Commission Unanimous In Seeking Help Mediator Will Step In Since Elected Trio Can’t Get Along

Hostilities among the three members of the Missoula County Commission are so bad that they have agreed to bring in a mediator.

Commissioners Fern Hart, Michael Kennedy and Barbara Evans agreed Friday that their differences have hurt the board’s ability to function, and they need a new working relationship.

The county personnel office will give them a list of possible mediators - all people unknown to any of the commissioners.

Kennedy is two years into his first term, while Evans has spent 18 years in Missoula politics and Hart is completing her fifth year on the board.

Their disputes have been obvious in both public meetings and staff gatherings. Kennedy and Evans have typically been on opposite sides of an issue, often angrily, with Chairwoman Hart searching for harmony in the middle.

Last week, for example, after more than an hour of debate on whether to keep negotiating for a new Eagle Hardware store in Missoula, Evans lost her temper and left the table saying, “Michael, I want to kill you.”

Friday she described that as an overreaction and “one of the dumbest things I have ever done,” but maintained Kennedy’s decision-making style was pushing her temper beyond the limit.

Hart told Evans and Kennedy, “It’s obvious I am not able to make the board look whole.” County staff employees are telling her she is not keeping the county together, and a solution must be found, she said.

“I’m not certain we’ve ever had the kinds of forums where folks are so challenged as we’ve had since you’ve come,” Hart told Kennedy. “Folks feel abused. You’re a debater, but you’re not in it personally. Barbara and I are in it personally.”

Both she and Evans said the stress of meetings is hurting their health.