Railroader running for commissioner

Long-time Flathead resident John “Jack” Garlitz says he threw his hat in the ring for county commissioner as the filing deadline approached and it appeared only one candidate was running.

“My coffee klatch friends at the Pin & Cue goaded me into running after I made a comment,” he said.

Garlitz, a lifelong Democrat, said he’s always voted and has helped put up campaign signs, but this was his first foray in the political world.

“I went down to the election office, paid my $327.90 filing fee, and here I am,” he said.

As it turned out, Garlitz will face Stacey Schnebel in the Democratic primary, while incumbent Cal Scott will face challenger Phil Mitchell in the Republican primary, both on June 3.

Garlitz says he’s running as a “conservative Democrat.”

“Everybody needs to pay taxes — they’re a necessary evil. But the money should be spent wisely and not frittered away on foolish things,” he said. “We need to support roads, sidewalks, police. We need to do things together for the good of society. Everybody can’t go out and do their own thing.”

Born in Anaconda, Garlitz’s family moved to the Flathead when he was three. He graduated from Whitefish High School in 1959, spent three years with the Army in Okinawa, and worked for 40 years as a conductor for the Great Northern Railway, retiring in 2002.

During that time, he and his wife Phyllis owned and operated the successful Bookworks store in Whitefish. Phyllis is now the interim executive director for the North Valley Food Bank, where Garlitz has volunteered as a butcher.

An active outdoorsman, Garlitz has packed into the Bob Marshall Wilderness numerous times. He was an early member of the Back County Horsemen of the Flathead and helped the committee that created the Great Bear Wilderness. He’s now an active member in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

Here in the valley, Garlitz says septic regulations need to be enforced to protect water quality.

“The county picks on one guy but not another,” he said. “If you have a law, you should enforce it.”

Developers should pay for the impacts of new subdivisions, especially paving dirt roads, Garlitz said, and development should grow outward from the city limits to avoid sprawl and keep infrastructure together.

“Rural people should not expect city-type services,” he said. “They should be used to dusty roads.”

Garlitz said he and his neighbors put their money together for dust abatement on 1 1/2 miles of Haskill Basin Road. His home is outside Whitefish’s two-mile planning and zoning jurisdiction, the so-called “doughnut,” but he has a firm position on the controversial issue.

“You’re either in the county or in the city,” he said. “The doughnut idea is hogwash, and for county residents, it’s regulation without representation.”

Garlitz said he would support a small local-options vehicle tax to support the county’s 911 dispatch center, which he said is struggling with a “control issue” between the county and the three cities. He also supports recycling, even if it loses money and costs taxpayers.

“As a society, we need to live with recycling,” he said. “At the same time, the landfill will need to expand.”