Missoula Council rule change may limit minority input

The changes cover several areas, like how the council can resolve tied elections for the office, but the conversation focused on how the new rules could limit minority voices on the council.

Currently, only two councilors are required to force any policy idea onto the council floor, while the new rules would require six people to show interest, or four people to show interest after five weeks.

Ward 4 Councilor Mike Nugent, the sponsor, said the new policy would still allow a minority of council to schedule prospective laws. He said the rules could create “sideboards” to limit time on unpopular policy or ideas that need more development.   

“It puts the onus on working together, ” Nugent said. “Obviously our time and what we talk about is important, staff time is important as well.”

Nugent said there have been some policy proposals, like Ward 3 Councilor Daniel Carlino’s resolution to legalize mini pigs, that were unnecessary for the local government to handle. 

He also said many of the topics brought to the floor by minority members of the council then get local press coverage, and give oxygen to issues that might not be the most important issues facing the city.

Councilor Gwen Jones agreed with the policy to better use city staff time more efficiently.

“As our budget gets more and more difficult every year, and we’re asking more and more of our staff,” Jones said, “I think this is important to create more structure there, so when staff spends time on something, it is impactful for the long run.”

Other councilors opposed the policy because it could put more of the council decisions behind the scenes of the public meeting, or because they worry future councils will have less opportunities to address less popular policy.

Councilor Bob Campbell said he didn’t think the council was growing inefficient. 

“I don’t know that we’ve arrived at the point where we are so encumbered by what we each want to bring up to the floor to say that we need to look at ways of streamlining the process,” Campbell said.

Councilor Sierra Farmer said she thought the new policy would not really address the issue of having the new policy prepared, and instead recommended a “referral” checklist instead to help guide the councilors.

Carlino said the current system of two people should suffice. He added that the rule has not been used in years because generally the council has worked together to get policy to the floor. 

“If something is unpopular, I think two people should be used,” Carlino said.

Council committee chairs have the discretion to schedule certain items and hold others.

Under the proposed change, the chair could poll councilors on interest for a policy, which would need 6 people interested. Otherwise, councilors would need four supporters of a policy to force a hearing on the floor. 

The changes could cause some issues with Montana open meeting law, depending on whether councilors have “substantive discussion” on the policy in private, according to City Civil Services Attorney Ryan Sudbury.

The council tied 5-5 on a preliminary Wednesday vote. Councilors Mike Nugent, Gwen Jones, Mirtha Becerra, Jennifer Savage and Amber Sherrill voted yes. Councilors Sierra Farmer, Sandra Vasecka, Daniel Carlino, Bob Campbell and Kristen Jordan opposed the changes. Councilors Stacie Anderson and Eric Melson did not vote on Wednesday. 

Despite the gridlock, the changes will advance to a final vote at the council’s regular Monday meeting on July 29.