To Chad Graham, being a city councilor means leaving his emotions on the sidelines.  

Since he first took office in 2014, the outspoken councilor for Ward 2 says he has held to that governing philosophy and stayed true to principles of small government and free market economics.  

But with over a decade in local government, Graham is stepping aside. He would not seek reelection, nor will he run for mayor, he told the Inter Lake.  

Graham said he kept a divider between his heart and what he saw as his civic duty when navigating major decisions on Council, like when he spearheaded an effort to shut down the Flathead Warming Center, a low-barrier overnight shelter for homeless people. The move landed City Hall in federal court last year.  

Kalispell’s recent approach to homelessness has drawn criticism from residents and housing advocates, even attracting national media attention. Graham has been at the forefront of several laws targeting the homeless community, but said he doesn’t see them as such.  

“It's easy to go through and say that what we've done is curbed towards homelessness. But the thing is, it's a curb across the board,” he said about city regulations passed in 2023 criminalizing panhandling on roadways.  

 "You can't do the fill the boot for the fire department,” he said, referring to the annual fundraiser firefighters across the nation participate in as an example.  

The law does not prohibit panhandling on private property, but homeless people typically don’t own property. Graham suggested they ask for permission from others, such as Starbucks. 

As for seeking to shutter the Flathead Warming Center, Graham said it wasn’t born out of animosity toward the impoverished.  

“My heart is over here and knowing that there are people ... in bad circumstances. And my heart goes out to them, but there is a divorce between your emotions and in your heart when you have to go through and work for solutions for the public health. It’s not fun,” he said. 

He boiled down rescinding the low-barrier shelter’s permit to a land use issue, arguing its leaders reneged on promises made to be a good neighbor when they sought a conditional use permit. In the years since, neighbors have complained of public drunkenness, drug use and defecation in the area.  

The Warming Center sued the city for rescinding its permit, and a federal judge ruled that the shelter could continue operating pending the outcome of its lawsuit.  

Despite voting to rescind the nonprofit’s permit, Graham argued that advocacy groups and experts should be the ones addressing homelessness — not the government.  

But some service providers disagree. Warming Center Director Tonya Horn said she believes local government should be more active in collaborating with homeless service providers.  

“It takes more resources, not less, to address the impact of homelessness. While we certainly disagree, I am thankful to Councilman Graham for his years of service to Kalispell,” Horn said in a statement to the Inter Lake. 

Graham noted that the city approved group homes and granted the Samaritan House, a homeless shelter and transitional living facility, a permit to expand, but that government should only go as far as dictating land-use. 

“I have yet to see anywhere in the country where a government has gone in and provided money towards homelessness, where it's fixed it. So I don't believe that that's the role of government,” he said.  

When asked how he weighs imposing laws dictating how right of ways are used or nonprofits operate while touting small government, he reiterated that the issues were a matter of public safety, which he said the city is ordained to protect.  

“I'm never going to go through and apologize for going through and hearing my constituents and listening to them,” he said. 

Growth in Kalispell 

A builder himself and owner of Graham Design and Construction, Graham held a similar hands-off approach to housing development. 

While he was born on a naval base in Whidbey Island, Washington, Graham’s home has always been Kalispell. He’s a sixth-generation Montanan and remembers attending Creston School, sledding during the winter and riding bikes with friends around Many Lakes in the hot weather. 

Graham observed Kalispell’s steady growth in the 2000s and the population boom spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, which left Flathead County with record-high home prices.   

The pandemic is also what motivated Graham to run for what turned out to be his final term in 2021. With all the confusion and uncertainty in the country and in Kalispell, he felt that the city needed stability.  

“That could have been the term where I would have possibly ran for mayor, but I found it more important to go through and have stability on Council,” he said.  

But before Kalispell became a hotspot, Graham observed consumers from Canada among other places bypassing the city to shop in Missoula.  

“So, we were just losing a lot of economy. And kids had to move away because there was no real economy to speak of really,” he said. “I wanted to go through and get us on the map to where we could stop that flow, where people are stopping in Kalispell.”  

That's why in 2009 he joined the Planning Commission, then known as the Planning Board. Although terrified of being in the public eye, he said couldn’t let the board continue making decisions he thought were bad for the city, one of which was adopting impact fees following the 2008 housing bubble burst.   

“You can’t expect to go through and build more and have more growth when you’re going through and making it more expensive to do,” Graham said about the fees, which he added would trickle down as higher costs for the homeowner. 

Despite his efforts, impact fees remain and Kalispell’s population grew by nearly 50% between 2010 and 2023, according to city data.  

After the pandemic, Kalispell was on the map.  

Graham continued pushing for reduced impact fees after being elected to Council in 2014, and he said the idea was unfavorable.  

“One of the council members that got off a long time ago said he needed to wash my mouth out with soap,” Graham said with a laugh. 

But Graham saw policy disagreements as healthy. He pointed to his relationship with Councilor Ryan Hunter, who he often butts heads with, as an example.  

“I love Ryan being on there, and I told him, the iron sharpens iron. Ideas come out of debate,” he said, quoting Proverbs.   

The feeling is mutual.  

 “Chad is the person on the Council who I do most clash with in terms of debate on the Council. But that’s healthy,” Hunter told the Inter Lake.  

“We have some quiet folks on the City Council, and Chad is not, and neither am I. And knowing that Chad is on there, I know that there’s going to be a good discussion of the different viewpoints,” Hunter said.  

Hunter said Graham makes genuine decisions based on what he thinks is best for the community.  

“I obviously have strong disagreements with him about that perspective, but that’s absolutely what his motivations are,” Hunter said.   

To stimulate housing construction, Graham wants to let the developers develop without government red tape.   

“You have private landowners going through the process to do the best thing they can with their property that they’re allowed to do,” he said. 

While he agreed low-income housing can be part of a housing market, “I wouldn’t go through and put stuff into code,” he said. “[Inclusionary zoning] doesn’t work, it’s strictly just a free market thing.” 

While growth is never perfect, “there’s a lot here that we have that we wouldn’t have were it not for growth,” Graham said. 

One such project he was proud to be a part of was the Parkline Trail, completed in 2022. The trail was intended to revitalize downtown and attract development along the corridor. 

When asked about residents concerned at seeing their once small community balloon, he said that growth is a given.  

“Any city grows, especially when it gets found,” Graham said. “I think what a lot of people think is it’s going to be like, boom, there it is. It's gonna take years for this to happen.”   

The Role of Local Government 

Graham said he has seen a growing cynicism toward government while on Council and the ease with which misinformation is spread about decisions made in City Hall. Looking back, he wished he could have better controlled the narrative. 

“I don’t do anything government related on any type of social media,” he said.  

One way he opted to reach out to the community was asking that constituents stay after Council meetings to chat with him face-to-face.   

“It's the government that's closest to the people, and they put a lot of trust in you,” he said. 

Graham was proud of being able to stretch taxes as far as they could go, without having to ask voters for the maximum allowed mill, during his tenure.  

“We don’t tax the money that we could be doing, because [city staff] stretch the dollar as far as they possibly can,” he said. 

Now, Graham thinks it is finally time to leave the political arena, but he looks back on his time fondly.  

“Staying true to who you were when you came on. And being able to maintain that is a good accomplishment,” he said.  

He has always made a point to leave his heart on the sidelines, but as he pondered what to say to the constituents he’s represented for over a decade, he grew teary-eyed. 

“I’ve been trying to keep this back,” Graham said, his head turning slightly away. “It’s a big thank you." 

It’s time for new faces in City Hall, he said.  

“I think that there's a time for everything, and my time is now to step away and make way for new ideas,” he said. “I want other people to experience what I got to experience.” 

After his term ends in December 2025, Graham looks forward to relaxing. “I want to go golfing again, it’s kind of exciting.”  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 758-4407 and junderhill@dailyinterlake.com.