To the Council and Mayor
1. You are not elected or appointed to rule.
2. You are not elected or appointed to Lead.
3. You are elected or appointed to serve the Citizens of the Town of Stevensville.
You cannot make decisions at a Public Hearing.
You not only made a motion, but seconded the motion and voted on a subject that directly affected the State Constitutional Rights of every Citizen of the Town of Stevensville.
Public Hearing
7-1-4131. Public hearing. (1) When required, the governing body shall conduct public hearings for the purpose of providing reasonable opportunity for citizen participation prior to final decisions.
(2) At a minimum, a public hearing shall provide for submission of both oral and written testimony for and against the action or matter at issue. If the hearing is not held before the ultimate decision makers, provision shall be made for the transmittal of a summary or transcript of the testimony received to the ultimate decision makers prior to their determination.
(3) Public hearings may be held at regular or special meetings of the governing body.
(4) Petitions and letters received by the governing body or executive prior to the hearing shall be entered by reference into the minutes of the governing body and considered as other testimony received at the hearing.
(5) Hearings may be adjourned from day to day or to a date certain.
(6) Except for budget hearings, the governing body may designate a subcommittee or hearing examiner to conduct public hearings.
I think you can make a decision at a regular or special council meeting with notice and an agenda, noting that you are going to put a time limit on comment and publish such before the hearing starts.
I believe that making the decision to limit testimony by the citizens at the Public Hearing after the hearing has started is a violation of the Constitution of the State of Montana in that you did not convene a special or regular council meeting with a published agenda to discuss the limiting of testimony by the citizens of the town and outside areas, take public comment on the matter and make a decision in an open council meeting. In this case, I think you probably have violated the Citizens Right to Know and the Right to Participate.
You can find those in the State Constitution. You do read that document, right?
As indicated in 7-1-4131 MCA, there is no decision making authority at a pubic hearing. Its called a hearing, because you are supposed to be listening. Listening to what the folks who have placed you in office have to say and make decisions based upon their input………Some call that Democracy…..I call it the Rule of Law.
As for the limiting of the length of comment, see Council Rules Part IX, Section 1, second paragraph. You see, you can limit the comment period by council rules, but you have to do it before the opening of the public hearing. Then again, when has this council and Mayor followed Council Rules?
By the way, I was not at the hearing, but I understand that you folks are so afraid of the Citizens of this town that the Mayor has to have a member of the police department stand by to protect you folks. Mayor Dewey you need to control yourself and stop yelling at the Citizens of this town. Many of these folks were working like dogs long before you were born making it safe for you to live in this country and make this country what it is. Grow up. If you are that afraid of the Citizens of this town, then you might want to find other employment, because the people of this town are tired of you. All of you. You seem to think that the rules are for us and not for you. Have you ever watched a council meeting video? Have you ever noticed how disorganized the meetings are or how you folks constantly violate the Council Rules? How about how little attention you folks actually pay to things like the claims?
There are a lot of good people here, taxpayers, Citizens, merchants, property owners, parents, moms and dads who are just fed up with the attitude of you folks at town hall. Get off your pedestals and start taking care of the Citizen’s interests of this town.
You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
The Mayor’s seat, both Ward 2 Council Seats and one Ward 1 Council seat are up for nomination and election this year. You might want to pay attention to that. Because 4 out of 5 of you are probably going to be removed from office during the next election.
The foregoing are just common observations of a Citizen of Stevensville and do not constitute legal advice.
James V. Crews (Private American Citizen)
Stevensville