Coalition chief urges prudence

The Daily Inter Lake

City Council and Planning Board members need to be careful about and to whom they talk before making land-use decisions, the Kalispell and Columbia Falls city councils were told Monday.

Bob Worthington, chief executive officer of the Montana Municipal Insurance Authority, briefed the two councils and Flathead County Commissioner Dale Lauman on various local government insurance matters in Columbia Falls.

The authority is a coalition of 122 Montana towns that is an umbrella organization to handle government-related liability and insurance matters. The authority does not represent county governments.

Worthington said those 122 towns have about 240 lawsuits under way against them. Between 30 and 40 of those lawsuits address land-use matters.

City councils and planning boards act as quasi-judicial bodies when making decisions on land-use matters.

Consequently, when people talk about land-use issues to council and board members outside of meetings and hearings, those members should declare those conversations prior to acting on those matters, Worthington advised.

That is to ensure that no secret talks can be alleged against officials, which could form the basis of a lawsuit, Worthington said.