Referendum organizers meet deadline
Richard Hildner of Let Whitefish Vote, right, delivers 1020 petitions to Monica Eisenzimer, election services manager, left, and Judy Stack, elections deputy, center, at the Flathead County Election Department on Tuesday afternoon. According to the petition the purpose of this referendum is to repeal Resolution #10-46, which approved the "Restatement Of Cooperative Interlocal Agreement" with Flathead County regarding the City's extraterritorial planning and zoning jurisdiction.
Supporters of a referendum to give Whitefish voters a chance to keep or reject a revised governance agreement for the two-mile “doughnut area” delivered 1,020 signatures to the Flathead County Election Department by Tuesday’s deadline.
A total of 707 valid signatures are needed to get the referendum on the general election ballot in November.
Election Manager Monica Eisenzimer said it will take about a week for her staff to validate the signatures. There were 4,714 registered Whitefish voters at the last election in November 2010, and signatures from 15 percent are needed for the proposal to move forward.
Supporters of the referendum believe there is “overwhelming public opposition” to the revised doughnut agreement, and fear the new agreement “has crippled the city’s ability to govern itself effectively.”
Several people who testified at the city’s public hearing on the revised agreement last year said they believe Whitefish should proceed with its lawsuit against the county over doughnut control. Part of the deal between the city and county, however, involved dismissal of that lawsuit.
The city sued the county after the county commissioners rescinded the original 2005 interlocal agreement two years ago, essentially citing irreconcilable differences.