CVFSA will appeal ruling

A split vote by board members of the Cabinet View Fire Service Area on Wednesday night will continue the fight, appealing a recent judge’s decision all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, if necessary.

The Western News has learned the decision was 3-2 in favor of proceeding with the case against self-governance.

It was just about two weeks ago, that 20th Judicial District Court Judge C.B. McNeil issued a judgment against CVFSA and Bull Lake Fire District that challenged Lincoln County’s authority to determine the scope of services. Both departments sued the county, Sheriff Roby Bowe, Troy Area Dispatch Board, Libby Volunteer Fire Department and Libby Volunteer Ambulance challenging the authority against self-governance.

On June 21, McNeil, who heard the case at the urging of the Board of Trustees of Cabinet View FSA, decided the Lincoln County Commissioners do have the right to decide services fire agencies may provide. 

“We’ve come very far to have this decided by just one person,” said Bill Clark, Cabinet View Chairman of its Board of Trustees. “We just want (McNeil) to take another look at it. And, if necessary, to have several (judges) review the decision. We just feel like he might have missed something or have multiple people review it. 

“A lot of times, people get a second opinion,” Clark said, invoking medical diagnosis rationale. “That’s all we want is a second look at this.”

CVFSA Board members voting to appeal McNeil’s decision include Clark, Robert Mast and Jeff Matilas. Dissenting on the vote to appeal are Tommy Cook and Susan Rayson.

“Basically, we believe there is no case law — no precedent of any kind — for this decision,” Clark said. 

On Friday, Commissioner Tony Berget was reached about the vote to appeal McNeil’s judgment, and he said the decision to proceed will be costly.

“It’s unfortunate,” Berget began. “It costs money to continue this, for both sides. I just wish they were willing to work with everyone. To me, it’s just too bad.”

Libby Volunteer Fire Chief Tom Wood, who admitted there was a gag order while the issue was in litigation, offered his take on the decision to appeal.

“When this was in litigation, we were advised not to (speak about the lawsuit,” Wood said Sunday. “Personally, it’s awfully sad. “We do not agree with this. They said all they wanted was a ruling, and they would abide by it. Now, they got their ruling and now they’re pushing it further. It’s what we’ve been dealing with all along.”

Clark said the board knows the divisiveness of the issue, but said it’s important to make sure the decision is correct.

“We know there are folks on both sides of this, but we feel like we owe it to the people of our fire service area to get the correct answer,” Clark said. “We just want the right answer for everyone.”

Furthermore, Clark said CVFSA’s petition drive is going well, indicating the agency is “about 90 percent of the way to having 50 percent of real property owners signed.”

Clark defined “real property owners” as people who actually own land or own a home on property within the fire service area.”

The petition drive is necessary to begin a process to overturn the Commissioners’ decision for dissolution.

Since the Lincoln County Commission’s decision on June 13 to dissolve CVFSA, supporters have been acquiring signatures for a petition, for which they have 60 days.

“We feel good about this,” Clark said. “We’re mostly there, but we really don’t know what number (percentage) of real property owners we must have.