Mountain Water Employees Say “No” to City Employment, Accuse City Attorneys of Breaking the Law

During Missoula City Council’s Meeting of the Whole on Wednesday, February 18, city attorneys revealed information about the mediation between the city and Mountain Water Company. Now, Employees at Mountain Water Company are accusing the city of breaking the law.

"Our understanding under Montana law was that the discussions were to be confidential," said Mountain Water Company Business Administration Manager Michelle Halley. "Before we even had a chance to respond, the city and the city's attorney's had released the details of the agreement to the public. That took us all by surprise, and it's just another example of where we feel that we just can't trust what the city is going to do or say."

Halley says Mountain Water company employees don’t trust that the city will continue to employ all of them, and that Liberty Utilities shares the values of the employees.

"In the most recent mediation, they aren't committing to keeping all of us," Halley said. "We are a united group here. We do a very good job and it is more of dismantling of who we are and our employee group as far as keeping us together as a whole. As a water utility department, I think the plan is that they want to kind of dismantle us into different departments and Liberty is one that is going to kind of keep us whole."

Mountain Water Company Employees sent out a press release on Friday, announcing their decision to, once again, reject the city’s offer of employment. Halley said, “We don’t accept the city’s offer, or the city attorney’s tactics.”

Michelle Halley: