Helena Commission argues over transparency of next steps in immigration dispute with AG

With the attorney general’s office watching, the Helena City Commission has been advised not to discuss the future of its immigration resolution in the open — but some opinions are still spilling out, and there is friction over what commissioners believe the public should be allowed to know.

After Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen on April 10 shot down Helena’s request to mutually work on its hotly debated immigration resolution, which sought to keep city employees working exclusively on city matters unless required by law to aid in federal immigration enforcement, the Commission needs to make a decision on if it will pursue another resolution and how.

On April 20, at a meeting that advertised on its agenda an update on the legal saga, City Attorney Rebecca Dockter told commissioners there was risk in speaking openly about what comes next. Knudsen’s office promised in its April 10 response to evaluate any future immigration resolutions the Commission might pass, and said agreeing to a similar resolution would “waste additional taxpayer resources.”

Dockter said commissioners had been consulted individually on their opinions and a final “consensus” wasn’t found. Because both the AG's office and the city of Helena are public entities, Helena isn’t allowed to close its meetings when discussing a possible legal battle, so conversations need to happen one-on-one, she said.

City Commissioner Melinda Reed, who was the only vote against rescinding the original immigration resolution on March 26, said she didn’t realize she was supposed to give an opinion. She asked for a formal update on the Commission’s stance at Wednesday’s administrative meeting.

Still, when Wednesday came, the Commission was advised not to speak openly, something Mayor Emily Dean echoed because she felt potential legal adversaries were listening. Helena doesn’t have an ear in the AG’s private meetings, Dean said, and she doesn’t want to give Knudsen a line into the city's.

Reed pushed back, saying Helenans’ collective hours of comment had proven the public was invested in the decision. If legal strategy had to be discussed behind closed doors, she said the Commission should at least publicly state if it was pursuing another resolution or not.

One of the options, which were spoken of vaguely at the public meetings, was to pursue an amended resolution, Reed said. She questioned why that would be secretive if it's a policy action, not a legal one.

“I think the public deserves to know what the options are and what we’re considering,” Reed said. “I don’t feel comfortable expressing my opinion in a vacuum and not talking it out. I think it’s a matter of great public interest and the fact that we’re not discussing this publicly, I find a bit odd.”

When prompted by Dean, all commissioners except Reed said they’d given their opinions privately to the city's outside legal counsel. Docker strongly recommended against naming the Commission’s options — including trying to pass a second resolution — in public.

“That’s legal advice, legal discussion, legal strategy that is not required to be in the public for a conversation,” Dockter said.

Dockter felt the public’s opinion had already been well-recorded, and if another meeting were to be held, she’d ask a very specific agenda item be listed to prevent commissioners or the public from talking about the issue too broadly.

City Commissioner Julia Gustafson said she would be open to a meeting on the amended resolution that the public has already seen, referencing the version proposed to Knudsen in April. But she warned it could strain staff while Helena was already wading through lengthy budget meetings. As for what comes after that, she wasn't sure, she said.

City Commissioner Sean Logan said further meetings would be a burden on city staff and funds.

“What was introduced to me with my discussion with outside counsel, any option seemed to have legal implication,” Logan said. “And because of that legal implication, it’s pretty clear we’re going to have more legal expenses.”

He ballparked the fiscal impact, including paying outside counsel and the fees to hold large city meetings, to be around $100,000. He cautioned against action that would hurt the city’s coffers.

City Commissioner Ben Rigby said he appreciated the public’s hope for a new resolution, but said he was wary of another attempt after the back-and-forth with the attorney general.

“That doesn’t do it any justice, but it was attempted, and it was there,” Rigby said. “Continuing down, tit for tat, I don’t think is in the best interest of the city … I don’t feel comfortable trying to bring it back to the table and there be a round three and round four, and who knows?”

Dean said she didn’t feel comfortable giving an opinion until she knew exactly what Reed was proposing for a future public meeting.

Reed agreed to draft a memo to the commissioners to specify what she wanted discussed publicly.

At both the April 20 and Wednesday meetings, public comment was filled with people confused and angry with the cloudy process. Some condemned Gustafson, Dean and Rigby for voting to rescind the resolution and not outwardly pursuing a replacement, calling them “cowards.”