Business owner responds to City Council comments

Recently, an article was posted in the Whitefish Pilot that mentioned my company and I would like to send this letter to the community of Whitefish since I was not contacted for comment.

Whitefish Marine is a new company that was founded in 2016. My staff and I take pride in our involvement in the community that we all live and work in. The curb appeal of my business is a top priority of mine and unfortunately due to COVID-19 that plan has been directly and immensely impacted.

Over the short five years that we have been in business we have experienced tremendous growth because of our amazing customers. I am forever grateful to my incredible staff for their hard work and dedication to our customers. Our new location was completed in the fall of 2018 and continues to expand to accommodate our growth. We apologize for our dust and we will continue to beautify and landscape our lot as the impacts of COVID-19 subside.

Whitefish Marine has been a major supporter of aquatic invasive species prevention. While the city was starting the invasive species decontamination program, the city operated a decontamination unit free-of-charge at my business. My staff and I are so thankful we provide our valued customers a way for their families to enjoy this beautiful state and its treasured lakes. We remain committed to keeping these treasured waterways free of invasive species.

Our factory trained service technicians provide semi-annual boat service for the Whitefish Police Department, Whitefish Fire Department and Whitefish Lake Institute free of charge. In addition we are thankful that the National Park Service, and the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks choose us for their service needs.

Giving back has always been a priority of ours and we donate to over a dozen different charities and not-for-profit groups each year including Dream Adaptive, the Whitefish Booster Club, and The Flathead Valley Food Bank. We sponsor a fundraiser for Moving Forward Adaptive Sports and we volunteer at their boating events.

Our excellent staff consists of 13 full-time employees. Truly they are the heart-and-soul of Whitefish Marine. I count myself blessed every day to get to work with such talented and amazing people. At Whitefish Marine we pay our staff more than the median-household-income for Whitefish and offer benefits including health insurance, paid vacation and retirement matching.

There truly is nothing I want more than for Whitefish Marine to be one of the most beautiful businesses in the valley. I wish my land developer neighbors quoted in the paper all the best with their project. We are not in the Whitefish city limits and I am opposed to annexation.

I welcome anyone in our community to come by and visit about our development plans.

Garth Wells owns Whitefish Marine.