Flathead County commissioners voted unanimously Monday against renewing Planning Director Jeff Harris’ contract past September, despite public comments urging them to keep Harris in the department.
Commissioners Joe Brenneman, Dale Lauman and Jim Dupont did agree to extend Harris’ current contract, which was scheduled to end in June, until Sept. 30. But the contract will not be renewed past that date.
“Flathead County needs to economize,” said Lauman, who cited concerns over a sluggish economic recovery and the county’s financial stability as his reason behind his vote.
“It’s not a personal issue,” Lauman told Harris during the meeting.
Harris said he doesn’t know what he will do after September. He intends to continue his planning career, but it would most likely take him out of the valley. His house is already for sale, suggesting that he expected this outcome.
“It’s rough out there, so I’m looking for job opportunities,” he said.
Most of the people gathered at the meeting spoke in support of Harris, saying that his competence as a planning professional has transformed Flathead County for the better.
Harris took over the department in 2005 and worked toward building and implementing the Flathead County Growth Policy. His supporters argue that this marked an end to so-called “rubber-stamp” development and the beginning of more conscientious planning in the valley.
Harris, however, has long been the focus of complaints and allegations against his office, which included noncompliance with county and state laws, secret Web sites, unfair hearings and open meeting law violations, among others. Most of these came to a head in July 2009 when residents brought forth numerous complaints to the commissioners and circulated a petition calling to suspend Harris and investigate his office.
At Monday’s meeting, several people cautioned the commission against succumbing to pressure from local property rights groups, which they said are a vocal minority of the population.
“Putting aside the baseless allegations, and considering the factual record, there is simply no good reason not to renew Mr. Harris’ contract; there is only the political expedience of satisfying the loud voices of those who have wrongly accused him of misdeeds,” wrote Kalispell attorney Roger Sullivan.
Frank Sweeney, a former member of both the Whitefish City-County Planning Board and City Council, said Harris has provided ethical leadership while maneuvering through murky planning issues. This makes the director’s seat a tough position to hold, Sweeney said.
“Our experience with him, I think, has been very, very good,” Sweeney said. “I don’t think he’s done anything other than the job you’ve asked him to do.”
Other speakers pointed out that the county paid $10,000 for a six-month, third-party investigation into the planning department, which found no wrongdoing by the office or Harris.
Brenneman noted during the April 12 meeting that the investigation cleared Harris but was also necessary to prove numerous claims against the county were without merit and that the persons making the allegations “probably should not be trusted.”
At the same meeting, Bob Spoklie testified that the “last five years have been the worst I’ve ever seen under Mr. Harris,” because the county has paid too much money to battle lawsuits against the department.
Spoklie also asked the commissioners to consider eliminating the planning director’s position all together.
County Administrator Mike Pence said the county would fill the director’s position, but because of a significant decrease in the planning department’s workload, the position of assistant director will likely be eliminated in the future.
The department had a “beefed up” administration because of the county’s significant expansion in previous years, Pence said, but as development has slowed the added staffing is no longer necessary.
In fiscal year 2007, the department brought in $339,360 in application fees, Pence said. By fiscal year 2009, that number had dropped to $162,545. So far this year, at nine months into the 2010 fiscal year, application fees are at $74,341 and expected to reach only $100,000.
This has led to a decrease in full-time personnel from 13 to 7.5, Harris said.