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05/25/2026
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Last Tuesday evening, I received an email from a source that detailed a community event planned for June 4 at the Montana Book Company. The invite suggested that participants would discuss a “leadership crisis” the city is currently experiencing and detailed criticisms of Mayor Emily Dean, City Manager Alana Lake and other members of the commission.
Helena resident Gregory Thomas sent out the invite, which stated that City Commissioner Melinda Reed agreed to “speak candidly” with residents about her recent experiences on the commission.
“The new Mayor is demonstrating a troubling inability to lead effectively,” the invite stated. “The new City Manager is widely regarded as underqualified and disconnected from the real needs of Helena taxpayers. Two newly elected City Commissioners are being actively misled and manipulated by city staff rather than being supported in carrying out the will of the voters who elected them.”
By Wednesday, Thomas had sent another email saying the June event had been canceled.
The event’s cancellation, I’ve since learned, had to do with backlash against the event as well as a concern from the venue hosts about the original invite email, which they say they did not sign off on. City commissioner Reed has also since denied that she endorsed the language in the invite, which seemed to suggest that she would facilitate the town-hall-style event criticizing the mayor and city manager.
And though it would be easy to ignore, given that no event will now happen, I decided to dig into the origins of the email and the backlash because the cancellation has prompted so much confusion in and about city government.
The call to organize appears to have been sparked by recent city budget discussions that detailed a $201,403 public transit shortfall, which the invite specified. City staff recently provided the commission with several funding options to address the deficit, including raising fare rates, implementing tax districts and eliminating the program itself.
“This is your city. These are your tax dollars,” the letter states. “And right now, the people making decisions about how they are spent are not being held accountable — because not enough residents know what is happening.”
So, what happened between the time when the invite was sent out and when the event was canceled?
According to Thomas, Montana Book Company received criticism for hosting the event, as described in the email.
“Montana Book Co. has been unfairly targeted by persons who disagree with the language used in the original invitation,” Thomas said, adding that the invite was written by “a number” of Helena residents and taxpayers, but that the bookstore was not a part of writing the original invitation.
But both Reed and the bookstore owners say the invitation’s language and tone did not reflect their own values and opinions.
“I learned that in the promotion of an event I was invited to where I was prepared to speak to some of the challenges facing our community, including with transit, there was some targeted language that was not reflective of my views,” Reed said in a statement on her Facebook page Wednesday evening.
Reed later told Montana Free Press that when the meeting was being planned, she spoke with Thomas, who asked if she would be interested in coming and speaking. She said she engaged on that topic and did not focus on what the invitation stated.
“ It was about the spirit of the discussion and, wanting to come and speak with people who wanted to speak with me,” Reed told MTFP. “That was always my focus.”
Montana Book Company co-owners Chelsia Rice and Charlie Crawford issued a statement on the bookstore’s Instagram page, saying the business doesn’t agree with the language used and apologized for not thoroughly checking the event.
“Unfortunately, the email invite made claims about elected officials that were incredibly unprofessional, mean-spirited and unnecessary when trying to foster dialogue during these times,” the post stated. “We are livid that our store name was included anywhere near this type of language and are embarrassed by this situation.”
In an interview last Thursday, Rice told MTFP that Thomas approached her at the business and said he was looking for a place to hold a town-hall-style event. She added that the Montana Book Company is often approached by unaffiliated people to host events since there are not many venue options in town.
“ We try to vet those and then make decisions about what aligns with us,” Rice said. “And open dialogue, especially with our local lawmakers, we think is important, and we had seen a couple of other events with [Reed] and thought, ‘Yeah, we’d love to host this. This seems like a good fit.’”
Rice added she had not seen or approved the language of the invite that listed out specific criticisms of the mayor, commission and city manager before it got widely circulated. Once Rice read the invite, she canceled the event and requested a retraction she said.
“ I spent all evening going around apologizing, making connections, saying ‘This is not who we are. We do not support this,’” Rice said.
Thomas said that he was not the invitation author, but that the invite itself was written from input from more than a dozen residents. He declined to name them.
Thomas said the concerns written in the invite are real. Though he does not regularly participate in city government meetings, he said that concerns come from locals who are involved. He said he intended to try to host the event again in the future, but at a private location.
“ What’s really interesting to me here is that these concerns that were documented in that invitation, they come from people with direct, firsthand observations,” Thomas said. “It reflects a dynamic that is not uncommon when you have newly elected officials who are on the commission now and you have newly elected employees on the city management side.”
Additionally, Thomas said he is also concerned about the pressure the bookstore felt, to cancel the event. (The business owners said they decided to cancel because they didn’t agree with what was said in the invite.)
“ People should be able to express their honest concerns about their city government without a local small business paying the price for it,” Thomas said.
Public Notice
The next city commission meeting will be on Wednesday, May 27, at 5 p.m. at the City-County Building in room 326. The agenda can be found on the city website here.
5 Things to Know in Helena
The city approved an updated version of its safety action plan, which aims to reduce serious roadway crashes and improve pedestrian safety, last week during a meeting. The new plan is needed in order for the city to complete its application for a federal grant that would fund 80% of two city roundabout projects; one at the downtown roundabout “mini-malfunction junction” intersection and the other on Henderson and Custer avenues outside of the fairgrounds. Roundabouts have been a contentious topic due to some commissioners and members of the public advocating for alternative solutions that would promote pedestrian crossing safety.
Helena is running out of money for 911 services. According to the IR, the Lewis and Clark County dispatch center is struggling to pay its 15 employees. A consultant is now studying how many dispatchers the county needs and is expected to provide the final results from that study this summer. Some are discussing a new mill levy as a way to raise funds.
The city also approved two resolutions that establish tax assessments for the Helena Business Improvement and Helena Tourism Business Improvement Districts. HTBID funds are collected from hotels with rooms ranging from $100 to $300. Public hearings for both district assessments will be held during a June 1 city meeting.
Helena Democratic lawmakers issued a letter urging the Helena City Commission to adopt an amended immigration resolution. The letter states that if the resolution is passed again, it would provide legal guidance for local governments across the country. Attorney General Austin Knudsen had threatened legal action against Helena if they did not rescind the resolution earlier this year. Helena City Commissioner Sean Logan pushed back against the letter in a post on Facebook.“Perhaps the eight Helena democratic state legislators could write a letter to or speak with Montana Attorney General Knudsen or affect some change at the state capitol, a level that is far more appropriate,” Logan wrote.
The city of Helena is hiring for a new fire chief. Current fire chief Jon Campbell decided to leave after he was hired as chief in 2021 to pursue a law degree at the University of Montana, according to a city public information officer. The position is advertised with a salary between $131,000 to $141,000.
Might Be Fun
Credit: Roger Lynn / Creative Commons/National Park Service
Gates of the Mountains Boat Tour are starting back up. Explorers Lewis and Clark called the cliffs, above, the “Gates of the Mountains” according to the National Park Service. Starting last weekend, you can once again book boat tours along the limestone walls, through the waterway. It’s a fun activity for out of town guests. Tickets cost $10 to $20 depending on the age.
Gentle Healing Wellness Center and the nonprofit organization Treasure State Runners have partnered for a yoga-themed event on the first and third Sundays of each month at Mt. Ascension Gastropub. The event, called “Poses & Pints,” will feature a yoga session on Mt. Ascension’s rooftop beginning at 10 a.m., followed by a beverage. The next Poses & Pints event will be Sunday, June 7. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased on the Gentle Healing website. All proceeds go towards Treasure State Runners.
Comedian Jonathan van Halem is coming to Helena Friday, May 29. Van Halem currently works on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show and previously worked on Late Night host Stephen Colbert’s “Tooning Out the News” segment. Van Halem is known for relatable and observational comedy and has been featured in the New York Times and Brooklyn Magazine. The comedy show is from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on May 29 at the Helena Avenue Theatre. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.
