New council, mayor begin work in Troy

The administrative transition went smoothly as Troy Mayor Darren Coldwell was sworn in during Thursday’s City Council meeting.

Before a crowd of about 30 residents, former Mayor Tony Brown presented Coldwell with the key to the mayor’s office and said he was proud to have Coldwell as his mayor.

Coldwell followed by swearing in new council members Dallas Carr and Kimberly Rowse.

“Luckily, there is no ‘I do.’ Dallas,” Coldwell joked.

Coldwell then swore in City Judge Terrie Lenhart after a bit of procedural assistance from City Clerk Tracy Rebo.

Coldwell praised outgoing council members Phil Fisher and Fran McCully for their work.

“We might not always agree with them on issues,” Coldwell said. “But they are volunteers, and I think they did what they thought was right. I would like to say thank you.”

The tone of the meeting quickly changed from ceremonial to technical when McCully spoke during public comments. The former councilwoman addressed concerns about the unapproved, automatic payment of claims after the previous City Council meeting was cancelled and no quorum was in attendance to approve the city’s payments.

McCully cited Montana Code Annotated 7-6-4302, titled Payment of Claims by Warrant or Check, and said the charge was accepted by a judge during former mayor Don Banning’s recall.  

Coldwell assuaged McColly’s concerns, promising to meet with City Attorney Heather McDougall to discuss the issue and come up with a game plan should a similar situation arise in the future.

Some claims were paid electronically after Councilman Joe Arts and Councilwoman Crystal Denton missed a Dec. 27 meeting, citing a stomach ailment and a family party, respectively.

Rebo stated she was “only trying to save the city money,” by allowing the electronic payments to carry on as normal.

“And you know that,” Rebo said to McCully.

McCully began to respond, saying she agreed, before Coldwell interjected and reclaimed control of the meeting. Coldwell said he thought Rebo acted appropriately and wanted to discuss the topic further with McCully in private.

“Your points are valid,” Carr said to McCully. “We need time on this. I’m not going to open my big mouth and start blabbering about stuff I don’t know.”

Carr’s statement was followed by a joking laugh from Coldwell.

The meeting closed with McCully again addressing the board, this time Arts in particular. McCully stated her dissatisfaction with Arts referring to former Troy City Attorney Charles Evans as “Chucky.”

“Charles Evans is an honorable man and I don’t feel that anybody should sit in a City Council meeting and refer to him as Chucky,” McCully said.