Mayor exerts power in planning board appointment

Hoping to ensure a quorum for the next City-County Planning Board meeting, Whitefish City Council and Mayor John Muhlfeld have appointed two people to serve on the board.

Absent members and three vacant seats caused the April planning board meeting to be canceled with agenda items postponed. The January meeting also was canceled due to lack of a quorum.

Council appointed Scott Wurster to fill a city vacancy on the board after interviewing two candidates for the position.

Muhlfeld exercised his mayoral power to appoint Karen Reeves to fill one county vacancy on the board. Under state law, the mayor and county commissioners may appoint citizen members to fill end-of-term vacancies. Such openings can be filled alternately by the mayor and commissioners, beginning with the mayor.

“I feel that it should be a citizen member that should serve on the planning board,” Muhlfeld said. “I’m prepared to make an appointment.”

Some question arose over whether the mayor’s appointment should be of a citizen who resides in the planning doughnut because of the planning agreements in place with the county.

“I strongly believe that the spot should be filled by an extraterritorial resident,” Muhlfeld said.

Reeves is a former planning board chair who applied for one of the county seats, but county commissioners chose not to appoint her. Council unanimously voted to ratify the mayor’s appointment. Councilor Richard Hildner was absent from the meeting.

Previously there were two vacant county seats, but commissioners on April 28 appointed Theodore Roosendahl to fill one of the seats. The city-appointed seat was vacant because Zak Anderson resigned from the board last month.

City Attorney Mary VanBuskirk presented council with suggestions for filling the vacancies and ensuring that spots remain filled, including the council making the city appointment and the mayor filling the county seat.

Councilor Frank Sweeney asked if commissioners would get to make the next appointment, even if it’s a city opening.

“The county would have the opportunity — because it alternates between the city and county,” answered VanBuskirk. “The key there is that the city would always maintain its membership and fill all vacancies.”

VanBuskirk suggested the council establish a standing protocol to exercise its authority to appoint a councilor to temporarily fill future city vacancies on the board. The period of appointment would be limited to 90 days.

Council did not say whether or not it would, in the future, support appointing one of its own to temporarily fill seats on the planning board.

The other six members on the board include chairman Greg Gunderson, Chad Philips, Diane Smith, Ken Stein, Vic Workman and John Ellis, who is a Flathead Conservation District appointment.

The planning board meets Thursday at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Agenda items that previously were postponed include the 2nd Street Residences subdivision and a lakeshore variance and PUD amendment for The Lodge at Whitefish Lake marina expansion.