Council members hold unofficial meeting; Raines, Teske, Olsen hold meeting to hear public concerns despite lack of quorum after Mayor Roll unilaterally cancels regular City Council meeting

Libby’s mayor may have canceled Monday’s meeting of the City Council, but it didn’t stop the residents, and some members of the council, from showing up to air their concerns about the state of the city.

At Mayor Doug Roll’s behest, city clerk Glena Hook sent a terse email to the members of the council at approximately 4:45 p.m. Friday indicating Monday’s meeting had been canceled. No explanation was provided, nor was there any information regarding possible rescheduling for a later date.

Councilman Brent Teske responded to the mayor with a simple question. “Why? I would like to know, please,” he wrote in an email to the mayor.

Teske wasn’t the only member of the council taken by surprise by the mayor’s decision. Council members Barb Desch, Peggy Williams, Allen Olsen and Dejon Raines all confirmed they had no knowledge of the mayor’s decision prior to the late Friday email. Council president Bill Bischoff would not provide details, but said he knew about the decision.

“It was discussed with me,” Bischoff said.  Be he refused to elaborate on the specifics of the discussion, saying it was a private conversation between he and the mayor.

Mayor Roll replied to Councilman Teske’s email Sunday morning, and provided a copy to The Western News.

“A public meeting should provide the opportunity for all sides of any issue to be presented without fear of retribution,” he wrote. “After the last meeting, I don’t know if that is possible. Chief Smith and I met a number of times to discuss this issue and possible ways of providing everyone a chance to be heard. Measures are being discussed that will assure that opportunity is provided. I will reschedule the meeting, possibly 

later this week.”

Councilwoman Barb Desch said while she was not involved in the decision to cancel the meeting, it was her understanding that the mayor was concerned about the City Council’s ability to conduct business in the face of increasing criticism, such as what transpired at the last City Council meeting. She said she agreed with the mayor’s decision.

In that meeting, on May 20, several residents used their allotted three minutes of public comment period to call for Roll’s resignation, pointing to the finding issued by Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl, who ruled that Roll, along with Desch, Williams and Bischoff and former council members Vicky Lawrence and Robin Benson violated Montana campaign practice laws in the pursuit of a city-funded lawsuit against Councilman Allen Olsen.

Teske disagreed with the decision and with the stated rationale behind it.

“I don’t agree, no,” he said. “The public wasn’t interfering with business, business was pretty much concluded at that point.”

Despite the mayor’s decision, nearly two dozen Libby residents and three members of the City Council showed up at City Hall for the regularly scheduled meeting. With the mayor and council members Desch, Williams and Bischoff not in attendance, a quorum was not reached so the meeting was not official. In spite of that, Councilman Allen Olsen, as the most senior member of the council present, chaired the meeting.

There was no formal agenda, nor was any public business officially addressed. Olsen opened the floor to public comments and the residents engaged.

Residents expressed their concerns, ranging from leaking water pipes to poorly-repaired city streets; from traffic near the elementary school to public properties not being properly maintained. The three members of the council listened intently and engaged in dialogue with the public.

The residents responded to the dialogue and questions of the sitting council members with appreciation and mutual respect.

“Tonight is the first night that you guys are listening,” said Libby resident Joanne Newman.

One of the major topics of public discussion was the procedural issue of City Council meetings. Rob Hubbard, who has been quite vocal at recent council meetings, said the process for public comment and conducting city business was fundamentally flawed.

He said the public comments on agenda items should be moved to a point in the meeting after the council members discuss issues, but before they vote in order to allow a more educated discussion about the issues and to allow the public to sway, when possible, the opinions of the council members.

Teske agreed with Hubbard, saying the current process doesn’t allow for real discussion of the issue and creates an atmosphere in which residents don’t feel their voices are heard and taken into consideration by city leaders.

“I’ve never been a fan of this forum,” he said. “I’ve been on a lot of boards and in a lot of different organizations and I’ve never seen a meeting run like this forum is. You get to get up, you get to speak your mind, but there’s no rebuttal, no answers to your questions. There’s nothing. You go back to your chair like everyone’s ignored you. I’m not a fan of this forum.”

While sometimes repetitive, the voices of the residents demonstrated a high level of pent-up frustration with the city’s current and historical leadership. The people criticized the mayor’s actions and attitude as dictatorial and uncaring.

“The leaders don’t want public participation,” Hubbard said. “They want to dictate.”

The three council members not only listened to the residents air their concerns, they also engaged with them and asked specific questions about the issues they raised, and although no official city business was conducted, the residents and the council members who attended characterized the meeting as a success.

“This was one of the best meetings we’ve had in the three-and-a-half years I’ve been here,” Olsen said.

Raines and Teske echoed similar sentiment.

“It was a great meeting,” Raines said. “I think the people finally felt they had the opportunity to be heard.”

“I think it was good,” Teske said. “It was productive and the people had a chance to speak their minds.”

No notice has yet been provided about a rescheduled meeting of the full City Council.