Six candidates file for council race
The upcoming city elections received a
jolt last week when three additional candidates threw their hat
into the race for city council and the mayoral race picked up a
challenger to John Muhlfeld.
Current councilor Turner Askew filed to
run for mayor just before the deadline June 30. He and current
councilor Muhlfeld are the only two candidates seeking the
position. Current Mayor Mike Jenson’s term expires at the end of
the year.
Askew moved here more than a decade ago
from Memphis, Tenn. He was a Whitefish city councilor from 2000
through 2003 before running again in 2007.
Askew tied Martin McGrew for third
place in that election following three recounts. The city council
eventually appointed McGrew to fill the empty seat caused by the
tied election, but he was later removed when it was decided McGrew
didn’t live within city limits. Askew took the seat on council in
February of 2008.
Askew has been involved in the real
estate business for about 50 years and has served on many city and
county committees and boards, including the Flathead Business and
Industry Board, the county’s Long Range Planning Task Force, and
the North Valley Hospital board. He served as president of the
Whitefish Rotary Club in 2005.
Askew says, if elected mayor, he will
not raise taxes and that he will require the city to “live within
its means.” He says Whitefish voted two years ago to “stop endless
litigation, balance the city budget, prevent tax hikes and modify
burdensome regulations...that impede growth.”
“I am running for mayor to champion
these ideas,” he said.
The council race picked up three more
candidates last week when Frank Sweeney, Mary Vail and Life Noell
filed with the County Elections office. The three join Doug Wise,
Richard Hildner and John Anderson in the race to fill the open
seats left by outgoing councilors John Muhlfeld, Ryan Friel and
Askew.
Sweeney is a lawyer in Whitefish who
moved here from Dallas in 1998. He was appointed to council in 2009
to replace Shirley Jacobson when she resigned.
He ran for a council seat later that
year but finished fourth against challengers Chris Hyatt, Bill
Kahle and Phil Mitchell.
Vail has been involved with many
community groups, and most recently she has spent many hours
working with the Whitefish Community Library Board as the library
transitions from county to city control.
She said her time on the library board
was a deciding factor in her decision to run for city council.
“It’s exciting to see all of this
coming together,” Vail said. “It feels really good to give back to
the community I love to live in.”
Vail and her family have owned property
in Whitefish for more than 15 years and they settled here in 2004.
Each of her four children graduated from Whitefish High School.
Noell currently serves on the Weed
Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Board. He has lived
in Whitefish since 1996 and currently works at Whitefish Mountain
Resort guiding guests on the alpine slide.
He holds the title of “Executive
Ambassador” with BadFritter, a local film company.
If elected councilor, Noell hopes to
offer “a new light” to what he considers to be “an already
brilliant city.”
In 2010, Noell received a 5-year
deferred sentence for charges related to a marijuana-growing
operation found in his residence.
Whitefish residents vote for candidates
in the city election on Nov. 8.