Candidates running for a seat on the Kalispell City Council will be invited to a Monday night forum at City Hall moderated by departing Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher.

The forum will be broadcast live on the city’s public access channel and replayed up to Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Karlene Osorio-Khor, who is running for Ward 3, asked city officials to sponsor a forum in City Hall and broadcast it. She made the request during the public comment period at Monday’s regular meeting of the City Council.

“If candidates can sit in your chairs on a night you usually meet, and are afforded Channel 9 coverage, citizens are then given an opportunity to hear all of our views on all the questions we are asked,” she said.

Osorio-Khor said she appreciated a recent forum sponsored by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, but added that not everyone was able to attend the lunchtime event.

She said this election “is probably the most important city election that the history of Kalispell has had.”

Members of the City Council supported Osorio-Khor’s proposal. 

“I think it’s a great idea,” council member Jim Atkinson said. Atkinson is running for re-election to a Ward 3 seat against challengers Osorio-Khor and Jason Mueller.

Ward 3 is the only contested race in Kalispell. Candidates for Ward 2 and Ward 4 and a citywide mayoral seat are not facing any opposition. In Ward 1, candidate Joseph Apple is running against Sandy Carlson. Apple tried to get his name off the ballot but cannot, and said he will decline the position if he is elected.

Otherwise, the municipal election is being dominated by contentious debate over a referendum on a proposed realignment and expansion of Kalispell City Airport through the federal Airport Improvement Program. The City Council voted 5-4 last year to pursue that project, a decision that will either be repealed or affirmed by city voters in the November election.

City officials at first talked about having the candidate forum moderated by local media, but later opted to hand that job to Fisher, who is not running for re-election after one term as mayor but has announced her intention to run for the Montana Senate.

Departing council member Jeff Zauner will be time keeper at the forum. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 14.

Questions from the audience will not be asked. 

Instead, questions will be developed covering five potential areas of discussion: Impact fees, the Kalispell City Airport, candidates’ goals while in office, public safety and capital reserve funding. 

“To ensure fairness, questions will be vetted by council members who are not currently running for office,” the city said in a press release announcing the forum.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.