13 KEIN News received an official response to the letter by 5 by 5 to 13 KEIN News linked here from Commissioner Briggs.
As with all letters to the editor and responses we have published it unedited and in its entirety for your review. This letter does not reflect the opinion of this station or Tiger Butte Broadcasting.
From: Haight, Carey <chaight@cascadecountymt.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 9:13 AM
To: Briggs, Joe <jbriggs@cascadecountymt.gov>; Grulkowski, Rae <rgrulkowski@cascadecountymt.gov>; Larson, James <jlarson@cascadecountymt.gov>
Cc: Racki, Joshua <jracki@cascadecountymt.gov>; Marcinek, Phoebe <pmarcinek@cascadecountymt.gov>
Subject: RE: Fw: IS COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOE BRIGGS TRYING TO CONTROL OUR ELECTIONS?
Good morning-
I think it is important to correct the statement below made by 5 for 5 which asserts “Commissioners are elected by their districts for 6 years.”
Pursuant to MCA 7-4-2104, the members of the board of county commissioners have to reside in the county and district for at least 2 years immediately preceding the general election for the commission seat/district in which the individual is running, but it is my understanding that the commissioners for Cascade County are in fact elected by the entire electorate of the county, not just the voters from the candidate’s district of residence.
Carey Ann Haight
Chief Civil Deputy
CASCADE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
121 4th Street North, Suite 2A
Great Falls, MT 59401
406.454.6915
From: Briggs, Joe <jbriggs@cascadecountymt.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 8:21 AM
To: Christopher R. Smyth <chris.smyth@1310kein.com>; Grulkowski, Rae <rgrulkowski@cascadecountymt.gov>; Larson, James <jlarson@cascadecountymt.gov>
Cc: Haight, Carey <chaight@cascadecountymt.gov>
Subject: RE: Fw: IS COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOE BRIGGS TRYING TO CONTROL OUR ELECTIONS?
Chris,
I will respond to a couple of items:
First of all, the chart presented by the Chair at the earlier meeting was not correct but despite that has been repeated by some individuals in the county as proof of some conspiracy. It showed di not show the first four years that I was in office, and it incorrectly said that I was the Chair in 2008 which in not correct. She asserted that I had been Chairman 8 times in 16 years, the fact is that I has served as Chairman 7 times in 19 years and the representative of each of the other two commission districts have each served 6 times as chairman. Mathematically in the 19th years, one of the Commission districts would have to serve a 7th time as Chair. I do not see any “plot” here.
Here are the facts:
I was first elected in November if 2004 and took office in January of 2005. I did not serve as Chairman until my 5th year in office. This was the standard practice when I was elected and had been going on for many years.
Peggy Beltrone was the chair in 2005 and 2006.
Lance Olson was chair in 2007 and 2008.
Contrary to the misinformation being promulgated, Ordinance 09-01 DID NOT change the rotation of the Chair, it merely affirmed that the term was for two years . I have attached a copy of the recorded ordinance for your reference. The legal department simply felt that clarity was needed regarding the process that had been used for many years and the timing of this ordinance matched the existing odd even sequence already in play for the two year term.
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2009 and 2010 as per long standing practice, I did not gain any special advantage from Ord 09-01 as it changed nothing.
The next link in this chain was the resignation of Commissioner Peggy Beltrone announced her retirement effective upon the appointment of her successor. (The law has since been clarified on this point)
The Commission had to make an appoint to fill the remainder of Peggy’s Term and in the end selected Jane Weber to fill the slot on September 2nd of 2010.
Commissioner Weber was filling one half of the 4th and 5th and 6th years of Peggy’s term and noted that stepping in the chair with only 5th months as a Commissioner was problematic despite her years of Government and organizational experience.
This situation created the 1st change in the ordinance that I am aware of, This Ordinance 12-01 changed the rotation to the 3rd and 6th year of the term so that Bill Salina would assume the Chair in 2011 and Jane would get another full of experience before assuming the chair in 2012.
Bill Salina was the Chair in 2011
Jane Weber was the Chair in 2012
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2013
Bill Salina was the Chair in 2014
Jane Weber was the Chair in 2015
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2016
Jim Larson was the Chair in 2017
Jane Weber was the Chair in 2018
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2019
Jim Larson was the Chair in 2020
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2021
Jane Weber resigned effective 01/22/21 at the beginning of her 3rd year in her term.
Don Ryan was appointed to fill the remainder of her term but once again that created a situation where a new Commissioner would immediately become the Chair. For that and other reasons such as the issue with the Grant cycle and the membership on the PCC of the MPO, I proposed that we go back to the version of the rotation in place prior to 2012. This return to past practice was passed as Ordinance 21-1 on Jan 26th of 2021.
Joe Briggs was the Chair in 2022
Rae Grulkowski is the Chair in 2023
As to the issue of who will be the next chair, that will be decided at the 1st meeting in January assuming this ordinance passes 2nd reading. As for me, I do no wish to Chair until I am able to hand off the CFO duties that I am currently handling so I am not a candidate for that role in January.
Moving on to the election canvas:
I dd state that we have never done that canvas in that fashion before and that is a fact. That does not mean that what was done before was not a legal style of Canvasing. In prior years we received the precinct by precinct summary sheets as we did this time but we also received the totals sheet from the tabulator as well. More importantly to entire point of the canvas is that we used to receive a copy of the report from the State Voter Data base so that we could verify that the number of ballots accepted for counting matched the number of ballots rum through the counting machine. We were not provided those until I specifically asked for them and at that point discovered that more ballots were put through the counter than the Elections department verified and logged in the state voter system. In the training I have previously received on canvasing, this is a critical element that must be verified. When Sandra was unable to explain how more voters were counted than logged in as received and suggested that she would need to contact the Secretary of State regarding the difference, I moved to table until we had the answer.
I am glad that it made some folks feel better that we did the canvas a different way but given that all we did was take reports from the tabulators containing sub totals and add all of the subtotals together from the different precincts to create a total in each race without then checking them against the totals that came off the tabulators, I am uncertain what we verified. If that is indeed the intent of the law so be it, we will follow it, but it very different than what has previously described as “best practice”. On e positive note, the SOS office was given rule making authority to create rules by which local elections such as the one we just canvassed can be audited. Currently we are not allowed to select precincts in a local election for hand count to verify the accuracy of the tabulator.
The issue of me acting in the role of interim CFO/Budget officer.
Three times in my 19 year tenure the other two commissioners have asked me to take on extra duties beyond those of the other Commissioners to get the county through staffing issues. Each time I have stepped up and filled in to keep the system operating. That is the way I was raised and have always operated, if something needs done, you step up and do it. This is the second time I have had to step in as interim CFO, the 1st was when or CFO died suddenly during the budget process. I have also had to step in and with the help of our Chief Civil Attorney take on the HR Director role. In each of these cases, I have taken on the job of person paid more than I am and I have neither asked for nor received any additional compensation for my efforts. I have also carried my full load as a Commissioner during these times and the county has benefited not only because needed processes have continued to flow but we have accrued vacancy savings.
The only difference this time is instead of being thanked for going beyond my elected job description, I am being attacked. Apparently having a strong work ethic is now a bad thing in some people’s minds. I have told the Chairman that if she would feel better with a formal resolution naming me the interim CFO, I have no issues with that but this action was taken before she was elected and no one saw the need for the that step previously.
Thanks for asking the questions and letting me see this email.
Joe
From: Christopher R. Smyth <chris.smyth@1310kein.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 6:16 AM
To: Briggs, Joe <jbriggs@cascadecountymt.gov>; Grulkowski, Rae <rgrulkowski@cascadecountymt.gov>; Larson, James <jlarson@cascadecountymt.gov>
Subject: Fwd: Fw: IS COUNTY COMMISSIONER JOE BRIGGS TRYING TO CONTROL OUR ELECTIONS?
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Commissioners,
The station has received this e-mail to our letters to the editor address. We have not yet heard back on our article regarding the election canvass from commissioner Briggs or Larson but are now also asking if the commissioners would care to respond to this letter from 5 by 5 which is an organization in our community?
Thank you,
