Six civic minded residents of Sidney have put their names forth to serve on the Government Review Study Commission, and submit recommendations for city government.
Kathleen Waller, Keri Riordan, Wade Whiteman, Dennis Moore, Janet Sergent, and Jordan Mayer are on the ballot. Voters need to choose three of those candidates.
All meetings of the board will be public with the first one held within 10 days after certification of the election results. The agenda and minutes for each meeting will be posted on the city’s website.
The group will attend official training on Dec. 10 in Sidney, along with other members from eastern Montana including Glendive, Fairview, and several county governments.
Areas of consideration by the commission could include; whether elections are held by ward or at large; be partisan or non-partisan; terms of office be concurrent or overlapping; whether the executive should be able to appoint and remove employees without the council approval.
The scope of the commission does not allow for removing or disciplining staff members or elected officials; adding, changing or removing practices programs, policies or ordinances; changing the election process; establishing fees, assessments, taxes or other service funding mechanisms.
Possible city government changes could include a council/executive format (which is currently used), a council run government or city manager.
City of Sidney clerk/treasurer Jessica Redfield said that the committee will hit the ground running and members of the public will need to voice their opinions at the public meetings.
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