Chairman makes strong push for city manager

Dave Brewer said he is a strong supporter of the plan to make major renovations to Havre's deteriorating street system.

Just the same, Brewer told the Pachyderms Friday that he is happy the City Council is leaning against placing the multi-million proposal on the ballot this fall. That would mean it would be 2019 before work actually begins.

By delaying that vote, he said, it will be easier to win approval of the proposed city manager form of government that will also be in the ballot.

Brewer is chair of the Government Study Commission which has been reviewing various forms of government for 18 months. The commission is on the verge of proposing the city adopt a city manager form of government under which an executive responsible to the city commission would run the day-to-day affairs of the city.

Brewer said the manager system of government is essential to the city's future and will help the city grow economically.

If the street proposal were on the ballot this fall, he said, the manager form of government would be in danger of being defeated. He's afraid too many items on the ballot would turn off voters.

Twenty years ago, he said, a city manager proposal was on the ballot at the same time as a proposal to build a new Hill County jail.

"Both were defeated by about 400 votes," he said.

The jail proposal was approved years later, but the city has gone without a manager.

If the manager plan goes down to defeat this year, it cannot be placed on the ballot for another 10 years, he said. Given that, he said, it is better to put off the vote on the much-needed street repair proposal for one year.

Brewer, a longtime Democratic activist, took good-natured ribbing for speaking to the Republican organization's meeting, but said he thought the manager issue was too important for partisan politics.

People of both parties have worked to develop the plan, he said. He said he's pleased with the backing it has received.

He outlined the proposal that will be voted on. It has three parts:

• Creation of a charter that would give the city self-regulating powers, meaning it would be less under the umbrella of state laws. He said he has found no opposition to this.

• Turning the City Council into a City Commission. One commissioner would be elected from each of the four wards, he said. Two would be elected at large and the seventh member would be a mayor who would preside at commission meetings. The mayor would be elected at large.

• The manager would be hired by and report to the commission.

Brewer said the city commission will determine how much the manager would be paid.

Brewer said he has been pleased with the support the proposal has received in recent weeks. For most of the time the panel has been studying the proposal, attendance at meetings was very sparse.

One Pachyderm member said Brewer ought not to complain about that.

Twenty years ago, Gail Rader said, meetings were not so quiet.

Rader chaired the commission 20 years ago, and the audiences at meetings were often filled with people who made hostile comments and questions, she said.

Rader said she respected the work Brewer's commission has done this time.