ATHOL — A debate Thursday at the Athol Community Center featured five of the six candidates running for two seats on the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners.

Nearly 100 people attended the debate, which was hosted by the Friends of Timberlake community group as a way to draw attention to the concerns of members of the community living in rural areas. Questions were provided to each of the candidates prior to the debate and each of them was allotted two minutes to respond without any opportunity for rebuttal.

Before officially opening the debate, moderator Bat Masterson said Dave Stewart, the incumbent commissioner for District 2, was given the same invitation to attend the event as the other candidates. However, Stewart was not in attendance.

One of the first questions fielded by candidates asked them to address the Kootenai County Emergency Medical Services System — a fire-based ambulance service providing emergency care and facility-to-facility transfers throughout the county. Masterson said there are concerns in rural communities such as Athol about emergency response times and there is little to no oversight over the joint powers board that oversees the agency.

Chris Fillios, who is challenging Stewart in District 2, told the audience he views the agency as a service-provider, with the residents of the county acting as the customer. Oversight, he said, needs to come from the county commissioners because it is the entity that controls the budget.

If elected, Fillios added he would create "fair metrics" to assess the agency's performance.

Bob Bingham, who is in a four-way race for the District 3 commissioner seat, said he had conducted financial audits of the agency. Although there is no opinion on the agency itself in the audit, Bingham said he felt it was important to publish the information online for taxpayers to view.

"I want all 46 taxing districts to be online," Bingham said. "With that kind of information, we can hold each taxing district more responsible."

Leslie Duncan, also running for the District 3 seat, said the board of county commissioners has influence over KMSS through its representation on the agencies board, as well as through the budgeting process.

"I kind of like the idea of having the double-step process where, even if the joint powers board disagrees with the county commissioners, there's still another check with the board of three and the budget," Duncan said.

District 3 candidate Duane Rasmussen said he has heard from residents about emergency response times being substantially longer in Athol, which is concerning to him. Cooperation and strong leadership, he added, are needed to lower those times.

Fred Meckel, candidate for the District 3 seat, echoed Rasmussen's concerns regarding response times. If elected, he said he would bring "all the players" to the table to figure out a solution.

"The last thing you want is to have someone die because of response times," he added.

Another question asked of the candidates regarded how they would address "potential or perceived conflicts of interest" if elected.

Duncan fielded the question first, stating she hopes county residents elect a commissioner who is honest and abstains from voting if there is a conflict.

"It's important to avoid even the appearance of favoritism," she added.

Rasmussen stated he is not for sale and, as an attorney, he understands the importance of avoiding the appearance of impropriety.

"If I'm hired to do a job, I do the job I was hired to do and I do it fairly," he added.

Meckel said he is self-funding his campaign and he disagrees with what he sees as dishonest tactics used by some of the political action committees in the area.

"I'm not a part of that and do not condone that," he added. "PACs all over this country are trying to take over the country for special interest groups."

Fillios said the topic was one of his favorites, and used it as an opportunity to draw a distinction between himself and his opponent, Stewart. He said the current commissioner did not abstain from voting on pay increases for Kootenai County Sheriff's Office employees, even though Stewart's wife works for the agency.

"I would have recused myself," he added. "If there's even the appearance of a conflict, you have to step away."

Finally, Bingham said he is not backed by any developers, and if he found himself to be in a conflicting position, he would refrain from voting.