By Michael Howell
At its Thursday, April 14 meeting, the Stevensville Town Council rejected for the third time a request from Mayor Paul Ludington to appoint Chee Burnsides as Municipal Court Judge for the Town of Stevensville. The motion to appoint Burnsides was voted down on a 3-0 vote with Councilors Stacie Barker, Robin Holcomb and Bob Michalson voting against the motion while Councilor Jim Crews abstained from voting.
Mayor Paul Ludington tendered his resignation the very next day, citing the Council’s lack of trust and understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the council and mayor. (see related story).
At Thursday’s meeting, in discussion over the Mayor’s recommendation of Burnsides, Holcomb asked if Burnsides was present at the meeting. He was not.
“If someone wants the job,” said Holcomb, “you would think he would be here to discuss it.” She said that she also believed Burnsides’ job application was incomplete and that she had problems with the whole selection process.
Michalson agreed, saying that the main problem was that Burnsides was the only candidate out of eleven to be interviewed by the mayor.
“This thing has snowballed and I don’t have the answer for how to fix it,” said Michalson. “My gut tells me that if more interviews had been done, we would have a cleaner process.” He said he wasn’t blaming the mayor but that without other interviews it was not a fair process.
Penny Howe, who was one of the applicants for the job, said that she felt slighted by the process.
“By deciding to save some training money you slighted the rest of us,” said Howe.
Mayor Ludington said that Councilor Michalson was blaming him and putting the town at risk in doing so.
“I do not believe in my heart of hearts that conducting any other interviews would have changed my mind,” said Ludington. “I don’t believe that Burnsides’ application was incomplete and I believe he is the best candidate for the job.”
The council didn’t agree and voted down the motion to appoint Burnsides.
Another agenda item to consider the fee to be paid to the judge was tabled.
The Council also voted to prepare an ordinance that would call for the Town Judge to be an elected office instead of by appointment. Mayor Ludington said the only advice he could offer was that the Council might want to consider some qualifications for the position if they place it on the ballot.
The motion to create an ordinance making the judge an elected office for the town was approved on a 3 to 1 vote with Councilor Robin Holcomb casting the dissenting vote.
In other business the Council approved on a 3 to 0 vote the renewal of a franchise with Charter Communications for its cable line. The Council heard from one resident who complained about the company’s services.
“If these people want to do business here,” she said, “they need to have people here instead of having to deal with people in Billings or somewhere else.”
The franchise agreement was approved on a 3 to 0 vote with Councilor Crews recusing himself for a conflict of interest.
The Council unanimously approved a Task Order for the Stevensville Airport Improvement Project to the tune of about $320,000. It included construction management services worth $275,000, surveying and basic coordination with the FAA estimated at $70,000 and close out services of $25,000.
The Council approved the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Board to use Land Solutions of Professional Consultants Incorporated to perform a Growth Policy update.
The Council rescinded a resolution that described the powers of the Mayor and Council in authoring job descriptions because those powers are described in state code. Councilor Crews called the resolution “redundant and unnecessary.”
The Council approved the planting of two trees in Lewis and Clark Park by Morgan Munson as part of her Senior Project.
The council also adopted rules for the Skate Park.