Whitefish City Council delays compensation discussion

A discussion about potential compensation for city councilors and the mayor was postponed at the City Council’s regular meeting last week. 

Since there were only four members of the public present, three of whom were there to discuss other items, Mayor John Muhlfeld asked City Manager Dana Smith what sort of direction she would like, to “avoid going down the rabbit hole this evening.” 

“If the Council is interested in considering having a public hearing for the public to comment on proposed benefits or wages, then we would need some time to have that advertised,” Smith said. “The direction I'm looking for is, do you want to hold a public hearing, and if so, what date, and when would we hold the work session.” 

She said the work session will be the time to discuss the details of the resolution. 

The Council agreed to schedule and advertise a work session Jan. 6.  

“The whole idea is to incentivize all levels of volunteers to be participating in leadership,” Councilor Rebecca Norton said. “I know some of us are taking this quite personally, but really, it’s about the concept of how we keep people engaged in the public process.” 

THE CITY RECEIVED four responses to its request for qualifications for legislative lobby services. Each of the four firms were interviewed and Communications and Management Services rose to the top. The Council voted unanimously to award the contract to CMS, for no more than $28,000. 

Smith said the primary lobbyist will be Drew Geiger, a longtime lobbyist and research analyst for the Montana Legislature. 

“CMS ... they’re the company that recently did our wage market rate study, so city staff has had experience working with them and they’ve been a pleasure to work with,” Smith said. 

The fiscal year 2025 budget appropriates $28,000 for lobbying services for the 2025 session. 

“Based on the proposal we received and in discussion about the scope of services that would be needed, we anticipate that the contract would be around the $25,000 mark,” Smith said. 

Muhlfeld, who served on the rating panel and selection committee, said he agrees with Smith that CMS was the strongest applicant, in part because Geiger spends time one-on-one with legislators. 

Councilor Giuseppe Caltabiano said he didn’t think the city was helped by a lobbyist last session and asked Smith for one example of a priority that was successful due to the lobbyist. 

“The one that was going to allow short-term rentals in all residential districts, having our lobbyist there, talking to them, [and being kept] apprised of where we were (was helpful),” Smith replied, adding that the real-time information from the lobbyist allowed her to get people to communicate. “That died on second reading on the floor and it would have passed.” 

She said it is a benefit to have a lobbyist who has Whitefish-specific concerns, versus the concerns of cities across the entire state. Lobbyist services support city staff. Smith commented that she cannot keep up with thousands of draft bills while working her “day job.” 

“Even at $25,000, that’s less than what we paid last session,” Smith added. 

The council voted 5-0 to award the contract to CMS. 

A HOME IN the Trailview neighborhood recently came on the market and Kim Morisaki, executive director of the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust, asked the Council to release the deed restriction on the property so it could be replaced with a standard ground lease, thereby making the home more affordable. 

She also requested $30,000. 

“If you were able to contribute $30,000 again to the purchase of the land underneath this house, it would assist the Land Trust in putting together an attractive financial package that would allow somebody below 80% area median income to purchase the property,” Morisaki said.  

Smith said the city did have the funds and the Council voted unanimously to lift the restriction and contribute the money. 

“We have limited funds available for affordable housing,” Councilor Ben Davis said. “But this is a way to get $3 of value for every $1 we put in, and I think those opportunities, when the come by, are an effective use of funds.” 

Morisaki also let the Council know about funding related to House Bill 819. The 2023 Montana Legislature set aside $50 million for affordable housing.  

Flathead County’s share of those funds is $4.5 million. To receive that money, each county requires a Community Reinvestment Organization (CRO) to come up with a one-to-one match. 

“Potentially, there are $9 million to be used for housing in Flathead County but the county commissioners need to choose a CRO to work with and they need to approve it and they need to do so by the end of this year,” Morisaki said. “Currently, there seems to be some question about whether that’s really needed here.” 

Morisaki said NeighborWorks Montana is the proposed organization to serve as the CRO. She said they have 25 years of housing finance experience. They would run it as a nonprofit and get the matching funds from private investors. 

“It won’t benefit my organization ... at all,” Morisaki said. “It actually will benefit some of our partners that are trying to find different ways of making home ownership more affordable.” 

 The funds would help people under 140% area median income. 

The county commissioners are waiting to hear from the public about this program before putting it on the agenda. Comments from community members are encouraged. 

Public comment is open Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:45 a.m. at the commissioner's office. 

NEARLY 50 YEARS ago, the City of Whitefish and the county created an interlocal agreement regarding the county-built Whitefish Community Center building on city-owned property near Kay Beller Park. Since that time, the city has had a lease agreement with the center. 

The old agreement expired in 2019 and the Covid pandemic derailed negotiations of the contract in 2020, so a new agreement was needed. The Council voted unanimously to approve the new, five-year lease agreement which mirrors the 2015 agreement.  

According to Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacob’s report, the agreement states the Whitefish Community Center is responsible for the maintenance of the building and the utility bills, while the City is responsible for improvements to the property on the outside of the building.  

The Council voted unanimously to cancel the Dec. 16 regular meeting.