Community urges changes to Polson city budget
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POLSON — “We have a more than full house,” Mayor Pat DeVries said as she opened the 6:30 p.m. public hearing on amendments to the 2010-2011 budget on Sept. 4. Interested people packed the city commission chambers and the adjoining hall.
All the uproar stemmed from the Sept. 8 meeting when Commissioner Mike Lies added some surprise amendments and conditions onto the proposed budget.
Although the motion passed on a 4-3 vote, community members and city employees continued to be unhappy with the amendment that froze all city wages and salaries to the 2009-10 level as well as another eliminating all overtime for city employees. No overtime would have big impact, particularly for the Polson Police Department.
According to a Polson Chamber of Commerce letter, Polson Police Chief Doug Chase had submitted a tentative letter of resignation because of the overtime issue.
Also, another of Lies’ amendments read that the library and park departments had overspent their budgets by $22,389. Mayor Pat DeVries looked into the matter and presented a correction at the Sept. 20 city commission meeting. The two departments had under spent their budgets by $22,389 instead of overspent.
During the public hearing, Polson business people Ken Avison, Rory Horning, Jeremy Morgret, Ric Smith, John Starner, residents Maggie Plummer and Terry Sordal, Lake County Commissioner Bill Barron and Lake County Detective Dan Yonkin all spoke, most urging the commissioners to reconsider the amendments to the budget. The commissioners also each received a letter from Don Miller, Pier 93, supporting Chief Chase, Mayor DeVries added.
In his remarks Smith said, “… Not only were the City Commissioners ambushed (at the Sept. 8 meeting,) the department heads were ambushed. The City Commissioners job is not to micromanage the city manager; this city voted for a city manager.”
Smith also spoke in support of Chief Chase and reviewed the corrected library and park budget information as well as the noting the 2009 budget was $44,641 under spent.
“… If the chief is gonna be the chief, he needs to run the department,” Starner said. “(If) this man (Todd Crossett) is gonna be the city manager, he needs to operate it.”
Praising the parks department, Starner added, “City parks and recreation area and the ballpark … they look better than I’ve ever seen them look; they’re doing a good job.”
Citing his unique position as having been Sheriff of Lake County and also working under Chief Chase, Barron stressed the need for overtime, not only for emergency situations but also for training.
“… In the sheriff’s office it was impossible to do training without overtime. With the police department, it’s the same way. Training is one of the most critical things there is for law enforcement,” Barron said.
After agreeing that a lot of focus should be on Chief Chase, Morgret said, “We have a lot of talent on our city staff.”
But Morgret cautioned, if employees feel their voices are not heard, “you are going to start losing employees, lose morale and face unionization.”
“The bigger issue here tonight is how the City Commissioners conduct themselves, going forward with transparency and making sure everybody’s input is heard,” Morgret added.
After the regular meeting was called to order, the commissioners, minus Commissioner Fred Funke, who had pneumonia, unanimously approved several amendments to the budget:
• Replace items in the sewer budget that were listed as zeroes.
• Replace the amount of overtime requested by Chief Chase in the original budget.
• Reinstate all pay raises that were removed from the budget.
The commissioners also passed:
• the second reading of Ordinance 659, establishing a permit for street and alley cuts, with an amendment instituting a three-tiered fee system — $200 for gravel, $400 for old asphalt and $1,500 for new development.
• the August cash report.
Ordinance 660, to authorize the fire department to bill insurance for incident response, was tabled until the next meeting on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.
