Court upholds firing of Mission police chief

ST. IGNATIUS — The City of St. Ignatius recently ended a three-year legal dispute with a former police chief that went all the way to the Montana Supreme Court, which eventually ruled in favor of the city.

Chuck Willet was terminated as the St. Ignatius chief of police on Feb. 6, 2004, and he went on to challenge that termination, saying he was wrongfully fired.

“Willet disputed the former mayor's decision to let him go. So, he filed a wrongful discharge suit against the city, and it ended up going through all the steps,” mayor Charley Gariepy said.

Last month, the Montana Supreme Court found that the city had substantial evidence to defend their decision.

“We had stacks of complaints from citizens about him. And the amount of tickets was cut down to a quarter, which hurts the city financially. But the biggest problem was when people called for an emergency, the Tribes or the county would be there before he'd show up,” Gariepy said.

Before the case made it to the Supreme Court, it had to go through the police commission and the district court system.

“First, a grievance was filed with the police commission. Then, a suit was filed with the district court, and they both found in favor of the city,” Gariepy said.

Willet’s termination was not a reflection of his character, Gariepy said.

“It wasn't a personal problem with Chuck. We just felt he wasn't doing his job,” Gariepy said. “I'm not saying he's a bad cop. Small towns are just a whole different set-up. He was probably a great cop at his last job.”

A Leader reporter was unable to contact Willet for comment prior to publication.

In other legal news, Robert Long is the new city attorney after signing a contract through December 31, 2008.

“He was the county attorney for Lake County and both P.D. [Van Hoose] and I have dealt with him so we thought he could do a good job. And so, when the contract came up, we decided to go another way and hire him,” Gariepy said.

Also, the city could see a new sewer system as soon as next summer.

“We are hoping to get that started by the first week in May,” he said.

Grants are the major source of funding for the project.

“We have a grant for rural development,” he said. “But, we had to go back and get more money because the bids came in way too high. But what saved us as far as grants is that this area was classified as low income and that gets us grants and lower interest rates.”

The city has had to apply for more grant money to offset the additional cost that was not expected, Gariepy said.

“If we stall while we are waiting for the paperwork to get finished we will lose grant funding,” he said. “And we've already put thousands of dollars into the project. But we should be OK.”

The new sewer system will be near Sabine Creek where it intersects with Old Freight Road. And once the final contracts are in place construction can begin at the location.

“While the highway contractors are still here we are going to get the pipe lines dug from the Krantz place to the sewer lagoon,” Gariepy said.

People traveling two of the bumpiest roads bordering the city are going to have to wait a little longer for things to smooth out.

“The state plans to fix St. Mary's Lake Road and Airport Road sometime this fall,” Gariepy said. “They are pretty bad in spots so I hope they get with it.”