When Ryan Hunter was sworn in as Kalispell’s mayor at the beginning of the year, he simultaneously vacated his Ward 3 city council seat, opening up the position for residents living in the ward interested in sitting behind the dais desk.
State law requires that a city council appoint a successor within 30 days of a seat becoming vacant. The appointee will serve out the remainder of the previous councilor’s term, until December 2027, and the seat will go up for reelection in November 2027.
Six residents in Ward 3 have thrown their hats into the ring for the seat: Madison Evans, Arthur Fretheim, James Haring, Karlene Khor, Cassidy Kipp, and Dustin Leftridge.
Candidates turned in their respective letters of interest and briefly presented before councilors during Monday night’s work session.
Evans is a mental health therapist who spent most of her childhood in Kalispell. She’s managed and served as a board member for multiple nonprofits that support cancer survivors, worked at Logan Health as an oncology social worker and in South Korea as an English teacher.
“My goal is to make sure and listen to what the people need and advocate for it whenever possible,” Evans wrote in her interest letter.
Fretheim is a special education teacher who’s lived in Kalispell since 2014. He ran to represent House District 7 in the Montana Legislature in 2024 as a Democratic candidate, losing to incumbent state Rep. Courtenay Sprunger.
“Having knocked on numerous doors in town I have found that when you remove the party labels there is a lot we agree on,” Fretheim said in his interest letter.
Fretheim currently serves on the city’s Impact Fee Committee.
Haring is a software engineer who’s lived in Kalispell for 26 years and previously served as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church for a three-year term. His father worked in city government and taught him the value of public service, and Haring said he “would like to aid Kalispell in continuing in a good direction.” He’s also led a book club for over 10 years.
Khor manages Seasons, a boutique on Main Street. She’s chaired the Impact Fee Committee and served on the city’s planning board. She previously ran for a Ward 3 council seat, most recently in 2017. She’s also served as a board trustee for St. Matthew’s School and on several other local committees.
“In some respects, the idea of Ward 3 is so exciting,” Khor said during Monday night’s work session. “First of all, it’s got Main Street – the heartbeat.”
Kipp works in housing services with the Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana and grew up in Kalispell. She’s worked for Adult Protective Services coordinating with Kalispell fire and police, through which “many of my beliefs on officer safety and capacity were developed.” She has volunteered with a group that provides recreational outings to those with disabilities and currently serves as a board member for Flathead County’s Agency on Aging.
Leftridge is the managing partner at McGarvey Law, having practiced law in Kalispell for 12 years. Much of his current work involves representing former miners and their families in Libby, and “finding common ground between individual clients and some of the largest law firms and insurance companies in the country.” Leftridge also served on the team that helped pass the recent high school levy and on other local boards. He is currently working on the Downtown Forward Coalition, a group launched by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce seeking to unify a vision for downtown.
At next Monday’s council meeting, council members will discuss the candidates and vote in the next Ward 3 council member.