ROLL RESIGNS: Tired of fighiting, Roll, Desch resign from city offices

After years of conflict in local government and less than a week after a judge ended a recall effort against him, Libby Mayor Doug Roll has resigned.

Roll and council member Barb Desch both submitted letters of resignation Wednesday to the City Council, marking three resignations from the City Council in the last month. Roll submitted his letter to Lincoln County Elections Administrator Leigh Riggleman at 4:54 Wednesday afternoon. Riggleman received Desch’s letter on Tuesday.

In a Wednesday afternoon interview, Roll said he wanted to be done working with a council that he felt made more conflict than action.

“I’m not going to fight it anymore,” Roll said. “We’ve got a council that has no idea what they’re doing and fights me at every corner.”

Neither Roll nor Desch were present at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Council members spoke differently of Roll’s resignation, hailing it as a win for the City of Libby.

“I think this is a great step in the right direction for the town of Libby and the community so we can move forward in a progressive and positive manner,” Council member Brian Zimmerman said.

“That’s the best news we’ve had in Libby in a long time,” Council member Allen Olsen said.

Desch’s resignation, dated Sept. 6, was just two sentences long and said she did not plan to be close enough to the city to adequately serve the city.

“I am resigning my position as city council member,” she wrote. “I plan to be out of the city limits more than in the city limits therefor[sic] I feel it my duty to resign.”

Desch did not return calls made by The Western News for comment.

When Roll’s resignation becomes official, Council President Brent Teske will move into the role of interim mayor while the council opens the two positions for letters of interest to city residents.

Roll had missed the last six city council meetings before his resignation, including four regular council meetings and two special meetings, dating back prior to the start of the recall. At Tuesday’s city council meeting, council members had begun discussing state laws that may have allowed them to remove Roll from office for failing to serve the city in his four-month absence from meetings.

Roll on Wednesday criticized the council members involved in the recall effort which was quashed last week and said he stayed in office in order to clear his name.

“I’d have left a long time ago if it hadn’t been for that recall,” he said. “I spent some money but I got exonerated and my named cleared on that.”

Recall organizer Tammy Brown in a prepared statement on Thursday thanked the mayor for removing himself from office.

“I want to thank Mayor Roll for taking this course. He opened the door for the people of this city to make real and lasting change, now it’s up to us to do it. As a community, we need to come together and work to make the city a place we can all be proud of. It’s time for us to put the past behind us, roll up our sleeves and get to work solving problems. It’s not enough to sit on the sidelines and complain about issues, it’s time to bring meaningful solutions to the table and move Libby forward.”

In her statement, Brown also thanked each person who was involved and signed the recall.

Roll’s letter is below:

“I want to thank the citizens of Libby for giving me the opportunity to serve on the council 5 years and mayor for the past 8 years. It has been a great honor.

I want to thank the employees of the city, past and present, who made my job much easier by providing advice, cooperation and hard work. Our finances are strong. Our city infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, water and sewer, police dept.) are in the best shape in years. Thanks again.

Effective today, Sept. 7, 2016 at 5 p.m., I submit my resignation as Mayor of the City of Libby. After recent events, the attempted recall and subsequent court ruling that fully exonerated me, with a majority of council that refuses to follow procedure and were at the forefront of the recall drive it is folly to believe that we can do the work of the city. The aforementioned council people have little experience and no understanding of their role in governing the city.

I would hope that the good citizens of our community make sure that the fringe element, that seems to hold sway over these council people, are not allowed to influence the course of city business.

All the best

(signed)

Doug Roll”

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.