Commissioner Hall should rescind city-county agreement

For a brief moment there, when reading a recent op-ed by Flathead County Commissioner Gary Hall, I actually thought that Hall was finally going to admit he made a mistake when he turned control of private property outside the city of Whitefish over to the city.

I shouldn't have let my excitement get the best of me until I read on. It seems that the real reason county property owners are about to be stuck with a city growth policy that is, in the words of Gary Hall, "flawed and oppressive," is because of "three men from another state."

While I admit I haven't been in his office, I'd bet that if Hall has a sign on his desk it reads, "The buck doesn't stop here."

Hall failed to mention he is the sole reason county property owners in Whitefish are in this position today. When he first tried to advance his scheme to turn control of private property outside of Whitefish to the city, Republican county commissioners Howard Gipe and Bob Watne had strong objections.

It was only after the election of "Democrat" Joe Brenneman to the commission that Hall was able to force through "his" agreement with the city. Thousands of county property owners were disenfranchised from representation on land use issues affecting their property, thanks to Hall.

Not to worry though. Hall offers a solution for the problems created by Hall. First, the Whitefish City Council will give county property owners "the opportunity to vote on the regulations being imposed on them."

I predict that the city council will be no more receptive to this idea than Hall was when the same request was made to the county commission by county property owners, prior to the commission's adoption of the "flawed and oppressive" new "county" growth policy.

Hall's second solution is to turn county bureaucrats, his "Long Range Planning Task Force," loose on property owners in the area. I guess in Hall's world it is better if his "county" bureaucrats dictate what property owners can or can't do with their property than "city" bureaucrats. My question is: Can you explain the difference Gary?

One really has to wonder just what Hall doesn't get about the concept "representative government." This is especially puzzling from someone who claims to be a "Republican," a party that lives and breathes "Republican" principles.

We will know that the county commission is serious about solving this problem of their own creation when they rescind Hall's agreement with the city of Whitefish. Until that happens, county property owners in the area will continue to be non-citizens in their own backyard, and all they will have to look forward to is more of Hall's excuses and nonsensical ideas.

Dick Skees lives in Columbia Falls.