In Sandpoint, Progressing Toward a Less Cantankerous Council

By Cate Huisman, 11-02-09

	Sandpoint City Council candidates

Sandpoint’s seven city council candidates didn’t exactly duke it out in public debate last Wednesday evening; in fact they revealed that they agree on many big issues, although their approaches to those issues may vary. Most significantly, they all seem eager to implement the city’s new Comprehensive Plan, adopted last year after countless hours of debate among members of the council and the public. The only major issue on which there was a significant division of opinion was the city’s water treatment bond, with some candidates in favor of approving it and others opposed.

So how’s a responsible voter to choose?

Observers of the council over the past several years will recall some contentious and lengthy meetings, with interaction among council members not always entirely copacetic. Frustrating as this has been, it’s hardly a new problem: Witness some headlines about the council that ran in the Northern Idaho News in 1908: “Council Factions Become Belligerent.” “Action of Mayor Page Cause Turmoil.” “Amers Asserts He Will Not Serve With New Member.” Council members have not sunk to quite such spectacular depths in recent memory; in fact this record suggests that they have actually made progress toward greater civility.

But to best serve their constituents, council members need to eschew the examples of their historical counterparts (not to mention some of their brethren in the current U.S. Congress), and interact in a mature, respectful, and efficient manner. Voters might ask themselves who among the incumbents has shown an interest in changing the pattern of interaction on the council, and which of the newcomers appears most likely to be able to avoid any cantankerous tendencies.

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