By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Great Northern Fair Board member Bob Sivertsen says the Hill County Commission has asked for his resignation following a New Media Broadcasters report featuring several county employees alleging inappropriate behavior by Sivertsen.
Sivertsen provided New Media Broadcasters with a copy of the letter from the Commission. In the letter, the Commission says that they have received “numerous concerning calls, visits, emails, and meetings with persons in our community asking what we are doing about reported incidents involving you in your Fair Commission capacity.”
The letter goes onto say that if Sivertsen does not submit his resignation by Thursday, the Commission will vote on his removal from the Board at their weekly business meeting, scheduled for 10 AM on Thursday at the County Courthouse.
In addition, Fair Board Chairman Josh Heitzenroder tells New Media Broadcasters he has tendered his resignation from the Board, effective at the end of the month. Heitzenroder says he is resigning because he couldn’t get along with Fair Manager Frank English, and also says his family has been negatively impacted by comments made about him on social media. He adds that his obligations “went way beyond what any volunteer should be asked” to deal with.
Without Sivertsen or Heitzenroder, the Fair Board would be down to two voting members, far from enough to even have a quorum for public meetings.
The Hill County Commission declined to comment on the letter sent to Sivertsen.
However, Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson says that he is “extremely disheartened” by Heitzenroder’s resignation, adding that he appreciated his work on the Board.
Heitzenroder was selected as the Chair in April, the same month Sivertsen was appointed to the Fair Board by the Commission.
Allegations Sivertsen is facing include cutting the wiring on a work pickup vehicle, using motor oil to try and mitigate mosquitoes, shooting gophers and pigeons with a rifle on the Fairgrounds, and shutting two employees in horse stalls.
In an email to New Media Broadcasters on Tuesday, Sivertsen continued to deny the allegations and accused other members of the Fair Board of being “out to get” him. His email concludes by saying that “There is so much more.”
Sivertsen also claims that Heitzenroder designated him as “Fair Board Boss” because Heitzenroder was unable to work with English.
Heitzenroder confirmed this arrangement, although he says the actual title Sivertsen was given was “Primary Superintendent Over the Fair Manager.” Heitzenroder says that at the time, he simply couldn’t work with English, and since Sivertsen and English were on good terms, he thought it could work out.
However, Heitzenroder says the arrangement quickly soured. He says that after Sivertsen cut the air conditioning from the county work pickup, the Board asked Sivertsen to “back off and stay away from the Fairgrounds,” until the end of the Fair.
Heitzenroder says Sivertsen did not comply with the request, seeing this as a sign that the Board was “out to get him.”
The incident at the horse stalls came after the request to Sivertsen, and Heitzenroder says that he believes his hands were tied at that point, arguing that any discipline would have to come directly from County HR or the County Commission.
Lex Keller was a member of the Fair Board since April. However, he resigned on July 9th in the immediate aftermath of the incident at the horse stalls.
Keller, like other volunteers and employees who have recently resigned, said he was tired of micromanagement from Sivertsen, adding that “Bob would not listen to reason.”
He says he tried to work with Heitzenroder prior to the horse stall incident to get Sivertsen to back off of county employees, but he wouldn’t listen.
“There’s nothing we can obviously do to get through to him, to quit micromanaging,” Keller tells New Media Broadcasters.
He called being on the Board “one of the most stressful” things he’s ever done, adding that he resigned in part because he worried the county would get wrapped up in a lawsuit if Sivertsen’s behavior continued.
Fair Manager Frank English was unable to be reached for comment prior to the publication of this story.
Legal Issues
When speaking with New Media Broadcasters on Tuesday, Sivertsen says that his comment last week about “having his day in court” when asked about the allegations was because he has been told that a lawsuit might be filed against him.
Heitzenroder and Fair Secretary Anita Stevenson say that there is no such lawsuit. Heitzenroder says that the statement from Sivertsen was “inappropriate,” because it would have been the County that would end up being sued if there were to be a lawsuit.
Stevenson says that Sivertsen may have been referring to a letter sent to County officials following the incident at the horse stalls, in which she threatened to file a restraining order if Sivertsen continued with his behavior.
A copy of the letter, which Stevenson says was sent right after the incident, can be read below. Parentheses have been added in spots to provide clarification and protect personal information.
Good morning all,
I am writing to inform all of you of an unacceptable incident this morning involving myself and Allee (Bartlett) with Bob Sivertson. Allee was leaving early today because the stalls were all wet and needed to be cleaned out before 4H starts setup on Sunday. I offered to help her get them done. We got over there and started to clean the stalls when Bob approached us and told us we could not do it how we were doing it, that he had already cleaned the floor. We asked him to please leave us be so we could get it done and in return he closed me in the stall and held it closed to stop me working. This is classified as holding me against my will. I yelled at him to stop and I pushed the stall open again. I once again started to shovel out and he shut and held it again. I knew Frank was with a customer so I called HR and reported the incident. While I was on the phone with Brittney (from County HR), Bob did the same thing to Allee. Brittney could clearly hear the commotion and asked me what he was doing. She told me to get Frank over there as quickly as I could, which I did. Shortly after Frank arrived Bob left the area. If Bob Sivertson comes anywhere close to me again I will file for a restraining order against him. This is not how we treat people in the workplace. He is clearly overstepping his role as a board member. I am going back to get some more cleaned out and then I am going home to move to our new house but if you need to contact me you can reach me at this email address and my cell # (redacted).
Thank you
Anita Stevenson
This post has been updated
