Fair board member accused of inappropriate and threatening actions

Multiple employees of the Great Northern Fairgrounds have publicly accused Fair Board member Bob Sivertsen of inappropriate and threatening behavior including trying to trap employees in horse stalls, damaging county property to prevent them from using air conditioning, and risking environmental damage to the grounds with antiquated methods of insect repellant.

When asked about the allegations, Sivertsen's only response was, "See you (in) court."

Sivertsen is a well-known figure in the area, a long-time rancher and inductee into the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame. He served in the state Legislature from 1974 to 1982, is a well-known local auctioneer and has announced many events at Great Northern Fairgrounds. He also has been president of the re-established Highway 2 Association that has pushed since 2001 to widen U.S. Highway 2 to four lanes across the state and has pushed to upgrade the Port of Wild Horse on the Canadian border north of Havre.

He also has publicly complained about the management and operation of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center and made a failed attempt in 2019 to spearhead a boycott of Montana Hutterite colonies.

Havre Daily News attempted to contact other members of the fair board, the Hill County commissioners and Great Northern Fairgrounds manager Frank English.

English, who was the only source Havre Daily could find to contact other fairgrounds employees, has been out of town since Saturday and Havre Daily was unable to contact him.

The other fair board members and county commissioners had not responded to requests for comment by printing deadline this morning.

Among those alleging misconduct is Great Northern Fairgrounds Secretary Anita Stevenson, who called Sivertsen's behavior unstable and sometimes dangerous.

The most concerning of these incidents, she said, was one in which Sivertsen twice closed the door of a horse stall she was trying to clean out in preparation for 4-H's arrival at the Great Northern Fair, attempting to hold it closed until she acquiesced to his demands about work procedures.

Stevenson said Sivertsen apparently didn't like that she and another employee were shoveling the manure into the midway of the barn, so they could take it away with the fairground's tractor, instead preferring that they take it away one wheelbarrow at a time and keep the midway clean.

She said on top of the fact that Sivertsen has no authority to dictate how the job is done, and the one who does have that authority, Fairgrounds Manager Frank English, asked them to do it that way, she has some health-related issues that make the more labor-intensive procedure potentially dangerous given that it was over 100 degrees out already.

When she refused his request, she said, Sivertsen closed the stall door on her and held it shut in an attempt to trap her.

Stevenson said when she got the door open she told him never to do it again or she would call Hill County human resources, and when he tried to do it again almost immediately after, she made good on what she said.

As she was calling HR, she said, she heard screaming from inside the horse barn as Sivertsen had now trapped her co-worker, 18-year-old Allee Bartlett.

The screaming was so loud that the person on the other end of the line could hear the commotion and asked what was going on.

Stevenson said the incident has made Bartlett feel understandably unsafe around Sivertsen and she avoids him whenever she can, but the departure of groundskeeper James Logan, who Stevenson said quit to get away from Sivertsen's meddling, has left her with very few people to go to.

"When he quit Allee didn't have anyone she felt safe with out there," she said.

She said while she is absolutely furious with Sivertsen, she's ultimately not all that worried about herself, but Bartlett's well-being is another matter.

"I do have sour grapes but I'm not worried about me, I can handle myself," she said. "I do worry about Allee."

Stevenson said she told her coworker to call the police if Sivertsen ever tries to do something like that again.

Stevenson said while this was perhaps the most dramatic of Sivertsen's actions it is far from the only instance of this kind of behavior.

Another incident she described involved Sivertsen cutting wires in a county pickup truck to prevent employees from using the air conditioning which he felt was unnecessary even in triple digit weather.

Stevenson said this incident happened just before the Fourth of July when workers, including Logan, found the air conditioning in the vehicle disconnected along with a note from Sivertsen warning them not to use the air conditioning.

English reconnected the air conditioning for the workers who, upon returning to the vehicle later, found that Sivertsen had cut the wires.

"That's vandalism in my opinion," Stevenson said. "It's not his property, he had no right."

Stevenson said Sivertsen also spent a great deal of time undermining English in general, coming to the fairgrounds without his knowledge and not keeping the manager informed about anything he was doing.

She said he would often turn on and leave sprinklers going to water grass English had already watered, allowing massive pools to form in the midway.

Sivertsen, she said, also made a habit of pouring motor oil on the grounds to serve as mosquito repellant, potentially poisoning the ground.

"That stuff is toxic," she said.

Stevenson said she's worked at the fairgrounds for only a month, and Sivertsen has been doing these kinds of things since day one, and she's repulsed by the fact that the fair board has done nothing to stop or even reprimand him.

She said this isn't the first time concerns about Sivertsen have been brought to members of the board, but every time they're brought up board members do nothing, or worse make excuses for him.

"Every time something like this is brought up they have another excuse for Bob Sivertsen," she said. "They just brush it under the rug."

Stevenson said this is part of a pattern she's observed in which members of the board constantly blame English for the troubles at the grounds, insult his competence and make him a scapegoat, while protecting Sivertsen who regularly engages in inappropriate, and sometimes dangerous behavior, which she said is wildly hypocritical.

When asked for comment about the situation, English said he would prefer to let those on the receiving end of Sivertsen's behavior speak for themselves.

She said the fact that this situation has gone on for so long and no one has done anything about it shames the county.

"I'm disgusted," she said. ... They need to be proactive and realize that Bob is not an asset to the board. In fact, he's a huge embarrassment to the county in my opinion."

Stevenson said she isn't sure what the procedure for removal is for county boards, but the Hill County Commission should be looking into Sivertsen's fitness to serve on said board.

She said he should simply be removed from the board for his actions, actions she said he has made no effort to acknowledge or apologize for.