By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – With around 50 members of the public in attendance on Monday night, the Havre City Council voted 8-0 against a motion to reduce the classification of Havre from a Class One City to a Class Two City.
The vote followed a boisterous public comment period where eight members of the public spoke, seven of which were directly in opposition to the reclassification.
Many of those in opposition cited a section of Montana Code that says a Class Two City can have paid and volunteer firefighters, while Class One has to have an entirely paid department.
Several other people in attendance disputed claims made by some members of the Council at the last meeting that moving to Class Two would open the City up to being more competitive in grant opportunities. Alderwoman Lindsey Ratliff agreed, saying that research she’s done in the last month indicates that City Classification has nothing to do with grant opportunities.
Alderman Andrew Brekke said after the meeting that although grant applications don’t ask for city classification, the fact is that they are currently competing over grants with larger communities due to their classification. He said he personally supports moving to Class Two, but due to the overwhelming public opinion to the contrary, he decided to vote no on Monday night.
The Council said they have no intent to move to a fire department with volunteers, and any changes would have to be approved by the Council following a lengthy process.
This issue was debated at last month’s meeting but was tabled to allow more time for discussion.
Class one cities have a population of over 10,000, while class two cities have between 5,000-10,000 people.
An exception was carved out by the state legislature back in 2003 for towns with a population between 9,000-10,000. The City of Havre is expected to vote at their January meeting on whether to use the exemption to remain in Class One.
Other agenda items at the meeting:
- The Council unanimously approved the receipt of grant funding to allow the purchase and training for a narcotics detecting dog. Police Chief Gabe Matosich said this will be the first time the city Police Department has their own K9
- The unanimous approval of the appointment as Calvin Greiff as Probationary Police Officer
- Unanimous approval of November Claims and manual warrants
This was the last scheduled Council meeting in 2021. When the Council convenes in January, Doug Kaercher will have replaced Tim Solomon as Mayor. On the Council, Kimberly Bolta will have replaced Terry Lilletvedt for Ward 1, and Heather Parker will have replaced Karen Swenson for Ward 2.
There were no municipal elections for Havre this year due to a lack of candidates, so all those who applied were elected by acclamation.
