At some point, I suspect we will learn that Flathead County is dumping Jeff Harris as planning director because he became controversial, and thus inconvenient and expensive. Whether or not Harris was doing a good job seems to be irrelevant. What his bosses wanted, and want, is a low profile planning director.
Can a qualified replacement be found? Of course. There are plenty of good planners looking for jobs.
Will a qualified replacement stay low profile and not become controversial? Yes — provided he lets Russ Crowder and Crowder’s crowd call the shots. Jeff Harris did not move to the Flathead to stir up trouble. He made a couple of minor errors in judgment, none a hanging offense. Harris’ critics simply did not, and do not, want a planning office that is anything beyond a blind clerk with a rubber stamp.
What got Harris into trouble was his determination to discharge his legal and moral obligations as a professional planner — and if his replacement follows suit, he, too, will become the subject of a campaign be to run out of town.