{"id":3324,"date":"2014-08-10T18:24:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T00:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=3324"},"modified":"2014-08-11T19:26:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T01:26:21","slug":"mayor-in-the-hotseat-for-mondays-ndo-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/08\/mayor-in-the-hotseat-for-mondays-ndo-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Hanel in the hot seat for Monday’s NDO vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stairs\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

People waiting to testify on the nondiscrimination ordinance spilled out into the stairwell when the City Council met June 9.<\/p><\/div>\n

All eyes will be on Mayor Tom Hanel Monday night, when the Billings City Council is finally scheduled to vote on a nondiscrimination ordinance.<\/p>\n

Hanel appears to be the swing vote on the 11-member council, and on a roll-call vote the mayor is traditionally the last one to cast his vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hate to be in Mr. Hanel\u2019s position,\u201d Ward 5 Councilman Shaun Brown said. \u201cIf a guy is going to vote politically, then this is just really tough. There is no right or wrong. You\u2019re going to get slammed whichever way you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dick Pence, a leader of those opposing the NDO \u2014 which would prohibit discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identification or expression \u2014 certainly sees Hanel as the linchpin on the vote.<\/p>\n

In an email he sent out to other opponents last week, he said \u201cour best resource\u201d on the City Council \u201ctells us that we may have a chance with Mayor Hanel \u2014 in their opinion \u2014 to defeat this NDO on the 11th.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pence, who did not identify the \u201cresource,\u201d said in an interview that nobody really knows how the mayor will vote Monday, but \u201cwe\u2019ve certainly been praying for him, and for Robin,\u201d Hanel\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

Pence said Hanel is the swing vote because the council \u201cis divided 5-5 basically along lines of fairly ultraliberal against various shades of conservatism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hanel\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

Mayor Tom Hanel is widely seen as being the swing vote when the City Council meets Monday to vote on the NDO.<\/p><\/div>\n

Liz Welch, of Billings, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender coordinator for the Montana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Hanel has waffled on the ordinance. After voicing strong support for an NDO before it was brought to the council, Welch said, Hanel voted to table work on the matter, then voted to bring it back for consideration, and then voted to seek a state attorney general\u2019s opinion on the legality of adopting such an ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has given him a very soft leadership position, to be seen as someone who can be swayed that easily,\u201d Welch said.<\/p>\n

Welch said the mayor has said more than once that he has \u201cvery good friends who are gays and lesbians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope he steps up and shows some really strong leadership on behalf of his friends,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hanel, for his part, is not giving any indication how he\u2019ll vote Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my decision will be made Monday night,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to say at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He did say, though, that he is definitely opposed to delaying the vote any longer, meaning he won\u2019t support any motions to postpone action or to table the ordinance again.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get it resolved. \u2026 It\u2019s important for the sake of our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The City Council has been consumed with the NDO since December, when the city\u2019s Human Relations Commission made a presentation on the subject at a City Council work session.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 27, on a motion by Councilwoman Jani McCall, of Ward 4, city staff was directed to bring forward a draft NDO for council review. That touched off months of intense lobbying and public involvement by people for and against the NDO.<\/p>\n

\"Sign\"<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

With people lined up in the sidewalk\u00a0in front of City Hall on June 9, an NDO opponent with a sign reading “Marriage 1 man. 1 woman” harangued people from across the street.<\/p><\/div>\n

The council has been flooded with thousands of emails and countless letters, phone calls and petitions. Council members have listened to hours and hours of public testimony \u2014 including an all-night session on June 9 that apparently was the longest council meeting in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

There is a sense on both sides that council members \u2014 and everyone else \u2014 have heard quite enough on the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had my choice, we wouldn\u2019t speak at all,\u201d said Pence, head of Billings Family Action. That group was formed by the Montana Family Foundation, a very conservative organization based in Laurel, to lead the fight against the NDO, Pence said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that eight or 10 or 12 of us will get up and speak very briefly,\u201d Pence said, but there is little he can do if opponents decide to march to the lectern and make one more stab at swaying the council.<\/p>\n

Welch said she, too, has been urging supporters of the NDO to allow just a few proponents to speak, and to keep remarks short. But like Pence, she didn\u2019t know what might happen once the public hearing starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to popular belief, I don\u2019t pull strings on everybody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Besides McCall, consistent supporters of the NDO on the council have been Brent Cromley, of Ward 1; Becky Bird, Ward 3; Al Swanson, Ward 4; and Ken Crouch, Ward 5.<\/p>\n

Those generally opposed have been Mike Yakawich, Ward 1; Denis Pitman and Angela Cimmino, Ward 2; Rich McFadden, Ward 3; and Shaun Brown, Ward 5.<\/p>\n

Welch said she thought Brown might possibly join supporters of the NDO, but Brown said in an interview Sunday that that was unlikely.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>His two main concerns with the ordinance have to do with public accommodations. Under the terms of the latest draft of the NDO, in places like locker rooms, \u201cwhere users appear in the nude, users may be required to use the facilities designated for their anatomical sex, regardless of gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said he could live with that exemption, but there is another part of the ordinance he sees as a deal breaker. That is the section prohibiting discrimination by business owners.<\/p>\n

Brown said he could support a ban on discrimination by \u201cwidget makers\u201d and similar businesses, but not by the owners of businesses that provide personal services, like bakeries and photography studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of having your own business, is doing what you want to do,\u201d Brown said. He might make one last attempt to amend the NDO to address his concerns, he said, but \u201cat this particular point, there seems to be absolutely no give on either side.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the NDO stands as is, he said, he will vote no and hopes Hanel will, too.<\/p>\n

In the agenda packet that went out to council members last week, city staff outlined six options the council could pursue. The staff recommendation is to approve the NDO on first reading and give it final approval on second reading on Aug. 25, but then to delay the effective date of the ordinance until the attorney general has issued an opinion on the city\u2019s authority to enact such an ordinance.<\/p>\n

Other options would be to approve the NDO on first and second reading and allow it to take effect 30 days after second reading \u2014 the normal procedure; do the same thing but with amendments to the NDO; put the ordinance up for a public vote sometime in the future; postpone action on the NDO; kill the ordinance outright.<\/p>\n

City Administrator Tina Volek said the recommendation was essentially hers. She said it would be imprudent to spend the time and money to create a process for handling complaints of NDO violations, and then to begin actually processing complaints, until the attorney general has issued a ruling. She said late last week that Attorney General Tim Fox\u2019s office has not given any indication of when an opinion might be issued.<\/p>\n

McCall said she wants to get the NDO passed, even if it means voting for an ordinance with the locker room exclusion and the delayed enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too important,\u201d she said. \u201cNothing is ever going to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

DETAILS:<\/strong> The City Council will meet Monday night at 6:30 on the second floor of City Hall. To accommodate the large crowds expected, the city will allow people into the lobby and conference room on the first floor of City Hall, at 210 N. 27th St. There will be a television in the conference room.<\/p>\n

If need be, a line for those wishing to testify during the public hearing will stretch from the lobby through City Hall to the council chamber, on the second floor of the Police Department, 220 N. 27th St.<\/p>\n

Street-level doors will open at 5 p.m., and doors to the council chamber will open at 6. Once people testify, they will be asked to leave the chamber to give others a chance to get in.<\/p>\n

The meeting will be broadcast live on the city\u2019s cable channel, Community 7<\/a>, and also streamed live on the Web.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the NDO will again be gathering at the First Congregational Church, 310 N. 27th St., where orange shirts and water will be handed out. Supporters can also watch the meeting on TV at the church. Opponents of the ordinance are being encouraged to wear white.<\/p>\n

The full text of the ordinance can be seen here<\/a>, and a short video\u00a0produced by opponents of the NDO can be seen here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All eyes will be on Mayor Tom Hanel Monday night, when the Billings City Council is finally scheduled to vote on a nondiscrimination ordinance. Hanel appears to be the swing vote on the 11-member council, and on a roll-call vote the mayor is traditionally the last one to cast his vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[392,86,1160,302,300,742,393,828,644,85],"class_list":["post-3324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-billings","category-news","tag-aclu","tag-billings-city-council","tag-dick-pence","tag-jani-mccall","tag-liz-welch","tag-mayor-tom-hanel","tag-montana-family-foundation","tag-ndo","tag-shaun-brown","tag-tina-volek","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}