They say there are two sides to every argument.

That philosophy clearly was the case with the Whitefish City Council over the past couple of years. Time and time again, a split on council decisions — even key issues such as building a new City Hall and parking garage complex — came down to a tie vote that Mayor John Muhlfeld was required to break.

With council members Phil Mitchell, Chris Hyatt and Bill Kahle wrapping up their terms at the end of the year and newly elected council members Andy Feury, Pam Barberis and Jen Frandsen coming on board, Whitefish may see fewer issues so evenly split between council members.

“Two sides were heard at every council meeting,” Kahle said about his years on the council. “I don’t know the new council members from a political standpoint, but I hope all sides are considered.”

Mitchell, Hyatt and Kahle often voted the same way — typically with a conservative bent — while fellow council members Richard Hildner, Frank Sweeney and John Anderson tended to be like-minded in most of their voting.

“It was very frustrating,” Mitchell remarked. “But we ended up being a fairly good council. Now [with the incoming council members] it won’t be split at all. I think we’ll have a very unbalanced council.”

Mitchell speculated the incoming council members may not be as fiscally conservative as he and his departing colleagues have been.

Hyatt agreed that diversity on the council is important.

“It’s that ability for people to question why and how, and what happens in 10 years,” he said.

Hyatt is proud of the financial turnaround of city coffers during his tenure.

“One of the things I’m happy for, we came in with a budget that was pretty much in the red and we worked with staff and department heads and got a budget that was workable,” Hyatt said. “We went from having very little cash on hand to having a comfortable cushion.”

Muhlfeld said from his perspective, the most significant accomplishment of the outgoing council members was their support of the high school reconstruction project and the city’s contribution of $2.5 million.

“This was a monumental decision that ultimately gained full council support,” Muhlfeld said. “Without it, I’m sure the bond would have failed, which was the major catalyst for moving the high school project forward.”

Kahle and Hyatt agreed on the importance of the city’s support of the high school project. Hyatt said the new high school will be a crucial asset for the community in terms of economic development.

Mitchell was among the early proponents of the city’s financial involvement in the school reconstruction, but in hindsight he wonders if it was the right move.

“It’s questionable if it was good use of city funds at this point,” Mitchell said, alluding to cost overruns and what he sees as a bumpy construction process.

The departing council members won’t get to weigh in on a final vote of the updated downtown master plan, but they have opinions about how they would like to see downtown further developed.

“Some elements I like very much,” Kahle said. “I like planning and looking forward to what our town should look like. My fear is downtown is starting to look more contrived.

“It’s dangerous to head down that path,” Kahle continued, referring to proposed mandates such as how retail space should be designed.

 The City Hall and parking garage complex continues to be a sore point for Mitchell.

“I’m totally opposed to any parking garages downtown,” Mitchell said. He disagrees with the consultant’s comparison of Santa Fe, N.M., a city of 70,000, to Whitefish, a city of about 7,000, when discussing parking needs. “It’s apples to oranges.”

Kahle said that while the proposed downtown master plan update calls for several parking garages on the north end of the city, “the logical flow for growth is south.

“I think we’re a long way from needing a parking structure,” Kahle continued. “Clearer heads could have prevailed with a blend of surface [parking] lots.”

Hyatt laments that the Whitefish “doughnut” jurisdiction battle wasn’t resolved on his watch. The Montana Supreme Court eventually will rule whether the city or Flathead County will have planning control of the two-mile area around Whitefish.

“Bill and I worked hard on a solution, and it just got tied up in court,” Hyatt said. “What good does that do? It’s too bad it ended this way.”

Kahle said the 2010 compromise interlocal agreement — thrown out by a city voter-approved referendum — in retrospect “was a very good first step.

“I think we would’ve been better off with” the compromise agreement and an accompanying memorandum of understanding, he said. “Those two things would’ve been a great starting point but they were both cut off by the referendum.”

There have been many accomplishments during the past four years, though, Hyatt pointed out.

BNSF Railway’s cleanup of the Whitefish River was “a great thing,” he said, as was the development of some 26 miles of trails around Whitefish.

More needs to be done in the affordable housing and economic development arenas, he added.

“We have an incredible community,” Hyatt said. “I worked with all the councilors and in some cases I disagreed, but at the end of the day I respected them. It’s part of a good community to have the ability to disagree but still respect one another.”

Muhlfeld said the city is fortunate to have three well-qualified council members joining the council in January.

“As with most elections, there is always a pendulum swing,” Muhlfeld said. “What differs is how significant of a swing the election forces. I have sat with five difference councils over the past eight years, and if there is one piece of advice I can offer those incoming members, it is to be conscious of the fact that they represent all of Whitefish, not just the folks that voted them into office.

“We need to strive for balance and ensure that our discussions reflect what’s best for the entire community,” he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at [email protected].