Krista Corner
Havre Daily News
kcorner@havredailynews.com
To sell or not to sell? The question
still hasn’t been answered by
the Havre City Council.
Council President Rick Pierson,
who chairs a special committee
looking into an offer to purchase
city land, said today the council did
not have a chance to vote Monday
on whether or not to sell the land to
Phoenix-based Hewson Development
Corp.
He said he would talk to Mayor
Bob Rice about placing the matter
on the agenda for a vote.
Pierson said he asked other
council members to think about the
proposal to sell about 30 acres of
land south of town for $300,000 for
the construction of a new U.S.
Border Patrol facility.
“I told them they need to think
seriously about what they want to
do with the land,” he said.
Pierson said he isn’t sure the
proposal will be voted on at the
June 19 meeting, because the agenda
for that meeting includes the City
Council’s vote on whether or not to
join the Rocky Boy’s/North Central
Montana Regional Water System.
Rice today said he wants to delay
the vote until council members can
hear what representatives from the
federal General Services
Administration have to say. He said
officials will be in town by the end
of the month. Rice said he’ll probably
put the proposal on the agenda
for the first council meeting in July.
Investment specialist Joel
Hewson answered questions posed
by City Council members at the
meeting on Monday night.
Hewson came to Havre to
answer questions he could about the
proposed sale and the project,
Pierson said.
Rice added that most of the questions
were constructive.
City Council member Emily
Mayer Lossing asked Hewson how
he discovered the property, and
council member Terry Schend asked
about other properties under consideration,
Rice said.
“Mr. Hewson said he was looking
at six other properties and that he
was working with Tom Patrick,” he
said. “He said Tom was the one who
told him the land where the RC club
is located would be a good location.”
Hewson offered to buy land south
and east of an existing Border
Patrol station and south of the
Havre Ice Dome.
Some of the land is used by the
Saddle Butte RC Club, which leased
its property from the city. That
lease expires in 2011.
Rice and council members have
expressed concerns about the lease,
saying the city should not break its
contract with the club. RC members
have said they would be amenable
to breaking the lease if an offer is
made that included help for the
club’s relocation.
