Liberty Lake City Council candidates disagree on community center

In a burgeoning city expected to reach or exceed its proposed size in the next few years, Liberty Lake City Council candidates list growing pains as their largest concern.

The candidates for position 4, incumbent Odin Langford and Jeanette Nall, both cite management of infrastructure, traffic and development as their highest priorities.

“Everybody here’s pretty conscious about the beauty we have,” Langford said, “and they want to protect it.”

The city’s growth comes with concerns about more traffic, more children in schools, and the visual impact of increased development. Nall said much of the public dialogue on social media centers on opposition to building more apartment complexes.

“It leads to a situation where maybe our nice little city isn’t a nice little city anymore,” she said.

One major issue, the candidates agree, is the Harvard Road overpass, the city’s main entry point to Interstate 90. Currently at two lanes, the ramp is the source of significant congestion in Liberty Lake. An extra lane would cost about $4 million, and both see this as an important project.

The two candidates are split on a proposed new community center, which would house the city’s library and spaces for community activities. It also would include a pool, which Langford sees as an expensive luxury that could only be used during a small part of the year.

“We need to concentrate on providing the best of required services,” he said. “Stop promoting these pie-in-the-sky niceties.”

Nall said the council was originally in favor of the center, until it was voted down the first time. She argued they should have surveyed the city to see how people felt about the center, rather than the council deciding it was unnecessary.

“I think the only way you make those decisions is to talk to the people in your community,” she said.

Langford, a council member of 10 years, said that “in the economic times we’re living in,” it’s best to keep in office someone who the public has trusted for many years. He said a newcomer would essentially cost Liberty Lake two years of time in learning how city government functions.

“That’s just a matter of fact,” he said. “You don’t just walk into the city council and think you know something about it.”

Though Nall has little political experience, she said she is able to seek knowledge and understand financial and city issues. In fact, she said she feels many on the council struggle to do this.

She questioned the council’s judgment in repeatedly rejecting property tax increases in recent years. They are able to increase the property tax, which helps cover city services including for police salaries, by 1 percent each year. Nall said the tax already doesn’t keep up with the growing costs of police salaries, meaning the council will eventually have to require a larger increase of 3 or 4 percent in one year.

“I think people would rather see that small increase each year,” she said.

Langford noted that over the past six years, the council has built a $4 million operating reserve fund, and another $2 million designated city reserve fund.

Nall said she feels internal tensions have prevented the council from working together, as some seem vehemently opposed to others and unwilling to hear ideas with an open mind.

“There’s so much infighting between these groups of people that i think it’s creating a situation where nothing can be accomplished,” she said.

She said her background in working with diverse groups in the U.S. Air Force would help her to establish open communication and a more effective work environment among the council members.

Langford, a retired police officer of 25 years, said he has spent his life serving the public, either as a volunteer or as a public employee.

“It’s a way of life,” he said. “When you’re a public servant, you’re a public servant.”

Nall said she has no ill will toward the current council members, and admires anyone who wants to serve their community.

“I just think that after 10 years,” she said, “if … we don’t seem to be headed where we want to, maybe it’s time for a change of the guard.”