Sandpoint Ballot Not Very Crowded No Challengers File For Council Positions

Residents here are either apathetic about city government or find nothing wrong with it.

For the first time in Sandpoint’s history, there are no challengers for three City Council seats.

The deadline to file candidate petitions was Friday. The only takers were incumbents Ray Miller, Paul Graves and Gloria Schauwecker.

Miller is the only one who was elected to the council. The other two members were appointed by Mayor David Sawyer to replace council members who resigned before their terms ended.

“I’m not really surprised,” Sawyer said of the lack of candidates. “There are a limited number of people out there with the time and motivation, especially if there is not a pressing issue to drive them to make the leap into the public eye. I haven’t sensed any real specific area of discontent.”

For the last year and a half, residents here have bailed out of elected and appointed positions. Sawyer has appointed 17 people to fill vacancies on the council, airport commission and nearly the entire Sandpoint planning commission.

The Bonner County School district searched for months to find a resident to fill a vacant school board seat. Four candidates have now stepped forward, including Bill Osmunson, whom voters ousted from the board in the last election.

One of the only feisty elections in Bonner County is in Priest River, a timber community just west of Sandpoint. Residents there have launched a recall of Councilman Bill Mullaley. He is not up for election but is running for mayor in the midst of the recall drive.

Mullaley was under fire for giving permission to a logger to take down $4,000 worth of trees at the city park. The project was never approved by the city council. The Bonner County Prosecutor is reviewing the case to see if there are grounds to file charges against Mullaley.

He’s also been accused by residents of misusing city property and money. “He’s exhibited behavior I feel is unprofessional,” said Melissa Bethel who launched the recall effort. “I voted for him and want a chance to recast my vote. I made a mistake.”

Bethel is now a candidate for one of two city council seats. She gathered 138 signatures and needs eight more to force a recall election of Mullaley in February. If he loses his bid for mayor, he will retain his council seat.

Despite a lack of challengers in Sandpoint, the city by law must still hold an election, at a cost of $2,750. To make use of the election, the city plans to run at least one advisory ballot. Residents will be polled on how they feel about a resort city tax.

The tax is usually a hike in sales tax or assessed on liquor and motel rooms. The increase goes to the city instead of the state.

Voters have rejected the resort tax in Sandpoint several times already. Sawyer wants to know if residents might be willing to pass it if the money goes to improve parks.

“We want to ferret out what the public wants for a tax and what they want it spent on before going directly to an election,” the mayor said.

More counties and city should be using advisory ballots, Sawyer said, adding it is a cheap, easy way to get feedback from residents.

“There is no way you can say as a government official there isn’t a substantive issue you don’t need feedback from the public on,” he said. “There should be an advisory ballot on every single election.”

, DataTimes