Attendance falls short on planning board

Attendance records for the Flathead County Planning Board indicate that seven of the nine members fail to meet the board's own rules.

However, the rules were written at a time when the board only met once a month. Since then, serving on the planning board has turned into a part-time job.

The board bylaws say the president shall inform the county commissioners in writing any time a member has missed three consecutive meetings or more than four meetings in a calendar year.

By that standard, seven members have failing grades: Through Dec. 7, Tim Calaway, Frank DeKort and Cal Scott have each missed nine meetings, according to planning office records. Jeff Larsen has missed seven meetings, while Gene Dziza and Board President Don Hines have each missed five meetings.

Kim Fleming has missed four meetings, including three consecutive sessions.

Kathy Robertson has also missed four meetings, though not consecutively. Charles Lapp has missed just one.

(For the record, the Inter Lake missed five.)

Attendance has not been discussed at any of the board meetings. Hines said he hasn't had occasion to write any letters to the commissioners, although he and another board member had a conversation with a commissioner about that member's attendance.

"It hasn't really been a problem until recently," Hines said on Friday. "We only had one meeting where there was barely a quorum; otherwise, I think we've had at least seven members present all the time. Given the number of meetings we're holding, attendance hasn't been a concern."

Including one final meeting scheduled on today, the board has had 35 meetings this year - up from 20 the year before.

The board never lacked a quorum this year, although it scraped by with the bare minimum on four occasions - three times when four members were absent and once when two board members recused themselves for an agenda item.

The attendance records indicate that three members were absent on two other occasions; other than that, at least seven members were present for all the meetings.

Reasons for the absences include health issues, vacations, family tragedies and business commitments. "We're all typically self-employed, and we do need to try to make a living," Hines said. "We can only give so much."

Planning board members are all volunteers. In previous conversations, they've indicated that they spend 10 to 20 hours per week preparing for the meetings, including reading the applications and staff reports and making site visits. The meetings themselves typically last at least three hours.

Several members also attend additional meetings related to the growth policy, the Long-Range Planning Task Force, the ongoing subdivision regulation update, or other planning issues.

The board bylaws leave it up to the commissioners to decide what action to take if there is an attendance problem.

Four seats on the planning board are currently up for reappointment. Letters of interest from 23 people have been submitted for these positions - including letters from Calaway, Hines, Larsen and Robertson, the four incumbents.

DeKort, who represents the Flathead Conservation District, has already been reappointed to another term.

The commissioners typically announce board appointments in December.

Attendance also has been an issue lately with the Bigfork Land Use Advisory Committee. The committee's attendance requirements are the same as the planning board's. However, its rules indicate that any member who fails to meet the standards "shall be dismissed and replaced."

Tim Calaway and Scott Hollinger have each missed five meetings this year, according to a recent memo to the planning office. Hollinger is up for reappointment this year, both to the Bigfork committee and to the Flathead County Board of Adjustment; Calaway has another year left on his committee term.

Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com