Title: Exploring Self-Governing Powers for Columbia Falls: Insights from Local Government Experts

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There would be no harm if the city of Columbia Falls adopted self-governing powers, the director of the Local Government Center at Montana State University told the government study commission recently.

Dan Clark, the director of the center, visited with the commission’s members for about 40 minutes to talk about self-governing powers and a city charter.

Self-governing powers would allow the city to pass laws that aren’t prohibited by state and federal statute. A recent example comes from Havre, which adopted a law that gave the city more power to address abandoned and boarded up buildings there. Under state law, the city only had so much recourse to address the blight. But Havre voters, after four previous attempts, adopted self-governing powers, which, in turn, allowed city leaders to address the blight.

While that currently isn’t an issue in Columbia Falls, there may be other instances where the city could find it useful, Clark noted. “There’s no downside,” to having self-governing powers, Clark told the commission. He noted that in order to pass a law, a city still has to go through the process of a public hearing and two readings.

From his experience working with a multitude of municipal governments, “no one is running amok,” passing laws. He said the city could also add self-governing powers without creating a city charter. The state Legislature has also kept self-governing powers in check, having passed about 30 exceptions in the past few years.

Commission member Roger Hopkins has advocated for at least discussing the matter, particularly with uncertainty of the future. “What intrigues me … is the ability to address the unknown,” he said. With large developments waiting in the wings for the city, who knows what might come up.

The commission took no action, but instead decided to reach out to cities like Bozeman and other municipalities to see how they have implemented the measure. The commission is just an advisory board, made up of Connie Konopatzke, Susan Nicosia, Hopkins and councilman John Piper. They would make a recommendation to council if it comes to that, and city council would ultimately determine if they wanted to put it to a vote.

The review commission was approved by voters in the last election. Under state law, voters can seek to review city and town government structure every 10 years. In the broader view, most city residents seem satisfied with current city manager form of government according to recent surveys. Self-governing powers is separate from the form of city government. Some cities have strong mayors, for example, but they also have self-governing powers.