Hot Springs looks to citizens for review

HOT SPRINGS – Last June the voters of Hot Springs voted through a local government review to examine the current process of governance used by the town’s local government.

The review narrowly passed in the June vote with 41 votes for and 40 votes against the proposed procedure.

The local government review vote, which is mandated by the state’s constitution, asks voters to decide if they want to elect and fund a study commission to review the form of their town’s existing government.

Article IX, Section 9 of the 1972 state constitution established the current procedure regarding local government reviews.

In November of last year, during the general elections, the town of Hot Springs elected the five commissioners who are conducting the study.

Michael Smale, Karen Evans, Susan Roberts, Renee Floyd and Kathryn McEnery were the five highest recipients of votes in last fall’s general election.

Floyd recently stepped down and the sixth highest vote getter, Benny Walters was contacted and appointed to fill the vacant spot on the commission.

Last Thursday, the study commissioners held an informative session at the Tribal Nutritional Center in Hot Springs for the town’s residence.

Stressing the importance of public participation in the ongoing review Roberts stated,

“Quite frankly, no matter what this commission panel recommends, if the voters are not on board it won’t happen,” Roberts said.  

Several communities across northwestern Montana will also be conducting reviews this year, but Hot Springs was the only town in Sanders County to vote for a commission study.

According to McEnery, the town of Hot Springs has undergone government reviews in the past, stating the review voted through in 2014 is the fifth in the town’s history.

McEnery noted that though reviews are not always voted through when they are present on a town’s ballot every ten years, communities across the state tend to vote for them.

“What you see across the state is there are always some counties and some cities that are voting to do a review,” McEnery said.

As part of the information session the study commissioners went over the alternative forms of local government employed across the state.

Hot Springs, in addition to Plains and Thompson Falls, employs a Commission-Executive or Council-Mayor form of local government.

In this format, the voters of a town elect the mayor and the town’s council/commission.

The mayor handles daily business and appoints department heads of the various infrastructural positions with the consent of the elected council.

At last Thursday’s meeting, Evans explained several other options of municipal governance were available including commission manager, commission council, commission presiding officer, town meeting and charter formats of government.

The town meeting syle of local government operations is specifically designed for small towns and the state dictates this form can only be adopted in a community of less than 2,000 persons.

In December, the elected commissioners attended a workshop in Bozeman, hosted by the Montana State University Local Government Center.

On Thursday, March 26, there will be a public hearing regarding the local government review, where residents will have an opportunity to voice their opinions.

The hearing will take place at the Tribal Nutritional Center on Spring Street in Hot Springs and is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

There will be a mail-in survey available for Hot Springs residents to fill out this week, the survey is anonymous and will help inform the commission on where the voters stand.

The review commission plans to have a tentative report on the review completed by the middle of May.

A recording of last week’s informational meeting on the ongoing review is available at the town library.