College ruling appealed to high court

State Rep. George Everett and radio station owner John Stokes have appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit against Flathead Valley Community College to the Montana Supreme Court.

The appeal seeks to overturn rulings from District Court Judge Kitty Curtis, who twice rejected a lawsuit by Everett and Stokes over the college's $15.8 million bond election in December 2002.

In their lawsuit, Everett and Stokes alleged the college provided inadequate public notice of a special meeting at which trustees approved the settlement of an earlier lawsuit over the bond election.

Everett, who is running for re-election in House District 5, said Monday he remains convinced the college did not comply with Montana open meeting laws.

"I know people will say the judge has ruled," he said.

But Everett said appeals are filed all the time. He pointed to the lawsuit over education funding against the state which made its way to the Supreme Court.

Stokes did not return a call requesting a comment on the Supreme Court appeal.

In an earlier interview, he said he wasn't discouraged by the adverse ruling at the local level. He cited several Montana Supreme Court rulings which went against school districts accused of violating open meeting laws.

FVCC President Jane Karas said she hadn't yet met with the college's attorney Dana Christensen about the appeal.

The appeal was dated Oct. 20. The document filed consisted of one paragraph appealing Curtis' dismissal of their claims.

Curtis ruled in June that college trustees gave proper notice of their Oct. 13, 2003, meeting. She also ruled that the election results were valid and cleared the way for the college to sell the bonds to expand the college.

In August, the judge upheld her earlier ruling after Stokes and Everett asked for a review. The review request paved the way for the appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Stokes has estimated that the appeal would take about a year and a half to reach the courtroom.

Neither Stokes nor Everett have disguised their desire to derail the sale of the bonds approved by voters in 2002.

"My feeling is there was an illegal election," Everett said Monday.

The controversy stemmed from an election-office error dropping 15,000 voters from a list provided to the college for its mail-in ballot election. The college responded by making a second mailing of ballots to the excluded voters.

College officials made the second mailing to avoid the $40,000 cost of a new election. However, state statutes say ballots must go out in one mailing.

The issue over the mailing as well as other allegations were the subject of an initial lawsuit that was settled out of court. Curtis ruled that further lawsuits were barred because they weren't filed within 60 days of the election.

Stokes and Everett began a new series of legal challenges last November. Although they lost on every issue, the two represent themselves so they don't face the legal expense that normally accompanies litigation.

The delays caused by the ongoing legal challenges have increased the cost of the FVCC expansion at least 10 to 15 percent. That has reduced the value of what the bonds can buy by as much as $2 million.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com