Hutchins resigning from Havre City Council

City Council member Caleb Hutchins is resigning his position in the council after five years and moving out of state.

"In the resignation letter I wrote to (Mayor Tim Solomon) and the council, I said my last day with the council would be April 30," he said. "Originally, I was planning on announcing that at a council, but due to current situations they ended up canceling the second monthly meeting for April, so I just wasn't going to have time."

He said he accepted a job at Spokane Community College in Spokane, Washington, as an instructional designer, which is what he is currently doing at Montana State University-Northern. 

Hutchins has been one of Northern's instructional designers for the past five years.

The instructional designer helps the college faculty that are teaching online classes, building curriculum, doing professional development and more, he said.

He added that he will be moving at some point in May, depending on the current coronavirus situation.

Hutchins said he decided to be on the council in the first place because, at that time in his life, he and his wife had become pregnant with their second child, and were settling down in a house,"becoming professional adults," and figured it was a good time to get involved in the community. 

"Once, I was no longer at the Havre Daily where I guess was a more private citizen you could say, I felt like I could contribute to that conversation a little more," he said.

He was the page designer for the Havre Daily News from May 2010 to August 2014.

One thing the council has taught him, he said, was learning how the city government operates, the kinds of things that the city has control over and also understand what City Council doesn't have control over.

"I think a few community members don't really understand those things very well just because it's kind of an opaque process," he said. " ... so that's definitely been a learning experience. Just learning about the process of working in committees and anything with parliamentary procedures."

From what he has learned from his time in City Council, he said, some of those skills and tools will help in his new job.

He said his experience with the council and working with the committees, community members and business will transfer into his new job by working with different stakeholders and people with diverse opinions and needs.

Hutchins was born in Portland, Oregon and moved here when he was 3 years old, he said.

He added that he grew up being homeschooled, but attended Northern and received a bachelor's degree in graphic design in 2002 then received a master's degree in science of education, instruction and learning in 2017.