The Whitefish City Council starts the new year with a new slate of council members and a new mayor.

On Tuesday night, Richard Hildner, Frank Sweeney and John Anderson will be sworn in as council members and John Muhlfeld will take the oath of office as mayor.

The meeting is on Tuesday because of Monday's holiday.

A FAIRLY lengthy agenda awaits the new council, topped with a public hearing to consider a sign variance for flashing snow beacons on top of Great Northern Brewery.

Brewery Manager Marcus Duffey is asking to install two internally lit flashing beacons to advertise inversions and powder days at Whitefish Mountain Resort. The beacons would be located on the northwest and southeast corners of the roof. They're designed with two lights stacked on top of each other - one blue and one amber - for a total height of just over 12 inches.

The amber lights would either blink or remain lit from 8 a.m. to noon to indicate an inversion. On days when the ski resort gets six inches or more of snow the night before, the blue light would flash or remain lit during the same four-hour period.

SINCE THE CITY staff has determined such beacons constitute a sign, the brewery will need a variance for sections of the sign law that currently prohibit flashing signs, internally illuminated signs, signs imitating or resembling official traffic signals and off-premise advertising. The brewery also will need a variance for the number of permitted signs.

It's not the first time Great Northern Brewery has asked for sign variances. In April 2011 the city granted a variance to increase the number of brewery signs to four, increase the total sign square footage permitted and allow a blinking sign.

TUESDAY'S PUBLIC hearing agenda continues with a conditional use permit request from Daniel Sagen to convert an existing home into a guest house and move a Class A manufactured home to 50 Sandy River Way to be the primary residence.

The council will consider an ordinance amending zoning regulations regarding personal services in residential zones and allowing massage therapy as a professional service.

A resolution of intent calling for a public hearing on an amendment to the city's Urban Renewal Plan involves altering the city's tax increment finance district to include the Whitefish High School property as a blighted area for redevelopment. That would pave the way for a proposed $1.75 million allocation of tax increment revenue to the high school reconstruction project.

The Whitefish School Board has requested $2.5 million in tax increment money to help offset the bond request needed for the $19 million project.

THE LAST TWO public hearings of the night involve ordinances rezoning land on Carver Bay from county suburban residential to city suburban residential.

In other business, the new council members will get their committee assignments.

An executive session is planned from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday to conduct annual evaluations for City Manager Chuck Stearns and City Attorney Mary VanBuskirk.

The regular meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.