Housing, land use among city's legislative priorities

The Whitefish City Council considered legislative priorities and moved forward with a pond dredging project at its last regular meeting Dec.2. Deputy Mayor Frank Sweeney led the meeting in Mayor John Muhlfeld’s absence. 

With the 2025 Legislature scheduled to convene in January the council reviewed a draft of the city’s legislative priorities which will be adopted at its Jan. 6 meeting. 

The top four priorities are community housing, environmental quality, municipal finances and land-use regulation. 

The city will support expansion of low-income housing tax credits, preservation of current subsidized housing, expansion of existing tools and grant programs along with new programs to increase the supply of community housing. 

It will oppose reduction of current housing programs and existing tools available to municipalities. 

The city will support new grant or loan programs to mitigate water quality threats from aging septic systems and oppose increased regulatory standards on municipal utilities without new funding. 

Whitefish will fight to keep the resort tax, and advocate for a tax system that won’t disproportionately burden owners of primary residences. It also wants to preserve its ability to decide what is right for the community. 

The city is opposed to legislation that will decrease current revenue streams for municipalities and eliminate carryover mills. 

Finally, local control of community development is a high priority for Whitefish, along with state investment in renewable, clean energy. Legislations limiting local control of annexation, zoning, planning and policy making will be opposed. 

After Councilor Rebecca Norton asked about ways for the public to participate in the legislative session, Whitefish’s lobbyist Drew Geiger, from CMS, suggested the public get to know their legislators and write letters.  

“Post Covid, there is an opportunity to testify remotely which certainly works great for Whitefish,” Geiger added. “And if people are in Helena, showing up in person.” 

RIVERSIDE POND is due for dredging. It has been over 20 years since the last time it was dredged. 

Whitefish Public Works Director Craig Workman said all storm ponds require occasional work to remove sediment. 

The project includes the excavation and removal of accumulated silts and sediments from the bottom of the pond and removal of invasive vegetation around the edge.  

The contaminated material will be hauled and stockpiled at the Whitefish Wastewater Treatment Plant.  

“We have sludge drying beds,” Workman said. “[It] will be dewatered for about a year and then, we’ll haul it to the landfill.” 

Seven bids were received for the project, ranging from 35% below to 68% above the engineer’s estimate of $210,000. The low bidder for the project was Thompson Contracting with a bid of $137,025. 

The work will likely start late January and take six weeks and will be funded with stormwater maintenance funds. The council voted unanimously to award the contract to Thompson Contracting. 

A work session to discuss City Council compensation and benefits will precede the next regular meeting Jan. 6.