(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Judge grants temporary restraining order against Yellowstone County – Daily Montanan [1] ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- October'] Date: 2022-10-14 A Yellowstone County District Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order against the state’s largest county after a Billings lawyer alleged in court filings that two of the three county commissioners worked illegally to steer a plan to privatize the management of the Metra, the largest entertainment venue in the area. Yellowstone County District Judge Rod Souza issued a temporary restraining order and set a hearing for Nov. 30 to consider an injunction against the county from entering into a management contract with Oak View Group because attorney Gene Jarussi said phone records and emails prove Yellowstone County Commissioners Don Jones and Denis Pitman worked through intermediaries and possibly directly to steer a contract toward OVG during an open bidding process. In court filings, Jarussi submitted phone records that show close to 100 calls and emails between the two Yellowstone County Commissioners and an entertainment management company. Metra is the indoor venue at the county-owned and operated fairgrounds that seats around 10,000 people and plays host to a variety of events from bull riding to rock concerts. Jeana Lervick, the chief deputy county attorney for civil affairs, told the Daily Montanan that it plans to respond to the court filings and it will present a much different account of the proceedings. It has also turned over more than 100 pages of documents that have responded to Jarussi’s public information requests. Representatives for OVG did not respond to requests for comment for this story when contacted Thursday. The temporary restraining order halts the process, and bars the county from entering into a management contract for the Metra facility. Cutting out a commissioner and the public Jarussi’s latest court filings, submitted Tuesday, accuses Jones and Pitman, both Republicans and two-thirds of the three-member governing board, of engaging in scheme to steer business to Oak View Group, illegally communicating with them, tailoring specifications to match their organization, and then rejecting the results when a separate advisory board reviewing proposals failed to give them the answers they wanted. Jarussi argued that without a temporary injunction and restraining order that deciding to privatize Metra management is irreversible and any contract would be “tainted by misrepresentations and collusion.” In a series of court filings previously, Jarussi had argued that Jones and Pitman had been working with OVG to secure a private management contract for the facility, even though they had spoken publicly about an open, public process. Jarussi had access to some email and county phone records, but was denied the cell phone records from Jones who neither receives a county stipend for a cell phone, nor does he have a county-issued phone. The county has meanwhile asserted those phone records are private, but Jarussi argues that because Jones transacted public business on it, those records should be turned over. The court documents filed as part of a request for injunction details more activity Jarussi believes point to evidence of collusion between the commissioners, staff of OVG and a third-party intermediary who acted as a conduit during the time the county was soliciting bids from private management firms. Jarussi’s lawsuit shows that Pitman, whose cell phone records have been turned over, made dozens, if not close to a hundred phone calls, with people related to OVG. Jarussi also lays out a timeline that he claims demonstrates the county had been talking with OVG representatives in 2019 and early in 2020. One email exchange in court filings indicates that on Aug. 28, 2020, Metra Manager Tim Goodrich provided an excerpt from OVG’s presentation to use in drafting a request for proposals. The lawsuit claims that by attempting to graft the language of OVG into the request for proposals, the county was intentionally making it so that only OVG would meet the specific criteria for management. On Sept. 22, 2020, the board issued a request for booking services, and OVG was the only company to submit a response. Jarussi also claims that while Billings resident Martin Connell was having lunch on Oct. 14, 2021 at Dickey’s Barbeque, a restaurant owned by Jones, the commissioner told him that he and Pitman had decided to privatize the management of the Metra. “He said that Ostlund was not aware of this decision and would be against it, but Pitman and Jones were a majority,” the court filing said. Jarussi said that because the public had been cut out of the conversations, and because two county commissioners constitute a quorum, state public meetings laws have been violated. An intermediary The case zeroes in on Mitch Dimich, a man Jarussi claims was a conduit and middle-man between OVG and the county. Another portion of the case filing focuses on conversations between Pitman and Matt Lashoff, identified as the director of business development for OVG. “In the weeks leading up to the signing of the booking agreement, Pitman and Lashoff were in continuous contact (12 calls in four weeks),” the court filing states. The lawsuit also focuses on a county-issued request for proposal and information to privatize management of the Metra earlier this year. A draft of the request with a tentative closing date of Feb. 14, 2022, was circulated on Jan. 18 to county staff. Six days later, but before the request was posted publicly, Lashoff emailed the county for a two-week extension. “How did Lashoff know the closing date of an RFQ&I that had not even been issued yet?” Jarussi’s lawsuit asks. In less than two months, Pitman’s cell phone records indicate he made 45 calls to Dimich before the proposal was issued. After the proposal was officially made public, between Feb. 22 and April 28, Pitman’s phone records show 22 calls between him and Dimich. Jarussi notes that most Yellowstone County personnel are barred from speaking about the request during the open-bid period. “Given Dimich’s self-described status as a conduit between the board and OVG, and his close, continuous contacts with Pitman, that an examination of those records will show calls between Dimich and Lashoff during this same time period,” the document states. “In other words, Lashoff and Pitman were communicating through a third-party – Dimich. This would, of course, be a violation of the ‘no discussion’ clause.” When the bidding period closed, two firms, OVG and ASM Global, responded to the request. On April 28, a review committee announced that ASM Global had been selected as the most qualified firm. Ultimately, the commissioners decided they would not negotiate a contract with ASM Global, even though a committee had said they were the more qualified firm. Instead, the county opted to issue another request for proposal for private management services. “A reasonable inference is that the board did not like the committee’s selection, and wanted to find another way to allow OVG to emerge as the ‘winner,’” the lawsuit states. In an email dated Sept. 3, 2021, Dimich complains to Lashoff, Goodrich and others that he was being excluded from some communications (spelling and grammar have been retained): “Over 6 plus weeks some hicups have come up with emails/calls privately going out to either OVG and Live Nation. The program from the introduction of both groups to Yellowstone County’s Metra Park here Billings was from the both L.N. and OVG. I was to be the ‘conduent’ and will continue between both parties. As in the beginging with introducing to all parties to include the 3 county commissioner. This was why they are here and stating that I have be informed of what is going on if they have question I can or cannot answer. The reason of this email to be clear all communiction to be sent to OVG and L.N. needs to include my email or an email stating a call will made to them. Only communication I will not be on is between the county commissioners or any other gov. officals with L.N. or OVG. Being question why the calls or email happen to both of those parties put me could have put me in a bad light and confidence of my efforts. I reasured to both is fine just few hicups by certain individuals and ‘will not’ happen again.” “The board’s conduct taints any contract that may be awarded as a result of the current RFP process, because it would be the product of illegal meeting(s), misrepresentations, and collusions and cannot be counted on to fairly consider the public’s interest or that of other applicants,” the lawsuit stated. “If the county is not required to comply with the law and hold to its own representations made to the potential bidders, competition for county projects will suffer and the public will no longer receive the benefit of competitive bids,” the documents state. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/10/14/judge-grants-temporary-restraining-order-against-yellowstone-county/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/