Citizens for a Better Flathead

“As of may of 2020 the cbf board passed a motion to contract with mayre flowers and her consulting business, community consulting, for a fixed fee of 1000 per month for work to continue cbf's program and land use policy work. As part of this agreement mayre takes no board votes on program and land use policy decisions as part of the cbf board and provides detailed time sheets and workplans each month for the work she completes.”

“The board members review all the forms, supporting schedules and attachments for the 990 filing. Once the review is completed and all the items requiring additional attention are reconciled and corrected as required, the forms are submitted to the irs.”

“The board executive committee discusses and addresses potential conflict of interest issues and monitors enforcement with the help of the entire board.”

“The organization does not have any paid top management at present. The organization operates with volunteers and consultants. Compensation agreements are comparable with industry standards for similar positions and levels of responsibility.”

“The organization files all of its required tax forms in a timely manner. The organization will make its public forms available upon written request to any party making a proper request, generally within 10 busines days of receiving the request. The organization does not share its internal financial statements with the general public. The organization will make available its organizing and governing documents if the party makes a written request and the party is unable to otherwise obtain them from other public sources.”

“The organization's mission is to foster informed and active citizen participation in the decisions shaping the flathead's future, and to champion the democratic principles, sustainable solutions, and shared vision necessary to keep the flathead special forever. The organization works across flathead county and in its three incorporated cities and unincorporated small towns and rural neighborhoods. - we work to alert and inform the public of opportunities to be actively involved in critical decisions shaping our county, its cities, and towns. We work on issues that shape the quality of our communities, the health of our environment, and the vitality of our local economy. We attend hundreds of meetings and hearing each year. The flathead county commissioners meet almost daily and our city councils meet bi monthly. Four planning boards meet monthly and hundreds of committees meet regularly throughout each month. We monitor their agendas and provide well-researched testimony to help shape the countless large and small decisions that are shaping how the flathead grows. We provide input not only on development proposals, but we work to help shape the policy upon which critical land use decisions are made. Citizens for a better flathead's board, staff, and membership meet with elected officials, turn out for public hearings, and generate 1000's of comments each year. After close to thirty years of work in the flathead we have built a reputation as a respectful, well informed, and solution oriented community leader, which makes us a go-to source for help and information, and a respected leader in public process.”

“Go local is a program the organization created and has run since 2009. Income from this program ended unexpectedly and unintendely in 2019 and the organization is working to correct this.”

“Land use policy work: held decision makers accountable to following existing plans and to giving meaningful consideration to public comment by generating many hundreds of public comments. Help to ensure that local government policies and decisions gave meaningful consideration to the wellbeing of the whole community, the environment, and future generations. Kept the public informed and successfully encouraged broad-based public participation on a variety of local government decisions shaping the flathead's future. Informed the public by providing monthly newsletters and regular alerts based on extensive research and analysis. We provided testimony at numerous city and county hearings. Resulted in decisions that help secure stronger policies to limit highway sprawl, protect ground water, preserve agricultural lands, and create a greater voice for the public in neighborhood planning. Educational programs: normally, we provided lessons to some 3200 students in classrooms across the county on waste reduction and recycling, but were unable to do that due to covid restrictions. Published and distributed 1000's of resource guides to reduce waste and promote reuse, repair, and recycling throughout the county. Hosted a website to provide additional information. Collaborated with numerous conservation groups, businesses, and agencies to help reduce waste, increase recycling, and encourage climate-friendly operations of local governments. We normally work with over a 150 locally owned businesses to produce a bi- annual magazine with over 8000 copies distributed free to the public, showcasing the economic benefits of shopping locally. We were unable to do this in 2020. Leadership--we held ourselves accountable through: conducting a survey of our supporters on line and in a mailed survey to broaden outreach to our base and build our email contacts for supporters. Successfully building on our 2019 reorganizational efforts. And despite difficulty in hiring new full-time staff , we hired a part-time staff person in december and contracted with our former executive director or 27 years and her consulting firm for most of the year to continue our land use policy work until covid is under control and allows for hiring of new staff. The board provided successful guidance resulting in a sharper focus on our previous land use planning, policy, and research work.”

“CONTRACTORS 10,603 0 0”

“Prior year checks not cleared 765”