Commissioner pleads not guilty to felony

A Flathead County commissioner pleaded not guilty to felony criminal mischief in Flathead District Court on Thursday.

Phil Mitchell, 64, of Whitefish, is accused of killing six cottonwood trees in a county-owned public park on Whitefish Lake located next to his own property.

The not guilty plea in court comes after Mitchell publicly apologized in letters for girdling five trees and using Roundup on one.

When asked if there were any conditions to add to Mitchell’s release, prosecutor Ed Corrigan had one.

“It probably would be a good idea if Mr. Mitchell would stay out of the park...,” Corrigan said, which was accepted as a condition by the court.

Since Mitchell had appeared on a summons and hadn’t been booked at the jail yet, Judge Heidi Ulbricht told him he had until Friday, Sept. 1, to do so.

A jury trial has been set for Jan. 16, 2018.

According to court documents, the dead or dying trees were discovered by a Flathead County Parks and Recreation employee in Lake Park Addition on July 11. The park is in a location adjacent to a residence owned by Mitchell. Court documents state that Mitchell may be trying to sell that property.

An arborist retained by Flathead County Sheriff’s Office evaluated the trees and assessed the cost to remove and replace them. The cost is estimated to be around $30,000.

Following the charge filed in court on Aug. 9, The Daily Inter Lake requested a statement from Mitchell by phone. Mitchell subsequently faxed two letters to The Daily Inter Lake, one being a general statement and the other a letter addressed to Jed Fisher, director of Flathead County Parks and Recreation, dated July 24, where he wrote, “I recently girdled five remaining cottonwoods in the county parkland and put Roundup on one. I was wrong to harm the trees without county permission.”

Girdling is a method where a ring of bark is removed from a tree trunk. According to the U.S. Forest Service, if the ring is wide enough and deep enough, the tree cannot heal, nor can it transport nutrients to leaves or roots. Roundup is a commonly used herbicide.

Mitchell continued, “I have offered to make restitution to the county, including doing whatever the Park Board requests. I am prepared to remove the dead trees at my expense, and replace each one with at least two trees of a species the Park Board suggests.

“I regret my actions and I apologize to everyone in Flathead County for my wrongful conduct. I will work with you and the Park Board to ensure that the parkland is improved beyond its prior condition at my expense.”

In the general statement, Mitchell used a similar tone; however, he described the cottonwood trees as a “substantial nuisance,” citing his career in landscaping.

“They frequently drop limbs, endangering people, and they are dirty, dropping cotton, pods and sticky sap, depending on the time of year,” Mitchell said. “But even with this knowledge, I was wrong to kill the trees without permission.”

The public park, established in 1913, features mature trees, benches and a floating dock. The park is accessible by West Lakeshore Drive and a 60-foot-wide county easement that runs to the lakeshore — but also along Mitchell’s lot line.

Mitchell has had past dealings over the half-acre public park such as in 2010, when Flathead County officials accused Mitchell of encroaching on a county right-of-way on West Lakeshore Drive by building a landscaped berm with large boulders that jutted in front of the entrance to the park. Mitchell, who was a Whitefish city councilor at the time, claimed the city had given him permission to put in the landscaping.

At one time Mitchell had proposed a land swap with the county, offering to trade three acres along the Whitefish River in Evergreen for the Whitefish Lake site.

That proposal was never given a formal hearing.

The county park is one of six public access sites on the shore of Whitefish Lake.