Half of the 40 people in attendance at the recent Whitefish City Council meeting made public comments about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the management and uses of Memorial Field. 

Seven individuals supported a statement submitted by Leanette Galaz of the advocacy group Flathead Democracy, who said that ICE, a “rogue, overreaching federal government agency” has no business policing this community, as Whitefish has its own law enforcement agency. 

“I’m asking for the community and the city councilors to support a stand of non-cooperation or non-collaboration with DHS, ICE and CBP,” Galaz said. “No data sharing, no phone calls, no use of any of our city’s resources that we pay for with our taxpayer funds.” 

Councilor Rebecca Norton asked staff if it was possible for the city to be non-cooperative with ICE.  

“We don’t have to police immigration under federal law, but if they require cooperation, yes, we are required to cooperate,” Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs said. “It doesn’t mean we have to police immigration, that we have to check immigration, and I think we’re doing things much differently than we did a year ago.”  

JULIO DELGADO relayed the importance of holding the Glacier Twins accountable for its expenditures at Memorial Field. He said the Legion Baseball club will only turn over its books to the park board and the city.  

Delgado said the Twins list $65,000 as expenditures on annual reports and that, as a coach for 20 years, Delgado said he knows what it takes to keep the field maintained. 

“$13,000 for plowing Memorial Field,” he said. “When was the last time you saw anybody plowing Memorial Field?” 

Making the field available to the Whitefish High School baseball team, which must drive to another facility to play, was also key, Delgado argued. 

“Those kids should be able to walk out the back door of that high school and walk on that field that belongs to the city of Whitefish, not the Glacier Twins,” he said. 

“You’ve allowed them to privatize that field and we’re totally against it,” he added. 

Whitefish resident Ray Queen said the Whitefish Bulldogs have not been allowed to play on Memorial Field for three years. 

“Let’s do this for the kids,” Queen said “Let’s stop the political games.” 

Councilor Steve Qunell agreed that the high school players should be able to play on Memorial Field. 

Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobs said the city met with the Glacier Twins and it is likely an amendment to the memorandum of understanding regarding the funds from the Verizon contract will come to the Council soon, to build more transparency around the roughly $20,000 the Twins receive annually for the cellular tower that is installed at the park. 

“We feel very optimistic that the Twins are willing to open the lease agreement for Memorial Field, and to allow some built-ins for the high school to use Memorial Field for baseball, for football,” she said. “We’re working on it.” 

DANIEL SIDDER, executive director of Housing Whitefish, reported that the Whitefish Rental Assistance Program recently served its 100th household, bringing the total number of individuals served to nearly 200. 

Two of the five comments about the growth policy mentioned how downtown is changing. Whitefish resident Paul McCann said people mostly get their services from businesses south of 13th Street. Jill Davis, who works in Whitefish for the tourism industry and lives in Kalispell, said Central Avenue is not for locals anymore – it is just for visitors. 

“We shouldn’t forget about those of us who make this place run,” she said. “There would be no tourism industry if it weren’t for the people that work in it.”