Commission candidates speak at forum

Hill County Commission candidates participated in a Havre Daily News Forum Monday evening where they were asked about a number of issues in the county and its government.

Incumbent Republican Commissioner Diane McLean and her challengers, independent Les Odegard and Democrat Sheri Williams, all participated in the forum.

Candidates for local Montana House and Senate races also attended the forum. See more in future editions of the Havre Daily News.

McLean used her introduction to talk about the commission's recent accomplishments, including upgrading the Hill County Courthouse phone and computer systems, a number of grant projects, improvements to the Beaver Creek Reservoir and local lift stations.

She also talked about the introduction of a wellness program at the county as well as their progress on projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act in partnership with other local entities.

Democratic challenger Sheri Williams, who serves as the Hill County Commission executive assistant, said she hopes to follow in the footsteps of her great-aunt Nora Nelson, who was also a Hill County commissioner, and believes she has the grit and experience to bring trust back to the commission.

She said she would lead with integrity, transparency and empathy, working with department heads and employees rather than against them.

Odegard said he's served on a number of boards throughout the community and his 20 years working at Independence Bank has given him the opportunity to interact with many segments of the community.

Odegard said he looks at this position as an opportunity to continue his service to the county and is excited for the possibility of serving.

When the candidates were asked about what they see as the number one issue at the county, Odegard said he feels the biggest problem at this point is a lack of communication, and he hears from employees that they need commissioners who will sit down with them to see what is going on in their departments and talk to them about what's going on.

He said it's clear that trust between the commission and the rest of the county needs to be rebuilt.

"There's always this tension, it's like a battle," he said.

Williams said she feels the same and that employees need to be respected and have their ideas and criticism welcomed.

She said she's never seen an exodus quite like the one the county is now seeing.

McLean instead looked to the county's tight budgets as her number one issue, saying inflation has hit them hard and their limited tax base has necessitated that they look at more efficient ways of doing things like vehicle purchases.

"If employees think they need more wage, the budget has to be there to give them that wage," she said.

One of the questions at the forum was whether the candidates feel there is trust between the commission and county employees and what can be done to improve things.

McLean said tension is inevitable, but trust is a two-way street, and officials need to do a better job of communicating with her.

She said she doesn't feel she has been unfair and people need to understand that her office deals with a lot of people making negative comments to them.

Williams felt differently, saying she feels the commission's relationship with employees has been heavily damaged and employees shouldn't feel afraid of coming to the commission with their concerns and worry whether they are going to be publicly criticized, including at public meetings.

She said employees who have served for more than 10 years are afraid to even advise the commission for fear of being retaliated against and that needs to change, not just for the good of the employees and officials, but the county, which will be more productive with a better work environment.

Odegard said department heads especially are extremely competent and knowledgeable and the commission cannot do its job without them.

He said the commission may not have legislative powers, but does deal with an incredibly broad host of subject matters and no matter how good the commission is they cannot retain all the information they need without the department heads to help them.

When asked what they would do to increase employee retention, Odegard said he thinks the commission does need to seriously look at things like wage increases and flexible schedules.

He said he's seen companies doing things like letting employees choose one Friday each month as a mental health day, which is a really interesting idea.

Williams also said wages are a huge problem as they are well below what other counties pay, and while they do have a great insurance plan it is not a replacement for those wages.

She said she believes working conditions at the courthouse and the way employees are treated also need to change, such that people are treated with respect.

"I think the reputation of the county has been destroyed in recent years," she said. "A lot of people don't even want to come in and apply for the job because of how they've heard that employees were treated."

McLean said the county isn't the only entity that is experiencing retention issues and she doesn't know what to tell people on the issue of wages.

"We don't get to just print more money," she said.

The commission did approve last week a relatively large increase to the employees of the Hill County's Sheriff's Office, raising complaints from the heads of some other departments who questioned why they received significantly smaller raises.

McLean also said they provide many paid days off with federal holidays, 10 days of vacation as well as sick leave.

"So go somewhere else, take another job and you'll figure that out real fast," she said.

When asked about how they think the county handled COVID-19 McLean said actions were heavy-handed and too quick, shutting down businesses, particularly bars, just before St. Patrick's Day.

She said they should have followed the example of South Dakota, a state which, especially early in the pandemic, did very little on state COVID mandates.

McLean said school children fell behind because the schools were remote learning for so long and claimed that mandates did nothing to help.

Odegard disagreed, saying he thinks the Hill County Health Department did its best and social distancing, masks and the hand hygiene advice they gave clearly made a difference.

He did say he was against some of the mandates which he believed damaged local businesses, but it's always easy to criticize with the benefit of hindsight and the county should instead use this as an opportunity to learn for the future.

"I don't know that I would have done anything different if I had the same information," he said.

Williams agreed that the department did a good job working under the pressure and restrictions that they were subject to and, whatever people think of mask mandates, everything that was done was done for the sake of public safety.

"I think our health department did the best they could in uncharted waters," she said. "I think they tried to do their best to protect the citizens."

Another question asked at the forum was whether the candidates supported the 3 percent tax on marijuana products sold in the county and what should be done with the money.

None of the candidates were against the tax but they did diverge in terms of what they wanted to see the money spent on.

Odegard said the Hill County Sheriffs Office, county attorney and health department should get much of the money generated from the tax, but at the last public hearing on the subject Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg had the idea of using it to put together an intervention team for people in the midst of a crisis, situations that aren't necessarily best handled with an arrest.

He said he thinks this is a great idea, as it not only helps all three of these departments but the whole county.

McLean said she agreed with much of what Odegard said, but that the money from the tax should be very narrowly targeted at only things that are able to be measured in terms of success.

"We can't just paint a brush and say 'we're going to support mental health.' Well, how are you going to do that?" she said.

Williams said she will do whatever the constituents want to do with the money and while most of the people she's talked to said some of it should go to law enforcement she's also had people interested in supporting mental health providers, the Milk River Levee, a community center to keep young people away from crime and an increase in county employee wages.

When it came to relations with the city of Havre's government Williams said she thinks they have a good working relationship and she's always had a strong relationship with the people at the city she interacts with.

"I think we can always build on that and make it stronger," she said.

Odegard said he's heard from people that they don't feel the government's work well together and he would like to improve relations.

McLean also said they need to improve the relationship and questioned the need of the city and county duplicating their 911 services, and that she wants to coordinate with the city on how they spend their respective halves of the money from the marijuana tax should it pass.

When the candidates were asked about their positions on the separation of church and state in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions allowing prayer in public meetings and religious symbols on public property, McLean said the government should not be infringing upon people's rights to express their religions or take things like the 10 Commandments out of public buildings.

She said nowhere in the constitution is there a mandate for state and church to be separate and prayer is a First Amendment right.

The First Amendment of the United States' constitution states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" which prohibits the government from showing favor toward one religion over another.

McLean said that things like the 10 Commandments are historically important documents to the founding of the nation and that the nation was founded by people of faith.

Williams said expression of religion is a fundamental right, but the government is not allowed to show favoritism toward one faith or another, and the county must serve all regardless of their faith, race, gender or socioeconomic class.

Odegard said if a board wants to pray and everyone is OK with it, that is fine, and vice-versa, but faith isn't about government, but about the way people treat each other.

"I don't think God is overly concerned with what goes on in our government," he said.

When candidates were asked about whether they think the county is transparent enough in what it does, Odegard said he thinks they are meeting the minimum legal requirements, but that may not be adequate.

He said the county has a website where they can post agendas and minutes, and in five years they've only posted one agenda.

He also said people should be able to access budget records online instead of having to drive all the way into town just to look at them.

Williams was more critical, saying she doesn't believe the commission is meeting the requirements for transparency.

She said she, as the executive assistant, is being shut out of meetings she's supposed to be taking minutes for, something that helps the public keep track of what the commission is doing.

She said the commission has also been holding closed-door meetings as personnel meetings, which is something human resources should be doing, not the commission.

McLean disagreed and said they try their best to post an agenda on time and if they are holding a closed-door meeting there is a good reason for it.

She said they always make votes in public despite the fact that it is very uncomfortable sometimes to do so.

In McLean's closing comments she implored Montana Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, to get the county more money for roads and bridges.

In Odegard's closing he made a similar plea for counties to get some of the state's budget surplus and said he's excited for the possibility of serving.

Williams said all she wants is for the county to have the leadership it needs to move forward, and she believes she's the best candidate to bring transparency to local government and repair the broken trust between the people of the county and the commission.

"I just want to see Hill County thrive again," she said.