Do public's business in the open

Inter Lake editorial

There is a certain unfortunate symmetry in last week's dismissal of Kalispell City Manager Jim Patrick.

Patrick was fired by the City Council during a closed session on Oct. 13. More technically, his contract was not renewed, which is the same as being fired in this kind of job.

The termination decision was made during a private meeting closed to the public - which at many times is the way the city of Kalispell has tended to do business during Patrick's tenure. Secrecy apparently begets secrecy.

It turns out that the council taking action in a closed meeting apparently was illegal, according to a Montana Newspaper Association lawyer.

One has to wonder how many other times the city has violated Montana's Open Meetings Law. In this case the illegal vote can be corrected simply by being repeated in an open council meeting. But the tendency to make important decisions out of sight of citizens is disquieting.

We have no quarrel with the council's desire to change city leadership - that's certainly the council's purview. And city managers in general have notoriously short tenures averaging three to five years (Patrick lasted four years in the Kalispell job and his predecessor was here five years).

But the secrecy surrounding the manager termination is disturbing - amplified by the fact that even though the decision was made on a Monday, it wasn't announced publicly until the following Friday.

There's a very simple concept, really, that should be the foundation for our representatives in city government: The public's business should be conducted in public.

We shouldn't have to remind our elected or appointed officials of that - but we do.

That reminder should apply to the upcoming process to find a new Kalispell manager. One of the key characteristics the city should seek in the new manager is openness and transparency.

No doubt Kalispell can find qualified manager candidates who are adept at getting things done via back-room meetings and secret negotiations.

But that doesn't serve public interests very well or do much for citizen confidence in government.

The manager changeover is the ideal opportunity to hire as the next city manager someone who remembers who he or she ultimately works for (the people) and goes out of the way to involve those people in the decisions that affect their lives.