Time to talk

With the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding the doughnut issue, it appears the ongoing dispute about who controls the planning around Whitefish will go on and on. To me, it is incredible that taxpayer money keeps being spent on legal battles to resolve an issue that should have been negotiated and resolved years ago.

While I am a resident of Whitefish, I am also a resident of the county, and through all of this, the county seems to have lost sight that it represents Whitefish citizens as well. And neither side recognizes that citizens of Whitefish end up paying both sides in their squabble over who controls what. In the end, all residents of the county are the losers. This has to end.

It is time for both the city and county to negotiate a settlement to this dispute. As a mediator for Flathead County Justice Court, I know that compromises can be reached in complex cases as long as there is a will to do so. Both the county commissioners and city councilors need to do what they were hired to do — solve problems and not rely on the courts to do it for them.

To continue to waste taxpayer money on legal costs in these tough economic times, while city and county workers are losing their jobs, is unconscionable and disgraceful. I call on both the leaders of the city and the county to do their job and settle this dispute and quit wasting our money.

Stephen Sullivan

Whitefish