Water For Flathead's Future | CALL TO ACTION Feb 4th
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CALL TO ACTION Feb 4th

02 Feb CALL TO ACTION Feb 4th

Posted at 18:02h in Uncategorized by

Do you trust your County Commissioner’s to protect our water and farms?

Action Date: Feb 4th, 2018 at 10:15 am

Where: County Commissioner’s Chambers — 800 S Main St; Kalispell
On Monday, Feb 4th at 10:15 a.m. the Egan Slough Zoning Commission (ESZC) is having its annual meeting.  The 3 county commissioners are members of the ESZC in addition to the County Treasurer and the County Clerk and Recorder.  There are 2 citizen representatives on the commission versus 5 from county government.

We strongly believe the citizen members should Chair the commission, as well as serve as Vice-Chair.

We do not think the County Commissioners have operated in good-faith regarding the Egan Slough Zoning District’s efforts to protect our farms and water from the bottling plant.  The county commissioners  (according to the Flathead District Court) “abused their discretion” in denying the Egan Slough Zoning District expansion. Despite our overwhelming victory on June 5 which overturned the commissioners decision and expanded the zoning district,  the county commissioners sat idly by, ignoring the will of 17,579 voters and the clear language of the Egan Slough zoning regulations, and allowed the bottling plant to get a food license and begin commercial operation in July!  The commissioners continued stalling until we filed another complaint and then they hired an outside lawyer who helped their employee, the Planning Director, write a report that did just what the Commissioners wanted – let the bottling plant be grandfathered in.

We are again back in court suing the county over the false conclusion drawn in this report and the County Commissioners’ failure to reject the report’s conclusion.

It is clear that the County Commissioners cannot be trusted to act in the best interest of the citizen-initiated Egan Slough Zoning District at this time while these court issues are unresolved.

Please come Feb 4th to let it be known that citizens should govern the citizen-initiated, agriculturally sensitive, water protecting Egan Slough Zoning District. Please voice your support for the 2 citizen members to be the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the ESZC.  The commissioner’s have, to date, consistently proven themselves to be antagonistic to the Egan Slough Zoning District, and it’s no leap of logic to conclude that the only possibility for fair governance of the commission at this time is to keep the County officials from controlling the positions of chair and vice chair of Egan Slough Zoning Commission.

If you can’t attend, please email your voice of support to enelson@flathead.mt.gov, clerk for the County Commissioners. Ask her to send your comments to the members of the Egan Slough Zoning Commission for their consideration.  It is important to let the Egan Slough Zoning Commission know that you believe that fairness demands that the county officials, who are members on this commission, step back and vote to allow the zoning district officers be the citizen members of this commission.