by Pat Earnest, Stevensville
I have lived in the Bitterroot Valley for 31 years and have always been proud of our town and community. What I have seen in the past four years with Mayor Dewey is very troubling and continues to put Stevensville in the news in a very negative way. A mayoral race is non-partisan so it can be hard for a voter to truly know the intent of the candidate. Dewey is a typical Democrat who wants to have control and power while spending your money and increasing taxes and fees. The problem is that he has never held a real job, only ones created for him in the Fire Department and city. He hasn’t owned a home and I doubt that he pays rent on the house he resides in. Yet he was the tie vote to increase his pay by 100%, from $1,000 to $2,000/month while the rest of us continue to manage on our income. Who gets a 100% pay raise? He was hired to do a part-time job, yet he spends all his time in an office owned by the city that he changed the locks on, and the public is not allowed to enter without an appointment. What is he afraid of? He has managed to close many meetings, saying that the public could still comment. Yet those comments are not read or entered into any record. I have watched a few of his meetings and have found that they don’t seem to know what to do. They look at each other and ask questions. I don’t see any leadership which requires experience in managing a city, something that Dewey does not have. He continues to do illegal things with the city funds which are only discovered after he has spent your money and a court has investigated it. He also does not offer sufficient detail on what city money is spent for. In the recent audit, the city is found to be non-compliant in every area as well as many months late in others. Even the bank account is not reconciled. How do they even know how much money is in the account? The audit shows a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Town of Stevensville’s financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. This shows how money can be moved around without approval.
I have read a text message from Dewey to a taxpayer that is both harassment and bullying. Many others have accused him of the same thing. And no city should have such a high turnover of city employees and elected officials.
We are blessed to have Steve Gibson willing to step in as Mayor and begin healing our beloved city. He has a proven record of leadership, honesty, integrity and fiscal responsibility. He is highly qualified to do the work and understands how a council should function. Steve is a conservative who has earned the respect from both Republicans and Democrats in his lifetime of prior community, state and national involvement. That requires a person who is willing to listen to all sides. He has worked in many settings, managed hundreds of people, understands budgets, and is ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Instead of raising taxes, he proposes using all outside resources available. He is asking the council to reduce his salary. He has knocked on over 800 doors to hear directly from the voter. Let’s elect Gibson for Mayor and return our city to one of honor and integrity.