All four Kalispell City Council incumbents running for reelection on Nov. 7 retained their seats, according to unofficial results, though a county-level error that saw the wrong ballots sent to some Kalispell voters kept victory celebrations muted.

Kari Sue Gabriel, Sam Nunnally and Ryan Hunter outpaced their respective rivals in Kalispell City Council’s three competitive races. Gabriel topped challenger Wes Walker 482 to 399 to represent Ward 1, while Nunnally beat out Gabriel Dillon 529 to 421 in Ward 2. Hunter won out over Kevin Aurich 605 to 234 in Ward 3. 

Sid Daoud, who represents Ward 4 on Council, ran unopposed. The only other seat up for election on the ballot was that of municipal judge. Alison Howard, appointed to the position by Council earlier this year, saw no challengers. 

“Well, we’re all assuming we’ve won our elections,” Nunnally said on Wednesday, referring to the ballot snafu. “I think I look forward to the next four years if it does come out that I’m the winner.”

A mistake, deemed “an administrative error” by county officials, meant that ballots mailed out to voters in Kalispell last month appeared to have been issued based on outdated ward boundaries. The Flathead County Election Department, which oversaw the polls for the municipality, alerted voters to the problem late Tuesday afternoon, but instructed them to continue casting ballots as issued while officials investigated the mishap.

County Election Administrator Adrienne Chmelik said Wednesday that her office was still looking into the error. 

“We still have quite a bit of research to do on who was impacted,” she said, noting that the effort involved the County Attorney’s Office, attorneys with the Office of the Montana Secretary of State and municipal attorneys. 

“Certainly, one of the things we need to definitely take a look at is our ward boundaries and the Elections Department to ensure that those are correct,” Nunnally said of his reelection priorities. He also listed cultivating what he described as smart growth in the city and addressing needs among the municipality’s emergency services. Audits of the Police and Fire departments released over the summer showed both suffering from staffing shortfalls, among other needs. 

“They’re big discussions, but we’re at that point in our community,” he said. “We need to make sure we’re setting the groundwork for the future.”

Gabriel similarly anticipated addressing concerns outlined in the audits. She said the housing crunch remained top of mind, as did upcoming big ticket infrastructure projects. 

“My biggest priority is public safety and making sure we have adequate staffing with fire and police,” she said. “With all the people that have come into the valley, I want to see more police and more fire.”

Hunter cited upcoming work on the city’s growth plan as his expected priority as well as dealing with the fallout from the Montana Land Use Planning Act, also known as Senate Bill 382, which shook up the way municipalities in more populous counties addressed development. 

“We’re going to be discussing that coming up next year and that’s going to be a real focus,” he said. “We're going to have to update our growth plan as part of that. I’m going to pay particular attention to that process and try and get the best growth plan that we can out of the process.”

THE THREE incumbents seeking reelection to Whitefish City Council handily retained their seats in Tuesday’s municipal election. Frank Sweeney, Steven Qunell and Rebecca Norton accumulated sizable advantages over four challengers. Just over 2,300 ballots were cast in the election.

Sweeney was the top vote-getter, earning his fourth term on the council. He described his resounding victory as gratifying and humbling.

“It feels really good that the good work I’ve tried to do — and all the incumbents — was honored by the citizens of Whitefish by huge margins,” Sweeney said Wednesday. 

The election, he said, was “messy” at times with a crowded ballot that included a few candidates that he said held “disqualifying” positions.

“Their overall abrupt and disruptive approach, and condescending approach to the work that has been done by [Council] was not appreciated by the electorate and majority of the people that live in and call Whitefish home,” Sweeney said.

He said the incumbent sweep reiterates the council is on the right path.

“[Voters] really did say these guys have been doing the job …. they’ve made great progress and they’re not just sitting on their hands,” Sweeney added.

Looking ahead, he flagged housing, growth and the health of Whitefish Lake as key topics the city needs to address.

Whitefish voters on Tuesday also overwhelmingly supported a ballot question about reallocating a portion of the city’s resort tax toward housing initiatives. The tally showed 1,773 votes in favor of the tax question, with just 353 against.

Approval of the measure changes the allocation of the resort tax so that 10% is designated specifically for community housing development projects and programs starting Feb. 1, 2025. The city estimates that over 20 years it could generate about $27 million.

Whitefish Mayor John Muhlfeld, who was unopposed in his bid for a fourth term, said support for the tax reallocation shows city residents “recognize the intrinsic value our local workers are to the socio-economic vitality of our town.”

“This important measure will provide the city just one more arrow in its quiver to continue tackling the affordable and workforce housing crisis,” he said in an email to the Inter Lake on Wednesday.

In the Columbia Falls City Council election, Kelly Hamilton, John Piper and Kathryn Price claimed the three open seats.

The Columbia Falls election garnered 875 ballots.

[This story has been updated to correct the total number of ballots cast in Columbia Falls and Whitefish. In Columbia Falls, 875 ballots were cast, and in Whitefish, 2,302 ballots were cast.]

Unofficial preliminary results as of Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 11:58 p.m.

Kalispell

City Council

Ward 1

Kari Sue Gabriel 482

Wes Walker 399

Write-in 3

Municipal judge

Alison Howard 782

Write-in 14

Ward 2

City Council

Sam Nunnally 529

Gabriel Dillon 421

Write-in 6

Municipal judge

Alison Howard 885

Write-in 11

Ward 3

City Council

Ryan Hunter 605

Kevin Aurich 234

Write-in 3

Municipal judge

Alison Howard 670

Write-in 21

Ward 4

City Council

Sid Daoud 346

Write-in 34

Municipal judge

Alison Howard 370

Write-in 15

Columbia Falls

City Council (Three open seats)

Kelly Hamilton 678

John H. Piper 668

Kathryn Price 569

Darin V. Fisher 423

Write-in 17

Whitefish 

City Council (Three open seats)

Frank Sweeney 1,275

Steven Qunell 1,168

Rebecca Norton 1,063

Nathan Dugan 693

James M. Ramlow 691

Nancy Schuber 610

Kent Taylor 493

Write-in 14

Mayor

John M. Muhlfeld 1,751

Write-in 88

Municipal Judge

Caitlin Overland 1,660

Write in 21

Resort Tax

For 1,773

Against 353