Council Notes: Committee members appointed, response to commissioners

Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney held the reins at last week’s Whitefish City Council meeting and after addressing one public hearing, the council appointed new committee members, opted to respond to the county commissioners and were informed of a new hire.

At the conclusion of the regular council meeting, Sweeney appointed four community members to serve on the newly formed Whitefish Community Housing Committee, including Carolyn Pitman, Leanette Galaz, Roxann Gallagher and Cameron Blake.

After the Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee sunset on Dec. 31, 2022, a revised version of the committee, the Whitefish Community Housing Committee, was formed to carry on the work of addressing Whitefish’s housing needs.

Other appointments to the committee are representatives of local organizations: Dwarne Hawkins from Whitefish Housing Authority, Daniel Sidder from Housing Whitefish, Rhonda Fitzgerald from the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau and Jeff Raper from the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce. Councilor Ben Davis will be the council’s representative on the committee.

While Bob Horne volunteered to serve on the committee, the council thought it best to employ some new faces and were certain that Horne would continue to be deeply involved in finding solutions to Whitefish’s housing crisis.

Whitefish City Manager Dana Smith told the council that, in the wake of a recent letter by the Flathead county commissioners that appeared to blame homeless services in Kalispell for homelessness, there were requests from the legislature, the League of Cities and Towns and the city’s lobbyist to see if the City of Whitefish wanted to write a letter to the commissioners addressing their remarks.

Additionally, Smith said she had been contacted in October and made aware of rumors regarding the way Whitefish deals with the homeless population.

“The rumors going around in Kalispell are that Whitefish police were just taking our homeless people down and dropping them in Kalispell. That is far from the truth,” Smith said. “We address individuals here and try to provide them services that we have here locally. We do not just bring people down and drop them at Town Pump."

Councilor Rebecca Norton said she learned during a conversation with Whitefish Police Chief Bridger Kelch that one approach his department uses to serve the city is called community policing, which Norton said, “addresses each individual’s needs at the time.”

“We police with dignity and respect. It’s part of our core values. If somebody needs to be warm, we’ll bring them to the police department and warm them up,” Kelch said. “The Warming Shelter in Kalispell, that is also a resource and they hold beds for law enforcement throughout the county to bring individuals there when they’re in need.”

The council directed Smith to draft a letter from the council to the commissioners.

Smith also announced the city has hired Luke Sponable as the new Whitefish Housing Coordinator and long-range planner. He will start on a part-time, remote status this month and begin working full-time in Whitefish in July.

Sponable is currently earning his master's degree at the University of Washington and has worked as a planner in Breckenridge, Colorado.

“He brings a lot of knowledge from transportation to resort towns. We’re excited to have him,” Smith said. “It’s been a difficult position to fill.”