Barrows resigns from Havre City Council

Havre City Council member Brian Barrows resigned his position at Monday night's council meeting.

City Clerk/Finance Director Doug Kaercher said this morning that the resignation was effective immediately.  

Barrows, who represents Ward 2 and is pastor at Abundant Life Ministries, said his pastoral duties and frequent trips overseas have taken him away from the council and caused him to miss meetings throughout the past year.

"I just think it is not fair to the people of Ward 2 that I am not here to represent them,"  he said toward the end of the meeting.

Mayor Tim Solomon thanked Barrows for his service.

Barrows said he made the decision to resign after he returned from a three-week trip to Great Britain, where he taught at two Bible schools. He said that he was invited go back soon for a week to teach at another Bible school, and may go to Africa this summer.

Barrows, who chaired the council's Labor Relations Committee and sat as well on the Finance Committee and the Fire and Police Committee, said his time on the council showed him how the city government functions.

"There is a tremendous amount of activity that happens behind the scenes that makes everything work," he said. "It's amazing to me the amount of money that goes through this entity. And that money turns over many times in this city and supports a lot of different things."

Barrows was elected to the council in 2011 as a Republican before council members were elected on a nonpartisan basis. He was unopposed in his 2015 bid for re-election. He said serving on the council is a great experience and thanked his supporters and city employees.

After the meeting, Solomon said he was not totally caught off-guard by Barrows' announcement.

"He gave us a little heads up," Solomon said.

Kaercher said that now that a letter has been received by the council and it accepted the letter, it will soon send a notice to the local paper soliciting application for a replacement,

If more than seven people apply, then each candidate will have to be sponsored by at least one council member. Applicants who have been sponsored will then be interviewed by the council, which will then vote for a replacement among the candidates.

Kaercher said the chosen candidate will have to run in next fall's election if they wish to remain on the council.  

Barrows' departure from the council marks the second time in almost a year that Ward 2 has seen one of its members step down. Last April, Janet Trethewey resigned from the council, saying her job with the Montana Department of Health and Human Services prevented her from providing adequate service to her constituents.

The council voted to confirm Karen Swenson to fill that vacancy.

In other business, Havreite Paul Tuss said the city should look into creating an adopt-a-park program, similar to the adopt-a-highway program, to address the problem of litter in the city's parks.

Tuss said the idea came about during an online conversation he had about the appearance of parks within the city. He said the council could perhaps look into partnering with area businesses and organizations to create such a program.

"Following additional online conversation there seems to be some momentum or interest in perhaps doing that," Tuss said.

He added that he thought it would be good to have a meeting with the appropriate committee or individuals with the city to discuss the matter further.

Solomon said he thought it was a great idea for the Council's parks committee to tackle.  

Council member Caleb  Hutchins, who sits on that committee, said he would coordinate with other council members on the committee  and get back to Tuss on the matter.

Tuss, executive director of Bear Paw Development Corp., also presented council members with copies of the organization's annual report that was released last month at their  yearly meeting.

"We had a good annual meeting, but we also had a good year last year," Tuss said.   

For every dollar that the city gives Bear Paw, the development corporation was able to leverage $41.22, he said.

The council members present, with Terry Lilletvedt absent, voted unanimously to give approval to the Hill County Clerk and Recorder to conduct the fall municipal election by mail ballot.

"We've done this for several years with the city of Havre," Kaercher said. "It saves the city of Havre a significant number of dollars."

The council unanimously confirmed Probationary Officer Josh Gray Chagnon to be a patrol officer with the Havre Police Department.

Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich said Chagnon would finish his one-year probationary period today.

He said Chagnon graduated from the Montana Law Enforcement Basic Academy and completed the department's required 14-week field training program

"Officer Chagnon has proven to be a strong candidate and a hard worker to continue his role as a patrol officer with the Havre Police Department," Matosich said.

A meeting of the council's Streets and Sidewalks Committee that had been scheduled for after the council meeting was postponed.

Committee member Matthew Boucher said the meeting was postponed because the Montana Senate has not yet taken action on legislation that would increase the state's gas tax by 8 cents, part of which would go to a road construction and maintenance grant program for local governments.