Flathead County Planning Office under fire

A petition calling for an independent investigation of the Flathead County Planning Office and its director, Jeff Harris, was circulated at a public forum held Monday night in Kalispell by the property-rights group American Dream Montana.

The push for a public probe stems from alleged violations of open-record and open-meeting laws largely in connection with the Somers and Lakeside neighborhood planning processes.

The petition further calls for the immediate suspension of Harris without pay until the investigation is complete and the sequestering of all computers, public and private, that have been used to conduct public business relating to the Lakeside planning effort. It asks for an immediate moratorium on destruction of planning documents until final resolution of the investigation.

More than 150 citizens attended the informational meeting called to address a long list of allegations by American Dream against the planning office.

"I don't think there was any thought that this [neighborhood planning] process wouldn't be transparent and completely open," said Charles Lapp, who served on the Flathead County Planning Board when the growth policy was being drafted.

Lapp referenced specific language included in the planning board's draft of the growth policy that called for petitions signed by 60 percent of affected landowners to support a neighborhood planning effort.

The county commissioners replaced that language, stipulating "a clear majority" of landowners in support of a neighborhood plan may develop one.

Lapp said he envisioned one or two people knocking on people's doors to gauge interest in such a plan.

"Community ownership and buy-in of the organizational framework at the front end of the process is especially critical," Lapp said, quoting the growth policy.

But copies of planning office e-mails and other documents obtained by property owner Donna Thornton called into question the use of a members-only Web site by the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan Committee that was shut down by the county last week, alleged unadvertised land-use meetings and misappropriation of public funds.

The audience got a lesson in open-record and meeting laws from Columbia Falls Board of Adjustment member Olie Ervin as the meeting began.

"We live in a state with a long history of transparency in government," Ervin said. "We don't want anything to happen that can't be seen publicly."

Thornton said it took her months to get copies of documents related to the Lakeside plan and alleged that hundreds of landowners weren't notified of the effort.

"I think you'll understand why I was so angry at the Somers meeting," Thornton said, referencing the June 15 Somers neighborhood planning meeting that got out of control and sheriff's deputies were called. "This is the third time in a year we were not notified."

Thornton last week pored through county warrants of Planning Office expenditures and said she was 'shocked" by what she found. In once case, warrants for a planning retreat at an area lodge showed the group spent $815 for food, including $60 for s'mores. In another case, warrants showed duplicate registrations for a planning conference in Reno, Nev.

She alleged that in many cases, food charges well exceeded the county's $23 daily per diem for meals and she further alleged that county employees improperly used county credit cards. Another concern was inappropriate e-mails circulated among Planning Office staff members that in at least one instance poked fun of the American Dream group.

"We've all been duped," Thornton maintained. "This is putting all of us at huge liability and if the county gets sued, it's you and I who pay for it."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com