Dear Editor,
Once again Evelyn Pyburn has gone out of her way to report false information. In her October 21, 2022 article on MetraPark she states, “Jones and Pitman launched their exploration of the privatization concept outside of any public hearings or public discussions.” That is false! I did not start my exploration until after Commissioner Ostlund, during a meeting in August 2021, stated that “it’s (privatization) never worked out anywhere that its ever happened”.
The concept of private management was first brought to my attention by the General Manager of the Ford Wyoming Event Center (owned by the City of Casper, Wyoming, and privately managed). He grew up in Winnett, Montana, where his family still owns a ranch. Based on his experience with both private and public ran facilities, and his preference for private management, I decided to do my own research. (Commissioner Pitman had no knowledge of my decision to do any research or “exploration” as Ms. Pyburn calls it.) I wanted to see if private management was a viable alternative, especially with my knowledge of Great Falls’ negative experience with private management.
I started my investigation by visiting the Ford Wyoming Center which at the time was privately managed by “Spectra”, a competitor of OVG. I invited Rick Reid, past Regional Manager for MDU and past President of the Metra Advisory Board to go with me to investigate. The only person I told I was going was my wife, and I am positive she did not tell anyone else. Mr. Reid and I talked to their employees, City Manager, Mayor, and Visit Casper CEO/County Commissioner. Everything we heard was very positive, and the common theme was they wished they had changed to private management sooner. Reasons included the knowledge private management brings, and the massive resources they have. At the time Rick and I were there, the original five-year contract was coming up for renewal.
Since that time Casper has signed a new contract for ten more years. That is a pretty good endorsement of the private management concept! On our trip back to Billings, Mr. Reid and I talked about what we saw and mutually agreed that it would be irresponsible on my part not to investigate this further. Mr. Reid sat down with Commissioner Ostlund in 2021 to tell him what we saw and that we believed it was worth investigating further.
Commissioner Ostlund had no interest and was against even looking at it. At this point I knew it was going to be a battle to even investigate it which reinforced my expectations after his original comments in August 2021. What I didn’t expect was the extent of misinformation and flat out lies that would be circulated. Even more amazing was that Ms. Pyburn (Yellowstone County News Reporter) who I had always respected, would go along with the misinformation, and put it in her articles without representing both sides of the story. Her latest article is just another example of Evelyn Pyburn reporting false information.
Don Jones
Yellowstone County
Commissioner
