Polson cleared of discrimination
POLSON — The city of Polson was informed this week that the Montana Human Rights Bureau has issued a finding of “no reasonable cause” in connection with Polson citizen Murat Kalinyaprak’s complaint that enforcement of the city’s public participation protocol was discriminatory to Kalinyaprak, a city press release said.
In its council meetings, the city makes use of a protocol initiated in 2005 that ensures that every citizen present has the same equal opportunity to be heard in matters of public importance. In an October 2008 council meeting, Kalinyaprak was asked to wrap up his remarks when the three-minute time limit came up. Instead, Kalinyaprak continued to speak, requiring the mayor to summon the Sergeant at Arms to remove the speaker and restore order.
Kalinyaprak claimed the time limit was used against him in an unlawful discriminatory way, both because of his national
origin and in retaliation for three previous complaints to the Bureau made by him, all of which he has lost.
The Bureau’s investigator, who interviewed many eyewitnesses in preparing the finding, wrote that “The protections afforded
to individuals engaged in protected activities do not infer that those individuals may inflict disrespectful, sarcastic, and
demanding behavior upon the [City Council.] They do not give an individual who has engaged in protected activities
entitlements they would not otherwise have.”
“It’s a good decision. Our participation rules are fully compliant with Montana and United States laws and in fact construe
those mandates fairly broadly,” said longstanding City Attorney James Raymond, who has also taught on the subject of
public meeting protocols. “Deliberately so. The Council wants to hear everybody’s input. But at the same time, council
meetings are business meetings, and the Mayor is perfectly entitled to keep order.” He added that Polson is relatively rare
among Third Class cities in having set out and adopted specific local rules that take all the public participation mandates
Into consideration. “When those local rules were passed, the nature of the public’s business in this city had gotten both very
sophisticated and very divisive. The former, more collegial model was being regularly ignored, and the Council felt it needed
to have a meaningful, straightforward way to consult all interested citizens.”
The current Mayor, Lou Marchello, whose actions in keeping order in the council meeting were most directly challenged,
takes the finding in stride. “Murat is perfectly entitled to give the Council his input within the rules. We want to hear from all
the citizens with something to add to the process.” He added, “In Butte, I’m told they allow one minute. We feel that three
minutes are more than enough for most folks to say what they have to say, and then make room for the next person to say
what they want to say, too.”