Tempers flare at council meeting

Tempers flared Monday evening as Kalispell City Council member Kari Gabriel told another council member, Bob Herron, to "shut up."

Both Herron and Gabriel contend the other was out of line at the council's three-plus-hour workshop session, calling each other "rude."

And both said they wish they could take back remarks they made Monday.

On Tuesday, Herron e-mailed the rest of the council to complain about Gabriel's statement made Monday evening.

The flare-up occurred during a long discussion on how the city Fire Department should allocate its ambulances between two stations.

Gabriel said the council should not get involved in telling the Fire Department where to place ambulances, portraying the council as laypeople who should not micromanage experts on this specific matter.

Herron immediately replied that Gabriel missed the point of being an elected official, saying council members should not micromanage, but they are responsible for looking after the public's interests in matters such as emergency responses.

The ambulance discussion continued for several minutes until Herron brought up the subject of the council's duties to provide guidance to the Fire Department, specifically singling out Gabriel as an example of someone who does not understand that responsibility.

"Bob, shut up," Gabriel said without raising her voice.

Neither mentioned the other for the rest of the meeting. The other six council members did not react Monday to Gabriel's remark. Mayor Pam Kennedy, who typically keeps a tight rein on decorum at council meetings, was not at Monday's workshop session.

Later, however, as Herron left City Hall, he said to fire Chief Randy Brodehl:" If she tells me to shut up again, I'm gonna smack her."

He did not realize a reporter was four feet away when he said that. His tone was as if he were venting, not threatening.

On Tuesday, Herron said he has never hit anyone, and never intends to strike anybody. He said he was venting when he made that remark.

Also on Tuesday, he e-mailed the eight council members, including Gabriel, to say that her telling him to "shut up … is unacceptable public dialogue in a public meeting. Councilwoman Gabriel's outburst was disrespectful and rude. I expect that this will never happen again!"

On Tuesday, Gabriel said: "I probably shouldn't have said 'shut up.' But I did. I can't take it back." In a later e-mail, she apologized for the remark.

Gabriel said her remark came three hours into the meeting - past 10 p.m. - when she was tired. She said Herron was interrupting others when he loudly singled her out Monday evening, saying that he has interrupted others similarly in previous meetings.

"I'm just tired of it, the rudeness," Gabriel said.

Regarding Herron's "smack her" remark, Gabriel wrote in her e-mail to the Inter Lake: "Is making a threat like that to a woman ever appropriate behavior?"

All nine of Kalispell's council members have been outspoken and blunt with each other and with city officials on occasions. But they have rarely taken each other's remarks personally - at least visibly.

Monday's flare-up exceeded the tone of anger in other arguments among council members over the past seven months.

The last major flare-up among council members at a public meeting occurred Oct. 3, 2005, when Herron made a sarcastic remark about Kennedy's campaign signs during a discussion of some minor signage-law changes. Kennedy snapped back, and the two vehemently snarled at each other for several seconds until Kennedy gaveled down Herron.

Both were visibly upset for the rest of that evening. Kennedy and Herron since have mended their relationship.