Spokane County Commission John Roskelley, Karl Wilkinson; Bill Burke, Kate Mccaslin

The incumbents in this year’s race for Spokane County Commission say county government is in its best financial shape ever.

Now Democrat John Roskelley and Republican Kate McCaslin say they’d like a chance to work on other issues affecting the community, including regional economic expansion.

The challengers say that for the last four years Roskelley and McCaslin have focused on beefing up the county’s bank accounts and concentrated on environmental issues at the expense of residents.

It’s time for a change, Republican Karl Wilkinson and Democrat Bill Burke say.

Wilkinson faces Roskelley in the race for the District 1 seat. Burke is challenging McCaslin in the District 2 race. The general election is Nov. 7.

In the District 1 race, Roskelley, a world-class mountaineer, says the county is on the cusp of great growth.

The challenge will be tempering that expansion with reasonable regulations to protect quality of life, he said.

“I’d like to make sure that we’ve taken care of our water and our waterways, taken care of our air quality, that we have quality development,” Roskelley said. “I want Spokane to be a place that we can be proud of, where people come to this town and say, `Gosh this community has gone above and beyond the norm to protect its quality of life.”’

That includes adopting new rules for above-ground storage tanks to keep hazardous materials from leaking into the region’s aquifer, he said.

Wilkinson, a former East Valley School Board member and current real estate sales manager who has the support of many developers and builders, counters that potential employers and investors don’t find Spokane a friendly place to do business.

He says the county should do more to recruit businesses to the area, including increasing its contribution to local economic development agencies and streamlining the building permit process.

The former Marine also advocates increasing the county’s involvement in child abuse prevention efforts.

“When was the last time you heard a county commissioner say we’re going to have zero tolerance on this and put our money where our mouth is?” he said.

In the District 2 race, McCaslin points with pride to the county’s $12.8 million reserve fund, saying it allows the county to be a “player” in local efforts to attract business.

The county’s financial stability provides a strong foundation on which to build community prosperity, she said. Now, the county must turn to issues such as improving infrastructure to support growth while avoiding its pitfalls, such as traffic congestion, she said.

That includes pursuing the possibility of a light-rail commuter train line from downtown to the Spokane Valley, McCaslin said.

“Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if in Seattle 20 years ago, someone would have had the vision to build a light rail system there then, instead of now when it’s terribly expensive?” she said.

Burke, who has called the county’s reserve “obscene,” said county government has grown fat while residents have suffered. Many residents are unemployed or underemployed, he said.

“The government should not out-prosper the people it serves,” he said. “The obvious lack of prosperity is really fueling my fire these days.”

Burke says county government should recruit businesses of all kinds, from blue-collar manufacturers to high-tech firms, and make it easy for them to locate in Spokane.

“The government feels so cold, and it shouldn’t be,” said Burke, a revitalization consultant and promoter of Spokane’s Pig Out in the Park food festival.