Page 5 - Flathead Beacon // 2.18.15

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NEWS
Whitefish City Hall. BEACON FILE PHOTO
Whitefish City Hall Design in Flux
FEBRUARY 18, 2015 | 5
W•O•R•D•S of the Week
AN INDEX OF RECENT NEWSMAKERS
YOGA PANTS
Missoula Rep. David Moore made national news when he proposed a bill that would ex- pand the definition of indecent exposure to include tight-fitting clothing such as yoga pants. Moore introduced the legisla- tion in response to last year’s Bare as you Dare bicycle event in Missoula last summer. The bill was tabled.
KEYSTONE XL
The U.S. House joined the Sen- ate in passing legislation to ap- prove the oil pipeline that would connect Canada’s tar sands with Gulf coast refineries. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the measure.
WEATHER
While the East Coast is battered by one of the worst blizzards on record, the Pacific Northwest is experiencing spring-like condi- tions. Record-high tempera- tures were set in several cities across Montana last week, including Kalispell, which hit 56 degrees on Feb. 13.
OPTIMISM
While growth in eastern Montana stalls due to plunging oil prices, Flathead and Gallatin counties have emerged as two of the leaders in economic activity. Flathead County is expected to enjoy one of the highest economic gains in the state this year.
Tensions high as city council reverses course on design schematic
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
Tensions have been flaring as the city
of Whitefish plods forward with its final plans for a new downtown City Hall and parking structure, with city officials re-
versing course on a design concept and struggling to settle on a cost estimate.
The friction came to light at a White- fish City Council meeting last month, when Mosaic Architecture architect Ben Tintinger explained he was aggravated by the council’s backpedaling on a design schematic.
Tintinger said his firm had already moved on to the next phase of designs based on a Jan. 5 council meeting, when councilors directed the architect to draft
a design for a building with a square cor- ner. At a Jan. 20 meeting, however, council said it wanted to see designs for a cham- fered,45-degreeentrycorner.
“This is aggravating,” Tintinger said. “It’s going to take more time to backtrack. This project is stuck in the design phase.”
Mosaic has been seeking approval of the preliminary design from council since October, and Tintinger said continued de-
See City Hall PAGE 22