Whitefish election: Candidate offers work ethic and business savvy

When Jen Frandsen got a call in 2007 from her father, asking her to drop everything and come help move livestock and equipment to higher ground as the flooding Mississippi River was about to inundate the family farm in Western Illinois, she went in a heartbeat.

They worked around the clock to get 500 head of hogs and everything else moved before the levee broke. It’s still emotional for Frandsen to recall that last heart-breaking look back at the farm that would indeed go underwater.

Frandsen grew up on the family farm along the Mississippi, and later her family spent a few years in Boise, Idaho and Southern Washington where her parents worked for her great uncle’s sawmill.

A strong work ethic is part of Frandsen’s DNA.

“I was brought up with basic values — hard work, respect and service,” she said. “On a farm you learn you’re not the only person in the world. You rely on your neighbors and you have to respect people no matter where they come from.”

Frandsen intends to apply those same values to working in local government if elected to a seat on the City Council.

Over the past few years she has been focusing more and more on local issues and believes her business experience can be an asset on the council.

“I feel I can be a good resource for the community,” she said. “If you look out for the best interests of the community you can’t go wrong ... my personal [feelings] won’t get in the way of the decisions that have to be made.”

If Frandsen had to list the best decisions the city of Whitefish has made recently, one would be studying the U.S. 93 West corridor to come up with a plan for the westside entrance to the town.

Another good decision, she said, has been starting the conversation about how the city handles wastewater and getting a handle on how Whitefish Lake is affected by aging septic systems in areas around the lake.

“Education is a big step in the right direction,” she said. “It’s in the best interest of the city to maintain a clean water source.”

Even though Whitefish Lake isn’t a primary source for city water users, that doesn’t mean preserving water quality shouldn’t be a priority, she said. Frandsen wonders if there’s a way for the city to make it feasible for homeowners with septic systems to connect to the city’s sewer system; perhaps it would need to be dealt with case by case or area by area, she added.

Annexation can be a difficult task, Frandsen said, but is “something the city needs to take on every now and then” if the city is to keep growing.

A proposal to create a six-mile nonmotorized zone on the Whitefish River could disenfranchise some river users, such as handicapped persons whose only means of enjoying the river is to ride in a motorized boat, Frandsen said.

“As much as I’d like to see that [a nonmotorized zone] I think we do have to make the accommodations they’re making now by allowing motors,” she said. “I also understand the history; people have been boating on the river for a long time.”

Looking at downtown issues, Frandsen, a co-organizer of the downtown farmers market, said she was shocked when an initial fee schedule provided as part of the Depot Park master plan would have increased fees for the downtown farmers market five-fold. The master plan was approved but the fee schedule was put on hold.

“I’m all on board for having the right [fee] structure,” she said, adding that she understands the need to raise fees to better maintain Depot Park.

Frandsen said she also understands the need for a parking structure downtown, and believes the proposed update of the downtown master plan, which calls for a total of three parking structures in the future, needs to consider how the city will grow.

As Whitefish waits for an answer from the Montana Supreme Court about whether the city or county should have planning control of the two-mile “doughnut” around the city, Frandsen said she doesn’t believe there are irreconcilable differences between the two government entities.

“Somewhere there’s been a breakdown” in communication, she said. “If Whitefish were to lose planning in that area (the doughnut) it would be unfortunate for the city. There are real reasons for needing to plan outside the city’s border.”

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