Sandpoint election forum recap

Council candidates field questions while mayor provides info on wastewater plant bond

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

About 40 community members gathered Oct. 20 at the Sandpoint Center for an election forum featuring four candidates for the Sandpoint City Council and a presentation from Sandpoint Mayor Jeremy Grimm on the $130 million wastewater treatment plant bond, which will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 4 ballot.

Joel Aispuro and Rick Howarth (both incumbents), as well as Joe Tate and Joshua Torrez, are running for three open seats on the council, which carry a term of four years and are “at large,” meaning there are no specific districts or seats representing those districts. Rather, the three candidates who win the most votes across all of Sandpoint’s voting precincts will take the seats.

Presented by 88.5 KRFY Panhandle Community Radio, SandpointOnline.com and the Sandpoint Reader, and moderated by Chris Bessler, the forum was broadcast live on 88.5 FM and streamed on krfy.org, where a recording is available.

Participating virtually, Aispuro kicked off the forum with opening remarks, noting his eight years on the council and adding that he’s been a Sandpoint resident since the age of 8, is raising four children in the community and pointed to his family’s popular restaurant — Joel’s Mexican Food — as informing his “deep understanding of our community.”

Howarth has served a year and a half on the council, after being appointed by Grimm to fill the position left open by Jason Welker, who left the council to become Sandpoint Planning and Community Development director.

“It’s been a great learning experience,” he said. “I love learning about the challenges and issues that the city faces.”

Howarth comes with more than 40 years working for Texas Instruments and Intel, including 15 years in China and Vietnam before retiring in 2020. A University of Idaho graduate, Howarth said he’s called Sandpoint “home” since 1982, after marrying a local.

Tate was born and raised in Sandpoint, attending local schools, before going to college in Montana and later Colorado and then returning to Sandpoint in 2016 where he works as a counselor specializing in substance abuse and mental health. 

“I feel like I have a lot to offer my hometown,” he said. “I’m highly protective of my hometown — I’ve seen it change in some ways that I’m not super happy about and I see this as an opportunity to give back to fellow citizens.”

Hailing from Denver, Colo., Torrez came to Sandpoint in 2017 where he works as a ski technician at Schweitzer, a commercial account executive at Vyve and has coached youth soccer, as well as been involved with the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce and Ponderay Economic Partnership. He said that like many residents, he works several jobs “because that’s what it takes here.”

“I’m running to keep Sandpoint’s future in the hands of locals,” he said, adding that growth must be managed “without doubling people’s bills.”

In his opening remarks, Grimm said the city could not take a position on the ballot measure, but instead offered information on the condition of the wastewater treatment plant.

“It is worn out; it is at the end of its useful life,” he said, later adding that the skill of the plant operators has been the only thing standing in the way of a major system failure.

“Most days they’re not operating a plant, they’re actually standing and watching for something to break most of the time,” he said.

If approved, the $130 million bond would raise sewer rates by about 100% over five years.

“I don’t pretend that this isn’t a huge ask,” Grimm said, later adding, “and we will fight like mad to get some grant funding for this plant.”

Questions were submitted by the audience, beginning with whether councilors would “work diligently” to return Parks and Recreation programs that have been cut in recent years, specifically lifeguards at City Beach.

Aispuro said his goal is to “bring back as many programs as we can within reason.” However, he noted that city staff worked over several seasons to attract lifeguards, but to no avail.

“We will do that if we have proper funding,” he said. “It’s something I’m open to.”

Howarth also pointed to the lack of lifeguard applicants despite an increase in pay, and suggested taking a “balanced approach” to reinstating programs — that is, allowing private groups to offer those services when possible. As for lifeguards, “It’s a great resource that we need to get back in place.”

Tate said he played rec soccer from the age of 5 and, “from a mental health perspective, recreation is incredibly important.” Regarding the lifeguard program, he said that wages need to be “competitive, and obviously we didn’t shoot high enough.”

“I think that’s a direct result of inaction on the city’s part,” he said.

Torrez said that “of course I support lifeguards” and, “Anything we can do to get children out playing, people will support with their money.”

In response to a question about what the city should do if the wastewater treatment plant bond fails, Grimm pointed to “judicial confirmation,” which would include a judge ruling that the $130 million price tag is an “ordinary and necessary expenditure” and approve the debt authority regardless of the will of the voters — “not an ideal option,” he said. 

The other alternative, he said, was for residents to shoulder the entire cost through rates, which would increase 600%, but “we don’t want to put all that burden on our residents.”

Howarth pointed to a third option, which would be to contract with a private, third party to build, own and operate the plant, though “that’s not going to come free; the rates to cover those costs are still going to be the rates.”

Tate said should the bond measure fail, the city would need to examine why voters didn’t support it and find out “why did the public not trust what the city put on the ballot.”

For Torrez, “we can’t just stop” if the bond fails. Rather, he suggested securing emergency funding from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality while looking to modular systems or phased repairs.

Aispuro said that “government has never been trusted in North Idaho,” so if the bond fails the city would “go back to the drawing board” with more education and outreach to the community. As for judicial confirmation, Aispuro said, “It’s something we have to consider.” 

Councilors also fielded questions about traffic and parking, as well as infrastructure. Aispuro and Howarth both said that the city has already worked hard to address those issues — including through a new parking management plan, as well as ordinance changes, and in the case of infrastructure, tried and failed to pass a 1% local option tax to fund those repairs.

Tate and Torrez expressed frustration with issues such as too much speeding through the downtown core, with Torrez calling for more police enforcement.

To a question on how the city can help with ongoing increases in rents and housing prices, Aispuro said it’s a question of “density or subsidy,” though both have their opponents.

“It’s not the government’s job necessarily to create affordable housing, whatever that even  means,” Aispuro said, later saying the issue can’t be solved at the local level, as it has to do with the devaluation of the dollar by the Federal Reserve and the lack of “sound money.”

Howarth chalked it up to supply and demand, and noted that new multi-family units throughout the area have “stabilized the increases.” Tate pointed to incentives for duplexes, triplexes and accessory dwelling units, while Torrez took aim at vacation rentals taking up inventory.

“What we have here is sufficient, but we have people who are not allowing us to live in these houses,” he said.

On the topic of women’s reproductive health care, one question asked what the city could do to help bring OB-GYN services back to Bonner General Health after providers left following the state’s near-total abortion ban.

Howarth called it “shocking” and said, “I don’t have a great solution other than we need to sit down with the Bonner County hospital and understand what are the real issues there.” 

Tate said that while it wasn’t a city issue, “we can encourage people to continue to support the [reproductive rights] voter initiative.” For his part, Torrez said, “I stand with women. … We just need to stand up as men and be loud and clear and say we support you.” 

Aispuro pushed back at the premise of the question, saying, “I’m not going to sit here and patter with my words that if you disagree with a particular party then you don’t support women.”

Rather, he said, despite the lack of OB-GYNs in Bonner County, those services can be found in Kootenai County and, “it’s not like they’re out in the gutter” giving birth.

“I’m not going to grandstand,” Aispuro said.

All three council candidates closed with statements related to collaboration and commitment to Sandpoint’s future being put in the hands of locals. 

Voters in Bonner County can submit their absentee ballots until 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24 and early in-person runs 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through Friday, Oct. 31 at the Bonner County Elections Office (1500 Highway 2, Suite 124, in Sandpoint).

For all things election-related go to bonnercountyid.gov/elections or voteidaho.gov.