FOI attorney: Commission should have given clearer notice fair manager firing

A Montana freedom of information attorney said the Hill County Commission should have been more

specific on Thursday's agenda about their decision to fire Great Northern Fair grounds manager Dave Brewer.

The decision to release Brewer because of the fairgrounds' financial problems was made during the "Employment

Review" portion of Thursday's meeting. The fair board is holding a special meeting Wednesday.

Attorney Mike Meloy of Montana's Freedom of Information Hotline Inc. said the matter should have been handled differently and a better attempt to allow public input should have been made.

"If there was significant public interest in the employment of the manager, the commission should have permitted the public to weigh in on the employment issue and the agenda notice was inadequate," Mike Meloy said.

Commissioner Mike Wendland said Friday the commissioners were not trying to hide anything by not being more specific about what would happen during that part of the meeting.

Wendland said the decision was made after Commission Chair Mark Peterson had extensive conversations with board members about releasing Brewer. It was unfortunate that it had to happen, Wendland said, but the fair board's money troubles are just too great.

Wages are one of the fairground's largest expenses, second only to utilities.

Brewer was a county employee whose duties included managing the fairgrounds and overseeing the Great Northern Fair. His wages were part of the Great Northern Fair Board's annual budget.

Despite the commissioner's mishandling, no one broke the law, Meloy clarified.

"Article II, Section 8 guarantees public opportunity to participate in decisions of significant public interest before a decision is made. The statutory provision exempts personnel decisions. So technically, the law was not broken. But a good case could be made that the commission still 'should' have permitted public input," Meloy said in an email Friday.

Brewer said in a Facebook message Saturday that he, too, believes his firing should have been handled differently:

"I believe that I should have been in the review process in a non-public session with the board chairman present, but on the other hand, since all sides had stated publicly that the decision to dismiss was based entirely on the lack of funding for the manager groundskeeper position; than the entire format was incorrectly worded right away in the agenda for the week of 26 February thru 2 March. The agenda line item should have been to meet with the Great Northern Fair Board about the budget/revenue issues and NOT an employment review. Otherwise there's just some 'back-pedaling' occurring since personnel issues aren't legally public information."

Personnel issues generally are considered confidential, although in the case of high-profile employees the case can be made that the public's right to know outweighs the employee's right to privacy.

Given the public outpouring as evidenced by social media since news broke Feb. 21 that the fair board discussed the possibility of seasonally shutting down the fairgrounds or going to an all-volunteer fair, the case for "public interest" is not a difficult one to make.

People have taken to social media - Facebook's page "Havre's Questions, Comments, & Concerns" especially - en masse with complaints and, ideas to "save the fair," ideas on how to make money during the offseason, as well as suggestions on how to improve a fair that, to many, has dwindled in quality for years.

Comments indicate that many plan to attend the special meeting during which board members and commissioners intend to dive into ideas for long-term solutions and create a blueprint for the future of the fairgrounds and the fair. The meeting will happen Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Bear Paw Veterinary Clinic's upper large animal clinic room. There are two items on the agenda, the Great Northern Fair financial state and planning solutions.

The fairgrounds manager position has been a  roller coaster of firings, resignations and absenteeism for years.

Brewer was hired last March in an online vote that violated the state's open meeting laws because of the board's failure to publish an agenda notifying the public about holding a vote on hiring a fairgrounds manager. Brewer was one of six candidates.

The board held a public vote April 18 with two members, Chelby Gooch, and Ray Kallenberger, opposed to hiring him.  

In September, after the 2017 fair, there was a closed session meeting that centered around Brewer's performance. Brewer had said after that meeting that board members did not give a "resounding we want Dave to stay," but it allowed him and board members to both raise issues.

"I was more than willing to walk away, but I don't think that would have solved anything," Brewer had said.

Before Brewer, the fair board had gone months without a fairgrounds manager because the previous manager, Bob Horne, had abruptly quit in November 2016. Horne resigned after nine months of holding the job, leaving the position vacant for the second time in the same year.

Longtime fairgrounds manager and Havre Mayor Tim Solomon resigned as manager in February 2015 after the board voted to change the requirements of the post. Solomon was subsequently replaced by Mike Sharp. Sharp submitted his resignation in October 2015 following a confrontational public meeting of the fair board.

The fairgrounds' money problems have persisted for at least the last eight years, McCann had said after the Feb. 20 meeting, and board member frustrations came to a head during that  meeting after Finance Committee Chair Kallenberger went over the cash reserves budget that was, and still is, in the red.

The fairgrounds generates revenue from the fair - carnival proceeds and money from civic groups and concessions and exhibitors - fairgrounds facility rentals, camper storage, house rental, and schools who rent the grounds to train for rodeos. A small portion, about $5,000, comes from county tax coffers.

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Tim Leeds contributed to this report.