Florence Andrews

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Tonight’s meeting is reminiscent of what Helena had to deal with regarding the City Commission in 2020. When the hiring of Melinda Reed was up in the air, many locals applied and did not get interviews. Reed was selected behind closed doors and then offered the position as Interim City Manager in a March 2020 meeting, which she accepted. This was upsetting to many in the public. Because of the Commission’s actions, a citizen-led effort filed a petition to recall the Helena City Mayor (Collins), and City Commissioners Haladay and O’Loughlin for violations of the Montana State Constitution. If the citizens recall, the City of Helena Attorney at the time, Thomas Jodoin, sued the citizen in charge of the effort, the county elections office, and the County Clerk to stop the recall. Judge Mike Menehan took the case in his court. Lots of things to look at here, all ye citizens of L&C County.

That same year, starting in June, the City of Helena Commission worked to defund the police regarding School Resource Officers (SROs) and to reallocate money for this irreplaceable service into mental health counselors placed in the schools. An unpublicized agenda item was secretly added to the public comment section earlier in the day, as advertised on the Facebook wall of the Helena Democratic Socialists of America. The public was not supposed to know about this. At that time, the City and County residents were furious and launched a public campaign: “406 Back the Blue.” This battle continued into the following year after Reed was gone, and a new manager was hired, Rachel Harlow-Schalk. Rachel didn’t last long and resigned, citing irreconcilable differences with the City of Helena Commission, which had been demanding that she do things that were unethical. Harlow-Shalk stated that the City Commission was repeatedly violating the City Charter. They did then and continue to do so now.

This year is an election year for the Mayor and two Commissioner seats. In her latest feat of ignorance, Melinda Reed is proposing a discussion, which she knows is divisive and exclusionary, about selecting an official flag for the City of Helena, but not any flag. She would like to see if the Commission will adopt the Pride flag to represent the City of Helena, our residents, our families, and our history. This issue has not been added to the agenda and should not be allowed as a City Commission discussion item without doing so. The public has not been properly noticed, which seems to be a running theme of the Helena City Commission. They seem to be addicted to power, addicted to overspending, and addicted to a lack of transparency only rivaled by your grandmother’s knickers.