Letters to the editor April 24

Short-term rental solution

Sharon Morrison has nailed the short-term rental problem.

The services of any municipality or county are clearly impacted by all housing, rental or otherwise, and hence in return these governments legally tax and regulate for the benefit of the community. In all communities, there is only so much housing to go around until more is built, a slow and costly process.

To the extent that taxable housing converted from owner-occupied housing or longer-term rental housing to short-term rentals reduces longer-term housing availability, thereby aggravating the affordable housing shortage and impacting the community negatively by harming its workforce, these units might legitimately also be regulated by permit so as to limit the damage.

A suggestion would be to grant the privilege of a single short-term rental permit per year only to a taxpayer or taxpaying couple owning and residing at the property for a minimum of six months each year, a duration long utilized in other Montana laws to protect the public interest, and subject to the relevant zoning regulations and pertinent covenants. Folks that live in the houses they rent out do a better job of selecting renters and thus protecting the neighbors, a legitimate community interest.

I bet this would pass muster with the Montana courts.

— Andy Palchak, Kalispell

School district is top heavy

“No” to the unwarranted Kalispell Public Schools levy request. Why don’t they run the district like a business? When money is tight, they have to cut back instead of spend more with no consequences. The district has more money than you realize — they just choose to bank it and go to the citizens every time they think they need money.

How about they combine some of smaller districts to the larger ones so there is not so many high paying administrator jobs, athletic directors and district positions in general? Do they really need a superintendent, an assistant superintendent and an assistant to the assistant superintendent in School District 5? Larger cities with larger enrollments don’t have this many high paying administrating positions. I wonder if the average citizen actually knows the waste the district gets away with each year?

I think maybe it’s time for the district leadership to review their waste and possibly “clean house” as one would say. Maybe they will find plenty of money to pay for increased enrollment and maybe even pay the substitutes, paras, food service, custodians and bus drivers that are teaching our kids a lot more than $75 to $90 per day?

— Linda Ellis, Lakeside

Corrosion of standards

I drove to Helena last week to attend the Montana State Library Commission’s quarterly meeting. I knew three of our own library trustees were going to attend the meeting and continue to try and make the case that state standards for library directors should be lowered, and I wanted to witness that interaction.

I listened to the meeting on Zoom as I drove early in the morning, and as always, I was impressed and encouraged by the dedicated library professionals who are the captains of the ship here in Montana for our public libraries. Marilyn Bennett and Jennie Stapp both stood out as highly trained, educated, and most of all, passionate about providing 21st century library services for all Montanans. It was inspiring.

I won’t say much about the arguments the library trustees made to lower standards, because they aren’t worth repeating here. Kenning Arlitsch, commission board chair and a 28-year professional librarian said it all when he talked about the continual erosion of funding and prioritizing libraries over the past 30 years. Lowering standards never increases the excellence of any institution, especially one as vital to American freedom as our public libraries.

Of great concern to me was how cozy Flathead County Commissioner Randy Brodehl and the trustees are with Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen. As a commission board member, Arntzen did not even try pretend to be listening objectively during the discussion, and afterward, she mentioned taking this fight to the Legislature.

Have no doubt, this fight will not end here. Therefore, I urge this community to get very well educated on our current slate of candidates for our county and legislative elections. It is critical to vote in the primary and the general election to stop extremists from taking away necessary standards for excellence, and our constitutional right to access to information.

— Valeri McGarvey, Kalispell