Vote to ensure citizens have representation

Under the Montana constitution the citizens have the right every 10 years to study and possibly amend their form of government.

The elected commission has spent the last eight months listening to citizens, and studying Whitefish’s Charter. We have determined that some housekeeping changes needed to be made allowing the city manager to not attend meetings where an alternative person was more appropriate.

The city manager had been delegating for a number of years however the city charter specified that he was required to attend. This change was a logical change and that is the second thing to check yes.

The first thing that you are asked to vote on requires the city to hire an ombudsman. An ombudsman would represent the citizens in the event that the citizens had a difference of opinion with the city or their representatives.

This seems to have drawn the ire of some of the city employees. It is not meant to create a problem but to solve the problem of differences of opinion. It is our thought that several of the lawsuits we have lost in recent years could have been avoided had there been a way to have meaningful negotiations. An ombudsman would have given them that option.

An Ombudsman would not be obligated, nor influenced by the city administrator. Citizen issues could not be “swept under the rug” nor ignored by the city or their representatives.

We are supposed to be a representative form of government, and if you want representation I would encourage you to vote yes for the ombudsman.

Many people have come to our meetings and complained that they did not feel they were represented. This is the responsible best solution we have found to ensure that the citizens have representation. It is our anticipation that the ombudsmen would be a part-time employee and if representation through the ombudsman was not necessary he would not work and not be paid.

This is our only thought for solving the problem of lack of representation. It should not be expensive and if we can avoid another lawsuit it will pay for itself.

Please vote yes on both items.

— Turner Askew serves on the Whitefish Government Review Commission