The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce held a special luncheon on Tuesday for city council and mayor candidates as part of a new endorsement selection process. In November’s municipal election, residents will elect a new mayor, who will then likely be a part of hiring a new city manager. The outgoing mayor and former city manager have both served the city for the last decade.
“This year, because of this exceptional change in leadership, your (chamber) board took the step and has developed a candidate endorsement process to identify the most pro-business candidates,” said Chamber President and CEO Lorraine Clarno.
The forum started off with a round of questions for mayoral candidates – current councilors Ryan Hunter and Sid Daoud, and local businesswoman Kisa Davison. Erica Wirtala, a prior board chair and the public affairs director for the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors, moderated the discussion.
Wirtala asked candidates how they would address controversial issues such as the Flathead Warming Center and Kruise Kalispell.
Daoud and Hunter both referenced their experience discussing those issues on council. Daoud said that decisions like these should be made from the governmental perspective “outside of the emotions,” and take time. Hunter referenced his vote opposing pulling the warming center’s conditional use permit and his suggestion to establish a permit that requires Kruise Kalispell to occur only once a month.
Davison said her approach would be to foster a culture of “dialogue and resolution,” asking the audience to listen for “action” and “direct commitments” in the absence of council experience.
When it comes to supporting a local option sales tax, Hunter and Davison said they would support a sales tax that generated money from tourists without impacting local residents. Hunter suggested doing this by adding a tax to money spent on establishments like restaurants instead of grocery stores. Daoud agreed that tourists should pay to help cover their use of city infrastructure.
“The only way this works out is if 100% of what was brought in with that local option sales tax goes toward reduction of property tax the next year,” Daoud said. “I don’t want to add a tax because we’re adding a tax and keeping everything the same.”
During a question about their personal vision for downtown Kalispell, Davison said her priorities lie in creating a “vibrant core.” She restated her three top priorities that she’s running on, including public safety, paying close attention to city spending, and letting the free market “do what it does best.”
“The free market can solve our housing affordability crisis,” Davison said.
Daoud said he wants to upgrade the water and sewer main running through downtown in order to make Main Street accessible for people to live on.
“Nobody lives on Main Street right now but it’s coming very soon,” said Daoud.
Hunter brought up the Main Street Safety Action Plan, a plan to redesign downtown Kalispell that the council shelved earlier this year after public comment came in against the proposal during the final hours leading up to the vote. Hunter was among a minority of four councilors who backed the resolution, while the mayor and four other councilors, including Daoud, voted against it.
Hunter said Tuesday that he was “resolute” in his support for the plan, which was backed by the chamber.
The chamber also hosted four of the eight council candidates, one from each ward: Wes Walker for Ward 1, Lisa Blank for Ward 2, Kyle Waterman for Ward 3, and Bruce Guthrie for Ward 4.
The four largely agreed on several issues, including that communication between the council and the community needs improvement and that they would all vote against a general sales tax. For their vision of downtown, each highlighted different aspects to preserve the city center including “civic pride” and historical aspects, ensuring that it becomes a place to spend time and money instead of a “throughway.”
The chamber board will announce their endorsements on Sept. 3 at their next chamber luncheon.