Friess sees rapidly growing county at a crossroads

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of four articles previewing the candidates for the Flathead County Commission. The articles are running in alphabetical order through the remainder of the week.

A small business owner with self-described deep roots in the valley, Brian Friess sees Flathead County — and the nation as a whole — at a crossroads.

Friess said the region’s rapid growth in recent years as well as an increase in what he sees as federal overreach into local matters propelled him into the race. Balancing the county’s expansion with personal property rights ranks high on his priority list.

“If we’ve learned anything over the past couple of years, it’s how to be flexible and find solutions,” he said. “Individually and collectively, we’ve had to be creative and I think we need a change in what’s going on here locally.”

Friess is one of three challengers facing incumbent County Commissioner Pam Holmquist in the Republican primary election on June 7. Jack Fallon and Jason Parce are also running in the election.

No Democrats filed to run for the District 2 commission seat, which covers the central and southeastern area of the county.

Looking at the population boom — the Flathead is the fastest growing county in the state — Friess said the community needs to be more welcoming of newcomers. Growing up, he recalled coming across a persistent mentality of resistance to both outsiders and change. Harnessing change could prove advantageous, he said.

Given the Flathead Valley’s sudden popularity, Freiss wants to encourage an expansion of the county’s manufacturing and technological sectors to bolster the bustling tourism industry. Simultaneously, commissioners need to keep a close eye on local infrastructure needs, he said.

“Some of that can’t be mandated into existence, but the government can be more friendly to business and help create a fertile environment for economic growth,” he said.

As for housing, high density residential development has its place — inside city limits. He worries that the region’s farmland is at risk of vanishing with the sudden influx.

“This valley is going to keep growing and if we don’t have some guidelines, some vision on where we want things to land, it will just eat up our farmland,” he said.

At the same time, Friess said he recognizes the effect the housing crunch is having in the valley. At a recent job fair, he said he spoke with more than 20 business representatives. All of them reported struggling to find housing for employees.

One area he wants to address is short-term rentals. Too much of the county’s housing stock has gone the way of AirBnB or Vrbo. He said he would be wary of approving more short-term rentals and open to reevaluating the county’s approach to them.

“We can look at whether approving so many short term rentals is healthy,” Friess said. “It eats up available housing for people who just want to live here.”

Although uneasy with government intrusion, he said short term rentals already fall under county scrutiny.

As for county infrastructure, Friess said he is a proponent of erecting a new detention center, calling it long overdue. A growing population has led to what he sees as an increase in both the number and type of crimes. Sheriff Brian Heino laid out the challenges facing local law enforcement during a recent meeting between the two, he said.

“The short of it is, they don’t have space that they need, they don’t have the beds that they need and they’re dealing with a lot of problems they haven’t dealt with before,” Friess said.

He is worried about Constitutional Initiative 121, an effort to put a property tax cap before voters on the November ballot. Were it to pass, he said he has been told the county could expect to see a significant reduction in its budget. In that case, Friess said he hoped to keep funding for the sheriff’s office on par with recent years.

Even if it never comes to fruition, Friess said he would be hard pressed to tinker much with local law enforcement spending.

“I wouldn’t want to cut any funding from the sheriff’s office,” he said. “If anything, we need more resources there and, in the meantime, try to encourage them to do the best they can with the resources that they have — but also expand the jail.”

But he is interested in taking a hard look at other county spending. He pointed to the road, health, information technology, library and solid waste budgets as areas to audit.

“I wouldn’t accuse any of them of wasting money, but what I would want to do is scrutinize those areas harder and just have them justify expenditures and make sure they’re utilizing resources,” he said.

As for the library system in particular, Friess lauded the organization’s efforts to provide programming for the region’s children, calling it a “very important asset” for the county. He and his family have long been patrons, he said.

While he believes the ImagineIF library board has the community’s best interest at heart, he noted that the county provides funding and the community overall has an interest in the organization’s approach. Personally, he hoped to encourage the library system to focus on post-secondary education efforts, helping residents further their education and careers.

As for efforts by the ImagineIF Library Foundation to raise money for a new building in Bigfork, which organizers hope to donate to the county, Friess pointed back to C.I. 121. The thought of having to impose a major budget cut on the library system while accepting responsibility for a new building left him feeling cautious, he said.

But he’s not automatically opposed.

“I’ve been to the library in Bigfork — if they want another building, I’m not against that,” he said. “I really have to see the full details of all of what that entails.”

As for relations with the health board, another major flashpoint in the county in recent years, Friess described himself as a proponent of individual medical freedom. Looking forward, he said he would be weary of federal funding that came with strings attached that required residents to give up individual liberty.

“I define medical freedom as the sovereign right of an individual to choose the best medical treatment after they’ve been fully informed,” he said. “I’m a strong advocate for people’s personal medical freedom. I would want to make sure appointees to the health board recognize their responsibility to uphold the Constitution in their role on the health board.”

Age: 42 years old

Occupation: Small business owner for more than 14 years, mainly window cleaning, but also publishing, typing/editing and custom art.

Family: Wife Melissa and four daughters.

Background/community involvement: Volunteer soccer coach, ski instructor, past humanitarian work overseas and a former farmer.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.