Warming Center and Kalispell reach agreement

The Flathead Warming Center will be allowed to remain open if a settlement agreement struck with the city of Kalispell on Tuesday is authorized by city councilors.

The proposed deal will permanently reinstate the shelter’s conditional use permit, which was revoked in a 6-3 Council vote last fall over neighbor complaints of criminal activity along the North Meridian Road corridor. 

Councilors argued that the low-barrier shelter failed to be a “good neighbor” and reneged on other promises made in its permit application. But the effort to close the shelter — spearheaded by Councilor Chad Graham — is expected to cost the city $140,000 in attorney’s fees for the shelter’s lawyers under the terms of the settlement. 

The settlement was reached late Tuesday night after a 13-hour mediation with city officials, including Mayor Mark Johnson and several city councilors, according to lawyers with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice. The national nonprofit legal firm represented the shelter in a lawsuit filed against the city, arguing the permit revocation process was politically charged and violated state and federal law. 

“We consider this a huge win,” said shelter Director Tonya Horn during a press conference on Wednesday. “It has been a very challenging and difficult year, but we are very much ready to take some time of healing and some time of reconciliation and some time to really focus back on our mission of taking care of some very vulnerable folks in our community.”  

In November, a federal judge in Missoula ruled the shelter could reopen for overnight stays while the lawsuit moved through the court system. Judge Dana Christensen called revoking the permit on the basis of being a good neighbor nebulous and subjective. 

Lawyers representing the city argued that Council was within its power to rescind the permit. Civil litigators Todd Hammer, Marcel Quinn and Seth Rogers of Hammer, Quinn and Shaw PLLC are representing City Hall.  

The agreement to end the lawsuit lays out stipulations both the city and shelter must meet. 

Along with the payment of attorneys’ fees, the city must issue a public apology to Horn, which includes: “The city does not believe Ms. Horn committed perjury or lied in the Warming Center’s [conditional use permit] application process.”  

City Manager Doug Russell will become the point-person for the Warming Center and the public on any homelessness issues in Kalispell under the terms of the agreement. 

As for the Warming Center, it must undertake routine cleanup patrols within a quarter mile of the shelter and look for ways to fund transportation in and out of the neighborhood.  

The shelter must also agree to improve its relationship with the neighborhood by providing different lines of communication and hold quarterly board meetings that will be open to the public.  

In January, the shelter announced several new initiatives, which included a complaint hotline and trash removal effort. Horn said no comments have come through the hotline yet.  

Council will consider approval of the settlement through Resolution 6227, which would reinstate the shelter’s permit without qualification and acknowledge the existence of a vested right to the property.  

Jeff Rowes, senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, said during Wednesday’s press conference that he expects Council to pass the resolution within 60 days.  

If Council does not ratify the agreement, the lawsuit will proceed to a trial in March 2026, according to the Institute for Justice.  

Horn said that the frigid temperatures preceding this week have kept the shelter busy.  

“That’s always kind of like the Super Bowl for a warming center,” she said of the February freeze.  

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