Homeless shelter septic dispute poses church versus state issues

by Michael Howell

A dispute between Harris Himes and his company Holy Ground and the Big Sky Christian Center over the septic system serving the Holy Ground property in Hamilton and being used by the Big Sky Christian Center, which is being used as a homeless shelter, has erupted into a dispute between God’s will and the demands of Ravalli County government, according to Himes.

The issue first came to the attention of the Ravalli County Board of Health almost two years ago, around February of 2023, when complaints were received about the number of RVs that appeared to be permanently using the property and associated concerns over sanitation and health issues and the potential impacts to the environment in the area.

The Board of Health notified Himes that he might be in violation of the state’s Subdivision and Platting Act by placing so many RVs on the property and they questioned the impacts of the use of the shelter facilities by so many people. Himes objected to the idea that he was creating a subdivision and insisted that there was no problem with the septic systems serving the property and claimed it could support even more use. 

Unable to reach complete agreement over the issues, the parties did agree that the status quo could be maintained while the issues were being hashed out and a motion was passed in June, 2023 setting a limit of 33 people at the shelter and eight RVs. 

At the June 2023 meeting, Himes claimed that he was in compliance and had always been in compliance based on historical use. There are four buildings on the property and a number of septic tanks and drain fields. He said his septic system serving the shelter building had historically served up to 120 people daily with no problems. He said there were 52 bunk beds in the shelter, allowing for 104 people. He said that 40 to 60 people used the restaurant facility daily and with women and children upstairs, it was a total of another 100 additional. That would be a total use of 202 people daily.

He said currently there were about 51 people total using the facility, including the people in the RVs. He said all but three of the RVs were using the facilities inside the shelter building. 

“So, historically that’s the range we operated at and the range we should be considering now,” he said. “I submit that we would be good for 70 more people in RVs without overburdening the present system.”

“The more people I can handle the fewer people the county needs to handle,” he said. He called it “cruel and unusual punishment” to “criminalize homelessness.”

The problem for the Board of Health was the lack of documentation concerning the septic systems being claimed and the question of their current condition. Ravalli County Environmental Health Director John Palacio said the Board needed additional documentation about the historical use and some evidence about the existing systems and their capacity. He said the current documentation for the shelter building was only for a capacity of 520 gallons per day and that it is estimated that a single person uses up to 50 gallons per day. 

“We need to know what is really there,” said Board member Skip Chisholm. He said he wasn’t doubting Himes’ claims but that some verified documentation needed to be produced.

Board member Roger DeHaan said, “I don’t think there is a person in this room that doesn’t think you are doing a good thing out there keeping people off the streets, but by the same token we can’t make our decision on what we think that business is doing.” He said the fact that it is serving 120 people is well into the category of a public water and sewer system. “Whether it has 120 people or whatever – it all needs documentation so that from now on going forward we know what is there,” he said.

Himes said that he knew well what was out there and that his claims were accurate. He said, “From a subdivision standpoint this is not a commercial RV Park, not rent or lease and not advertised. People ask if they can park and my mission is to help people in need.” He said based on a recent court decision, ordinances which conflict with the homeless “go bye-bye.”

DeHaan said, “Are you saying that someone who serves the homeless doesn’t need to get a permit for a drain field?”

Himes replied, “I’m saying what has to be done because we are a church serving homeless people. We are not scott free, but we need special consideration and our system is working. To place further burden on us, courts wouldn’t recommend. I want to maximize my service because it’s my mission. You want to maximize because it keeps people off the streets. Maximizing me pleases God and Ravalli County.”

Palacio said that the Board could turn the issue over to the state Department of 

Environmental Quality (DEQ) for an answer about the subdivision issue. But the County had overlapping authority based on their own regulations regarding adding RVs to a dormitory/shelter permit. He said it was a change of use that Himes has asked for.

Himes said he thought the restrictions placed on him should be lifted while DEQ considers the subdivision issue. “It’s a mistake not to look at this as being a church,” he said.

Palacio said that Himes has a permit approving two houses but is now adding RVs and that means having occupied buildings (which is what an RV is considered under County Regulations) without approved wastewater disposal permits.

The Board approved a motion to put a cap on the shelter of a maximum of 33 people and eight occupied buildings (RVs).

“I am hampered but I can make it work,” said Himes.

The Board of Health forwarded a complaint to DEQ a month later in July 2023. The issue simmered as members of the Board of Health reported continuing public complaints about the growing number of RVs at the property. Board member Skip Chisholm was growing progressively annoyed by DEQ’s failure to address the issue and reported growing numbers of RVs. He said he talked to Himes about the cap that had been agreed to and said that Himes told him that he would take his instructions from the Lord.

It took DEQ almost a year to respond to the complaint and a reply was finally sent to Himes on June 11, 2024, in which the department informed Himes that they did not find any evidence that there was a campground open to the public. They found no advertising, no presence on the internet, or social media, and no signage of any type indicating a person could come in and rent a space for camping. They did not consider requiring donations from the people to be a rental agreement.

“Since this facility is not open to the public for rent or lease,” wrote DEQ, “it does not require review under the Sanitation in Subdivisions Act, and I am dismissing this complaint.”

At a July 10, 2024 Board of Health meeting, Chisholm told the Board that he had run into Himes at the grocery store and talked to him. 

“He asked if I had seen the letter from DEQ exonerating him and said, ‘You guys can’t touch me. I have zero regulations on me. I can do anything I want and if you don’t like it, come after me.’ That’s exactly what he said to me,” said Chisholm. “I’m thinking I’m concerned because I was looking at a man who believes nothing can touch him now and he’s going to do whatever he darn well pleases on that property.” He said “the county now should be in charge since the DEQ has washed its hands of it, of making sure that he complies with the restrictions we put on him of the number of people allowed in the trailer situation and the occupancy situation.”

Commissioner Jeff Burrows, who chairs the Health Board, said the number of trailers was not an issue since it was not subject to the state’s Subdivision Act. “The only requirement he is now facing is how much lateral pipe does he have in the ground, how big are his tanks and how much capacity can his system handle. We are not really regulating the number of trailers,” said Burrows. He said Palacio, the Environmental Health Director, would work with Himes and size the system for a certain number of gallons per day. 

At the Board’s August meeting, Palacio told the Board that a letter was sent to Himes informing him that the county needed to obtain the information required to determine whether he was in compliance with county regulations or not. Himes replied on July 29 asking what the legal basis for their request was. Palacio said he discussed it with the county attorney’s office and a letter was sent to Himes citing state law and the county’s wastewater disposal regulations and they were waiting on a reply.

Himes replied in a 20-page epistle accusing the Board of Health of running rough-shod over his ministry and bullying him. He said the Board’s actions “portray what I view as a determined and relentless pattern of antagonism and discrimination against our ministry which has attempted to severely burden it and has actually – and arbitrarily – restricted our right to freedom of religious expression in helping the homeless and others in need.”

He claimed that “any effort to restrict the numbers of people we can help below those numbers will be considered by us to be a potentially unreasonable infringement upon our freedom of religious expression and an unnecessary burden upon our ministry.”

Himes said he included in his response to DEQ a proposal to, “for the time being,” mandate that people in the RVs and trailers use only the shelter’s facilities for their bathroom needs and invited the county “in a non-official capacity” to inspect the property in order to impress upon our residents the importance of these matters. He said he would “investigate” disabling the RVs’ and trailers’ bathroom facilities to guarantee compliance and expand the shelter’s bathroom capacities in order to meet these new requirements. He said he would make every effort to eventually install a septic system which could meet the requirements of the RVs and trailers.

“Should this proposal be acceptable, we estimate that our property could accommodate possibly 40 or more RVs and trailers,” wrote Himes, and “Should this occur, it would obviously help many economically, physically, and culturally depressed people in our community and county.”

Himes addressed the issue of requiring donations, stating, “I can’t run these ministries all by myself, and I think it’s important for them to have some participation. If I left it entirely up to their generosity – most of them have criminal backgrounds and many are thieves – getting ‘stiffed’ would be the general experience, and they would all be living under the bridge because the shelter would no longer function.” He said, “there is much biblical precedent for godly men charging for services rendered” and supported it with quotes from the Bible. 

He also claimed that DEQ evaluated the wastewater system at the facility and found nothing wrong with it and claimed that the county’s use of the wastewater regulations was contingent upon DEQ’s decision to apply the Subdivisions Act and that its refusal to do so gave the county a “red light” on pursuing it and that the county’s involvement is closed.

“You act like DEQ has given you the green light. You sent me your first demand,” wrote Himes. “The light’s still red. Then your follow-up letter attempting to justify your demand. The light’s still red. It remains red. To paraphrase David when he faced Goliath: ‘You come to me with manipulated law, with deceit, with assault upon our religious freedoms, and with a suspect agenda. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts whom you have defied.’ (cf. 1 Samuel 17:45),” wrote Himes.

This was followed by a long list of his own demands:

1. You concur that “this facility” can easily handle up to 500 people on single occasions and 250 people on a daily basis, based upon its history of usage.

2. Any testing or evaluation which we permit you to do is not a re-instatement of your Wastewater Regulations.

3. Any testing or other evaluation is at Ravalli County’s expense.

4. Any testing or any other evaluation will be done expeditiously and without destruction of our property.

5. No additional monitoring, testing, survey of “this facility” – or anything of that nature – will occur in the future unless we “decide to open the area as a public campground, you [we] will need to obtain a COSA for the Property prior to opening.”

6. Any test results will be inadmissible in any legal hearing.

7. Ravalli County will neither initiate nor participate in any proceedings related to these matters.

8. No charges or fines or litigation of any kind will be brought against Holy Ground, Big Sky Christian Center, or me, or anyone else involved in these matters.

9. As a matter of honor, an apology and reimbursement of expenses from Ravalli County for their misapplication of the law would be appropriate – but not required. That’s why it’s honor.

10. Let there be peace in the Bitterroot Valley between Ravalli County and our ministry.

Please let me know if this proposal is acceptable – or not.

These demands were followed by further quotes from the Bible including, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:18:-20)

At the Board of Health’s September 11 meeting, Commissioner Burrows expressed disappointment with Himes’ response and said, “We weren’t asking anything other than to help us figure out the size and capacity of the system so we can help determine how much you can do out there. I don’t think there is anything in his demands that we can consider. I guess, to me, the letter did not help us out.”

Board member Skip Chisholm announced that he would not be participating in the discussion and would recuse himself from voting on the issue without stating any reasons.

EH Director Palacio explained that DEQ’s decision about not needing any Subdivisions requirements does not change the fact that Himes must meet the county’s sanitation and wastewater disposal regulations.

Deputy County Attorney Christine Lindley said that she considered the letter a “non-response” to the questions being asked of Mr. Himes and suggested the Board might write another letter requesting the information.

Burrows said that he thought they had asked for the information enough times and wanted to know how the Board might get out of this “vicious circle” of requesting information and not getting any answers.

In discussion the Board considered sending a “compliance order” but their attorney was skeptical because that would indicate that they had found his system to be in violation and they had not gotten that far.

Instead, it was decided to send a letter informing Himes that the addition of the RVs, which are considered “occupied buildings” in the county regulations, and their use of the shelter facility constituted a change of use in the existing permit for the shelter facility and requires an evaluation of the facilities system to determine the capacity of the shelter’s system in order to determine if the change is allowable. Without the information to make that determination the county would have to issue an order to cease and desist the new use. He said the cost of producing that information would come at the applicant’s expense, since he is the one seeking the change.

The motion to send the letter was approved 4-0, with Chisholm recusing himself from the vote.