vision2020
candiate questionaire, Latah Comm., district 1
Latah County Commissioner dist. 1:
John Arno(D),
Paul Kimmell(R)
A Moscow Vision 2020 committee composed these questions and collected
the following answers from the candidates.
Questions developed by Moscow Vision 2020
1. What are the most significant issues facing the commissioners in both
the short and long term?
2. Was the $100,000 allocated by Latah County to the future Latah Trail
(to be built from Moscow to Troy) well spent?
3. How should Latah County Government be organized?
4. Should the Commissioners seek input via more citizen committees?
5. Should Latah County have its own landfill?
6. How would you use electronic communications through websites and
e-mail to keep in effective contact with your
constituents?
Despite repeated conversations and messages, John Arno, District 1
County Commissioner candidate, never provided an email address or
submitted responses to the questions.
Responses by Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner
1. One of the most significant issues facing the Commission in both the
short-term and long-term is how we (the county)
continue to provide certain services to the population it services.
These services include solid waste collection/disposal, public
safety/law enforcement, general government services, court services,
cultural and recreational opportunities, health and
welfare/social services, and planning/building inspection services. We
must obtain revenues to pay for the services we provide
to you. These revenues come from a variety of sources including property
taxes, court fines/fees, fees on services provided,
intergovernmental funds, federal and state loans and grants.
The Commission must continually assess the necessity, adequacy and
quality of the services it provides to the residents of Latah
County. We must also balance the level of services with the revenues
available. Too much reliance on property taxes to fund
these services is not a healthy thing. I believe it is important to seek
other revenue streams such as higher fees for services,
possible local option sales taxes, development/impact fees, and grants
to help offset such a heavy reliance on real property
taxes.
As we examine service delivery and the method and cost of delivering
services we must begin to focus on electronic commerce
and how it can improve the delivery of core services to the public by
improving effectiveness and efficiency within the
government's internal structure. As computer networking becomes
increasingly important to our economic and social success,
we must insure that these new technologies/information tools are made
available to our small towns and isolated rural areas. We
must find cost effective, innovative and affordable solutions that will
drive our small, rural communities into the high tech Internet
arena.
We must also enhance access and use of geographical information through
a county GIS (geographical information system).
The use of GIS is critical for enhancing local government's abilities to
provide citizens services and information. Another
significant issue facing our county at this time is the current economic
health of agriculture and forestry. These two important
sectors of our local economy are currently experiencing significant
economic hardships. While we at the county level cannot
control the global markets under which these industries now operate, we
can provide support through improved rural
opportunities, job creation, workforce development, and rural economic
development. We must also continue to foster related
economic activities such as value added business which would complement
both agriculture and timber.
Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner candidate
2. I believe the Latah Trail project has been a worthwhile endeavor for
the county to date. The money allocated (still not
expended) was required as a match on a state transportation grant. It is
our understanding that we will indeed receive
approximately $495,000 of grant monies to begin acquisition and
development of the trail sometime during the next fiscal year.
In the meantime, we and the Latah Trail Foundation must work diligently
with all those property owners along the trail and
address their concerns and needs. This is a critical first step in the
success of the trail.
I am committed to making the Latah Trail a reality but at the same time
I want to make sure we protect those property owners
directly affected by its development.
Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner candidate
3. I think the present structure of county government is adequate,
however, there are a few changes I would like to see. While
a county manager seems like a more efficient way to handle the
day-to-day business of the courthouse, I think you can
accomplish the same results under our current system of three part-time
commissioners with a more full-time chair position with
an appropriate raise in pay. This is more affordable and feasible at the
present time. Public accessibility, involvement and
deliberation is where we should be making improvements in county
government.
Today's citizens hunger for involvement and participation in the
decision-making process and often have ideas and opinions we
need to hear. Many public meetings are unproductive at their best and
shouting matches at their worst. We need to somehow
improve the effectiveness, accessibility and level of public involvement
when we conduct public meetings and hearings. These
meetings need not always be political debates but should include the
public whenever possible.
As a decision maker I do not have all the answers and I believe it is
important that we involve and interact with the public to
reach more community-based solutions.
Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner candidate
4. Latah County should seek as many ways as possible to work
cooperatively with other political entities. It is extremely
important that we form multi-jurisdictional collaborations with all our
cities, towns and rural communities whenever and
wherever the opportunity presents itself.
We must all realize (county, cities, school districts and university)
that we ultimately compete for many of the same limited
resources. We must seize any and all opportunities to work together with
these other governments, schools university,
businesses, non-profits and individuals. We must work with each other to
identify areas of mutual interests and concerns, define
our roles and responsibilities and possible collaborations. There is no
time like the present to examine issues like solid waste
disposal, E-911, shared facilities, area of impact and economic
development issues we face together as leaders and how to
achieve public purposes collectively not independently.
Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner candidate
5. The Board of County Commissioners is presently exploring several
options regarding solid waste disposal for the county
residents. One option being discussed is the creation of an in-county
municipal solid waste landfill. The proposed landfill would
be "regional" in size meaning we would need to import garbage to make it
financially viable (50,000 tons minimum). Presently,
both the city of Moscow and the county export our solid waste through a
transfer station to a mega-landfill at Arlington,
Oregon. Our combined city/county solid waste totals approximately 18,000
tons/year. While the present discussion on solid
waste disposal options is timely and important, I remain reluctant to
commit to the idea of a regional landfill in Latah County
until better numbers (independent and verifiable) are provided.
I do not believe there is any urgency in reaching a decision since we
may always renew our contract with the city of Moscow
for another 3 year term when our present agreement expires in 2003 and
while the present contract with Moscow is working
well. One big question I have with siting a regional landfill in Latah
County is whether the short term financial gain is greater than
the long term economic and environmental liability. Short term gains
would be realized in reduced rates and possible enhanced
services. Under the proposed "host county" arrangement, we would leave a
great deal of responsibility with the operator (Latah
Sanitation) to attract and control the quantity and quality of waste
from these outside jurisdictions. Unless our fees/rates are
very attractive to these entities it would not seem likely we would be
able to attract the waste initially and then maintain the flow
for the long term. In the big picture of solid waste, we would be
considered a small player and perhaps not as likely to compete
with the big guys.
I am also concerned that siting a new landfill immediately adjacent to
the old landfill may open up some real environmental
liability, i.e., possible groundwater contamination from the old site
which would require immediate remediation/mitigation.
Additionally, I remain unclear as to what extent we are currently liable
for the old landfill cleanup if and when it becomes a
reality. It is important that those responsibilities are fully
understood before we would assume additional
responsibilities/liabilities
by opening another hole in the ground.
Paul Kimmell: 1st district, Latah County Commissioner candidate
6. I fully support the use of all electronic mediums for improving
communications with our county residents. Latah County
presently has an operational website and we will continue to improve the
information available, links with all county
services/departments, and all the elected officials. The website should
provide all our constituents with effective and timely
access to county government. As a local government official, I recognize
how the Internet if used effectively, can make a major
contribution to public information access and customer service.
A well designed homepage may also build a sense of community to some
extent. We must continue to encourage public access
and use while recognizing a persistent digital divide presently exists
between the information rich and the information poor. We
need to help those in our communities close the divide by promoting
public access to computers and the Internet at local
schools, libraries and other public places. We must also identify those
small communities and rural areas in our county that
presently lack high speed, affordable access to the Internet. Without
this access these areas will not be competitive
economically in the future.
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