Kalispell mayor expresses support for council on homelessness following murder

Mayor Mark Johnson and several members of Kalispell City Council on Monday backed the idea of creating an advisory council focused on the community’s unhoused residents following the murder of a homeless man over the weekend.

The concept emerged as city councilors heard from social workers and service providers, who used the public comment portion of a June 26 work session to call on officials to take action in the wake of the slaying of 60-year-old Scott E. Bryan. Two men were taken into custody following his death and prosecutors have brought one, Kaleb Elijah Fleck, 19, of Kalispell, up on a deliberate homicide charge in Flathead County District Court.

“I do believe that our leaders can set the tone and direct the narrative in our community,” said Tonya Horn, director of the Flathead Warming Center. “Words mean things and words cause feelings. I call upon all our leaders to lead our community away from divisiveness.”

Horn lobbied for the formation of an advisory body in part composed of homeless members, a concept that earned support during the meeting from Johnson and City Councilor Ryan Hunter.

“We need to look at something like that, how it would work,” Johnson said.

The mayor also called on the community “for a little more grace,” and patience in their interactions with homeless people.

“These are people,” he said. “These are other human beings. And we’ve asked for that grace.”

Hunter, who attended via Zoom, made a direct appeal to residents to halt the violence.

“Most homeless folks are just trying to survive and they’re not harming anyone,” he said. “It’s not OK to target them. Vigilante action is absolutely unacceptable. As we’ve seen, it leads to tragic consequences.”

Kalispell’s homeless residents reported increasing harassment and attacks in the months leading up to Bryan’s beating behind a gas station at the corner of Appleway Drive and Meridian Road. Kalispell Police have previously confirmed an investigation into at least one of those alleged incidents.

Sean O’Neill of Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana and the Homeless Outreach Team described Bryan as a “very vulnerable person.” The string of alleged attacks on homeless people have often targeted “some of the most vulnerable in our community, including those with disabilities,” O’Neill said.

City Councilor Sid Daoud acknowledged hearing what he described as dehumanizing language aimed at homeless people, saying that it has “gotten worse as time has gone on.”

After the meeting, Daoud said he worried the community had become “hostile to homeless people.” He said he hoped to change that attitude.

Daoud also criticized recent moves by Council to deter homeless people from congregating in public parks, calling them ineffective. The efforts, part of a package of ordinances adopted earlier this year, may have placed homeless people in danger, he said.

Other city councilors expressed their condolences for Scott's murder.

“The incidents over the weekend set me in a different place,” said City Councilor Jessica Dahlman. “It’s been difficult, I’m sure, for everyone.”

City Councilor Chad Graham pushed back on requests for more help from social workers and service providers. Kalispell deserved more credit for its work on the issue, he said, citing zoning changes at the behest of homeless shelters and other organizations. He chastised his colleagues in Whitefish and Columbia Falls for not doing more.

I’m not gonna sit here and say we haven’t been doing anything, you know, for this community,” he said, raising his voice. “I’m not gonna stand for people saying that we haven’t because we have.”

Graham argued it was not the Council’s responsibility to address homelessness.

“There are things that we can do and there are things that the social service providers do. There’s a difference there,” he said. “They’re the ones who are best at that.”

But other social service providers in attendance echoed Horn’s sentiment, saying that city leaders could at least change the tone and temperature of the conversation.

“We have such a strong narrative that’s really criminalizing people experiencing homelessness, and that’s a tone that’s been set and we can right that ship,” said Cassidy Kipp, deputy director of the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana. “I really think we can and we have to. Y’all have powerful positions and the opportunity to really leverage that voice.”

Jamie Quinn, director of the Flathead Food Bank, argued that elected officials needed to respond to Bryan’s alleged murder. So far, the valley’s leaders have been silent on the issue of violence against homeless people, she said.

“He was attacked for being specifically homeless,” Quinn said. “There is something broken in our country and our community here that this has become acceptable.”

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.

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