City government review public hearing coming up in March

The Columbia Falls City Government Commission will hold a public hearing at 5 p.m. March 12 to take public input on how the city might operate better and whether it should change its current form of government.

The commission, made up of Roger Hopkins, Connie Konopatzke, Susan Nicosia and ex officio member John Piper, all of them volunteers and appointed by the Columbia Falls city council, met last week to talk further on the subject.

The board tweaked questions of a resident survey that will be available both in hard copy and online on the city’s website (see below).

The survey covers a variety of topics of importance to city residents.

The commission decided that it would be best if the city did the survey before the public hearing. 

They also heard from Scott Wurster of Whitefish, who suggested the two cities could cooperate on matters. Wurster is on Whitefish’s government review commission.

The government review commission was approved by voters in 2023. The question of whether a review is necessary is mandated by state law every 10 years.

The city last looked at the topic in 2014 and the commission recommended at that time to make no changes.

Right now the city, like many cities in Montana, has a commission-manager form of government, where a city manager runs the city on a day-to-day basis and the mayor and council oversee the manager who serves at the direction of the council, which has the authority to remove the manager if need be.

One thing the city might additionally consider is self-governing powers, which allow cities to pass their own laws, provided they don’t trump state and federal laws. 

For example, Missoula is self-governing and has a law that makes it a misdemeanor if a person that is pulled over for DUI refuses a breath test. The law was upheld by the Montana Supreme Court.

The city would form a charter and then it would need to be passed by voters.

Another form of government is the executive form. 

In this statutory form, the mayor as chief-executive is obliged and empowered to enforce state law and local ordinances and has the responsibility of carrying out and administering the policies and resolutions adopted by the council. 

Additionally, and unlike the national and state models of government, the mayor serves as the presiding officer of the city or town council and may take part in council discussions but may cast a vote only to break tie votes of the council. The mayor does, however, enjoy veto power with respect to the ordinances and resolutions adopted by the council. However, an executive veto is subject to a two-thirds override vote by the council.

After the March public hearing, the commission will craft its recommendations and issue a final report and then hold an additional public hearing in June. The goal is to have a final report completed by early August.