Great Falls

Calling On Local Legislators: Walk Your ‘Conservative’ Talk

Rick Tryon on February 6, 2023

Cascade County Republicans won every single race on the ballot in the 2022 election. It was a jaw-dropping result given that Cascade County and Great Falls were once considered to be a Blue stronghold, sending a majority of Democrats every cycle to Helena.

Those days are long gone now I suspect, for two main reasons:

The Cascade County Democratic Central Committee and most of the candidates that they have put forward and supported in recent elections are so far to the extreme left side of the political spectrum that they’ve fallen completely out of touch with the local mainstream.
Local Republican candidates have run their campaigns on a mostly common sense conservative set of principles that resonates more soundly with local voters.

A big part of that conservative set of principles includes a healthy mistrust of top-down governance – at all levels.

I’m calling on our Great Falls/Cascade County state legislative delegation to live by and legislate according to their proclaimed conservative values by rejecting the efforts in this legislative session to increase state control of local governing bodies.

SB 245

One example of such efforts is SB 245, a bill designed to impose a one-size-fits-all, state mandated zoning template on all Montana cities and towns.

SB 245 would require Great Falls, and all other Montana communities with populations over 7,000, to allow mixed-use and other kinds of development whether or not that development is determined by a local community or neighborhood to be a good fit for that local community or neighborhood.

The bill would also prohibit local governing bodies, like your Great Falls City Commission, from adding some development requirements in accordance with a local growth policy, like setbacks, density, and parking etc. after holding local public hearings with the local stakeholders in the neighborhoods most affected.

You can read SB 245 here.

Walk The Talk

I understand the intention of this and some of the other proposed related legislation is to address the housing crisis in our state. I get it.

But what works for Missoula may not work for Great Falls. A zoning regulation that provides solutions for Choteau might actually add problems for Butte or Havre.

The point is – one size does not fit all.

When the federal government seeks to cram regulations down our throats or usurp states rights those who claim to be liberty loving conservatives rightfully raise their voices in protest.

So to my conservative friends in the state legislature: Stay true to your conservative principles, be consistent and allow cities, towns and counties to keep their local decisions LOCAL.

Ban Gas Stoves In Great Falls?

Rick Tryon on January 25, 2023

Last week I received an email in my City Commission inbox from a city resident urging a phase-out of fossil fuels for cooking and heating from our homes and businesses right here in Great Falls.

Below is the text of the email as well as my response.

I’m leaving out the senders name here, even though the email is public information and available to anyone who requests it.

The Email

Dear Tryon,

I’m writing to you today because I believe our community must urgently pass a building electrification policy and phase fossil fuels out of our homes and businesses.

Buildings are responsible for 13% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, and recent study from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that gas stoves are responsible for 1 in 8 cases of childhood asthma – that’s on par with secondhand smoke. Burning gas in homes also generates harmful emissions of formaldehyde, methane, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants.

As your constituent, I’m urging you to do everything in your power to ensure new buildings in our community are all-electric and help phase gas and other fossil fuels out of existing buildings.

Thank you.

My Response

Ms./Mr. ——-

Thank you for your comments and concerns, however as a Great Falls City Commissioner I have no intention of advocating in any way shape or form for banning the use of natural gas heating/cooking in our municipal building codes.

This idea is, quite frankly, completely antithetical to the common sense mainstream thinking of the folks I know and interact with daily in this community.

In addition, such a policy if implemented would be a potential disaster economically and an extra, unnecessary financial hardship for those in the lower income brackets in our community.

Sincerely,

Commissioner Rick Tryon

Good News And Bad News, Great Falls: Building Permits Up, Crime Up

Rick Tryon on January 16, 2023

Well, Great Falls friends and neighbors, there’s some good news and there’s some bad news.

Good News First

According to a recent analysis by the City of Great Falls Planning and Community Development Department new construction and building permits are not just on an upward trend over the past year, they’re up by a lot.

Take a look at this chart:

Now, The Bad News

Unfortunately, we also have some troubling stats related to rising crime in our town.

As you can see from this slide we have some crime issues that aren’t magically going away and that we need to deal with – a 28% increase in general case investigations!

________________________________________________________________________

So let’s build on the good news and do something more than complain about the bad news, Great Falls.

GF Public Safety Levy, CCSO Citizens Academy, And More

ECB Staff on January 10, 2023

Our weekly feature highlighting a few of the latest and most interesting news items about our state and community from area news sources.

Mayor Kelly and Commissioner McKenney talk about the possible upcoming Great Falls public safety levy, from KRTV:
Outdated Public Safety Levy – A proposal to boost essential services | Watch (msn.com)

Cascade County Sheriff’s Office Citizens Academy application deadline is January 18 – all the info and downloadable application in the the link here:
Facebook

Montana’s 68th Legislature is in session, from MTPR:
https://www.mtpr.org/show/the-session/2023-01-09/the-session-week-1-the-house-is-ready-for-business

Great Falls coat drive, from ABC MontanaRightNow:
https://www.montanarightnow.com/great-falls/alluvion-health-gfps-team-up-for-a-winter-coat-drive/article_93827866-906d-11ed-9de2-977127e361d7.html

Great Falls Welcomes New American Citizens

Rick Tryon on December 16, 2022

On Thursday, December 15 I had the honor and privilege to represent the City of Great Falls and the citizens of Great Falls in welcoming 21 newly minted American citizens to our country, state, and community.

The naturalization swearing-in and ceremony was held at the federal courthouse here in Great Falls with the Honorable Brian M. Morris, U.S. Chief District Court Judge for the District of Montana presiding.

I was deeply moved seeing the sincere and grateful faces of the new members of our American family as they held their hands over their hearts and recited our Pledge of Allegiance and then took the Naturalization Oath.

Here is the list of the countries from which these 21 new citizens came.

Canada
India
Thailand
Burma
Mexico
Philippines
Ecuador
Dominican Republic
Russia
Congo
Brazil
Germany
Columbia
Romania
United Kingdom
Argentina

I was reminded of the awesome privilege, and corresponding responsibilities, of American citizenship and how those of us who were born on freedom’s soil take it all for granted at times.

These beautiful men and women who worked so hard to call themselves American citizens, and respected our laws enough to do it the right way, are an inspiration.

Welcome!

Debunking The Bunk: No, GF Taxes Aren’t Going Up 191%

Rick Tryon on December 7, 2022

This is the first in what will be a regular column on E-City Beat in which I will attempt to debunk some of the rumors, urban myths, misinformation, and flat-out bunk making the rounds in Great Falls on social media, information/news outlets, and ‘word on the street’.

We’ll start with the recent local rumor that goes something like this, “The City is going to try to raise our property taxes 191% in a safety levy!”

Nope.

The fact is that the Great Falls City Commission asked our city administration to gather information from our police, fire, and municipal court departments on their staffing and infrastructure needs going forward.

The result was a set of “good, better, best” funding amounts to start the discussion for a potential public safety levy next year.

Here are the three levels of potential funding presented to the commission:

GOOD: $10M – $12M
BETTER: $22M – $25M
BEST: $33M – $36M

If the “best” amount were to be put to voters via a public safety levy the increase to local property taxes could be as high as 191%.

Also, if scientists come up with an affordable hair growth pill next year I could once again have a full, luxurious head of handsome wavy curls on my head.

That’s “if” and “could”, not “when” and “will”.

There is no proposal to raise our property taxes 191%. There are only discussion starting points and data points for consideration and public input.

If and when the voters are presented with a public safety levy to adequately fund our cops, courts, and firefighters it will only be after thorough public vetting and discussion.

The “they’re raising our taxes 191%” is a false alarm. The City is not doing that, rest assured.

Marijuana Tax Revenue For Great Falls – Commissioner Rick Tryon

Rick Tryon on November 28, 2022

On Election Day a few weeks ago Cascade County voters voted to approve a 3% local option tax on recreational adult use marijuana sales countywide.

On the same ballot, Great Falls voters approved commercial marijuana activities, weed shops etc., within Great Falls city limits.

In light of those decisions by local voters I will be pursuing an initiative to designate all of the tax revenue generated through weed sales coming to the City of Great Falls to go to funding our city’s public safety needs – police, fire department, and courts.

A couple of things to note regarding this:

Current zoning regulations limit commercial marijuana activities in Great Falls to areas zoned Industrial 1 and Industrial 2. Considering the people’s vote on this issue, I believe that it is appropriate to continue the zoning conversation and get as much public input from stakeholders as possible going forward.
Only 45% of the 3% tax collected by the County will be distributed by formula to the incorporated towns within Cascade County, of which Great Falls is the largest, so revenue expectations should be tempered. This isn’t a magic money tree.

I am working on getting some solid numbers on what we can expect given the current and projected potential revenue from weed sales and will update the public as soon as possible.

Cascade County Dems Crushed Again

ECB Staff on November 16, 2022

On Election Day in November of 2020 Cascade County Republican candidates for the state legislature defeated every one of their Democrat opponents on the ballot, including several incumbent legislators.

It was an unprecedented red wave in Great Falls/Cascade County.

This year it was even worse for local Dems. It was a red tsunami.

Democrats lost every single contested race on the ballot.

Not only did all of the GOP incumbents retain their seats in the state legislature, even the remaining Dem incumbents went down to defeat:

Longtime local Democrat and incumbent state Senator Tom Jacobson was booted out by voters, losing to relatively unknown newcomer to local politics, Daniel Emrich.
For 16 years the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder position was held by Democrat incumbent Rina Fontana-Moore. Voters replaced Moore with yet another political GOP newcomer, Sandra Merchant.
Democrat stalwart Don Ryan, incumbent Cascade County Commissioner, lost his race to Rae Grulkowski.

Great Falls/Cascade County, once a blue stronghold, at least for now is a deep, ruby red.

Great Falls Listed In Top 4 Cities In MT To Move To

Rick Tryon on November 3, 2022

This week I read an article titled “WHY IN THE FUNK DOES GREAT FALLS GET DISSED SO MUCH” posted on KMON’s website and written by Tammie Toren, a KMON DJ.

While I agree with Tammie that my hometown Great Falls is an awesome and wonderful place to live I have to scratch my head a little at a couple of the observations she makes in the article.

The very first sentence in the piece is, “Apparently, I’m in the minority of people who love living in Great Falls.” No, Tammie is not in the minority. The majority of us Great Fallsians love living here because we recognize how special this place is.

No Back Turning Here

Another comment that Tammie makes in her article is, “Even in a Great Falls that has turned it’s back on the middle and lower class.” Sorry Tammie, but nothing could be further from the truth.

There are dozens of non-profit and volunteer organizations with hundreds of dedicated local folks working 24/7/365 helping the “middle and lower class” in Great Falls.

The City allocates hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in CDBG and other federal funding to help create more opportunities for lower income families and individuals in this community.

Great Falls is filled with good and decent folks who donate their time and resources to helping others. We’re not turning our backs on anyone here.

Does Great Falls ‘Let’ The Right One In?

A third head-scratching comment in the article is, “Even in a Great Falls that won’t let a chain ANYTHING in town, so the middle and lower class are forced to shop elsewhere because $150 for a pair of sweats or $200 for dinner for 2 are out of reach.”

That represents a common misconception that someone, somewhere in town is in charge of deciding which businesses can or cannot locate in Great Falls.

While City zoning codes and development policies can have a minor impact on where national chain stores decide to locate, that decision is almost completely determined by market and demographic factors, not by some entity in the City deciding to ‘let’ a business open.

Is Great Falls perfect? Certainly not. Is there a need to change and make improvements here? Absolutely.

We can love our town and seek to make it better at the same time.

Ready Or Not, Great Falls Is Going To See Growth And Change

In another recent article, by Joe Robison on moveBuddha.com, Great Falls is listed as number 4 of the top 5 cities to move to in Montana.

Like it or not Great Falls is on the verge of being “discovered”.

Like it or not change is coming sooner rather than later and what we can control right now are two things:

Preparing our public safety and physical infrastructure for the growth and change that’s heading our way.

Managing the rate and type of change that is inevitable here.

It’s going to be kind of uncomfortable for those of us who are used to the “old Great Falls”.

But it’s also going to be an exciting and challenging decade of transformation.

Ready or not, here it comes.