Kalispell City Council could address vacancy issue created by election snafu

Municipal officials have prepared resolutions ahead of Monday’s Kalispell City Council meeting that could see it declare two of its seats vacant and then immediately move to appoint replacements.

City Manager Doug Russell stressed in a memo to Council that the resolutions were predicated on further clarification on how to proceed after a Flathead County District Court judge annulled the elections of two of the four city councilor seats on the November ballot. 

Council will meet March 4 in City Hall, 201 First Ave. E., at 7 p.m. For more information on how to attend or participate, including remotely, visit: www.kalispell.com/agendacenter. 

Russell said that city officials were trying to determine if the judicial intent of the order vacated the seats or if the two councilors — Kari Gabriel in Ward 1 and Sam Nunnally in Ward 2 — could stay on until the next election. 

A clerical error ahead of the November municipal election led to some voters getting the wrong ballot. The Flathead County Election Department, which oversaw the election, relied upon outdated ward maps for Kalispell. After the error came to light, county officials petitioned Flathead County District Court to order a redo of the election. 

On Feb. 16, Judge Robert Allison ruled that a redo was necessary in wards 1 and 2 because there were enough erroneous ballots issued in the two races to change the outcome. He allowed the elections of Councilors Ryan Hunter and Sid Daoud to stand. Hunter won by more votes than erroneous ballots distributed in his ward and Daoud ran unopposed. 

The ruling left Kalispell in what Russell previously described as “uncharted waters.” In a typical vacancy, Council can appoint a replacement to serve until the next municipal election as per state law.

If the judge’s ruling keeps Gabriel and Nunnally in their seats until the next election, the June primary, then the resolutions are moot, Russell wrote in his memo to Council.

COUNCIL ALSO will vote on the annexation of a lot and abandoned alley right-of-way at 520 Lenwood Lane and along the east property line of 51, 55 and 75 Woodland Park Drive in advance of a possibly forthcoming apartment complex. 

At the Planning Commission’s Feb. 13 meeting, four residents voiced concern about traffic and parking issues in the area. 

City staff asserted that standard mitigation strategies would be applied and impact studies conducted. The proposed B1 Neighborhood Business zoning was appropriate to the area, they argued, as it transitions from business to residential uses. 

There are currently no plans submitted for an apartment complex, but documents forwarded by the Planning Commission contain an undated petition for annexation and zoning filed by Tuyen Tran of TTC Investment LLC and Scoreboard Sports Bar LLC with the project name “Woodland Park Apts.”  

COUNCIL IS expected to set a public hearing for review of the city’s new public participation plan as mandated by Senate Bill 382, also known as the Montana Land Use Planning Act.

Under the new law, cities with a population exceeding 5,000 in a county of 70,000 or more have until the end of 2026 to reform the development process into a largely administrative process. 

Applications are streamlined first through a planning commission and progressively adjusted at each step to meet a comprehensive city growth plan, without sending out construction notices to neighboring property owners or holding public hearings at the planning commission and city council stages. 

The process shifts public participation to the development of a city growth plan, though it will be up for review every five years. Still, the new law includes a process allowing the public to appeal developments thought to go against the growth plan.

CONSENT AGENDA items up for Council’s quick approval include awarding bids to LHC, Inc. for milling and paving projects and providing asphalt in 2024, and the acceptance of a Round Up for Safety grant in the amount of $4,632 to be used on Kalispell Police Department SWAT attire. 

Lastly, Council will update its agreement with Glacier Gold LLC, now spanning over three decades, on the processing of sewage sludge through March 2025 at the same rate, $238 for one ton of dewatered human waste.  

Reporter Carl Foster can be reached at 758-4407 or cfoster@dailyinterlake.com.