It appears the fate of the Whitefish planning doughnut, despite numerous claims and pleas to the contrary over the past year, will ultimately be decided by a judge, with two legal challenges already filed in separate courts and more litigation chatter arriving with the New Year.
In late December, attorney Duncan Scott filed a lawsuit in Flathead County District Court against the city of Whitefish on behalf of doughnut residents Lyle Phillips and Anne Dee Reno, departing Whitefish Councilor Turner Askew and city resident Ben Whitten, asking Judge David Ortley to declare a referendum passed by Whitefish voters illegal and void.
The referendum, passed by a wide margin in November, repealed a 2010 interlocal agreement between Whitefish and Flathead County. Scott argued that his clients’ action was necessary to prevent more litigation.
“We are entering an Alice-in-Wonderland world where every hallway leads to more lawsuits that cannot be settled,” Scott said. “We will see multiple lawsuits in multiple courts creating years of confusion, with taxpayers funding both sides. Meanwhile, the donut property owners, who do not want Whitefish to govern them, will remain in limbo.”
“The only way to stop this litigation madness,” he continued, “is for the Court to declare the referendum void.”
Scott asserted that some Whitefish city councilors are “saying privately that when the new councilors are sworn in on January 3, 2012, the first order of business will be to authorize a new lawsuit against Flathead County.”
The city has maintained that the 2005 interlocal agreement is now the working document between Whitefish and Flathead County following the referendum, while county officials argue that the 2005 agreement no longer exists because the 2010 compromise superseded it.
In a statement, Scott also indicated his clients “expect Whitefish or someone else to ask some court for an emergency injunction to stop Flathead County from assuming jurisdiction.” The county is moving forward with implementing zoning within the doughnut.
Scott’s lawsuit comes a month after attorney John Lacey filed an appeal in state Supreme Court on behalf of Dan Weinberg and Ed McGrew challenging Judge Katherine Curtis’ district court decision in July of 2011 to dismiss litigation between Whitefish and Flathead County. Weinberg and McGrew argue that Curtis’ ruling, based on the 2010 interlocal agreement, was premature and in error, citing the referendum as evidence.
Askew, who lost to John Muhlfeld in November’s mayor election, said in a statement that the “referendum was pushed by a small group of elite Whitefish residents who will do anything to continue their reign of power over a jurisdiction not theirs.” He called the 2010 interlocal agreement, referred to as the “donut lawsuit settlement,” the best solution.
“This lawsuit is, sadly, necessary to accomplish what I and the city council leadership of Whitefish did not do, which is defend publicly the city’s decision to settle the donut lawsuit,” Askew said in a statement. “This settlement, while not perfect, was the only way to move forward into a new era of respectful interlocal cooperation with Flathead County.”
“The only way to stop all the lawsuits is for the Court to declare the referendum void, which is what I hope to accomplish,” he continued. “At that point, we can sit down with County officials and find common ground that respects everyone’s rights.”