The residents of Coeur d’Alene are reaping the benefits of the City Council’s decision last year to change the way municipal elections are run.

In November, the city elections will feature a bigger field than the 2003 race, with a handful of attractive newcomers vying with two incumbents for three seats, as a result of the 5-1 vote that scrapped the “horse race” system. Instead of the top three vote-getters automatically winning seats, candidates now are required to run for a designated seat. The change has produced three contested races in Coeur d’Alene, including a three-way contest for an open seat.

To their credit, the two incumbents seeking re-election, Deanna Goodlander and Woody McEvers, voted in the majority to change the election system.

The contested races should guarantee that issues important to Coeur d’Alene won’t be swept under the rug, as they sometimes were in the past, and that an incumbent can’t coast to re-election based on his or her name recognition. An astute newcomer should be able to make an incumbent answer for votes during the last four years rather than be lost at the starting gate among a field of well-known rivals and a plethora of yard signs.

Despite the enormous progress that has been made in recent years, Coeur d’Alene is still facing major issues: growth, a McEuen Field makeover, the possible resurrection of resort owner Duane Hagadone’s controversial plan for a downtown memorial garden, rising property taxes, the construction of an education corridor along the Spokane River, and the challenge of keeping neighborhoods near the waterfront affordable for the town’s low and middle classes.

No candidate should be allowed to sidestep the issue of the downtown memorial garden.

In early December, council members angered Hagadone by directing staff to draw up wording for an advisory vote on the matter. Before they could order the advisory vote, however, Hagadone pulled the request, stating that he didn’t want it to distract from important February bond elections for a new library and public safety buildings and equipment. Since then, Hagadone has said he would reconsider proposing his $21 million garden, and the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association and Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce have asked him to do just that. Each candidate should say how he or she stands on the proposal.

Also, candidates should be made to say what new uses they would allow on McEuen Field since high-rises proposed or under construction downtown will add pressure to transform the longtime playfield into other possible uses or even a passive park.

The new system should force frank discussions about these issues.