either proprietary information (as defined in Regulation 19-445.2010© that is relevant to the contract but is not available to all competitors, and such information would assist that contractor in obtaining the contract”.

This would include all information and conclusions from the city appointed Task Force, which was presumedly provided to the firm hired to complete the pre-application for the DOD grant and was later awarded the architectural contract with an estimated fee of $1M.

Both sections of the Federal Regulations should be examined relative to the architectural selection process, but 4 out of 5 of the city commissioners, on a less than cursory examination felt that no unfair advantage existed in the city’s process.

A request by Commissioner Rick Tryon to delay action until further information could be researched was denied.

Also, there is a question of whether, or not, the city failed to follow their own written policy of supporting woman and minority owned businesses. From a review of the city’s selection committee’s grading sheets, no additional consideration was given to the only woman-owned firm competing for the project. Keep in mind that the project will have $10M in Federal funds and thereby should follow Federal initiatives established at various levels for women and minority owned businesses.

With procurement practices like this, Great Falls can never hope to attract creative talent to our city and will unlikely see new ideas and great architectural design.

Note: Please share this piece with as many of your friends as you can and encourage them to do the same.

Stop – In The Name Of Fairness And Common Sense

Philip M. Faccenda on February 15, 2021

What’s a 50 meter pool that is 25 meters short? If you answered, “very short-sighted”, you’d be correct, but that’s what you are going to get with the new Indoor recreation Center and Aquatics Facility.

Why is a 50M pool an important feature of an Indoor Aquatics Center?

According to a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) by the Economic Development Department of Las Cruces, New Mexico for a similar project, the ex ante study concluded that Swim Meets were the expected number one revenue generator for the facility. 10 swim meets per year would produce $126,000.

In addition, the economic impact of bringing in an estimated 7,500 out-of-county visitors would contribute $451,381 in sales to local businesses. The income to the local economy is “economic development”. The City’s decision to eliminate the 50M is extremely “short-sighted”.

In their latest presentation to the City Commission, the project’s architectural team said that the 25M pool/recreation facility would “cash Flow”. What does that mean? Every municipal project cash flows, it flows with tax revenues. Does it mean that operational costs do not exceed revenues generated? I think not.

The above CBA notes that “ there is not an instance in which the revenues of the new community pool exceed the operating costs of the pool. This implies that the recovery rate (based on revenues solely) will always be less that 100%. However, by adding the intangible benefits, it is possible for the benefits to exceed the costs.”

These “intangible benefits” largely are comprised of “community health benefits”, which are almost impossible to reconcile.

The City’s decision to abandon the concept of a 50M pool can now be added to the other miscues of the project’s planning, or lack thereof as evidenced by the following:

  • Choosing two properties that had presented serious soils problems that would increase construction costs when they were told in advance.
  • Made a property trade with the school district for 10 acres of swamp land that the city doesn’t need. Oh well we could use a park in that area anyway when the city already has 57 parks and Heren Park, (six acres) is only three blocks from the swamp. Say Goodbye to $150,000 of city resources.
  • The third property chosen, North Kiwanis Park had issues too, the largest one being that MAFB didn’t like it because of access issues.
  • The fourth property chosen is now Lions Park at the chagrin of a number of property owners citing traffic issues. Oh, and those will happen with swim teams coming in from outside of great Falls. The CBA, referenced above, estimates that with 10 swim meets per year, with 60 swimmers per team, it would mean 6,000 swimmers attending swim meets annually. The swimmers don’t come in VW’s, they come in busses. How’s that going to work at Lions Park?
  • Their plan to cut down 14 mature trees on Lions Park.
  • Concerns of a flawed architectural firm selection process by other local architects.

From all appearances, the undeveloped portion of Warden Park has much more going for it than Lions Park, but again the City has ignored that suggestion made in June of last year, just like they ignored the warnings about bad soils conditions on the first two chosen properties. The City will respond by saying that Warden Park is too far away from MAFB, but that’s what they said when I suggested Lions Park. Wrong again.

Again, the City put the cart before the horse by not asking property owners adjacent to Lions Park how they felt about the increased traffic resulting from the Indoor Recreation and Aquatics Facility, or how they felt about cutting down 14 mature trees.

I can say as a property owner in the neighborhood, having resided two blocks away from Lions Park beginning at its inception in 1952, that I have more knowledge of the park and its contribution to the neighborhood than anyone making these decisions.

I played on the Lions Park baseball field, skated on the ice rink and witnessed first hand the construction of the pavilion. The parking for this proposed facility will destroy an important asset for the larger neighborhood.

When I suggested Lions Park in early December, it was an attempt to test the flexibility of the base’s unfounded requirement that the new facility be immediately adjacent to the base. It is vastly more important that a new indoor recreation and aquatics facility be centrally located for all the city’s residents, and Warden Park is that location.

We would be wise to reexamine the whole site selection, consultant selection and programming process and do the right thing by the taxpayers of this community. Afterall, there’s $20.2M at stake.

If you feel the same, please contact our city commissioners and let your voices be heard via email – commission@greatfallsmt.net – or phone.

How Long Before Biden’s Climate Change Agenda Damages Great Falls?

ECB Staff on February 10, 2021

The following excerpts are from an article in the Montana Petroleum Report newsletter entitled “BIDEN TORPEDOES KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE”, written by Alan Olson, Executive Director of the Montana Petroleum Association. You can read the entire article here.

“President Biden’s recent executive order to rescind the permits for TC Energy’s Keystone XL, including a section of the pipeline that has already been constructed, will cause serious economic consequences not only for Montana but also for the United States.”

“While some leaders in government believe they can create jobs, it is the private sector that is the job creator. Private investment in infrastructure such as the Keystone XL pipeline puts people to work in good paying jobs, provides a much-needed service, and creates wealth domestically without increasing the national debt.”

“We are deeply concerned that the Biden administration would play politics with this very important project. At a time when Americans are struggling to find work, especially the good paying jobs that this project would provide, we cannot understand why the Biden administration would turn down private investment in critical infrastructure.”

We agree. And we would ask the following:

How long before Biden’s climate change agenda begins to inflict jobs and local tax revenue casualties right here in Great Falls? Think Loenbro and Calumet Montana Refining. How long?

Ethics, Great Falls, And A National Heritage Area

Jeni Dodd on February 4, 2021

The Great Falls City Ethics Committee voted on Wednesday, February 3, 2021 to dismiss all allegations of conflicts of interest and ethics violations I made against city officials for providing city employee time and city resources to Big Sky Country National Heritage Area (BSCNHA) Inc.

Their decision seemed to be based mostly on the city’s premise that the National Heritage Area idea began with the City-County Historic Preservation Advisory Committee and is mentioned in the 2013 City Growth Policy Update, therefore it is “city-sanctioned.”

Apparently, if it is “city-sanctioned,” despite what we taxpayers want, the city can and will spend our money on it.

Never mind that the NHA idea expressed in that 2013 document was just that, an idea not a project and that there was no indication in that document that the city would provide city government resources toward the NHA.

Never mind that the narrow corridor along the Missouri River originally envisioned as an NHA has since expanded to include all of Cascade County and a major portion of Chouteau County. There are people that supported an NHA then that don’t support one now. But the city doesn’t care about that.

While I’m dismayed that the city spent any money, at any time, on this NHA, there is certainly no justification in my mind for the city to have continued to support of the NHA after a separate private nonprofit was created.

Maps were made on city employee time; maps that city planning now claims were also used by the city. I find that hard to believe, since that the NHA map, with its GIS layers, is specific to the NHA.

Meeting rooms were provided for free. The city claims it makes meeting rooms available to other nonprofits for free. But when I called about a meeting room for a nonprofit, I was quoted a fee. When I told the city employee on the phone that BSCNHA Inc was meeting there that evening and they aren’t charged, I was told that was because it is a “city meeting.” I guess those free meeting rooms are only for “city-sanctioned” nonprofits.

In the HPAC meeting minutes, I discovered that the city was accepting and holding funds for BSCNHA Inc because they didn’t have a bank account set up. What I didn’t know until this hearing was that the city continued to hold the nonprofit’s funds for FOUR YEARS.

It doesn’t take that long for a nonprofit to get a bank account, in fact most new nonprofits get a bank account within a month. It seems rather odd to me. Why should the city serve as a bank for a private nonprofit for that long?

Did the city maintain those funds in a separate account or were they commingled? Is the city still holding funds for BSNHA Inc? Did the city keep track of the total gross receipts per year of BSCNHA Inc? If not, how do they know how much money belongs to BSCNHA Inc and what year it was deposited?

Of course, I wasn’t allowed to ask questions of the staff at the hearing.

Unfortunately, we may never know. Despite the city’s involvement with BSCNHA Inc, the city denied my Freedom of Information request for the organization’s associated records including their financials and meeting minutes. The city stated that I must request them from the organization. The request was then made to BSCNHA Inc, but the organization denied the request, claiming it is a private nonprofit and not subject to disclosure of those records as is a government agency.

So the city treated BSCNHA Inc like a separate and private entity when they denied my request for information, but then on the other hand, treated them more or less like a part of the city budget when justifying spending taxpayer dollars on their behalf. In my opinion, the city can’t have it both ways.

City Planning Officer Craig Raymond likened my complaint to harassment of him.

When city officials like Raymond and City Commissioner Houck cry harassment and personal attacks if a citizen voices serious concerns about city operations, that is chilling to free speech, government transparency and the right to petition government for redress.

At the hearing, Raymond reiterated his claim that even if the NHA wasn’t city-sanctioned (which I don’t accept that it is), he’d still provide city support to BSCNHA Inc because it’s a “worthwhile” project.

Worthwhile is a subjective opinion and to me, his attitude smacks of smug superiority. I take issue with a city official who would deem a project “worthwhile” of spending my tax dollars for five or more years without a vote of the city commission and without public comment.

I take issue with a city official who states that those who disagree with his “worthwhile” project are “spreading lies and misinformation.”

When the City of Great Falls bends over backwards in working with only select nonprofits and not others, it tends to validate citizens’ perceptions of city favoritism and cronyism.

Why are some projects and private nonprofits “city-sanctioned” while others are not? Seems much of the city decision-making is far too subjective—subject to the personal desires, whims, or relationships of city officials.

Did the city learn nothing from their HUD CDBG grant debacle, in which HUD found serious conflicts of interest with the city in the grant dispersal to certain nonprofit agencies?

Groundhog Falls

Philip M. Faccenda on February 2, 2021

HISTORY JUST KEEPS REPEATING ITSELF

After Mantle and Maris hit back-to-back home runs in 1961, Yogi Berra said “It’s déjà vu all over again”. That quote could have been the inspiration for the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, which was about a real -time entrapment in the time loop. In Groundhog Falls we are caught in a perpetual groundhog day and when our actions are less than reasoned we still keep repeating them.

Whether it’s the Groundhog Falls city commission, or the Groundhog Falls public school district, we can only escape the time-loop as Phil Connors did by altering the events of what becomes our past determined future.

When we build new schools on sites where previous structures have failed. When we build indoor swimming pools on sites where previous swimming pools have failed. We are destined to experience the same results.

When we ignore the wishes of neighboring property owners by attempting to build a new indoor recreation and aquatics facility in a historic passive park, we fail the trust of the residents in our city.

In the film, during the bowling alley scene, Phil asks two Punxsutawney residents if they understand what it is like to be stuck in a place where nothing they do matters.

When we protect the past by denial, we cannot effect change for the better. When we deny that cronyism doesn’t exist, or that the good-old-boy club is only an idea in Groundhog Falls, we stay trapped in the loop.

As Phil Connors learns, it was by giving up his felonious advantage of the time-loop and his starting to use it to benefit others, was he able to escape his personal purgatory.

The phrase “Groundhog Day” has become a common vernacular to reference a repetitive, unpleasant and monotonous situation, but Groundhog Day can be having the strength and knowledge to make a change when faced with the opportunity to repeat previous mistakes.

HAPPY GOUNDHOG DAY!

Commissioner Houck Requests Closed Ethics Hearing Claiming A “…Personal Attack On Me”

Jeni Dodd on February 2, 2021

Last summer, I submitted a formal complaint to the Cascade County Attorney against the City of Great Falls regarding use of government resources (aka our tax money) to support a private nonprofit—Big Sky Country National Heritage Area Inc. I cited portions of both the Montana Code Annotated and the Official Code of the City of Great Falls that I felt were violated.

BSCNHA Inc is the organization pushing National Heritage Area designation for ALL of Cascade County and a large portion of Chouteau County. This includes ALL PRIVATE LAND found within the NHA’s proposed boundaries.

The county attorney referred my complaint to City Attorney Sara Sexe.

By law, the Ethics Committee is an initial step before the county attorney can consider the complaint.

After many months of waiting, I’ve been granted a hearing before the City of Great Falls Ethics Committee. The hearing is 3 p.m. on Wednesday Feb 3 in the city commission chambers (Civic Center).

Strangely, unlike other city meetings this one will offer no opportunity to comment by phone, nor will it be broadcast online. However it is a public meeting, so interested folks can attend in person.

Through extensive research, I have proof that city officials provided mapping services, space for meetings and more, to BSCNHA Inc, using city employees on city time and with city resources. City officials have also admitted in their responses to having assisted BSCNHA Inc.

The city’s main argument for providing assistance to this private nonprofit’s project is that the NHA is “city-sanctioned.” The city claims that the following ambiguous statement, found in a 2013

Great Falls Growth Policy Update, proves that the city “sanctioned” their support of the NHA:

“There is great interest in designating the Missouri River and its association with Lewis and Clark, as a National Heritage Area. Such a designation would further bolster the tourist potential of Great Falls.”

Please note that this statement came before BSCNHA Inc was formed in 2015 and certainly, long before the NHA draft feasibility statement was released last year detailing the NHA proposal and area boundaries.

So how can the city claim they were on board with this NHA project in 2013, when it was not a project then, but merely an abstraction?

Further, the proposed boundaries of the NHA have changed over the years and currently bear little resemblance to its earlier concept, which was mostly a narrow corridor along the Missouri River.

Also note that the statement makes no claim that the city will commit employee time and resources to the National Heritage Area effort or to BSCNHA Inc.

In fact, the city commission never voted on providing our government resources to support this private nonprofit. Instead, certain city officials through the years deemed the NHA was a “worthwhile” project and that was enough for them to justify allocating taxpayer-funded city resources to BSCNHA Inc.

Even though my complaint contains no specific allegation against her, City Commissioner Tracy Houck asked for this hearing to be a closed (not public) meeting, stating—“This appears to be a personal attack on me.”

Wow, does she really think everything is about her or is she merely attempting to quell the public’s free speech and right to petition government with her phony accusation? Either way, it’s reprehensible.

Houck has served on the city commission since 2016 and is still apparently ignorant of the criteria that would warrant a closed meeting.

In my opinion, her request that this complaint alleging city malfeasance be relegated to a closed meeting, is, in itself, a violation of public trust.

By the way, I only discovered the changes in meeting rules I mentioned earlier by accessing the agenda packet here: https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/greatfls-pubu/MEET-Packet-cd5ab08251354a07b6fede78acd47fc0.pdf

So do you think the city could have mustered the common decency to let me know by directly communicating with me, the complainant, that their meeting rules had changed? Or is that too much to expect?

I invite interested citizens to come to this hearing to show support for holding our city officials accountable for their actions. Written comments will also be accepted.

Email comments to: kartis@greatfallsmt.net. Include “Ethics Complaint Agenda Item #3” in the subject line, and include the name of the commenter and either an address or whether the commenter is a city resident. Please ensure that comments arrive before 10 am on Wednesday. February 3, 2021.