Candidates for the Kalispell City Council introduced themselves, their goals and their views about the city’s airport and impact fees during a forum at City Hall on Monday.

Mayor Tammi Fisher led the hour-long discussion. Fisher, who is not running for a second term, advised city residents to learn about candidates and city issues and to “spend your votes as wisely as you spend your money.”

The event was broadcast live on Kalispell’s government access cable Channel 9. It will be replayed up until Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Ward 3 is the only contested race in Kalispell. Karlene Osorio-Khor and Jason Mueller are running against 25-year incumbent Jim Atkinson.

Sandy Carlson and Joe Apple are both on the ballot for Ward 1. Apple tried to remove his name from the ballot but could not. He has said he would decline the position if elected and did not attend Monday’s forum.

Otherwise, Mark Johnson is unchallenged for the mayoral seat, Chad Graham is unchallenged for a Ward 2 seat and Tim Kluesner is unchallenged for re-election in Ward 4.

With so few contested races, the most heated discussion centered around an upcoming referendum on Kalispell City Airport. The ballot issue asks residents to vote for or against repeal of the City Council’s decision to try to upgrade the general aviation airport through the federal Airport Improvement Program.

Candidates were split on the issue.

In Ward 3, Atkinson said he will vote against repeal. Osorio-Khor and Mueller said they will vote for it.

“You don’t just go out and ask [Federal Aviation Administration) for money. You have to qualify, do a lot of work to get that done. Now we’re at the point where we can qualify for that money and we should,” Atkinson said about his longstanding support for an airport project that has been years in the making.

“Whenever you have a transportation unit like an airport available to you to help get people and products in and people and products out to the rest of the world, I think that’s a huge asset for the city. And I would like to see it upgraded, made safer and made to work better. So I would encourage my constituents to vote against the repeal.”

Mueller won’t be among those constituents.

It makes no sense to work with the federal government to spend money on a small airport slowly being engulfed by the city, he said.

Osorio-Khor said the airport is a key issue in Ward 3, and that opposition to the project has been ignored under Atkinson’s watch. “We have had various council meetings and members of the Ward 3 constituency including myself have come forward and said we do not want the expansion of the city airport,” she said.

“Irrespective of the mathematical configurations we are getting from both sides, and the rhetoric we are getting from both sides, and all of the materials being passed out by both sides, I think the bottom line is the citizens of Ward 3 have spoken and they have said we really want our quality of life, we do not want the city airport expanded. So I am going to be voting for repeal of the City Council resolution. Then I’m going to be looking forward to addressing what it is the citizens of Kalispell want to do with their city airport.”

Ward 1 candidate Carlson voiced support for the airport project.

“I have been trying to do my homework and reading and talking to people and I will be voting against the repeal. I think the airport improvements and upgrade will be nothing but beneficial to the city,” she said.

Graham spearheaded the drive to put the airport referendum on the ballot and again voiced opposition to the airport project. He predicted that estimated construction and land acquisition costs are too low and added that federal funding for the project is not guaranteed. “It’s not a pot of gold. I’ve heard it likened to this big pot of money that will come into Kalispell to take away all of our woes about the Kalispell City Airport and it’s not guaranteed.”

Kluesner spoke strongly in support of repeal, adding that it will not close the city airport as some people are saying. “I have been out in my ward talking to people and I will tell you the response is overwhelming that people do not want this expansion,” he said.

Kluesner questioned getting the federal government involved in Kalispell’s airport, doubted if federal funding for the expansion can be counted upon and added that no one has analyzed the long-term benefits of an expanded airport in terms of how much taxes or jobs it would generate.

“The repayment of the 90 percent of the money back from the federal government is not guaranteed. All we can do is spend the money, borrow to spend it, and then ask and apply for the money to come back from the federal government,” Kluesner said. “Do you trust the federal government right now enough for this gamble? I won’t trust it.”

Kluesner also pointed to a past analysis done by City Manager Doug Russell. It projected even an expanded airport getting up to $150,000 in federal funding each year for maintenance would continue to struggle to generate enough revenue to pay for its upkeep.

“I think we can fix this [airport] with funds we have and we can make it work,” Kluesner said.

Johnson said he will vote against the repeal.

Lease commitments require Kalispell to maintain the airport for 15 more years or buy those leases out, a cost estimated at $4 million today. A needed runway overlay will cost about $1 million, Johnson estimated, again questioning where money to pay for that work will come from.

Some council members have pitched using money from the Airport Tax Increment Financing District to rehabilitate the airport. Johnson said he questions the city’s ability to use that money for routine maintenance of the existing airport, or the city’s ability to create a special improvement district to pay for the work.

“We’re kind of between a rock and a hard spot with this decision,” Johnson said. He added that he understands the fear that federal funding for the airport project is not guaranteed, but said he will do everything possible to minimize the city’s exposure. “If we move forward, there’s a lot of contingencies that have to fall in place before we would move forward and actually spend city money, at least on my watch.”

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