By Mark Harris, Stevensville
I recently read the Stevensville town employees’ open letter to residents of Stevensville and our elected officials with great sadness. (It can be found here. https://bitterrootstar.com/2020/05/open-letter-to-stevensville-town-council-members-and-citizens-of-stevensville/)
The behavior they write about is not acceptable. It’s an embarrassment and a black eye to the Town of Stevensville that they were frustrated enough to pen such a letter. These employees are our friends and our family. They are someone’s spouse, mother, father, child, brother or sister. Ask yourself if you would sit by and allow your friends and family to be disrespected and tormented as they described? I think we all agree that the answer is “No”.
We cannot let our Council members and their citizen mouth pieces continue with this negative behavior and treatment of our town’s employees. Further, the constant harassment of our mayor by these same citizens and council members needs to stop immediately.
Also, please keep in mind that if the harassing council members continue this behavior, residents of Stevi have the power to recall them or to elect someone else when their term is up. Bullies have no place in town government, but public apathy has allowed them to harass mayors since at least 2011 that I know of. Let’s make sure they know it will no longer be tolerated.