In an unusual move, Montrose Mayor J. David Reed addressed the audience following public comments during a recent city council meeting. Reed’s prepared statement followed continued calls for the city to declare itself a non-sanctuary city.
Montrose resident John Brown stated that numerous citizens have attended council meetings since March, asking the city to officially call itself a non-sanctuary city. In his comments, Brown stated that the city was "being inundated with illegals."
Three other Montrose citizens addressed the council. One speaker, who did not identify himself, invoked the recent assassination attempt on former President Trump as a reason for the non-sanctuary designation.
"My plea tonight is we've got a lot of rooftops in Montrose, too, and we don't want something to happen here that happened there," he stated.
By rule, the mayor and council members do not typically make comments or engage the audience during or after public comments. However, Reed, seemingly weary of the discussion that continues months after the city reversed an earlier decision to call itself a non-sanctuary city, made an exception.
Reed, often repeating himself for emphasis, prefaced his comments by saying that they were based on fact and law.
"The city of Montrose is not a sanctuary city, is not a sanctuary city. By default, legally, we are a non-sanctuary city, by default, legally we are a non-sanctuary city," said the Mayor.
Reed also said that the city has no intention of becoming a sanctuary city before correcting the assumption that Montrose has an illegal immigrant problem.
Numerous Colorado counties and cities became involved in a frenzy of declaring non-sanctuary status last Spring. Montrose County Commissioners passed a resolution on March 6 designating the county as a non-sanctuary.
The following day, the City of Montrose held an emergency meeting and joined the county. Reed initially supported the motion; however, he stated that the gesture was symbolic in nature and didn’t actually give the city any new legal rights.
Former Montrose Mayor Barbara Bynum, the lone vote against the initial declaration, called the actions of the mostly Republican counties and cities “political showmanship."
Since the city’s emergency meeting was called within 24 hours, Montrose City Councilors had to meet again to ratify the decision. However, they failed to do so, leaving Montrose as it has always been legally.
Copyright 2024 KVNF - Mountain Grown Community Radio
