by John Dowd
Last year residents of the Town of Darby voted to hold a government review. A temporary study commission was established. Now, that commission is at work and looking to the public for input.
Nate Robbins, a Darby town council member and ex officio member of the Darby Study Commission, operates as the liaison between the town council and the study commission. He also acts as the commission chair, yet is a non-voting member of the commission. He explained that the community needs to begin attending some of their meetings, especially several of the upcoming ones.
The Darby Study Commission currently has two members because one recently resigned. So far, the town has had several new applicants. By the study commission’s first public meeting, on March 18, they will have selected a new member.
The current study commission members are Christina Harrell and Sam Conner. The group organized in November and in December they went to a training in Whitefish. This training was hosted by the MSU Local Government Center, and is standard training for these kinds of reviews in Montana. The training was held for all municipalities that elected to hold study commissions this year.
The Darby Study Commission’s first meeting was held on January 1. Their upcoming public meeting on March 18 will be the bread and butter of what the commission is all about.
According to Robbins, at this meeting the commission will give a presentation to the public, explaining the process for making any changes to Darby’s government. Then, the commission will take information from the public about what their concerns are and what they would like to see happen exactly. After that hearing the commission will take the information they gather from the public and create another presentation of their findings. This second presentation will be given at the second public hearing in May.
“If there is a large interest in changing the form of government, we will need to hold more public meetings,” said Robbins. He expects there will be interest from the community in altering positions, titles and how they function, but not necessarily an overhaul in the way the government is organized.
“I don’t anticipate an actual change of government,” said Robbins.
The community may be interested in changing the way the Town of Darby is organized, rearranging it or adding new positions, such as a city manager, “which is common in larger communities,” added Robbins. However, he explained that it would be difficult to fill such a position. The need is there because it is already hard to find council members and a mayor with relevant experience. Additionally, funding for such a manager position would also be difficult to establish within the town budget.
In the end, Robbins believes it may come down to small changes, if anything. Concern and interest in changing the government was obviously on the mind of Darby’s community. However, the vote for review still barely passed, with 92 votes for and 91 against. Robbins said this interest could have arisen due to contention over management of the Superfund site and related construction projects.
“If voters want to see a change, then this is a way the state has set up for them to do that,” said Robbins. However, after experiencing the way study commissions work, it may or may not achieve what some people were looking for. In any case, Robbins and the study commission are “just trying to get people interested, come and be informed, to help them make a decision,” said Robbins.
If a big change is decided, it will go on the next ballot in the fall. Any smaller changes will be given as recommendations to the town council.
The timeline for the Darby Study Commission is as follows:
The Darby Study Commission holds regular monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month at the Darby Town Hall at 5 p.m. All meetings of the Darby Study Commission are open to the public and community participation is encouraged. The first public hearing will be March 18 at the Darby Clubhouse at 5:30 p.m. to gather citizen input on the form, functions, powers, and problems of town government and the adequacy of town services. The Commission will adopt a tentative report on May 5. A second public hearing will be held on May 15 at the Darby Clubhouse at 5:30 p.m. to gather citizen response on the Commission’s report. A final report will be adopted on June 2. If the final report proposes an alteration of the local government, the timetable may be amended.