Election 2015: Meet council candidate Frank Sweeney

Councilman Frank Sweeney enjoys tackling the tough issues facing Whitefish. It’s why he’s campaigning to retain his position on council for another term.

“I enjoy the work,” he said. “I want to listen and hear what the city wants. I like working through the harder problems and coming up with solutions.”

In 2009, Sweeney was appointed to replace Shirley Jacobson on the council. He later lost his bid for re-election before being elected to council in 2011.

He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and has a law degree from the University of Houston. He worked as a lawyer for Pepsi Co. for more than 15 years before coming to Whitefish in 1998.

Sweeney points to a few key decisions in the last few years — the construction of a new City Hall and parking structure, and the decision to ask voters to increase the resort tax to pay for a conservation easement on Haskill Basin — as challenging, but important decisions he’s proud to have been a part of as a member of council.

“I like working through those important, hard decisions, and I think we got it right,” he said. “Nobody can say we didn’t give full review of all the difficult decisions.”

He said the Haskill Basin conservation easement was important to protect the city’s water source and those funds were best generated through the resort tax, which is paid by residents and visitors.

Challenges

Sweeney would like to see more work done to prevent a disaster in the BNSF Railway rail yard. He points to devastating train derailments in other parts of the U.S. and Canada as examples that Whitefish needs to do more.

Sweeney commended the city’s emergency services for preparing disaster responses, but he wants to see more work done to ensure the city’s safety.

“There’s vitality and a lot of history there, but there’s significant dangers there, too,” he said of the rail yard. “We’ve done a lot of work on how to deal with a problem after [it happens], but I’d like to see more work done about safety.”

Sweeney would like the city to mend its relationship with Flathead County to better plan for future growth.

“We have to work to rebuild the relationship with the county,” he said. “After all, we are their constituents.”

As Whitefish continues to grow and expansion happens outside the city limits, Sweeney said it is critical to work with the county to ensure that growth develops in a way that makes sense for Whitefish.

“As people need services and look to become part of the city, it’s important to plan for that,” he said. “Without planning it will set Whitefish up for failure.”

City budget

Another challenge facing the city, Sweeney said, is continued monitoring of the city’s budget.

“Whitefish expects the city to operate frugally — to keep costs down while still focusing on the best management of the city,” he said.

Sweeney believes the city is doing pretty well when it comes to the city budget. He says a good decision was made when council this summer approved creating a deputy city attorney position and moving prosecution services in-house rather than contracting out for it.

“We thought about how we are spending our money — if it was in the best way,” he said. “We have to make sure our budgeting priority is aligned with our needs.”

Economic development

Sweeney said he supports the decision to spend tax increment funds on opportunities like the remodel of Mountain Mall.

“I would like to see us spend more,” he said. “I’m really interested in spending funds for those kinds of projects. That’s how we encourage economic development.”

He wants the city to have an open-door policy for businesses looking for incentives from the city. He’d like to see a proposal come forward for the old North Valley Hospital site.

“I want to set the tone that Whitefish is interested and open for business,” he said. “To say to businesses, ‘Tell me what you want and we’ll see what we can do.’”

Sweeney said it’s important for real businesses to be a part of the town and keeping it growing in the future.

He points to the completed Highway 93 West corridor plan and expected Wisconsin Avenue corridor plan as ways the city is planning for the future.

“We want real businesses to be in this town,” he said. “We want to function as we have and grow.”

Parks and recreation

The city has done a good job of managing its parks with limited funds and is headed in the right direction, Sweeney said.

He notes money that was saved up until this summer to refurbish tennis courts and do work at Memorial Park.

He also points to the Stumptown Ice Den, which has been a hot topic as user groups would like to see the ice season extended at the facility, as finally having a plan.

“The city management for the last 10 or 15 years hasn’t been designed to maintain the facility and that’s come home to roost,” he said. “Now we have a plan to manage it and ensure the long-term viability of the facility.”