Candidate views clash at Bigfork forum

With less than a month until the Nov. 4 general election, political candidates shared their knowledge of local issues Monday in a political forum sponsored by the Bigfork Eagle.

Flathead County commissioner candidates Phil Mitchell, a Republican, and Democrat Stacey Schnebel, attended the forum, as well as Republican Bob Keenan and his Democratic opponent, Dan King, who are running for the Senate District 5 seat in the Montana Legislature.

Bigfork High School students Kalli Meagher, Marissa Hiza and Gus DiPaulo participated in the forum and helped devise questions for the candidates.

Following are the highlights from the forum.

School Funding

How can the state of Montana provide affordable education to college students from Montana?

Keenan — Keenan, who has five children, four of whom are in college, said college-bound students need to look at a four-year degree as an investment and consider that investment wisely. “I think there needs to be really strong guidance for the kids,” he said. “It’s an investment, but they need to be smart about that. College is not always the next step.”

Keenan said the current freeze on secondary education tuition at Montana schools is not a comprehensive fix to Montana’s budget.

King — King, who holds a doctorate in history, said he encourages high school students to consider alternatives to four-year degrees. “Personally, not every kid should go to a four-year program,” he said. King advocated the use of federal Pell grants as a viable funding method for college students, and he said he hopes that grants remain available to students.

Water Compact

How should the state address the water compact being negotiated between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes?

Keenan — Keenan said the compact is not a done deal, and the several-hundred page compact addressing water rights for the tribes is confusing. “I want to go back to square one,” he said. Keenan said more public process and further investigation by the Legislature are needed. “The details of that plan are horrific … and unconstitutional,” he said. “We’ve been sold down the river.” Approving the compact forfeits the state’s ability to appeal, he said.

King — King said he is “very much in favor” of the compact as it currently addresses aboriginal water rights of the tribes and Montana residents in 11 counties. “I support the agreement,” he said.

Mitchell — Mitchell said municipal water supplies could be called into question if the water compact is approved. He said the compact is in direct conflict with state law “and I will uphold that. This is our water.”

Schnebel — Schnebel said there’s perhaps more uncertainty about the compact than needs to be, and historic tribal rights should be addressed.

“Is it a reality that someday we’ll have no water?” she said. “I don’t think so.”

Green-box site

The county had proposed closing the Bigfork green box trash site but shelved that idea after public outcry. This week the county purchased five acres in Bigfork to create a new trash site. The county will charge residents in a tax district around Bigfork roughly an additional $30 a year tax to pay for the site, while other areas in Flathead County do not pay additional taxes for their green box sites. Is this the model for future Flathead County trash sites?

Mitchell — He said closing the current site was a blight issue and a safety issue. Mitchell said he did not think it was unfair that Bigfork residents pay additional for their trash site, since residents of cities in Flathead County pay for county trash and city trash services.

Schnebel — “It’s not unreasonable,” Schnebel said, for Bigfork residents to pay an additional $30 a year for a garbage site, especially one that is staffed, but there is a question of inequity. “It’s for the greater good of our county,” she said. “We need our government to provide socially responsible trash removal.”

Capital improvements

Flathead County has allocated $6 million for an Agency on Aging facility in Kalispell. The idea of a gymnasium and future jail expansion also are in the long-range capital plans.

Money for the jail would come from a method of recapturing county taxes that had been assessed in prior years. This means the county could pay for the new facilities in cash, rather than try to pass a mill levy.

Schnebel — Schnebel said she was surprised at the low quality facility at the current Agency on Aging in Kalispell. “There were personnel working out of dry good storage areas,” she said. “There’s a need for a new facility. There’s no doubt that building does not work. We owe it to our seniors to be there for them.”

Mitchell — Mitchell said he was a conservative, “budget Nazi” in Whitefish, where he served on the City Council for six years. While he said using mills from previous years was legal, he was not sure it was ethical. “Recouping mill levies is a real struggle for me,” he said. “I’m not sure which way I feel. It’s good they wouldn’t have to borrow money for it.”

Mitchell said when doing budgets he addresses needs versus wants. “Some type of basketball center” was feasible, he said, if private donations could pony up $1.5 million of the price tag.

Bridge structure

Roger Sortino received a permit from Flathead County to build a bridge from his land on Holt Drive in Bigfork to his land on Dockstader Island. County commissioners, rather than put the issue to public review and the county Planning Office, approved the permit themselves. The Planning Office last March ordered Sortino to stop construction on the bridge because it exceeded the original permitted bridge length. Sortino has since gone back to the original permitted bridge length.

There is a movement in Bigfork to sue the county if the permit is not revoked. While the Legislature does not have jurisdiction over county planning procedures, the state created the Lakeshore Protection Act, which Flathead County is tasked with enforcing.

Keenan — Keenan, who owns land near the Sortino project, said government leaders need to vote on findings of facts, not on emotions, in permitting the bridge. He said there is talk that Sortino may now try to connect a dock to the bridge. “The (county) has to follow rules, but a private property right is a right.”

 King — The bridge, he said, “is a visual eyesore. I would have said no to it in the first place.”

Public facilities

How would the county commission handle facilities plans already on the books, such as libraries?

Mitchell — “There’s only so much money in the pot. Is it a need or a want? You live on a budget, and we’ll provide what needs we can.”

Schnebel — Libraries are important assets to the community, she said.

“As our county grows, so does our need for libraries. It’s really important that we support ways to provide access” to literacy and services that the county libraries provide.

David Reese is the editor at the Bigfork Eagle.