by WTF 406 Staff | Feb 20, 2023 | Elections
Before we get into the meat of some concerning personnel changes at the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder’s office, we need to remind ourselves that hiring political cronies and firing or harassing people because they worked for political opponents is illegal. Got that?
Senior Election Administrator Leaves Merchant’s Office
Since defeating long-time Clerk and Recorder Rina Moore by a mere 31 votes, Sandra Merchant has begun remaking the office to fit her conspiracy-laced agenda. First, Election Supervisor Lynn Deroche, who has worked in the Clerk and Recorder’s office for 16 years, has taken another job in county government at a much lower salary. It’s not clear whether she resigned or was fired. Deroche said that she provided notice that she was resigning after being frozen out of interoffice communication by Merchant.
As an example, Deroche said she was not allowed to participate in interviews to fill an open election specialist position, a position she supervised. Deroche said that after a month of being isolated in the office and just three days before she was scheduled to leave her position, Merchant asked her to explain how to conduct some up-coming elections. Deroche says she told Merchant three days was not enough time to teach Merchant how to administer an election. Some time later Deroche says she was summoned to the Human Resources Office and told she did not need to return to the Clerk and Recorder’s office but would still receive her last couple of days’ pay. End result is that the election supervisor job has been left vacant.
New Election Specialist – Connection to Merchant and Commissioner Grulkowski
In the meantime, interviews proceeded to fill an elections specialist position in the office. There was an applicant who was already in a temporary position in the office. She subsequently withdrew her application. The job was listed with the County Human Resource Office. County Commissioner Rea Grulkowski and Sandra Merchant were interviewers. Grulkowski, who also came into office in the last election, is an election denier who’s bizarre conspiracy theories were the subject of a New York Times article in October of 2021. (WTF 406 covered Grulkowski’s conspiracy theories and the New York Times piece in a previous article https://wtf406.com/2022/09/facts-no-match-for-fear-in-county-commission-race/ )
When the election specialist interview process was completed, the position was given to Devereaux Biddick. WTF406 has previously written about Biddick’s participation in the election denier group active in Cascade County. Last fall we reported, “On July 29 County Commission candidate Rae Grulkowski was back in front of the County Commission, this time presenting a letter from Devereaux Biddick. In this letter Biddick alleged that the county primary election did not conform to standards set by the Secretary of State. She requested two precincts be ‘reviewed for reconciliation.’”https://wtf406.com/2022/09/the-big-lie-in-cascade-county/
The election specialist job which Biddick received has starting pay of almost $40,000 per year and includes a full benefit package. The qualification statement for the position included a High School Diploma, GED or HSE, and three years of progressively responsible office experience in a team environment that preferably includes one year in an election-related environment and one year of legal experience and terminology.
WTF406 does not have access to Biddick’s application materials yet, but we would certainly hope that her experience dogging county officials with election fraud mythology was not included as “relevant” experience for the elections specialist position. That would be kind of like putting a flat earther in charge of NASA.
Is This Just the Beginning?
The fact is that recently elected County Commissioner Grulkowski and Clerk and Recorder Merchant, who have worked extensively together on their election denier mythology prior to being elected, have now offered a full-time permanent position to a friend of theirs who worked on the same effort. Biddick could be just the beginning of Sandra Merchant’s opportunities to move her cronies from the election denier crowd into government jobs at the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. The election supervisor job will be open thanks to Deroche’s resignation. In addition, the office has traditionally hired additional temporary employees to help during the election cycle.
We began this article by pointing out that this kind of cronyism is illegal. Specifically, the Governmental Code of Fair Practices prohibits discrimination in government employment based on political beliefs. If any of the unsuccessful applicants for the position decided to file a complaint under that law and won, we would all get to pay for the insider dealing of our newly elected county officials. We’ll stay tuned and keep watching.
by WTF 406 Staff | Feb 13, 2023 | Taxes
Billings Republican Representative Sherry Essman is proposing a “fee” to be collected by city and county governments on a variety of non-profit organizations, including churches. Essman’s bill, HB 391, was heard in the House Taxation Committee on February 8th. Sixteen opponents testified against the bill. There were no supporters.
If enacted into law, the bill would provide that tax-exempt non-profits, ranging from educational institutions to health care providers to churches, would be required to pay a fee to local governments. The fee would be based on square footage of their building, which is exempt from property tax because of its non-profit status. The revenue would be spent on public safety and road maintenance.
During the hearing, Republican Representative Scot Kerns of Great Falls questioned the bill, saying that it was inconsistent with “local control.” It seems Kerns and other Republicans pick and choose what kind of local control they care about when it comes to other bills. (WTF406 has already written a story on Kerns’ connections to religious institutions https://wtf406.com/2022/10/separation-of-church-and-state-not-for-kerns/) A thorough analysis of the impact of the bill (called a fiscal note) has been requested but was not yet available.
This bill won’t go very far. It faces opposition from some big players in politics, like non-profit hospitals (Benefis and Great Falls Clinic) and churches. Still, it shines a light on how much tax exempt property affects local government.
by WTF 406 Staff | Feb 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
Those who followed President Biden’s State of the Union were treated to Biden delivering a classic political sucker punch. The Republicans stepped right into it. The topic was Social Security and Medicare, and the sucker punch he delivered was revealing Republican’s long history of trying to reduce, eliminate, and privatize these popular retirement programs. Only the most recent of which is Republican Senator Rick Scott’s proposal to place a five-year “Sunset” provision on these programs along with others.
Despite the boos and hisses from the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Biden remained cool and in control of the exchange. Really not too tough since even those who are not paying close attention know the Republican Party has opposed Social Security and Medicare since the beginning. Though they have been largely unsuccessful, they keep plugging away, trying to undermine the most successful anti-poverty programs in American history. And Biden responded, tongue in cheek, that he was glad we had reached “consensus” on supporting Social Security and Medicare.
Republican proclamations that these programs are failing have been with us since the 1930s. Time and time again they have proven to be false. Time and time again the Republicans have gone back to the drawing board seeking new ways to undermine and eliminate Social Security. Time and time again they have sought ways to privatize Medicare– without success.
Make no mistake about it. The Republicans will continue their attack on senior citizens. Daines, Zinke and Rosendale would like nothing better than getting at the money in these programs to sprinkle around among their rich donor friends. Just ask them. But listen carefully because, just like Republicans everywhere, their answer will begin with, “Of course we support Social Security and Medicare but. . . .” Yeah right guys.
by WTF 406 Staff | Feb 7, 2023 | Elections
Why are we Paying Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant $70,000 per Year?
After winning the election for Cascade County Clerk and Recorder by just 31 votes, Sandra Merchant doesn’t have as much to do as her predecessor, Rina Moore. But, she receives the same salary Moore did (around $70,000). We should be paying her less.
First, there is the matter of the surveyor duties of the office. The full title of the office is County Clerk and Recorder/Auditor/Surveyor. Rina Moore is a licensed surveyor and, therefore, performed the surveyor duties of the office. Sandra Merchant is not a licensed surveyor. So likely the County will have to pay a licensed surveyor to perform those duties. We don’t know what that cost is yet. But what we do know is that Merchant is receiving the same salary as Rina Moore but cannot perform the same duties.
Then there is the matter of the auditing duties which Moore was performing. Without getting too complicated, Moore basically oversaw the accounting functions of the County. At a January 10th meeting, the County Commissioners voted to take the auditing functions out of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office and place them in a new County FInancial Office. Merchant will have no role in overseeing the accounting of the county like Moore did.
Finally, there has been discussion among the County Commissioners of moving the elections function out of the Clerk and Recorder’s Office. According to the Great Falls Electric, on November 14th, Commissioner Joe Briggs said that he plans to propose an ordinance to move county elections from the Clerk and Recorder’s Office to the County Commission. Probably a good move since Merchant appears to be an election denier who likely thinks all ballots should be voted with a quill pen, counted by hand, and tallied with an abacus.
Bottom line, Sandra Merchant is doing a much less complex and difficult job than what was done by Rina Moore . . .but the pay remains the same. The County Commission should review how the duties of the Clerk and Recorder have changed and adjust the pay accordingly.
by WTF 406 Staff | Jan 28, 2023 | Elections
Our regular readers are already familiar with the building Jeremy Trebas bought at 1300 1st Ave. N. The building is currently classified as a church by the Department of Revenue which makes it exempt from most property taxes. As we pointed out in our earlier article, it is owned by a shell company Trebas created which clearly does not qualify as a church for property tax exemptions, despite the fact that Trebas is currently renting the space to a church group. (https://wtf406.com/2023/01/the-curious-case-of-jeremy-trebas-property-taxes/)
Let’s start with the building
There is now more to this story– much more. So, let’s start with the building itself. In 1927 the local congregation of First Church of Christ Scientists announced its intention to build a church at 1300 1st Avenue N. with an auditorium for 450 people for an estimated cost of $40,000! Two and a half years later, the “renaissance” style building was completed and began holding services with a large pipe organ, reading rooms, and Sunday school classrooms. (Looks more like Art Deco style to us, but we’ll go with the Great Falls Tribune.)
Fast forward to almost a century later. The building was sold to Karpeles Manuscript Library Museums. This national organization was founded in 1983 by California real estate magnates David and Marsha Karpeles. David Karpeles’ passion was collecting old manuscripts. With the goal of stimulating interest in learning, especially in children, and to make the collection more accessible, they began acquiring historic buildings and distributing historic documents to those local museums. There are currently 12 such local museums in small to mid-sized cities across the country.
The Karpeles organization was clearly moving forward with plans to open the museum in Great Falls, including hiring local staff and having the museum name added in raised lettering to the stucco finish. But, they abandoned the project and put the building on the market. There were probably numerous reasons for the decision not to proceed with the Great Falls museum. These include the fact that the benefactor, David Karpeles died in January of 2022, the disruption of the pandemic, and potential costs of bringing the historic building ”up to code.” In May of 2022, Jeremy Trebas purchased the building. That’s where this story gets interesting.
But first a bit about building codes
Building codes are about making sure that buildings are safe, accessible and meet community standards and needs. It is common that historic buildings fall behind the various changes in building codes. Owners of these buildings are often not required to update the building, because they have been “grandfathered in.” But, when a building like this changes its purpose, it is common that the new owners are required to bring the building into compliance with the current code.
In this instance, when the Karpeles group purchased the building, it was aware that it would no longer be classified as a religious institution and repairs were going to be required. Specifically, there were some handicapped access issues and importantly the code required an automatic sprinkler system. Automatic sprinkler systems are expensive, because they require a separate line to the water main and monitoring systems to alert occupants if there is a loss of pressure or other malfunction in the water lines.
So, to summarize, the building was put on the market with any prospective buyer understanding the need for costly repairs to meet code requirements, particularly fire safety. The need for costly repairs lowers the value of the building. Enter Senator Jeremy Trebas.
Senate Bill 195 introduced by Jeremy Trebas.
Why would anyone buy a large commercial building with high property taxes because of its size and which needs significant investment to bring it up to code? Well, we already pointed out that the property tax classification of the building has not changed from a church so, thus far, Trebas has not paid much in property tax. Moreover, he rented to a church which could very well be a lame attempt to hang onto subsidized property taxes or, as we have said, it could be that Trebas has simply not gotten around to notifying the Department of Revenue of the change in building use.
But then Trebas introduced Senate Bill 195. This bill exempts his building, and others like it, from the requirement for automatic sprinkler systems. It defines exempt properties as an existing structure that is not over 12,000 total square feet, has an occupancy that is limited to less than 300, and has fewer than three stories above grade. In addition, a community group working on homeless issues in Billings proposed an amendment to help homeless people which has been attached to Trebas’ bill. Despite being opposed by firefighters and fire marshals, the bill has passed out of committee in the Senate.
Bottom line, Trebas is using his seat in the Senate to enrich himself. This whole episode speaks volumes about Trebas’ ethics in government and in business. We wonder if he has thought at all about the previous owners who obviously had to accept a lower price because of needed repairs. Or has he thought of the other parties who were interested in buying the building but didn’t have the title Senator in their hip pocket. Probably not. It seems Jeremy Trebas is only concerned with Jeremy Trebas.
