It seems as though we are being assaulted on all sides by those who don’t give two hoots about history, or haven’t a clue about why it is important to our culture. People who should know better either want to change it, destroy it, or ignore it.
First, we read in the Great Falls Tribune that Columbus Day will likely be relegated to the trash-bin of history where it will take its place along with confederate heroes from the Civil War and the historic structures of Palmyra that ISIS militants have decided through some misguided logic are offensive to Mohammad.
Montana House Bill 219 sponsored by Rep. Shane Morigeau was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday and now moves on to the Montana Senate. Does history even care that Rep. Morigeau “dreads the coming each year of Columbus Day”? Does he even know what it represents? I think not.
What seems to matter most to Rep. Morigeau is that he thinks the holiday celebrates an event occurring over 500 years ago where a single man mistreated some indigenous people while laying claim to the New World for his Spanish benefactors. Yes, Columbus was charged with finding riches and returning them to Spain, but his accomplishment goes far beyond the small amount of gold he secured for the Spanish crown.
Probably Rep. Morigeau hasn’t a clue about the history of Columbus Day and why it was established as a national holiday, but count him in as a card-carrying member of the PC police and history be damned.
If Rep. Morigeau and others would like to take Montana in the direction of other states like Hawaii, Oregon and South Dakota, in the elimination of Columbus Day he should be aware of a couple of important facts. First, Columbus never set one foot in what we now call America.
Secondly, history is replete with examples of indigenous peoples in America conquering and taking neighboring tribes as slaves, stealing their land, brutalizing and raping women, engaging in human sacrifice and torture as well as committing atrocities including acts of cannibalism. All of this before any Europeans even knew the New World existed. To my knowledge, Columbus never dined on another human being.
The Tribune also reported another history related story, “A Bit Cold, But Signed Sealed And Delivered”. “Final beams of Great Falls High School Hub addition put in place. I guess we have completely forgotten the utter destruction of the historic campus on which the hub addition was predicated. A forest of mature ash trees destroyed, the south campus defaced and asphalt replacing the lush green campus to make room for a parking plan that was criticized by the Montana State Historic Preservation Office.
Of course we would expect Superintendent Tammy Lacey’s picture to accompany the article because it’s all about her, but what about school board trustee Jeff Gray whose picture of him signing the “topping out” beam at Great Falls High School was prominently displayed in the Tribune article reporting the event?
Trustee Gray demonstrated his dislike for history by voting not to support the well-deserved nomination of the Great Falls High School campus as a historic site on the National Register of Historic Places.
In spite of Jeff Gray’s attempt to scuttle the nomination, it passed, but has been severely eroded by the poorly designed Hub addition and lack of professional planning for the campus. In the end, trustee Gray has been part of a successful attempt to destroy an important part of local history.
Another part of local history that is being compromised is the University of Providence, formerly known as the University of Great Falls, and before that, the College of Great Falls, and before that, the Great Falls Commercial College. The president, and UP board of trustees have elected to eliminate a number of programs valued as core elements of the previously fine liberal arts institution.
Gone will be Accounting, Art, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, English, HISTORY, Sociology, Theater and Business Arts, and Theology. I know, a Catholic university eliminating Theology, right? You guessed it, it’s all about the money, but if UP wanted the best of both worlds, tuition revenues and maintaining a dedication to a liberal arts education, they would seriously consider establishing a UP law school. A law school benefits from a well-rounded liberal arts education, and I believe a UP law school would be very successful in attracting students from Montana and many other parts of the Northwest. After all, The Sisters of Providence list as their Core Values: Compassion, Dignity, Justice, Excellence, and Integrity.
Maybe these three examples of the destruction of history is all the more reason to teach it.
I’ve been thinking about road conditions here in Great Falls. Winter brings out the worst in driving conditions around the world. However, in many other places, equally as populated, there are clearer roads even after a snow storm. I am here to tell you that Great Falls is not doing nearly enough in terms of snow removal, and I will prove to you that they are not even following their own snow removal plan!
Being an outsider inside of Great Falls gives me a unique perspective. I grew up in a small town inside of the huge metropolis of Chicago. I have seen what can be for even a micropolis such as the Great Falls area.
If you go into the city itself, say a neighborhood similar to one here, many residential streets are in fact plowed. Many of those residents vehicles may have been kinda buried by the plow…you know what they do? They dig themselves out throwing the snow into the yards. Then they call their DIBS, usually by placing a piece of lawn furniture after they pull their car out, but sometimes it can be more extensive and even comical.
No one messes with DIBS. It becomes your own personal parking space that not even the most sociopathic member of your neighborhood would consider messing with. This is something that can be a fun way to bring our own community together so long as we can speak out and make the city change how they handle our roads in the winter.
I am not saying that they need to go all out like in bigger cities and repave the streets with heat elements under them (they are pretty awesome btw, I’ve lived that…). And while many streets here need to be repaved to begin with, that is not what I am here to discuss.
According to the City of Great Falls website, there are just over 300 miles of road within the city limits. If we exclude the stretches that are maintained by the Montana Department Of Transportation, we are looking at closer to 270 miles that are actually maintained by the city.
The city has 20 full time employees in the street division, and currently has access to 20 vehicles that can be used in snow removal.
This is according to the most recent revision of the “Snow and Ice Control Plan”, a downloadable PDF you can get from the city website. This plan was originally made effective in January of 1989. 30 years ago! The most recent revision was over 8 years ago. Prior to that, the plan had been revised every 3 to 5 years. This tells us that the plan is definitely outdated, but was a very enlightening read nonetheless. It talks of prioritizing the roadways according to a color system. Red being the most important, then black, and green.
So far, so good… But did you know that according to a map showing this priority set up, unless a school is on a Red or Black street, you won’t be able to ensure the safety of your child should they be walking to school in snowy conditions. Especially when you consider how many [elementary] schools are between uncontrolled intersections with limited, if any crossing guards. Cars aren’t stopping, and those that try, can’t. Now, the plan does say that if a certain street really does need attention, you can call and put in a request…. But do you really think they will follow up on it? Yes… Sorta…
Did you know that sanding the streets has actually been proven to NOT be effective and actually costs more money because of cleanup? It also costs more than most other methods. Currently, one of the most popular is the use of various LIQUID ice melt products. Not only are some of these products cheaper to obtain, some can even be made with natural ingredients for even less money and cause less damage to the streets and our own cars. Plus, they are rated to keep working even in extreme sub-zero temps, which we are all aware happens each winter at one point or another.
Some extra information on clearing winter roads… First and most importantly, plowing. To do it properly, the plow must have its blade lowered all the way down so that it scrapes the road, lifting as much snow and ice as possible. This means that the blades typically need sharpening each year. You can clearly see on the roads that do get plowed that the blades are either dull, or not being lowered all the way resulting the snow not being properly removed. On roads that don’t get plowed, the snow just packs in on itself resulting in safer conditions for a snowmobile or better yet, a Zamboni.
Break out your ice skates folks, because that is gonna be the most fun way to get around town.
The next step in making our roads safer in the winter is controlling the ice/snow pack on the roads that don’t get plowed. Sliding through intersections that are actually controlled is not my idea of a good time.
How the City of Great Falls hasn’t been sued for negligence is beyond me! Do you how many accidents can be prevented just by the city putting more effort into snow removal? While I don’t know the exact number, my guess is about ⅔ of the total winter weather accidents can be prevented within city limits. That number can be reduced even more by reducing visual obstructions such a vehicles being parked too close to the intersection. But that is another story for another day.
Back to sanding… As I mentioned before, it’s been proven to not be effective at providing traction. It only works for the first 8 to 12 cars. At which point it has been blown away by wind, packed into the snow, or inadvertently pushed to the curbs. It will also result in higher costs in the spring for cleanup. If left on clear roads, it becomes like that moment in a cartoon where a character is trying to drive or run across a bunch of marbles that were spilled in his path. You don’t get very far very easily.
I have spent this past week just observing the negligence of the city streets, mostly between Benefis, Great Falls High, and the downtown district, in addition to my own neighborhood near Longfellow and Head Start. What I have discovered is that you can clearly tell where the state stops and the city starts. 10th Ave S, while really only one lane each way is actually cleared, the state did a pretty good job of making the main road in and out of town pretty safe for driving. However, on Monday Feb 10, at around 2:30PM, trying to turn south on 25th St towards the hospital was like trying to jump a curb higher than the curb itself… In a hospital/ambulance zone.
The streets surrounding GFHS are most definitely not safe enough to our young student drivers just trying to get an education. And there are several other school zones that have been neglected, including Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic on 5th Ave S in my own neighborhood.
I will mention again that if you call the the city Streets Division, you can request a plow or sanding be done at specific locations. They even show up within a reasonable time frame.
However, be prepared to only see about 40% effort. On Friday, Feb 15 at around 4:10PM, I requested a plow come to 3rd Ave S and 12th St. Both streets needed serious attention and I mentioned that specifically in my request. By 4:30PM, a plow truck showed up… And only did half of the intersection. Not even the whole intersection. Literally just half.
Between Thursday night on the 14th and Friday morning before the morning commute started for most of us, the city easily could have come out and cleared city lots as well as many streets and avenues that would have made the morning commute much easier on everyone in town. Especially noting that the state maintained areas had been completed before such time. If the city had come out early in the morning, they would have been able to have many extra streets cleared before it became too difficult to plow after cars drive through and packed it down even more.
If you total the amount of wet, heavy snow we have gotten over the last few weeks, you will notice that it’s been over 24 inches that no amount of wind can help pick up. When you pack down that much of that kind of snow, you get some of the most dangerous driving around (are we allowed to drive snowmobiles through town?) 12 inches of packed down ice and snow is definitely not acceptable for driving… Let alone the 24 we currently have.
If the City of Great Falls actually cared about the safety of its residents, they would and should ensure that as many streets and avenues were cleared in a timely fashion with 100% effort. This is an easy thing to do if they just worked mixed shifts Including overnights (this can be done without overtime, btw…) to ensure that snow is cleared of the streets as soon as the snow stops and before too much traffic makes it impossible to clear. They can also step up the effort by backtracking and re-plowing the main roads during active snowfall instead of waiting for it to stop. After the snow stops, side streets and other non-priority streets would actually be able to get done by using this type of system.
Back to the City’s Snow and Ice Control Plan… It states that in addition to the sand they use, they are supposed to include a 5% salt mix so that the sand doesn’t become the useless mess that is currently is. Several of the private plowing companies here are using a 15% liquid or granular solution to control ice in the parking lots they are contracted to manage.
After everything I have pointed out, do you think that the City of Great Falls is following their own plan and regulations? Definitely NOT! At this time, I invite every reader to write to the streets division expressing your dissatisfaction in how Great Falls manages the streets in the winter months. There is no reason for our city to be this uncaring and neglectful to our safety.
As of Saturday February 16, Great Falls has become impassable. It’s time for our city to step up and take care of us. Federal holidays do not stop weather and should therefore not stop road crews from being prepared and taking steps to ensure that our roads are safe. IMO, they should have known that more snow was coming and should have been on standby or on call so that roads were safe for travel throughout the day and even overnight. I myself got stuck 2 times just trying to get to work today, and the second time I was left with no option but to call 911 because the streets divisions well as the non emergency desk we not working today. Totally inexcusable and unacceptable.
I do have a very strong personal reason why the city needs to do more. In January 2005, I lost one of my best friends just weeks before her 20th birthday. She was still just a teenager. Someone I consider to be a sister. Her loss could have been prevented if a specific road that was supposed to have been a priority 2 road had been cleared when priority 3 had already been done Instead. The investigation showed that she lost control turning a corner at about 5 miles an hour and wrapped her car around a fire hydrant on the driver side. Her internal injuries were just too great. This is something that i wish to never see happen to anyone, friend or foe. But I fear that without change happening, this can and will happen here if it hasn’t already.
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)
75
144
188
226
199
Billings, MT (MSA)
87
55
97
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.
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?
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.
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 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.
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.
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?
More from the KRTV story:
“One specific idea that came out of forum was for a bike-loan program on the River’s Edge Trail. Commissioner Moe, along with Great Falls City Mayor Bob Kelly, already met last week with a committee to pursue this idea and talk about ways to implement it.”
A bike-loan program? Really? This is the kind of nonsense that passes for vision and real results for our town from these so-called leaders. Do Kelly and Moe really think that they can vote to drive real entrepreneurs who provide real jobs out of our city and then make it all good by meeting with a committee and palavering about a “bike-loan program on the River’s Edge Trail?”
I applaud the effort by Connect Great Falls and their young professionals (an increasingly rare breed in Great Falls) to reach out, collaborate and try to find solutions to the urgent problems here. Kudos to them.
What I object to and will continue to call out as BS is the phony and dishonest attempts by city commissioners to cover up their incompetence and neglect with glossy words and busywork which accomplishes nothing.
What I object to and will continue to call out as BS is the phony and dishonest attempts by city commissioners to cover up their incompetence and neglect with glossy words and busywork which accomplishes nothing.
“We have such talented young people in our community and they have great ideas, and what they don’t realize is that those of us who have been here for a long time, can’t wait to turn them loose. I’m just really excited about what we heard and the enthusiasm there,” said Moe.
The condescension and arrogance just drips from Moe’s statement here. Folks “realize” much more than Moe gives them credit for and no one needs to wait for her, Mayor Kelly or anyone else to “turn them loose”.
Real leaders don’t hide behind committees and forums or engage in pantomimes designed to give the false impression of results. Real leaders make hard choices and take actions that match their words, and we desperately need those real leaders in Great Falls right now.
Montana Farmers Union to Hold 103rd State Convention
Great Falls, MT- “Moving agriculture forward” is the theme of the 2018 Montana Farmers Union State Convention to be held October 26-27 at the Great Falls Holiday Inn. Members from throughout the state will attend the event for policy work, educational workshops and entertainment. The convention will feature a unique lineup of keynote speakers, timely educational panels on estate planning, business management and Industrial Hemp. Convention goers can register online at www.montanafamersunion.com. Daily registration is also available. Register by October 19 to be eligible for the early bird registration.
Some convention highlights include:
Friday, October 26, 2018
· Cattle Handling workshop led by stockman Curt Pate: Montana ExpoPark Livestock Pavilion; sponsored by the Rural & Agriculture Council of America and DeBruycker Charolais
· Friday luncheon: Keynote: Keith Horton, Senior Trial Agronomist, Cargill Inc., Sponsored by Farmers Union Industries
· Promoting Awareness of Best Forage-Management Practices: Dr. Emily Meccage, MSU
· National Food Safety Collaborative
· Friday night entertainment: comedian Lyndy Phillips (open to the public at no charge); Sponsored by RBC Wealth Management /Amy Strom & BNSF
Saturday, October 27, 2018
· Industrial Hemp production in Montana: featuring a panel of Industrial Hemp growers
· Youth banquet: Videographer Riley Slivka will tell his story of his family’s farm through a series of short films., Sponsored by CHS
· Who is the Future of Your Business?: presented by Ryan Hughes of Alltech/Hubbard
· Hours of Service as it relates to livestock producers and the national campaign/approach surrounding ‘fake meat’; presented by Jess Peterson, USCA
· Estate planning andmediation: presented by the Montana Department of Agriculture
· Policy updates by Matt Perdue, National Farmers Union
What are conflicts of interest and who are the Conflict Coddlers?
Most folks in Great Falls have heard about conflicts of interest, but how many know what they are and how to recognize them? We have heard about the recent Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding corruption concerning elected City officials influencing the doling out of Federal funds to associations in which they have direct, or indirect ties. Our City Attorney, and HUD officials have castigated those guilty of such indiscretions and several local applicant non-profits have lost their funding.
According to BoardSource, a non-profit advisory organization, “Conflict of interest is difficult to define, yet many people think they know it when they see it”. BoardSource continues by noting, “Most conflicts fall into a gray area where ethics and public perception are more relevant than statutes or precedents”.
Montana Statute MCA 2-2-105 includes the following language concerning the “appearance of impropriety”:
(4) When a public employee who is a member of a quasi-judicial board or commission or of a board, commission, or committee with rulemaking authority is required to take official action on a matter as to which the public employee has a conflict created by a personal or private interest that would directly give rise to an appearance of impropriety as to the public employee’s influence, benefit, or detriment in regard to the matter, the public employee shall disclose the interest creating the conflict prior to participating in the official action.
When it was suggested during the CDBG allocations that City Commissioner Bill Bronson should recuse himself from voting on the approval of funds for applicant Neighborhood Housing because his wife was employed there, he cited Montana Statute and declared that since his wife worked in a different department of Neighborhood Housing than the part applying for funds, there was no conflict of interest. HUD did not agree with Bronson’s legal analysis. Why? Public perception is more relevant than statutes.
Further, when one recipient receives funds through an allocation process that appears tainted, another deserving applicant does not receive those funds, and that is a disservice to the community as a whole.
Excuses for apparent conflicts are abundant. One excuse that is always raised is; “Well Great Falls is a small community and everyone has some connection to everyone else”. Most people would say that is outright baloney.
Excuses for apparent conflicts are abundant. One excuse that is always raised is; “Well Great Falls is a small community and everyone has some connection to everyone else”. Most people would say that is outright baloney.
Conflicts of interest in Great Falls city government and the Great Falls Public School District have a long and storied past. Just ask anyone who has been employed in either.
To the City’s credit, and as a direct result of HUD’s admonishment concerning the CBDG program, the City of Great Falls acted to establish an ethics committee and a requirement that board members, commissioners and council members execute annual conflict of interest forms. Our only recommendation would be that all supervisors and department heads should be included.
“As an example of ‘giving rise to an appearance of impropriety as to the public employee’s influence’ occurred at the August 22, 2011 meeting of the Great Falls Public School Board of Trustees; the award of a $150K architectural and engineering study of Great Falls High School. Laura Vukasin who is the president of a Great Falls bank and sits on the bank’s board of directors along with the principal of the local architectural firm which was awarded the contract. She not only voted in favor of the award, but also made the motion. It should also be noted that as president of the bank, she serves at the pleasure of the bank’s board of directors. Do you see an appearance of impropriety in this action?
Fast forward to the award of the architectural contract for the new Giant Springs Elementary School in 2017. Trustee Vukasin did the same thing. She voted to award a $1M+ contract to the same architectural firm.”
In the absence of individual school board members recognizing that they may be engaged in a conflict of interest, who becomes the arbiter? It would seem logical that the presiding officer, the mayor, or the chairman of the school board should act as the conflict of interest arbiter, but instead, those individuals act as conflict coddlers, and contribute to the problem.
“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.”
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.
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?
