UPDATE: City Council Member Ryan Hunter appears on the KGEZ Good Morning Show Thursday morning at 8:10 to talk about why he voted against closing the Flathead Warming Center.
At Monday night’s Kalispell City Council meeting, the Council voted, 6-3, to revoke the Conditional Use Permit that allows the Flathead Warming Center to exist in their current location on North Meridian Road. We got an indication of the Council’s position on the situation from Council Member Sid Daoud on the KGEZ Good Morning Show, telling us he was disappointed that the Warming Center didn’t continue to meet with area residents.
In casting his vote, Mayor Mark Johnson appeared to sum-up the Council’s majority vote, saying, “I understand the services provided, but I also understand that we have a lot of neighbors in that neighborhood who have been so negatively affected, because it hasn’t been operated as it’s been promised.”
Only Council Members Ryan Hunter, Jessica Dahlman and Sandy Carlson voted against revoking the Conditional Use Permit.
Earlier, Warming Center Executive Director Tonya Horn told us they’re ready to work toward developing collaborative solutions to quell their neighbors’ concerns. She told us, “We reach out to our neighbors and invite them to join us in this effort to find innovative and mutually beneficial solutions.”
At the same time, she told us their legal team has written a detailed letter to Mayor Mark Johnson, City Manager Doug Russell and the Council. In it, she said, their team of 3-attorneys unanimously agreed that the City lacks the legal authority to revoke the Conditional Use Permit. The letter answers the letter to Toyna Horn from Kalispell City Attorney Johnna Preble, who assets that Horn wasn’t truthful in her application and testimony for the Permit.
And so, as the dust settles after Monday night’s vote, the story may not end here, but in Court.
