Mayor Muhlfeld launches re-election campaign

John Muhlfeld has formally announced he is running for a second term as mayor of Whitefish.

Muhlfeld submitted his statement of candidacy to the Flathead County Election Department on Tuesday.

Glacier Bank branch president Lin Akey will serve as treasurer of the campaign.

The filing period for city elections is May 4 to July 2.

The terms of City Councilors John Anderson, Richard Hildner and Frank Sweeney also end this year.

No candidates other than Muhlfeld have filed for the city elections as of presstime on Tuesday.

Muhlfeld told the Pilot in a recent interview that with a full slate of big projects facing the city, he isn’t ready to walk away from his post.

“A lot of this stuff is ongoing and I don’t want to step down before it’s put to bed,” he said in the interview.

Muhlfeld was first elected mayor in November 2011 when he defeated Turner Askew in the general election. He was appointed to city council in 2006 to fill a two-year vacancy and was elected in 2007 to a four-year term.

Muhlfeld is a hydrologist and principal with River Design Group, Inc., a water resources engineering firm based in Whitefish and Corvallis, Ore.

He previously was employed as a forest hydrologist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Trust Land Management Division.

He has lived in Whitefish for 20 years.