Guardian of the public process

There are a few things most people probably don’t know about Mayre Flowers.

She was a cheerleader in high school, earned a black belt in karate while living in South Korea as a teenager, and started college as a home economics major before realizing political science and social studies were more up her alley.

What is best known about Flowers is her tireless work with Citizens for a Better Flathead over the past 26 years. She has been the lionhearted leader of the watchdog organization that’s at the forefront of monitoring and addressing the challenges of growth in the Flathead Valley, from land-use decisions to recycling and water quality. Flowers has been the organization’s executive director for most of her years with Citizens, and was the program director in the beginning.

Flowers has spent countless hours in local government meetings through the years, ever a voice for the importance of the public process and crusader for public participation. She officially retired last week, but a generous donation to Citizens will enable her to work for the organization on a contract basis over the next year.

“You’ll still see me,” she said with a smile.

Even after her contract work is done, Flowers believes she’ll still be zeroing in on local planning and land-use issues.

“I’ll always be an activist at heart,” she said. “I’ll be there with the best of them, supporting good planning.”

Flowers has been involved with Citizens for a Better Flathead since its beginning in 1992. Back then she was working most prominently on waste-reduction issues and recycling when four citizen groups, of which the Waste Watchers was one, banded together to form Citizens. She was involved in stormwater issues early on, too.

“At the time I had young kids,” she recalled. “They got to see every stormwater outlet” in the Flathead Valley.

Her son and daughter also spent a lot of time accompanying their mother to Planning Board and City Council meetings in those early years.

Flowers said she always has had a “strong sense of justice and responsibility to participate.” That sense of duty was spurred by her father’s work as an engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when she was growing up outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

“My dad was very proactive in a quiet way,” she said. “He was one of the first to hire blacks. One of my earliest memories was having a cross burned in our front yard.”

Though it can be difficult to measure the tangible success of being a voice for smart growth and sound planning, Flowers sees the footprint of Citizens’ work throughout the area.

“If you drive through the Flathead now, [you’ll see how] incredible people have stood up and said the way we plan preserves value and the special character of our neighborhoods,” she said.

Being the watchdog for planning decisions that favor open-space preservation and thoughtful planning over urban sprawl hasn’t been easy, she acknowledged.

“I’ve developed thick skin,” said Flowers, whose quiet manner and even-keeled delivery are hallmarks of her public-comment style. “I’ve been working on issues long enough, though, that I’ve stood with people on both sides of the issues. There are times when I’ve said ‘I’m with you on this one.’”

Citizens for a Better Flathead has been involved in several lawsuits through the years. They’ve won some and lost some.

In 2001, for example, Citizens successfully sued over the development of Section 36, a section of state trust land that has been transformed from grass fields into a thriving commercial district in North Kalispell. A judge ruled the state was required to conduct a study of proposed alternatives and impacts on the state land. Citizens fought to insure that city services were taxed and paid for even though the development was on leased state land.

“It’s a learning experience to be involved in the public process,” Flowers said. “These issues are rarely black and white. They take a lot of thought … There are tough decisions made that I haven’t agreed with, but the best [decisions] are when you respect it was given meaningful consideration.”

And, she insists, “planning is not a partisan issue.”

With its eye always on the public process, Citizens in 2014 successfully challenged a county policy that cut out the required 45-day public comment period for zoning changes.

“Our watchdog efforts and research affected a reversal of this and other flawed planning policies,” Flowers noted.

One of the biggest legal wins on Flowers’ watch was in 2016 when the state Supreme Court affirmed a District Court ruling in favor of Citizens that invalidated the Flathead County commissioners’ decision to rezone about 60 acres of the U.S. 93 corridor north of Kalispell into a B-2HG, or greenbelt zoning classification. The high court ruled it was incumbent on the county to more broadly assess the impact of the proposed map amendment on Kalispell’s growth plans.

How to preserve property rights is a stickler, Flowers said, because property owners often believe they should be able to do whatever they want on their land.

“Property rights are really about having safeguards like zoning to make sure property rights are respected,” she said.

Flowers’ work with the WasteNot Project through the years has been a successful effort to increase recycling and reduce the volume and toxicity of local waste.

She’s also proud of Citizens’ Go Local Flathead project that promotes shopping at local businesses and raises awareness about the impact of keeping the Flathead economy strong and growing.

“For us it’s a great way to meet a lot of business owners and understand the challenges they face,” Flowers said. “It broadens the base of networking.”

The Citizens’ leadership baton has been passed to new Executive Director Richard Turbiak, and Flowers will be “tag-teaming” with him on issues such as highway corridor development and the proposed water-bottling plant near Creston.

Flowers is looking forward to spending more time with her three grandchildren in Somers, gardening and other activities she enjoys. But the passion about “helping people find their voice and having people feel ownership” of the public process will always be on Flowers’ to-do list.

“As a valley we have to create a vision on how to direct growth,” she said.”If we can be cost-effective in how we grow, we can keep this a welcoming and inviting place.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.