Request to Review Public Comment from Karlene Khor Aimee Brunckhorst
From: Karlene Khor <madamekarkosa@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2024 6:55 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Fwd: Request to Review
Dear Mayor, City Council and Doug Russell,
I request Council and its city attorney review with its members the role of the city attorney to city
council, client/lawyer privilege definitions and how all of those privileges are also attached to any
documentation issued by city attorney to council.
To share such privilege information to folks including Kalispell citizens or legal adversaries or allies
requires the consent of the city council body as a whole and this needs to be reviewed so council
members may not inadvertently make a singular personal decision to do so without consent of the whole
council body.
These are important legal principles which have consequences if not adhered to so it's especially
important all City Council members know this. This is why I am requesting a review of these topics by the
City attorney with council.
When I spoke to council with the philosophical question of"you are in a boat in a sea of drowning
people/who do you save?" I also provided the answer: "The people closest to your boat..in other words
your neighbors."
I probably should have said it more succinctly like Kari Gabriel did in her explanation of her vote on the
issue of pulling the Warming Center's CPU.
Kari basically said she represented the neighbors in her ward, they had spoken and hence her vote.
I do live in Ward 3 and have business in Ward 3. 1 have attached below an email I received on 9/27/2024
from Councilman Ryan Hunter. I am profoundly saddened by my representatives votes and opinions
FOR Ward 3 lately. I am ever hopeful they will consider following the example of other council members,
who set aside their personal point of views, to hear the voices of the neighbors of the Ward they
represent on this council and maybe even vote accordingly.
Thankyou,
Karlene Khor
i
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Ryan Hunter<rhunter()kalispell.com>
Date: September 17, 2024 at 9:54:03 AM MDT
To: K Khor<kkhor838Ca?yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: EXTERNAL Warming Center
Hi Karlene,
I've been wanting to respond to you for some time but state law prohibitions on
communicating outside of public meetings has prevented me from responding until we
had ourvote on the warming center's conditional use permit.
I want to be clear, as I was repeatedly in my comments at Council, that I had no intention
of avoiding or preventing conversations around addressing the very serious problems of
homelessness in our community. I think such conversations are badly needed. I only
believe that the such conversations should not include reconsideration of the warming
center's CUP, both because I don't believe the warming center is the source of the problem
(they are in fact, part of the solution) and because I don't believe we have the legal
authority to revoke the CUP (which I expect will be demonstrated in court moving forward).
If you haven't seen my comments at Council on this issue (notjust what is reported in the
papers), I encourage you to do so, as I speak at length about the misplaced blame on the
warming center. The opening of the warming center just happened to coincide with a
number of other unrelated factors, such as a dramatic spike in rents, an
unprecedented shortage of available rental units, the closing of two mental health
facilities and the closing of two long term stay motels, misleading people into thinking that
the warming center was the cause of increased problems in the community.
You asked why I hadn't brought forward the opportunity for community conversations on
the broader topic of community homelessness." If you don't watch Council meetings
regularly,you may have missed that I am very vocal in trying to push the Council to do more
to address the homeless situation, including scolding them for never holding a proposed
meeting with other city governments to discuss cooperation in addressing the issue and
never implementing a proposal to establish a housing and homelessness advisory
committee, among many other suggestions I have made on the topic at Council.
You have made a lot of claims about the failure of the warming center model, but it is clear
to me that you have never taken the time to tour the facility or talk with them about the
many programs they offer. I would encourage you to do so.
Finally,you accuse me of dismissing my constituents and my neighbors.What you seem to
fail to understand is the homeless are also my constituents and my neighbors. Just
because I disagree with your perspective, doesn't mean I am ignoring it.
Ryan Hunter
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Kalispell City Council Ward 3
rhunter@kalispell.com
<Outlook-4yrl2fbl.png>
From: K Khor<kkhor838@vahoo.com>
Sent:Thursday, May 30, 2024 9:02 AM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment<publiccomment@kalispell.com>
Subject: EXTERNAL Warming Center
Mayor, City Council Members and Doug Russell
I vote in Ward 3. 1 am disappointed the council members representing me would not even entertain
a continued discussion on the conditional permit use for the Warming Center and were the lone
two votes against.
This conversation is about a conditional use permit for the Warming Center. It's not about anything
else. It's a narrow defined issue. I do not believe the issue is"hard to get your head around."
What's"hard for me to get my head around" is why has the subject of the Warming Center brought
up by so many been ignored?Since when is talking about a problem a problem?
I had no reason to write letters to this council about homelessness and its impact on our parks,
Main Street businesses,tourists concerns before the Warming Center existed.
The Warming Center does not solve homelessness; it's a lottery ticket for a bed for a few on a
winter night. Its existence has ascerbated the issue and created problems for the greater whole.
If Ward 3 council members are so concerned about larger issues of homelessness why hadn't they
brought forward the opportunity for community conversations on the broader topic of community
homelessness?
Suppressing the continued conversation on a conditional use permit for a Warming Center is
simply not good government and shame on my representatives for attempting to silence a
conversation.
Karlene Khor
3
Sent from my Phone
Messages and attachments sent to or from this e-mail account pertaining to City of
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also subject to the Right to Know provisions of Montana's Constitution (Art. II, Sect. 9) and
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Annotated.As such, this email, its sender and receiver, and the contents may be available
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