Thursday, September 6, 2007

Opinion & Editorial

by Jessica Randazzo, Mayor, Hamilton

It's unfortunate but true that meetings of the City of Hamilton city council continue to be hostile and disrespectful. While not all council members are offensive, the ones who are create a toxic environment for other elected officials and for the staff who resource these meetings. This problem has been going on for years. It has cost the city financially and has tarnished our city's reputation statewide. The city has lost several senior staff members to the contention on the city council. Community members are confused about the controversy. They are disillusioned with the seemingly endless negativity and finger pointing.

One and a half years ago, after the last city council election, the public came to council meetings in great numbers demanding more respectful meetings. They understood that the environment at the time was not conducive to a productive city government. As a result, the council agreed to hire a professional mediator, attend a class on parliamentary procedure and committed to following rules of decorum. The council passed disciplinary rules for its members. The city started tape recording meetings and hired a professional note taker for committee meetings. All of these actions were an attempt to reduce the tension, encourage more constructive relationships and to enable the councilors to focus on the issues, not on personal attacks and disruptive behavior.

For a while it seemed that things were improving but in the past few months bad behavior has escalated again. Meetings are filled with accusations and angry comments made by council members. Councilors continue to struggle with one another and to attack the motives and competence of city staff and the Mayor on a regular basis. This behavior is unacceptable. It not only violates council procedures, it violates a person's sense of how people should treat each other. Simply stated, the meetings are just too rude and disrespectful.

The citizens of Hamilton deserve a functional city council that is able to work effectively as a group. Council members need to be willing to work with the Mayor and with department heads so that they can make the best decisions possible. Making good decisions is difficult. In order to do so, we need council members who take the time to understand the issues. We need people who can ask questions and who listen to and consider the answers. We need councilors who are able to express their viewpoints and engage in a healthy and, at times, heated debate. We need council members to be able to disagree without resorting to negative and inappropriate behavior.

For those of you concerned about decorum at the city, I suggest you let your elected officials know your expectations. You can call them (363-2101, ext. 30, will get you to the City Clerk who will give you the names and contact numbers upon request) or come to a meeting and comment publicly.

This November, City of Hamilton registered voters will be filling three out of six city council seats. The results of this election will have a great effect on the City's ability to constructively face the challenges in our community. I sincerely hope that along with the candidates' position on issues, voters consider the track record of candidates as it relates to their ability to work well with others in the community and their peers on the city council.

I thank you for the support you have shown and encourage you to continue to let me know your needs. Please consider getting involved in your local government.

I can be reached at 363-2102, ext.13, or at: mayor@cityofhamilton.net.

Commission doing its best

Dear Editor,

What has happened to our valley? I am amazed at the level of contention that exists here in the last few years. There was a time when people with differing political opinions could meet and discuss the issues and although they disagreed they did not get into name calling. Now we have some individuals and at least one organization that make unfounded allegations with no proof of any misdeed and impugn the reputation of anyone who should disagree with them. A recent letter writer says the past board of Commissioners is corrupt because we approved subdivisions. For the readers information since the new Commissioners were elected we have had seven subdivisions brought before the board and all have been approved. Either the new Commissioners are corrupt, or they are following the law just as Thompson and Chilcott have done in the past. The new Commissioners are not corrupt and neither are the past Commissioners, they are doing the best they can with the laws that exist. Correspondence is now being sent to the new Commissioners pressuring them to not follow the law and not approve any development. We may not like the current laws and need to work to change them, but until that time they have to be followed.

I have been disappointed by both Democrats and Republicans on a national level who seem to put party interests before what is the good of the country. This seems to be where our county is headed. Say anything, fabricate any lie, and sully any reputation if it gains political power. Since the new Commissioners have been elected we have found ways to work together and in some instances agree to disagree. After any meeting we have set aside differences and remain friendly in our office atmosphere. I would ask citizens in the County to also tone down the name calling and learn to respect others with differing viewpoints.

As far as those that despise me and write untruths, here is what I will do. I will follow the teaching of Jesus who said pray for those that despitefully use you and when struck, turn the other cheek. This is a difficult path to follow, but I would rather think positive thoughts throughout the day than have my heart filled with hate and anger.

On a more positive note I would like to announce that I have brought back information from a national meeting and with the cooperation of the rest of the Board we will be providing a prescription plan to all county residents. I am working with our National Association of Counties (NACo) to institute a program that will save an average of 20% on all prescriptions and will be available to everyone. This program will be instituted on October 15th and will be honored by participating pharmacies. We will be announcing in the near future where participating cards can be picked up. The County has also entered into a contract with an energy company that will be making some changes to County buildings. We will pay two million over twenty years for the improvements and the good part is the project must cost less than the energy expended. We will see a net savings of over one-half million dollars minimum and have a much more pleasant environment for employees and citizens.

This is some of the many positive things going on in the County. I hope some of the unpleasantness can be put behind us and each of us look at the positives being accomplished.

Alan Thompson
Ravalli County Commissioner

Re: debate on forest fire issue

Dear Editor,

I’ve been reading the debate between Mr. Miller and Mr. LaSalle about the forest fire issue and was distressed enough to write a letter. If you find my point of view unconvincing you can blame it either on bad information or bad reasoning.

I think the increasing number and severity of forest fire is caused by three main reasons; in order of importance: unprecedented heat and drought, past fire suppression efforts, and past logging practices. I will address number two and three before the climate issue.

The logging and firefighting was done, for the most part, by well-meaning, industrious people for very good reasons. Those reasons become plain to us when we build our homes with wood and cheer on the firefighters as they combat the fires near where we live. We now know in hind sight that removing all that big yellow pine from the low altitude forests and allowing all that Douglas Fir to grow in dog hair fashion by putting out all the fires was not a good idea.

It was especially a bad idea when combined with reason number one, global warming. The warming is unprecedented; no, old-timer you haven’t seen this before. In my short 32 years living here I’ve never seen it before but I don’t have to rely on anecdote. The Forest Service tells us that the snowpack is coming off weeks early and accumulating weeks late. They tell us that the mountain pine and Douglas fir beetles, unchecked by cold winters, are killing millions of trees, adding to the fuel load. The glaciers in Glacier Park are scheduled to leave the planet before I do. This summer we are pushing 50 days over 90 and well over a dozen at 100 or better; this sails over the previous record. I reviewed the National Weather Service website climate information going back just the last two years and every month’s average high and average low temperatures were above the thirty-year average.

Mr. LaSalle humors us by saying that we can blame it on human caused global warming if we like though, he says, the scientists are still debating. By those lights scientists are still debating whether smoking causes lung cancer and HIV causes AIDS. You will never find unanimity in the scientific community, but the vast majority of the best scientists we’ve tasked with looking into it tell us the time to act is now.

But what to do about the forest? The Forest Service says they have a fix in selective harvest and thinning. The environmentalists have tried to stop the fix because they don’t believe it will work and they don’t want the damage. Mr. LaSalle and many others in this valley therefore blame the environmentalists for the forest fires because they aren’t allowing the Forest Service and the timber industry to fix the problem that they themselves have created.

Now, just because you created a problem doesn’t mean you can’t fix it. I don’t know. Like most people I would like to do something and I’ve actually been working on part of the problem. In the end I hope this letter helps at least to better frame the debate.

John Schneeberger
Hamilton

Possible food bank scams

Dear Editor,

It has been brought to our attention that requests for donations for Pantry Partners food bank have surfaced in areas of Stevensville. The times of our food drives are published in our newsletters or folks may call us at 777-0351. Usually our food drives are in May, with the Mother's Day postal food drive. In October, November and December and March we also have drives.

If you are asked to donate and have any questions or suspicions, notify the food bank immediately and the Stevensville Police Dept.

Kathy Belke, President and Natalie Darnall, Manager
Pantry Partners Food Bank

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