ASK STEVE QUNELL

Steve wants to hear what you think and answer the questions you have about the future of Flathead County. He knows there are a lot of tough questions that need answers. If you have a question, you can submit it here. You will stay anonymous if you use the form included here. Steve will post his responses here so check back often.

Q: Why should I vote for you?

I am the candidate for Flathead County Commissioner with the vision to keep the Flathead Valley special in these times of rapid change. Our prosperity, natural beauty and clean water are precious gifts. My opponent is aligned with hard-line anti-planning groups. His statements about some of the most pressing challenges in Flathead County show he does not have a grasp on the issues people face in the fast-growing Flathead.

It is time to end the era of short-sighted politics in Flathead County and vote for the future we want: a future that recognizes the connection between our way of life and our economic viability and a future that supports our hard-working families.

Q: What side are you on in the Whitefish “doughnut” controversy?

I think it is really too bad that this issue has become a matter of “sides.” I am a strong advocate of the incorporated cities and the county working together to plan for the growth and future of Flathead County. When the current county commissioners voted to end the Interlocal Agreement with Whitefish, they essentially ended over 40 years of cooperation between the city and the county.

I believe we need to encourage and expand cooperation between the various government entities in Flathead County. This may sometime require that more time is spent at the negotiating table to ensure everyone’s rights and interests are being respected. Cooperation between government entities in Flathead County is the responsible thing to do for taxpayers. All of these governments doing the same thing separately doesn’t make sense in a lot of ways, but most of all it is not a fiscally responsible way to operate. Ending cooperation between the City of Whitefish and Flathead County will mean significant money will now need to be spent that otherwise could have been saved or spent on other pressing needs.

Q: What is your position on implementing water quality ordinances?

Clean water is not a luxury. Once it is gone it is very expensive and difficult (if not impossible) to bring back. Well-respected experts have documented that our water quality in Flathead County is declining. We now have two choices. We can ignore the science and the experts and simply hope for the best, or we can be proactive about the situation. Developing ordinances and rules for development is always fraught with controversy and disagreement, but I don’t believe that doing nothing is in the long-term interests of our County and the legacy we leave for our children. We need to seek common-sense rules and regulations that protect our water quality while providing developers and property owners clarity about how they may develop their property in a way that doesn’t damage to the quality of the water we all share and depend on.

Q: Do you favor more planning or less planning in Flathead County?

I strongly favor good planning to accommodate the growth we are experiencing in Flathead County. Would you invest in a business that didn’t plan for its future? Good planning protects everyone’s property rights, ensures that our roads and intersections are safe and are designed to accommodate population increases, is good for our air quality and is vital to maintaining fiscal responsibility in the County. I believe that new development should not become a cost burden to our current residents and taxpayers. When the county simply reacts and doesn’t plan for the future we are simply leaving our future to luck and chance.

Since 2000 Flathead County has been the second fastest growing county in the state with the three fastest growing cities. During this rapid growth we have been delivered a short-sighted, special-interest driven hodgepodge of development that has placed the burden of this growth on our hard-working families instead of on those who have been reaping the biggest profits.

Road dust problems, stretched police, stretched fire and ambulance service, diminishing air and water quality, loss of access to favorite trails, fishing holes and hunting spots, traffic congestion and many of the challenges we face in Flathead County today are the symptom of poor or no planning by previous County Commissioners. We need to end the era of “good ol’ boy” County Commissioners who won’t plan for the future and take a complacent wait-and-see approach to the challenges we face together in Flathead County.

Q: How will you end the dusty road problem in Flathead County?

Excessively dusty roads in Flathead County (the kind that have led to air quality citations by the State of Montana) are the result of poor planning. We must first understand this fact so that the future actions of the County Commission doesn't continue to make the problem worse. From some of the statements my opponent Jim Dupont has said, it doesn’t appear that he has this basic understanding. He made it clear at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce forum on May 20th that he doesn’t even think dust is a problem because of some “internet research” he did on the issue.

Next, we must implement innovative solutions for dust abatement. Priority for paving and dust abatement must be based on objective information such as traffic counts and not on “the ol’ squeaky wheel” or “who you know” methods. The process and information should be completely open and transparent. I believe this information should be posted online together with maps and schedules for all to see.

Dusty roads will always be a part of life in rural Flathead County, but in many instances the situation has become not only a violation of state air quality laws (and the resulting fines are being paid by Flathead County taxpayers), but also a health hazard. The current situation is simply unfair to those who have been negatively affected by unplanned and haphazard growth.

Q: What about neighborhood plans?

When people – hard-working businessmen and neighbors – come together to plan their future as allowed by Montana law, the county government shouldn’t stand in the way or tell them that their lawful efforts can be completely undone because a couple of County Commissioners disagree with the will of the neighborhood.

In Flathead County the only way for people to protect their property from encroachments by their neighbors is through neighborhood plans and neighborhood zoning. These are the only tools we currently have to protect people’s property and they should be supported by the County Commissioners. All of the hard work and the democratic process that goes into creating these plans should be respected. These plans should not be gutted or made insignificant because a few people with deep pockets disagree with the majority in the neighborhood. Until there is sentiment to enact county-wide zoning, neighborhood plans are the best tool we have to protect people’s property and their property rights.

The politics of the good ol’ boy County Commission talk a lot about respecting property rights, but in reality these same "property-rights" Commissioners have time and time again acted to take away people’s rights to protect their property through neighborhood plans. Property rights belong to everyone and not just those with the deepest pockets.

Q: Do you support controversial new regulations like impact fees?

We must be careful when we think that impact fees will cover the full cost of new development -- because it doesn’t. What it does, however, is help cover the initial cost of infrastructure improvements necessary to lessen the impacts on our hard-working families. Impact fees place the burden of these costs where they belong – on the developers who stand to gain the profit of their new development. Unfortunately short-sighted politics at both state and local levels have refused to even consider how to make these necessary changes.

Enacting reasonable impact fees on new developments are the norm across the country and in every Montana county experiencing similar growth to the Flathead. It’s only fair to place the cost of growth on those who will profit -- and not require the taxpayers to pick up the burden.

Q: Are you an advocate of so-called "smart-growth" policies that the county is trying to adopt in it’s new subdivision regulations?

The policies the county is currently considering are neither smart growth nor dumb growth. These policies and regulations seek only to plan for the rapid growth that has overtaken us since 2000 and left us with degraded water and air quality and have eaten into the way of life that is the backbone of our economy. If there are going to be nifty taglines though -- I’d rather be an advocate of smart growth than dumb growth.