Kalispell City Council expected to vote on deal with homeless shelter on March 17

Kalispell City Council is expected to vote on an agreement struck between City Hall and the Flathead Warming Center at its March 17 meeting.

City Manager Doug Russell said the vote is anticipated to be in two weeks as long as all the necessary legal documents are processed before then. 

A deal with the overnight homeless shelter was reached late in the evening of Feb. 25 after a 13-hour mediation session that Mayor Mark Johnson said included himself and Councilors Chad Graham and Sid Daoud.  

Johnson declined to comment further on the agreement until after the Council vote. Johnson said he won’t be in attendance during the meeting as he will be traveling out of town. 

The Warming Center’s permit was rescinded in a 6-3 Council vote last fall over neighbor complaints of criminal activity along the North Meridian Road corridor.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 had failed to be a “good neighbor” and reneged on promises made in its permit application years earlier. 

The Warming Center subsequently filed a suit in federal court, which led to the mediation.  

If the agreement is approved by Council, the shelter’s conditional use permit would be permanently reinstated, and the city would have to publicly apologize to shelter Director Tonya Horn for falsely accusing her of lying during the permit application process.  

The effort to shut down the shelter will also cost the city $140,000 in legal fees to the Insitute for Justice, a national nonprofit legal firm representing the Warming Center in its lawsuit against the city. 

Russell will also 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, look for ways to fund transportation in and out of the neighborhood, open different lines of communication with neighbors, and hold quarterly board meetings that will be open to the public.  

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

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