Commissioners hear case against Harris

Allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Flathead County planning director Jeff Harris intensified last Wednesday, when former Flathead County Commissioner Dale Williams and Kalispell attorney and mayoral candidate Tammi Fisher joined the efforts of American Dream Montana to force Harris' resignation or dismal.

Williams and Fisher cited numerous instances of what they considered to be the misuse of county funds, abuse of county credit cards, "deliberate disregard for transparency in government," unfair treatment of certain applications submitted to the planning office and abuse of the vast authority inherent with the planning director's many roles, giving him "wide authority with little accountability."

Fisher accused Harris of acting as "judge, jury and executioner for land use planning," who wields and unprecedented amount of power over the planning process, thus ensuring that he is the ultimate filter through which all planning must be conducted.

"If that filter is biased, the process will be biased," Fisher said.

As support for her claim, she cited Bruce Tutvedt's three-year struggle to get a gravel pit operating permit approved, during which she claimed he was thwarted by Harris at every turn and was forced to resort to litigation to get a fair hearing. Fisher alleged similar inconsistency in Harris' treatment of a batch-plant application, submitted by Gary Krueger.

Williams said Harris should be given two weeks to tender his resignation and urged the commissioners to officially dismiss him if he does not to resign willingly. In addition, Williams called for an immediate audit of the planning office's expenditures and credit card records.

Williams alleged regular violations by the Flathead County Planning & Zoning Office of the county's credit card policy and per diem allowance for meals, as well as a lack of documentation detailing charges made to county credit cards concerning "the who, what, where, when and why" of each expense.

He claimed that the planning office failed to obtain rooms at the standard government rate or base rate when attending a conference in Reno, where he claimed the hotel's base rate was listed as $85 but alleged that the planning office spent $135 on rooms that afforded the luxury of a bedside jacuzzi and a shower "big enough to fit a small army inside of it."

Russ Crowder, a former planning board member and current president of property-rights group American Dream Montana, summarized and concluded the arguments against Harris and his planning staff, stating that the reason for the hearing was to "give this commission a chance to get your own house in order."

"What you do in this office is being watched, and it is being watched across the state," Crowder told the commissioners and representation from the planning office.

Harris later defended his actions and those of his planing staff, insisting that he had at no time violated his contract with Flathead County or been party to unethical behavior.

"We have attempted to remain objective and impartial," Harris said. "We prepare reports that are technically and legally defensible and represent the application as proposed and its associated impacts."

He added that the office's track record shows an application approval rate of close to 90 percent and that in the past year he was not able to recall a single application for which the office had recommended denial.

"That is because we believe the impacts can be mitigated and the impact costs not passed on to tax-payers," Harris said. "We obviously do not share the opinion that we are not objective."

As for allegations that he has abused his authority, Harris said neither he nor the planning office as a whole represent the final decision makers for any application or planning process.

"The board of adjustments and the county commissioners are the only decision makers," he said. "Everything I do and every action that I have the authority to take as an administrator can be appealed."