Whitefish residents will soon vote on a referendum that proposes to repeal a revised interlocal agreement with Flathead County adopted in 2010.
Mail-in ballots sent out Oct. 19 will give voters the option to approve or deny the referendum, along with choices for six city council and two mayor candidates.
The referendum arrives at a time of uncertainty for the interlocal agreement between Whitefish and Flathead County. In June, county commissioners unanimously voted to terminate the 2010 interlocal agreement, which was a revision of a 2005 agreement that had led to consternation and litigation.
If Whitefish voters approve the referendum, the city will essentially be back in the same position as it was prior to last year’s revision, according to City Attorney Mary VanBuskirk, with the 2005 agreement acknowledged as the working document. That agreement gave the city land-use jurisdiction over the so-called “planning doughnut.”
Meanwhile, the Flathead County Commission sent a letter to Whitefish city officials on Sept. 28 granting a request to extend the 90-day deadline for the city’s response to the county’s decision to terminate the agreement. Whitefish now has until Dec. 15.
The letter also outlines the county’s plan to prepare a mail-in ballot survey for doughnut property owners asking “who they prefer to regulate them: the City of Whitefish or Flathead County.”
“We expect to announce the details of this election process soon,” the commissioners wrote.
In the letter, the commissioners indicated they “have received conflicting information about what doughnut property owners want.”
“The Whitefish advocates tell us that doughnut property owners favor Whitefish control,” the letter states, “while County advocates argue these people favor County control. We think it is time to end this speculation and allow the doughnut property owners themselves to decide this question.”