McGrew loses bid for council

Askew headed to Whitefish position

A District Court judge on Wednesday ruled that the Whitefish City Council acted properly when it voted to remove Martin McGrew from the council by Feb. 19 because he isn't a city resident.

The court action paves the way for Turner Askew - the candidate who tied with McGrew for a council seat but lost when the council appointed McGrew - to be sworn in Tuesday for a four-year term.

Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus denied McGrew's request for an injunction that would have stopped the council from ousting him based on residency.

It was discovered in late January that half of McGrew's property at 545 Ramsey Ave., on which his home is located, was never annexed into the city.

Lympus found the city's position to be accurate: Because McGrew was not a city resident at any time before or after the election, he could not have been a lawful candidate.

McGrew is not expected to appeal the court ruling, said Whitefish attorney Frank Sweeney, who represents McGrew.

The bottom line of the lawsuit was to "get clarification to a very muddy, very convoluted case that was mostly to the city's making," Sweeney said. "This is not a situation where Martin McGrew said he was a resident. The city said he was a resident."

McGrew's property seems to have fallen through regulatory cracks on two occasions.

In 1987 the city considered annexation of 545 Ramsey Ave., but a question was raised about whether some of the parcels slated for annexation in that area were wholly surrounded by city property, so that lot and 13 others were excluded from annexation.

In 1998, when McGrew did a boundary-line adjustment, the southern half of his lot for some reason was never annexed into the city. Yet McGrew has voted in city elections, served as chairman of the Whitefish City-County Planning Board as a city appointee and uses city water.

Lympus noted in his ruling, however, that the county tax assessor maintained separate parcel numbers for the two halves of McGrew's property, and two separate tax bills were sent out each year. McGrew told the council on Feb. 4 that his mortgage company pays his taxes and he was unaware of the discrepancy.

In an e-mail to the Daily Inter Lake, McGrew said Wednesday that he has requested a petition for annexation.

The county election department will have to rework its paperwork from November 2007 to reflect that McGrew wasn't a valid candidate, Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps said. Otherwise, it's a straight shot for Askew to fill the council vacancy.

"Judge Lympus did everyone a service by ruling on this so quickly," Phelps said.

The council wanted the matter resolved by Feb. 19, when it votes on the highly publicized and controversial critical-areas ordinance.

Askew said he ran for election hoping to serve the people and is pleased now to have the opportunity to do so. Askew is a former council member and an active civic leader.

"The Lord does work in mysterious ways," Askew said on Wednesday. "It's been a torturous route that got us here, but now I hope I can serve the people. That's the most important work."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com