Havre City Council Member Caleb Hutchins is resigning, effective the end of April, to take a new job out of state.
Caleb Hutchins (John Kelleher, Havre Herald)
Hutchins will be working as an instructional designer at Community Colleges of Spokane, a 30,000-student college system in eastern Washington’s largest city. He currently holds a similar position at Montana State University-Northern.
Hutchins said he had hoped to submit his resignation at the council’s second meeting in April, but it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was elected in 2015 and re-elected without opposition in 2019 to represent the city’s Third Ward, the area west of Fifth Avenue.
Establishment of a vacant property ordinance was one of his key issues during his time on council. He chaired a special committee that studied a proposed ordinance that would have required vacant property owners to file with the city and, in many instances, pay an annual fee.
The proposal was favored by many people who want to curb the number of dilapidated buildings in the city. But others, especially landlords, were opposed, contending that it would violate their rights and had the potential to harm their businesses.
City officials generally agreed that it would be easier to adopt the ordinance if the city had home-rule authority. Havre is the only Class A city in the state that does not have such authority. Implementing it would require voter approval in a referendum. Council has talked about putting it on the ballot this fall.
Hutchins thinks the ordinance eventually will be adopted.
”It’s going to require continued efforts on the part of the council and continued pressure and support from community members,” he said in a text message on Thursday.
He said he may not have accomplished all of his goals, “but I did my best to make city government a little more transparent and accessible in Havre.”
Council will advertise for applications for the vacant position. The remaining seven members of council will select Hutchins’ successor from the applicants.
Hutchins said he will start his new job in early May, but will work remotely for the time being.
Montana and Washington have shelter-in-place mandates because of the pandemic.
Write to John Kelleher at [email protected]
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