Commissioner race reigns

The Daily Inter Lake

There are two county positions up for grabs Tuesday, but the county commissioner race between Democrat Steve Qunell and Republican Jim Dupont has taken top billing.

The other race is uncontested: Incumbent Clerk of District Court Peg Allison is running for re-election.

Whoever wins Tuesday's election will be a new addition to the three-member board of commissioners, since Dupont defeated incumbent Gary Hall in the June primary election.

Dupont spent nearly 30 years working in law enforcement and served as Flathead County sheriff from 1991 until he retired at the end of 2006. Since then he has been working part time as a security consultant.

Dupont said his proven leadership ability will be crucial as the county continues to play catchup to rampant growth during the past few years.

If elected, Dupont said, the budget would be one of his priorities because it is key to his main election platforms: property rights, roads and public safety, which he believes are the three main responsibilities for the office of commissioner.

Harvard-educated Qunell is well-studied in county issues and said the county's economy has been a major focus of his campaign. Timber companies and agriculture are in transition here, and Qunell maintains that as the economy diversifies, "We can't apply the same old thinking to new problems."

A part-time writer and stay-at-home father, Qunell said he's willing to work toward "real solutions" to the county's challenges, so that the Flathead Valley continues to be a special place to live.

Voters across Flathead County also will be asked to approve two ballot issues, one to establish a $10 million fund to acquire and preserve open space and another to spend up to $6.9 million to build a new 911 emergency dispatch center.

The Clean Water and Open Lands bond request has the stated purpose of protecting clean water, family farms, unique habitats and access to outdoor resources. On a $200,000 home, it would cost just under $19 a year for 20 years.

The ballot issue requires that the Flathead County commissioners establish an advisory committee to consider proposals, with the commissioners having final say on what proposals are funded.

Land would be protected through conservation easements, outright land purchases or combinations of the two.

The bond request was placed on the ballot by county commissioners at the request of the Flathead Land Trust and Trust for Public Land.

The official wording of the ballot request calls for issuing $10 million in bonds "for the purpose of open-space lands in the county, including working lands and land for protecting clean water and recreational access, by providing funds to acquire interests or rights in property from willing property owners and to pay costs associated with the sale and issuance of the bonds, for any one or more of the following reasons: protecting clean water in streams, rivers and lakes; preserving traditional recreational access; conserving working farm, forest and ranch lands; expanding or establishing rural parks or recreational areas; and conserving habitat for wildlife."

The $6.9 million bond request is part of a plan to merge the county's four emergency dispatch centers into a new facility in northwest Kalispell.

If passed, the bond issue would translate to a $12.48 annual increase in property taxes on a $200,000 house.

The bond money would pay for an 11,800-square-foot building to be constructed just east of the soon-to-be-built Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation building near Glacier High School.

Some $4.485 million would go to actual construction. The rest would pay for land, utilities, design work and red-tape costs, plus some equipment. The bond issue also includes $672,820 in contingency money to handle cost overruns.

The new center would handle current and future 911 needs and be the new emergency operations headquarters for all of Flathead County as well as the depot for the county's emergency vans, trailers and other emergency equipment.

The other money issue, for Kalispell residents only, is whether to support a $540,000-a-year parks maintenance fund for the city.

The referendum is advisory only - the City Council still can establish the district and impose extra taxes regardless of the outcome of the vote.

The owner of a 7,000-square-foot lot would pay $38.50 a year and it would cost $22 a year for a 4,000-square-foot lot under tentative formulas prepared by city officials. That formula could change.

The city government has been looking at creating a parks maintenance district - essentially a parks operations-andmaintenance tax - to remove park expenses from the strapped general fund.

For more election coverage, visit the Daily Inter Lake's election Web page at www.dailyinterlake.com/local_elections.