We need some answers

U.S. Senator Conrad Burns met non-stop with Libby, Eureka and Troy residents for more than eight hours on Saturday in series of short meetings. He listened to each group outline their problem, he'd ask questions and the groups would offer their proposed solution.

In some cases that solution involved the need for money, in several others it was the hope of a little senatorial weight on an agency or collection of agencies. The people concerned about Libby Dam needed such weight. As did the community health trust people. And so did the community board concerned about the EPA cleanup regimen as did the citizens concerned about the same thing.

Burns chief of staff Clark Johnson, the former city manager for Bozeman, said he's not seen so many big needs in one community. He said they all appeared to be serious needs, too.

I've been thinking about that comment. A lot.

At one point I was tempted to ask if he needed another city manager job. I know of a city in desperate need.

I bring that up because many of us in the community believe we suffer from a leadership problem. I don't disagree. We also suffer from a follower problem: We don't know how to follow. Perhaps because we haven't had strong leadership in such a long time.

The county commissioners continue to play the three-equal-pieces-of-the-pie game, which really doesn't help anyone but especially doesn't help the biggest city in the county.

At the city level, we have a weak mayor form of government, which means he or she has only a bully pulpit to use to try to convince the council to follow. The mayor doesn't have a vote.

That's why a city manager makes sense. The city manager provides the day-to-day leadership in the city based on the policy decisions established by the council. The city manager also has time to organize and manage the various city departments. The manager also has time to follow the instructions of the council to complete projects in a timely manner rather than waiting for a working person on the council to follow up on something that needs to be done in half the time.

I could say the same thing about the county except I think five part-time commissioners with a paid county manager would be a more efficient and effective form of government.

The final thing we're missing is money. I keep hearing people say it's because we're poor. But I stopped believing that a long time ago. This community is not poor. We have a lot of poor people in terms of finances but there's a lot of money floating around.

No, the only thing we're truly poor at is political foresight — looking ahead, down the road. We make decisions on things today that we will end up costing us tomorrow.

Look around. We have not maintained this community very well. We're fighting over an old school building that is suffering from lack of long-term maintenance. It actually appears as if it was neglected. At the old Libby mill site, the Industrial Board is trying to rebuild the site to host a number of existing and potential businesses. But again, the lack of maintenance has us needing money to repair power lines and railroad tracks. Of course, those decisions or lack of decision were made over the years by private corporations operating at that location.

I was at a meeting in Seattle recently when the fellow sitting next to me asked where I was from. "Libby, Montana," I said.

"Libby," he snorted, "God, I've been through there." He leaned over the guy next to him and I heard him say, "There's a town that needs a coat of paint."

We're entering a critical phase for the redevelopment of downtown. I said redevelopment on purpose because if we follow through on the Libby Revitalization Inc. proposal it will result in major changes for the betterment of the entire community. A redevelopment, if you will. The trouble is everyone wants it and no one wants to pay for it.

Which is where leadership plays a critical role. Good leadership identifies the money options, presents it to the taxpayers and gets a sense from them as to what is going to pass muster and what won't.

Of course, some things just have to be done and good leadership does those things whether it's popular or not.

During his short speech at the Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner Saturday night, Senator Burns said the answers are right here in Libby, Montana. I believe that. I just don't know who is going to provide those answers. — Roger Morris