With significant challenges facing the city of Spokane — mostly involving price tags too big for the budget to handle comfortably — voters have crucial decisions to make in this month’s primary elections.

In District 1, Councilman Bob Apple faces four challengers, including two experienced neighbohood leaders and a third with a growing record of community involvement. In many ways, Apple himself sounds more like a challenger than an incumbent, airing frustration about problems yet to be resolved more than touting the accomplishments of four years on the job.

While Apple prides himself in fighting uphill battles, “even if on the losing side,” Spokane needs council members who are determined to find solutions rather than just make statements of principle. Donna McKereghan, Gary Pollard and Luke Tolley have played constructive roles as leaders in the Logan, Riverside and Hillyard neighborhoods, respectively. McKereghan especially has demonstrated a sleeves-rolled-up energy in tackling issues that confront the community.

Now 54, she’s been engaged in civic activities since she was a teenager. She was a superior student in high school and college and is a former philosophy professor at Eastern Washington University. Former Gov. Gary Locke named her to the Washington state Legislative Ethics Board, on which she still sits, and she helped develop Spokane’s current ethics ordinance.

Her impressive resume is backed by action and matched by a solid grasp of issues facing the city, from tax-increment financing to open records and government transparency. She is a persistent fact-gatherer who reaches thoughtful positions that reflect a strong respect for the community and the people who live in it. And, when she doesn’t have enough information to answer knowledgeably — such as what to do about the city’s deteriorating swimming pools — she has the confidence to say so.

At times she can be condescending, but she is aware of a need to brush up on what she calls her “emotional intelligence.”

Like McKereghan, Pollard has logged numerous hours on city and neighborhood committees. Tolley is fast compiling a record of his own. But it’s McKereghan who’s shown the most impressive and detailed grasp of issues.

The fifth candidate for the position, Robert Stokes Jr., is more of a mystery. He concedes he’s not the best candidate in the race but doesn’t know who is. He says, maybe in jest and maybe not, that he ran so he could see his name on the ballot.

District 1 needs a change, and McKereghan represents the best chance for engaged, pragmatic problem solving.