A city manager for Havre? Varying views on council

A city manager form of government received widespread, but not unanimous, backing Monday night from members of Havre City Council.

The Study Commission, a three-member panel chaired by Dave Brewer, is reviewing the city’s form of government. Monday they interviewed council members on their ideas of how the city should be be run.

Voters in November 2016 will decide what course of action to take. The commission can propose that no changes be made, that a city manager be hired or that a variety of options in between be taken. Voters make the final decision.

Council member Allen “Woody” Woodwick was skeptical of the city manager proposal, saying it would take the city’s top executive one step further away from the people.

Under the plan, the council would hire a manager to run the day-to-day operations of the city government. Supporters of the plan said the manager would be well trained in city government and could help council members design a long-range strategy for the city, looking for cost-cutting measures and new ways of providing services.

But Woodwick said the manager would be costly.

He predicted that a young person looking for the first step in a career in municipal government would be the most likely person for the job.

Woodwick said he suspected the cost for the person would be up to $100,000 a year.

The person wouldn’t know the city, he said, and might leave after a couple of years for the next step on the career ladder.

Council member Andrew Brekke fell just short of saying he supported the plan, but said council should take a serious look at it.

Most large cities in Montana have a city manager, he said, and some small ones do as well.

The manager would be able to perform duties that are now contracted out, he said, saving the city money, adding that there is no reason to believe that the city manager would have to come from out of town.

He said the city should follow the example of Montana State University-Northern, where longtime Havreite Kegel was recently named chancellor.

Should the city manager form of government be adopted, the elected mayor could take on mostly ceremonial duties, or council members could rotate being mayor.

Council member Terry Lilletvedt said she felt a professional manager ought to be the one running an organization as complicated as the city.

“I just feel we are big,” she said. “We need a professional to run it.”

Some suggested that the city manager could also be the human relations manager, which most agreed the city needed.

There were also split opinions on the proposal that City Council members be elected citywide instead of by ward.

Presently, two people represent each of the four wards.

Woodwick said he favored election by neighborhood because that allowed “for a closer connect with the voters.”

Council member Pam Hillery said, in general, people wanting to make a point call the council member they know, not the one who represents them.

“If people from Woody’s ward call me, I respond,” she said.