Commish candidates talk issues as election draws near

The Democrat is a plumber running for political office for the first time. The Republican is a veteran that wants to keep the county’s semi-rural feel.

That’s just a tidbit of how the Flathead County Commissioner race is going heading into the final days to the election. Republican Randy Brodehl, 63, has a wealth of political experience going into the race, with eight years as the representative for House District 9, where he chaired the house appropriations committee and the judicial subcommittee. He was also the Kalispell Fire Chief from 2001 to 2007 and is the owner of R&J Enterprises Cabinet Shop.

Brodehl said the county’s in a good place as far as growth is concerned.

“Right now we have a semi-rural feel with high family values,” he said. He said his goal is to steer growth to maintain those values.

“That’s why people came here,” he said. “You have to protect individual property rights.”

Democrat Tom Clark agrees, to a point. Clark, 57, is the owner and operator of Kalispell Plumbing and Heating, a business he’s owned since 1996. He’s served on both the West Valley School Board and the Kalispell High School Board, but this is his first foray in political office.

On property rights, “you can do whatever you want to up to your property line,” he said.

But once you start impacting your neighbors, “it violates their property rights.”

Clark said he was a big advocate of neighborhood plans and he opposes a water bottling plant in the Flathead, which brought wide opposition from neighbors.

“I believe in bottom up (planning),” he said. “The county believes in top down.”

Brodehl said the county has 1,100 pages of planning regulations already on the books.

“I think we’ve got plenty of regulations,” he said. “I don’t think we need to add to it.”

Brodehl said if people aren’t happy with the decisions county commissioners are making, then vote them out of office. In the case of the West Glacier RV Park for example, it wasn’t popular with neighbors, but it did meet the requirements of both state and county laws.

The two also part ways on how to capture more revenue from tourists, such as additional fees or sales taxes.

“Right now, I don’t support any value-added taxes,” Brodehl said.

He said he’d rather see a frugal county budget, and notes that revenue from tourists ultimately gets paid in taxes by local individuals and businesses.

But Clark said there are ways to capture tourism dollars without hurting residents, like raising the local hotel and motel tax by 4 percent, which would raise about $1.5 million in revenue. He also suggested additional rental car, boat and RV fees of 6 to 8 percent.

Getting $10 from tourists amounts to an additional $20 to $30 million, he claimed.

Clark also supports impact fees for development projects. He noted that large developments often come with infrastructure strain, like what’s happening at Rose Crossing, where a rural road is now seeing high volumes of traffic that is bound to get worse.

“It’s crazy to approve developments without infrastructure improvements,” he said.

Brodehl notes that taxes are already going up. The property taxes on his home went up about $1,300 in the past year, from new voter-passed levies to build new schools in Kalispell.

On the jail, Brodehl said right now the facility has about 92 inmates the last time he checked the numbers and has a capacity of about 152. That gives the county time to look at its options as it grows.

Clark said the time to plan is now. He points to his tenure of school boards and noted that it takes several years to get a capital project off the ground.

Brodehl’s final advice?

“Research the candidates and the initiatives,” he said. “Do the best to turn off the ads.”

Clark agrees that what happens in the Flathead is far removed from Washington. He credits his family for volunteering and running his campaign. A passionate fly fisherman, he has just one regret.

“I hardly got to go this year,” he said.