Commissioner candidates part ways on growth

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

One man wants to preserve a rural way of life in Flathead County. One man says growth is going to happen, and growth isn't necessarily a bad thing.

That seemed to be the dividing line between Republican Jim Dupont and Democrat Steve Qunell in a county commissioner debate held last week in Bigfork.

"This race is not about the past," Qunell told the crowd. "It's about the future … what kind of legacy are we going to leave for our children?"

Qunell said he placed a value on open space, farmland, and the growth in the valley was eating away at those values.

He said rules that worked well when the population of the county was 50,000 people aren't working well now.

"We need to update those rules," he said.

Dupont said he saw the county commissioners as a "board of directors."

"You get the best people you can … and then let them do their job," he said.

He claimed that in the past there was too much cronyism in the commissioner chambers. If you wanted your road paved, you elected a commissioner that lived in your area.

On growth, Dupont saw it as inevitable.

He claimed the county already has 1,500 pages of rules and regulations concerning growth and land issues and he "didn't believe" the claim by some that Flathead County had poor planning. Dupont, however, said he didn't favor "doughnut" jurisdictions around cities, where city managers call the shots and aren't elected.

He said to simply blame the county was wrong and said city managers "don't care about the city they work for," and that they were more worried about their careers.

He also said people living in doughnut areas were subject to regulations without any vote in the matter.

"That's wrong," Dupont said.

He said people's properties in many cases were their investments and the county had to be careful of the regulations in put in place.

"I see controlled growth, but not controlled where it's hurting individual investors," he said.

DUPONT SAID he did not support a $10 million bond issue that would be used for easements and parks in the county. He claimed the $10 million issue would be better served if it went into roads. Qunell said he supported the measure, and said it would help not only preserve open space in the valley, but would also help water quality.

Qunell claimed he spoke with a resident who could remember when Flathead Lake was so clean, a cup full of water in the 1960s had less microbes in it than a cup from treated New York City water. He claimed that was not the case today.

Qunell also said that communities that were self-sustaining — had clean water, clean air and could grow their own food — would be the successful communities in the future, and the Flathead had a chance to do that. He claimed farmland here is three times more productive than elsewhere in the state.

With tough economic times, both candidates were asked how they would handle the county's budget.

Qunell said he'd like to see cost-saving measures, like less energy consumption and a cap on how fast county employees could drive. He's said county vehicles shouldn't drive any faster than 60 unless it was an emergency.

Dupont said he'd lobby the state against unfunded mandates that cost the county millions. He also said he didn't see much waste in the county right now.

ON THE subject of roads, particularly dirt roads, Dupont claimed some people wanted to live on dirt roads. He also complimented the county road committee, which is coming up with plans on how to address some of the dust and paving problems in the valley.

He noted the old plan was flawed — that the county's tact to pave or do nothing with dirt roads obviously wasn't working.

Qunell claimed the problem with dirt roads is that too many past developments were approved without the proper infrastructure in place. He suggested impact fees for future developments and pointed to the current problem as just another symptom of poor past planning.

And the future?

Dupont has claimed in the past he would only seek one term.

"I'm not running for the job. I don't need the job," he said.

Qunell said the race "Is not about me … it's about what's best for the community."

Qunell is the vice chair of the Whitefish-City County Planning Board, and has a Master's degree in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University — though he didn't mention his Harvard background to the crowd at the debate.

Dupont moved here in 1977 and is a Navy veteran, and was a Flathead County Sheriff's deputy from 1978 to 1991, when he ran for sheriff and was re-elected to four more terms until he retired in 2007. He was born in Massachusetts, lived there 17 years and "never went back."

The debate was moderated by Bruce Solberg, the executive director of the Bigfork Chamber of Commerce.