Mayor & City Council

WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL January 3, 2023 SPECIAL SESSION AT5:30 PM 1) Call to Order The meeting was held in-person in the Council Conference Room. Mayor Muhlfeld called the meeting to order. Councilor present were Sweeney, Davis, Qunell, Feury, Norton and Caltabiano. Councilor Sweeney was absent. Staff present were City Manager Smith, City Clerk Howke, Planning and Building Director Taylor, and Finance Director Gospodarek 2) Interview City Council interviewed Mandie Fleming to serve on the Whitefish Housing Authority as a member- at-large representative. 3) Public Comment None 4) Appointment Mayor Muhlfeld appointed, with ratification of the Council, Mandie Fleming to serve on the Whitefish Housing Authority to complete the term ending December 31, 2026. 5) Adjourn Mayor Muhlfeld adjourned the meeting at 5:40 p.m. and opened the work session. /s/John Muhlfeld Mayor Muhlfeld Attest: /s/Michelle Howke Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk  WHITEFISH CITY COUNCIL January 3, 2023 7:10 P.M. 1) CALL TO ORDER Mayor Muhlfeld called the meeting to order. Councilors present were Qunell, Feury, Caltabiano, Davis, Sweeney, and Norton. City Staff present were, City Clerk Howke, City Manager Smith, City Attorney Jacobs, Finance Director Gospodarek, Planning and Building Director Taylor, Public Works Director Workman, Parks and Recreation Director Butts, Deputy Police Chief Conway, and Fire Chief Page. Approximately 6 people were in the audience and zero attended virtually. 2) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Muhlfeld asked Dylan Boyle to lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. 3) COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC– (This time is set aside for the public to comment on items that are either on the agenda, but not a public hearing or on items not on the agenda. City officials do not respond during these comments but may respond or follow-up later on the agenda or at another time. The mayor has the option of limiting such communications to three minutes depending on the number of citizens who want to comment and the length of the meeting agenda) Roxanna Chomas, the new Chief Plant Operator at the Wastewater Treatment Plant introduced herself to the Council and provided a write up of herself. The WWTP is beautiful and the gentlemen who have been running it are great at their jobs and have taken her on board. She is excited to be a part of their team. 4) COMMUNICATIONS FROM VOLUNTEER BOARDS Dylan Boyle, Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director, reported he has been named the new president and CEO of Visit Bellingham Whatcom County. His last day at Explore Whitefish will be Friday, January 13, 2023. He is honored and proud of the accomplishments during his tenure at Explore Whitefish. The partnership between Explore Whitefish and the City is one that is a model. He is proud of the work that we have done when we have been challenged the most by standing up together in partnership against hate; navigating the pandemic through the Whitefish COVID Cares program; and also, through the development and implementation of the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan. We have all come together in an extremely wonderful and collaborative fashion. He thanked the Council and staff for their partnership and support. 5) CONSENT AGENDA (The consent agenda is a means of expediting routine matters that require the Council’s action. Debate does not typically occur on consent agenda items. Any member of the Council may remove any item for debate. Such items will typically be debated and acted upon prior to proceeding to the rest of the agenda. Ordinances require 4 votes for passage – Section 1-6-2 (E)(3) WCC) a) Minutes from December 19, 2022 Closed Executive Session – Pursuant to §2-3-212 (4) M.C.A., the minutes may not be made available for inspection except pursuant to a court order b) Minutes from December 19, 2022 Regular Meeting (p.32) c) Resolution No. 23-01; A Resolution extending the term of the Fire Department Strategic Planning Committee (p.34) Councilor Sweeney made a motion, seconded by Councilor Caltabiano to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion carried. 6) PUBLIC HEARINGS (Items will be considered for action after public hearings) (Resolution No. 07-33 establishes a 30-minute time limit for applicant’s land use presentations. Ordinances require 4 votes for passage – Section 1-6-2 (E)(3) WCC)) a) None  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 3, 2023 7) COMMUNICATIONS FROM CITY MANAGER a) Written report enclosed with the packet. Questions from Mayor and Council? (p.36) None b) Other items arising between December 14th through December 19th Manager Smith stated the League of Cities and Towns have contracted with a media consultant to help drive a push against preemption and the rational that we expect to see this legislative session that are aimed at taking away local decision making authority. They have asked to see if there were any communities that would participate in sharing the cost of this media consultant. The cost would be about $5,000 per community if ten communities were to step forward. The Council agreed to commit to the League of Cities and Towns to work on this media plan to try to push against preemption. Manager Smith stated there are 4117 unintroduced bills and 293 already introduced bills for this session. c) Resolution No. 23-02; A Resolution establishing the Whitefish Community Housing Committee (p.37) Manager Smith presented her staff report that is provided in the packet on the website. Councilor Caltabiano made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney to approve Resolution No. 23- 02; A Resolution establishing the Whitefish Community Housing Committee, amending Section 3, The specific purpose of the Committee will be to make recommendations to the City Council to implement the housing strategies that are the responsibility of the City. The motion carried. d) Resolution No. 23-03; A Resolution approving the Mortgage securing Whitefish Lake Golf Course’s financing with Glacier Bank to fund the remodel and update of the clubhouse (p.40) Manager Smith presented her staff report that is provided in the packet on the website. Terry Nelson from the Whitefish Golf Course corrected the resolution to read the Whitefish Lake Golf Course desires to use the lease with the City to secure the mortgage, rather than to secure the property. Councilor Caltabiano made a motion, seconded by Councilor Qunell to adopt Resolution No. 23-03: A Resolution approving the Mortgage securing Whitefish Lake Golf Course’s financing with Glacier Bank to fund the remodel and update of the clubhouse, amending the 5th WHEREAS, Whitefish Lake Golf Course desires to use the property owned bylease with the City to secure a mortgage. The motion carried. 8) COMMUNICATIONS FROM MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILORS a) Letter from the Flathead Conservation District requesting to extend Angela Jacobs Urban Supervisor term until a replacement is found (p.58) Councilor Norton made a motion, seconded by Councilor Sweeney to re-appoint Angela Jacobs and John Ellis to serve another term on the Flathead Conservation District. The motion carried. Council Comments Councilor Sweeney asked, and Director Workman stated with the trifecta of weather events that occurred, staff did everything they could beginning late in the day on December 26th. The issue that staff was dealing with was the weather warmed up in the couple days prior to all of that cold packed snow that had turned to absolute mush. Once it started raining everything was plugged up. He pulled a couple of drivers off their 2  CITY COUNCIL MINUTES January 3, 2023 routes and put them on curb inlet cleaning so that flooded intersections could drain. The slush was extremely heavy and difficult to place. All of our plow guards failed to work due to the heaviness of the snow, so driveways were berm. Staff was able to get all of the slush that they could off the road but now it is frozen solid. Barring staff using the entire season’s worth of magnesium chloride to try and get it freed up, we are going to have ice build up on the roads. Councilor Norton asked if the City has the ability to contract with other snow removal during heavy snow events or during the holidays? Director Workman said it would be an option to have earlier on in the year. The City does work with a company to do alley snow removal and he was just as busy as the rest of our crew. Councilor Norton stated she has received comments from citizens that fireworks were allowed on New Year’s Eve. Deputy Police Chief Conway stated they do their best to enforce fireworks. A lot of times downtown is where their efforts are focused on New Year’s Eve. They did respond to a significant number of firework calls. Councilor Feury asked, and Director Taylor stated he would have Code Compliance contact Malmquist Construction for their advertising on Wisconsin Avenue construction project. He also addressed a letter from Jenny Bevell regarding the new refuse containers. He mentioned the new containers do freeze shut and that could be the problem she was having. He will forward her email to staff to look into. 9) ADJOURNMENT (Resolution 08-10 establishes 11:00 p.m. as end of meeting unless extended to 11:30 by majority) Mayor Muhlfeld adjourned the meeting at 7:54 p.m. /s/John Muhlfeld Mayor Muhlfeld Attest: /s/Michelle Howke Michelle Howke, Whitefish City Clerk 3