Commission Chair stands by public comment limitations

Thursday’s meeting of the Hill County Commission was dominated by discussion of new limitations to public comment announced by the commission’s chair at last week’s meeting, with no indication that the change will be rolled back.

Last Thursday, Hill County Commission Chair Mark Peterson announced a change to the way meetings are going to work from now on, with comments and questions from county officials and the public limited to only the very beginning of the meeting.

Until then, members of the public and county officials had been able to ask questions or provide comments during the commission’s discussion of specific agenda items. County officials were also able to provide clarification or opinion on items as well, but under this change, that will no longer be possible.

At this Thursday’s meeting, Peterson said this change is to make meetings more orderly, but the move prompted criticism from county officials and citizens, criticism fellow Commissioner Sheri Williams said she agrees with and wanted to express at Thursday’s meeting.

Strissel was absent from the meeting.

Williams said immediately after the Havre Daily News’ coverage of the change was seen by the public last Friday afternoon, and every day since, she’s received angry and critical responses from community members.

“Each in their own way expressed that they believe this was a form of suppression and an attempt to even further stifle their freedom of speech,” she said.

She said the point of these meetings is to provide a venue for public involvement in county affairs and for local media to cover ongoing issues for those who cannot attend, issues that affect the people that voted the commissioners into office.

“I think who has been forgotten,” Williams said.

She also criticized the way the change was announced, saying she was only told about the change just before last Thursday’s meeting when it was announced giving her little chance to be part of any kind of conversation on the matter.

Peterson said that he and Strissel had the discussion first thing in the morning, and the reason she wasn’t part of that was because she arrived in the office after 8 a.m. that day.

Jim Litzinger, an employee of the Hill County Road Department said they should have made a point to discuss the matter with Williams well before announcing it so she could say her piece.

“She should have been involved, she’s a commissioner,” he said. “I mean seriously, think about it Mark.”

Peterson responded by pointing out that Williams was still using her old desk in an adjacent room and hadn’t taken a place at the commissioner’s table.

Williams said there is nothing in Montana law that requires her to sit in the same room with the other commissioners at all times in a state of constant quorum.

Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg agreed, saying many countyies set up separate offices for commissioners to avoid a state of constant quorum, and so people can meet with one commissioner alone if they want.

Regardless, Berg said, finger pointing is not productive and the commission should be focusing on what’s best for the county, and this change is not that.

“Believe me, I’ve been on the receiving end of plenty of unhappy public comments as well, but you can’t just shut it down,” she said.

She said if they wanted to make a change like this they need to at least make their agenda a lot more clear, so people know what they are actually going to discuss at their meetings, which they frequently don’t.

She said the city of Havre does a good job of making agendas that clearly lay out what is being discussed before their meeting to avoid confusion and the county could use that as a model.

Peterson responded by saying people should ask questions before the meeting.

“The phone rings here,” he said. “The door is always open.”

Peterson reiterated that his goal with this change is to make meetings better.

“We’re trying to run the meeting in an orderly fashion,” he said.

Williams requested that the commission reverse course and go back to the way things were in light of the responses from the community.

She said she doesn’t see a problem with the way the meetings were run before, as everyone in those meetings expressed themselves respectfully, so she sees no reason to stick with this change.

Peterson said he would take it under advisement, but they cannot do anything because the matter was not put on the agenda.

Williams pointed out that the matter was not on the agenda last week either, but they still made the change anyway. No further discussion was had on the matter.

During the meeting the commission also discussed the possibility of holding a special election on raising countywide taxes as well as a tax raise for county residents outside the city’s of Havre and Hingham for the county road department.

Peterson said the commission has been discussing the matter for the past few weeks and if they want to hold the election in time to collect the new taxes in time for next year they’ll need to move fast.

He said they will hold public meetings on the taxes and why they think it’s necessary to keep the county going.

Hill County Treasurer Sandy Brown said she thinks trying to work within such a limited timeline is a really bad idea.

Brown said she agrees that a tax increase is needed, but something like that should be handled carefully and not rushed.

She said they should wait until the 2024 general election, giving the commission enough time to craft language correctly and make sure the public understands why they are doing this.

She also said it would save the county the $30,000 or more dollars it would take to run an election, which would be impossible to fund with the county’s election budget, requiring them to take money from somewhere else.

Berg agreed saying if they rush it, no one is going to vote for it, and they need to be as transparent as possible.

Williams echoed these concerns and agreed that they should take the time to do it right and put it on the 2024 ballot.

The commission also approved use of the ClearGov program, which Brown said will make the county’s finances and budgets easily navigable online for the people of Hill County.

She said the program will allow people to look at how the county spends its money, keep up to date on its ongoing projects and better understand how the county operates.

“The public needs to know, I think, how the county is working,” she said.

Peterson read from a statement left by Strissel saying he supports the program and its goal of transparency.

The commission voted to implement the program 2-0, with Strissel absent.