Candidate Mitchell speaks to city

A handful of Columbia Falls city councilors met with Republican Flathead County commissioner candidate Phil Mitchell on July 7. His Democratic opponent, Stacey Schnebel, was also there to listen and will meet with the council later.

Mayor Don Barnhart explained that Columbia Falls was a small town and sometimes “needs to lean a little on the county” because of funding shortages. But city residents are also county residents, he noted.

City manager Susan Nicosia brought up the issue of court cases involving the city of Whitefish’s “doughnut” planning and zoning jurisdiction. Mitchell sat on the Whitefish city council during much of the time the “doughnut” lawsuit made front-page news.

Columbia Falls has nearly identical wording in its interlocal contract for a one-mile planning jurisdiction, and if Whitefish loses their “doughnut” on constitutional issues, Columbia Falls also will, she said. But Columbia Falls has been very careful in how it has treated residents in its “doughnut,” Nicosia said.

“In all my experience with the city, the council has never adopted a zoning request that got a negative recommendation from the planning board,” she said.

An important issue for the city is establishing quiet zones for two at-grade railroad crossings on the edge of the city, Barnhart said. The usual 24 trains per day has increased to 40, and the noise from very loud train whistles affects county residents on both sides of the tracks, he said.

“You can expect 60 trains a day in the near future,” Mitchell said.

Even though crossing arms are already in place at both locations, there are road alignment issues and the need to put in a safe pedestrian crossing, Barnhart said. Altogether, that could cost $600,000.

Closing down the Fourth Avenue East crossing could reduce costs significantly, but that would affect the industrial park north of town, Nicosia said. The industrial park has new owners, and development could happen there in the future, she said.

“We’ll need to bring down the costs somehow,” Mitchell said, “and that might mean closing one of the crossings.”

Nicosia expressed concern that the county commissioners might be reluctant to help Columbia Falls if it looked like the other cities would ask for similar assistance.

“That’s a non-issue for me,” Mitchell said.

Regarding the countywide assessment proposed to fund the 911 dispatch system, Barnhart noted that Columbia Falls couldn’t afford to reduce its property taxes by that same amount, as the late commissioner Jim Dupont had suggested.

“Some people say city residents should pay more, but I believe in fair and equitable treatment to all county residents regardless of where they live,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he wants the county to spend money wisely and not borrow or raise taxes.

“I want people to be able to afford to live here,” he explained.