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The Cascade County Commission will now vote yearly on who will serve as their presiding officer. The change is just part of a nearly year long saga that is dividing the county. The meeting saw both proponents and opponents of the measure pack the commission chambers.
Ordinance 23-01, passed on November 28, mandates a yearly vote of the commissioners to select a commissioner chair for a year-long term, rather than the three commissioners serving two-year terms as chair on a rotating schedule. The ordinance takes effect 30 days after passage. Commissioners Joe Briggs and Jim Larson voted for the measure while Commissioner Rae Grulkowski voted against it.
The change comes in the midst of intense criticism of current Commission Chair Grulkowski from local leftist activists, who have also set their sights earlier this year on ousting County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant from office.
The election of conservatives Grulkowski and Merchant in 2022 shook the status quo of two county government positions.
In November 2022, Merchant won in a close race against Rina Fontana-Moore, a Democrat who had been in office since 2007. Grulkowski also won over incumbent County Commissioner Don Ryan, also a Democrat. Ryan has been appointed to replace Democrat Commissioner Jane Weber when she resigned in 2021. Both ran for the remainder of Weber’s term. With Grulkowski’s partial term came a stint as chair, as part of the previously scheduled rotation.
Merchant took office at the beginning of 2023 and almost immediately faced unprecedented scrutiny from Fontana-Moore supporters, who formed the Election Protection Committee (EPC) and demanded she resign. The group cited anomalies in May 2023 election, the first election Merchant administered, including ballots sent to non-landowners in a flood district, as evidence of Merchant’s incompetence.
It is notable to some that the group seems to ignore similar anomalies during Fontana-Moore's time in office.
In 2021, a judge invalidated a flood district election run by then Clerk and Recorder Fontana-Moore. Fontana-Moore had sent ballots to every voter in the flood district, not just landowners as is the law. Media at that time reported some 830 ballots were mailed out when only 519 ballots should have been sent. At that point, Fontana-Moore had been in office more than 14 years.
The latest dispute erupted over the Great Falls municipal election canvass meeting and Grulkowski and Merchant's actions related to it.
The county commission serves as the board of county canvassers. This is codified in Montana Code Annotated 13-15-401 (1)
The governing body of a county or consolidated local government is ex officio a board of county canvassers and shall meet as the board of county canvassers at the usual meeting place of the governing body at a time determined by the board and within 14 days after each election to complete the canvass of returns.
An email from Commissioner Grulkowski documents a timeline.
“The week prior to the November 7, 2023, election, Merchant told Commissioner office staff that an elections canvass would need to be scheduled after upcoming elections results were received.
Nov. 14, 2023, Merchant reminds Commissioner office staff about scheduling the elections canvass. Merchant receives no confirmation of scheduling as of morning of Nov. 17, 2023. At 7:48 am on November 17, 2023, Merchant emails Commissioner office staff a request to schedule canvass for Monday afternoon at 3:30 pm. Still receiving no responses, elections office then physically makes hourly checks of Commissioner office to try to schedule.
Leaving an afternoon meeting, Commissioner Grulkowski is contacted by Merchant that elections office has been making hourly checks to Commissioner office to schedule canvass and no one has been available. Elections office is considering using their website to notice. At 2:11 pm, Commissioner Grulkowski leaves a cell phone message for Commissioner office staff member who was to be on duty that day. Message asked for response to whereabouts and requested they contact elections office to schedule elections canvass. At time of this writing, there has still been no response to Commissioner Grulkowski from that cell phone message. Commissioner Grulkowski arrives in Human Resources office to request their assistance for elections to schedule canvass. Posting is created at 2:38 pm on November 17, 2023. Commissioner Briggs sends email at 3:37 pm and states this posting doesn’t meet “48 hour rule”. Merchant not copied in. Merchant doesn’t receive emails, nor notice there was any issue with scheduled time of canvass, until after 4:47 pm. On Monday, November 20, 2023, Commissioners Briggs and Larson refuse to attend scheduled canvass meeting and only one substitute is available. Meeting has to be rescheduled.”
The Montana Code Annotated mandates public notice for what would be deemed public meetings (for example, whenever a quorum of governing body is present). But the MCA codifies no advance time period for notification of those public meetings. The 48-hour notice comes from a Montana Attorney General’s decision in 1998.
In the case of county commission meetings, the Attorney General has suggested that 48 hours advance notice should generally be considered “sufficient to notify the public of contemplated action. 47 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 13 at 6 (1998).
However, it doesn’t appear there is a legal requirement that the 48 hours be business hours. Instead, it seems the 48 hours as business hours rather than clock hours is something the county commission did in practice, not as law.
Grulkowski also faced criticism for seeking substitutes for the canvass when Commissioners Larson and Briggs refused to attend. But that action is covered in the MCA, 13-15-401 (2)
If one or more of the members of the governing body cannot attend the meeting, the member’s place must be filled by one or more county officers chosen by the remaining members of the governing body so that the board of county canvassers’ membership equals the membership of the governing body.
The commission will likely chose a new chair at the first commission meeting after the ordinance takes effect.
It is true that Fontana-Moore had difficulties with the drainage election and had to re-run it. What I don't understand is why Merchant didn't try to learn from Fontana-Moore's mistakes in order to avoid them. I've had a feeling that Merchant is trying to reinvent the wheel, and is too arrogant to seek help.
Ruth,
Appreciate your comment! Merchant supporters claim when Fontana-Moore left, the elections staff office resigned/requested reassignment to other county positions, including second in command DeRoche, who could've helped Merchant transition. Hence reinventing the wheel. Fontana-Moore supporters claim the opposite; she & her team weren't asked for help. Regardless, Merchant's critics ignore Fontana-Moore ran prior flood district elections, had years of experience, yet still erred.