- [Announcer] This is a KSPS PBS election special, a debate featuring candidates for Spokane County Commissioner.

(dramatic music) - Hello, and thank you for joining us, I'm Aaron Luna.

We're pleased to bring you this debate featuring the candidates running for the Spokane County Commissioner in District Five.

District Five covers most of the southern and western portions of the county, including the West Plains, Northwest Spokane, and the South Hill above 29th Avenue.

Let me introduce the candidates to you.

Al French has been an architect and developer in Spokane.

He was first elected to the County Commission in 2010 and is seeking his fifth term in office.

Prior to that, he spent eight years on the Spokane City Council.

Molly Marshall is a first-time political candidate.

She's a graduate of Eastern Washington University and served in the Air National Guard for 30 years.

She is co-founder of the advocacy group Citizen Action for Latah Valley.

Welcome to you both.

For this debate, the candidates will answer questions from two Spokane journalists, Elana Perry, a reporter for "The Spokesman-Review," and Eliza Billingham, staff reporter for "The Inlander."

Before we start, a quick look at the debate rules.

The panel can ask the same question of both the candidates or can direct the question to just one.

The panelists may request a follow up to any answer.

Candidates will have one minute for answers and are allowed two rebuttals for the entire debate.

Rebuttal length is limited to 30 seconds.

Let's begin.

A coin flip determined that Molly will take the first question, and that will come from Elana Perry.

- Thanks, Aaron.

I'd like to start with kind of a general one.

So given each of your experience, can you tell me why you believe you are the best candidate to represent the Fifth District on the County Commission?

- Yeah, so I have lived in Spokane County for 34 years.

Spent most of that time living, or working on the West Plains, have many connections, working in the International Guard, and after retirement, really got involved in the community and started working with just my neighborhood.

That expanded when I co-founded Citizen Action for Latah Valley.

That's when we realized that the issues that we were advocating for were all over that county.

So I am a community member in District Five that sees the issues firsthand, and I think that I am very committed to this community that is invested in me and will represent the community voice once I take office.

Thank you.

- Commissioner French, you have one minute as well.

- Thank you.

Well, I think I'm the best qualified for the job because I've been doing it for the last 14 years.

I'm nationally recognized for my leadership skills.

Also recognized at the local and state level.

So I'm engaged with our community.

I'm supported by the mayors for all three cities in Spokane, West Plains, as well as the past mayors for the City of Spokane, and also Cathy McMorris-Rodgers and state legislators from across the state.

It's because of my skill, my background, my solution searching skillset that allows me to continue to serve this community.

And it's been a great honor to be able to do it for the last several years and I look forward to doing it for the next four years for our community.

- Eliza, you have the next question.

- High levels of PFAS, sometimes called forever chemicals, that have been linked to cancers, heart disease, low birth weight, and other diseases were found in the groundwater of the West Plains in 2017.

Many of those affected residents are still waiting on answers.

If elected, what would you do to address the contamination?

- [Aaron] And Commissioner French, you will take this question first.

- So PFAS was created in 1938.

It's been in the system since 1940.

Fairchild acknowledged the presence of PFAS in April of 2017, and my opponent has worked on Fairchild Air Force Base for over 20 years and trained with the firefighting foam that contained PFAS.

So my question would be, what did you know, when did you know it, and what did you do to protect the public?

Your concern about PFAS as a campaign issue is nothing else than campaign, and you've engaged in spreading lies and character assassination, even though a superior court judge has found that there is no evidence, let me say this again, no evidence to support any of the accusations.

I've been working with the Air Force, city leadership, the West Plains tribes, industry experts to bring in filtration systems for the West Plains as well as a new source of water.

There is no system to take PFAS out of an aquifer, so we need a new system of water, and I'm gonna mirror what the city, or what Fairchild Air Force base already has.

- [Aaron] Molly, your response.

- Yeah, let's be clear who the victim is here, and the victim are the folks on the West Plains.

Commissioner French sits on that airport board.

He is also the representative of the people that have this PFAS contamination.

And I cannot believe that the county has done nothing to help these people.

There's definitely a conflict of interest and there's broken trust.

And as he continues to put out his plans and work this issue, he's working by himself.

This is gonna take the whole County Commission, but also a whole host of other people, it's so complex.

And if we talk about that recall, I want to talk about Mary Benham.

Mary Benham came to the County Commission before that recall she signed.

She asked for help and the County Commission did nothing.

The recall went through, it was dismissed.

She shows up to every County Commission and she's bringing ideas, she's bringing ideas for grant opportunities.

My time's up.

- [Aaron] Commissioner French, you have a rebuttal with that.

- Yes, so I have been working with the Air Force, city leadership in all three cities in the West Plains, the tribes, industry experts, manufacturers, and suppliers to bring filtration systems to the property owners in the West Plains.

My system to bring a new source of water is exactly the same system that Fairchild Air Force Base currently has in place to get water on the base.

That's the pump water from the river and the aquifer up to Fairchild Air Force Base.

What we're proposing to do is exactly the same thing.

- Elana, you have the next question.

- Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids have killed about 75,000 Americans in each of the last two years, according to the CDC.

Over the past year, drug overdose deaths have fallen nationwide, but they're increased here in Washington State and at a higher rate in Spokane County.

How much of the responsibility to respond do you believe falls on the county and what would you do to address this issue if elected?

- [Aaron] Molly, you'll take this question first.

- Sure, I'd like to just make one comment about the last question.

The area that he is considering drilling a new well has actually tested in the hundreds with PFAS contamination.

So he's not doing his homework.

But we'll get to the question on crime.

We do have a national crisis.

It is affecting our area.

The last two years in the military, I actually partnered side by side with law enforcement from the FBI down to the local PD in a drug reduction program.

And the thing I saw that worked the best was collaboration, sharing resources, working with one another, and sharing that information.

So we have to come together as a region to tackle this tough issue and work together to find those solutions.

- Same question, Commissioner French.

- As long as this nation maintains an open border policy, drugs and fentanyl will continue to come into this country and kill our citizens.

And I've been told that the rate of death is equal to a 747 full of passengers being killed every day by fentanyl.

We work with the DEA, we work with the FBI and other agencies, because Spokane is well connected through our sheriff's office to that trafficking corridor that goes all the way down to California and all the way down to Texas.

And so there is an information hub that we work in and part of.

The other thing is that we provide is therapy.

We've taken our opioid money and are now in the process of developing a drug treatment center to help those that are impacted by not only the opioids but also fentanyl.

It is a major national crisis and we are playing a role as partners with our federal agencies to try and address it.

- Our next question will come from Elana, and Commissioner French, you will answer first.

- Spokane County public defenders and prosecutors are not being paid competitive wages and face an intense backlog of cases.

How should the county address these issues and fund the criminal justice system?

- The prosecuting attorney's office has already gotten two pay raises to try and address the issue.

This is not unique to Spokane.

This is a problem that's statewide.

And I serve on the Washington State Association of Counties and we are dealing with this from a variety of different aspects.

But ever since COVID, there has been a shortage of attorneys statewide.

And so we've given a pay raise, we've increased the number of hours, and I've also just met with them here on Tuesday and talked about trying to increase their staffing, the number of folks in the criminal justice system.

It's not only for the prosecuting attorneys, but it'll also affect the public defender's office as well.

And a lot of this is a leftover, it's a hangover legacy from COVID.

COVID put the courts way behind.

Now they're not only trying to maintain the court cases that we have today, but also trying to still catch up from COVID.

- Molly, your response.

- Sure, we have a criminal system, a criminal justice system that is out of balance.

And the folks that prosecute and are the public defenders, they are not getting the resources they need to do the job that they need to do.

He says they did a few pay raise.

They still are entry level $20,000 below comparable, actually not comparable communities, communities that are less in size of the county.

So we really need to make that investment in this part of our criminal justice system so that they can actually do what they're supposed to do.

But this ties into a bigger issue.

I think we have a system that is out of balance and out of balance with our jail and the judicial system surrounding that.

And we need to make those investments and work together so that when we do hire people, we commit to them, they stay with the county, they don't just move on.

- [Aaron] Well, I think for that answer, we will have Elana ask the next question.

- State lawmakers have committed to ensuring Washington has electricity supply free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

Recently, former agricultural lands across Eastern Washington and Spokane County have been eyed for renewable energy projects, prompting the Board of Commissioners to start considering regulating such properties.

What role do you believe the county should play in combating climate change and enacting policies regarding clean energy?

- [Aaron] And Molly, you will start.

- Okay, yeah, I think it's imperative, we're at a kind of a tipping point in our world with climate change.

The county needs to take the lead on this, and they have a great opportunity to really enhance our investments when we do our rewrite of the comprehensive plan.

Transitioning to clean energy, the county is leaving money on the table to make that transition and give funding to people that are overburdened to make this transition.

Like I said, the comp plan update will be a great opportunity to really make that commitment.

The county needs to make that commitment.

We need to have a policy shift, a policy shift in the county, but our entire region really recognize that this is a issue and we are so many years far behind.

We need to get on board, do the planning, and make that commitment.

- This is a topic that I've been involved in since 1977.

My thesis for my architectural program was the cost of energy conservation.

And I developed models to do lifecycle costing.

So I've been involved in energy conservation for the last 40 plus years.

I also just recently was sat on the State Building Code Council where we adopted new codes to make our buildings more energy efficient.

But at the county level, I've been working with a company now to bring a hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing facility here to the county as well as a 2,000 acre solar wind panel farm so that we can supplement the energy that we're getting out of the hydroelectric system.

We have to be able to generate renewable energies here in the county.

And I've been the lead on being able to bring those industries into the county to serve our citizens.

- Thank you, Commissioner French.

Eliza, you have the next question.

- The Department of Commerce has said more than one million new homes will need to be built in the next two decades to accommodate the current and projected states, the projected needs statewide.

How should the county weigh developments with protecting the rural character of the district as the commissioners continue with their comprehensive plan?

- And Commissioner French, you will go first.

- Well, I can tell you that you do not build more housing by instituting moratoriums.

My opponent on May 22nd advocated for a 10-year moratorium to stop all growth on the West Plains, industrial, commercial and housing.

You have to be aggressive with regard to how you're dealing with the housing.

I presented a number of different programs, one even for Latah Valley, that uses tax increment financing to lower the cost of housing at the entry level and make more affordable housing available to everybody in this community.

When you look at the 2000, 2010, 2020 census data, you'll see that communities of color and the percentage of ownership has dropped over the last 20 years.

That's because of bad policy at the state.

But we're working to overcome that by reducing the cost of housing.

And a great example of that is the Highland Village Project in Airway Heights where we partnered with folks like Habitat for Humanity and Community Frameworks to build affordable housing.

- Molly, you have a minute.

- Yeah, so there's no such thing as a 10-year moratorium.

I would expect somebody who's been in office for 14 years, 22 years really to know that moratoriums only last for six months.

And to understand what that moratorium was in the Latah Valley, a place where he actually lives, it was put in place because they cannot protect that community from wildfire.

There is a temporary fire station down there that cannot provide the adequate services to that entire area, and to politicize that and say that moratoriums don't work, it's actually a pause because there is a safety issue.

So let's talk about the county and how they do development.

Right now it's all urban sprawl.

So they're pushing the limits of our infrastructure.

That costs our taxpayers money.

They're pushing beyond that.

That costs our taxpayers even more money.

We need to concentrate that building within our centers and corridors where we already have services.

So we have multiple communities out there that are living on islands without the appropriate services.

- [Aaron] Rebuttal, Mr. French.

- Thank you, there's only one national nonprofit organization that monitors smart growth strategies in the country, and that's Smart Growth USA.

And in their latest survey, they rank Spokane County in the top 10% of counties across the nation instituting smart growth strategies.

I agree with her that the Latah Valley has a problem, but that's a problem created by bad policy decisions at the City of Spokane, not Spokane County.

I've provided a funding mechanism to address that and she's opposed it.

- Rebuttal, yes.

- Rebuttal to him, because this TIF that he's put forward is in the Latah Valley and parts of the West Plains.

So if you understand what a TIF is, it's 20 to 25 years.

It's based on property values increasing.

This TIF is in an area that people are losing insurance.

This TIF is in an area where there is PFAS.

So that is a risky opportunity for the county to enter into a 20 to 25 year agreement in a place that we actually don't understand the scope of the contamination.

- And just a quick reminder for both of you.

Commissioner French, you are out of rebuttals.

You've used two, Molly, you have used one so far.

Molly, you'll answer this next question first.

Elana, please go ahead.

- Currently, there are about 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Spokane County.

The City of Spokane is struggling to care for about half of those people.

Should the county ever step in to provide services or open its own shelter?

- Yeah, we need to do this together as a regional authority because we have homelessness at all levels, from the person that maybe has a drug addiction living on the streets to folks that lost their homes in wildfires.

So we need to work together because different municipalities or different agencies actually control different funds.

So coming together for a regional approach is key to success.

What I think we need to get away from is politicizing homelessness, like my opponent did right before the primary election.

He went out to Medical Lake and actually had a press conference putting forth misinformation, creating fear and division.

And I apologized to the people of Medical Lake for that to happen.

He continues with that narrative.

He continues to say that they're trying to put a homeless shelter out at Pine Lodge.

And if you know Pine Lodge, you know that that's just not even possible.

I'd like to see him get on board with the Regional Health Authority.

- There's two structures when you talk about regional.

One is a true regional concept where everybody is equal at the table.

There's another one where the City of Spokane controls it.

That's been the challenge, as Mayor Brown wants to control the regional system.

And based upon what they've achieved so far, I'd be opposed to that.

When Secretary of Commerce Lisa Brown, she produced a report that talks about how to bring these kind of projects into a community.

One is collaboration, the other one's an anonymity, that's get everything in place and then release it onto the community without them knowing about it until it's way too late to stop it.

That's exactly what she did in the West Hills neighborhood.

That's what she was proposing to do in Medical Lake.

It's what she was proposing to do in Chief Garry neighborhood.

Fortunately, we were able to stop two of those three projects.

But to be able to do a regional program, you need to develop trust first.

And that just doesn't exist yet.

- I'd like to rebut that.

- You may.

- Yeah, so here we are again with misinformation, division, and outright lies.

Our community does not deserve that.

We have got to come together and work on this together.

He is dividing our community on issues that really need our attention.

And it's disingenuous to the communities he serves.

His job as the County Commissioner is to enhance and protect our quality of life.

That is not happening, that is not leadership.

That is failed leadership.

- And Molly, that is your second rebuttal.

Our next question will be answered first by Commissioner French.

- There have been disagreements between the city and the county over representation on boards like the Spokane Regional Emergency Communications and Spokane Transit Authority.

How should the county and city work together to address these concerns?

- I'm happy to answer that question, but again, the report, I have it available to you if you wanna read it.

It's on the website.

The county, or the city right now thinks that they are in control of the county, and that's just not the case.

We have a balanced structure, and we need to respect the jurisdictions that are trying to be partners in this community.

STA, I've sat on STA for a number of years.

I've actually been nationally recognized for my leadership in public transportation.

But right now we've got a split board because the city council has, one, excluded a full third of their citizens to participate in public transportation.

And that third that they've excluded is the highest ridership in the entire system.

So we need to make sure that we can get everybody at the table and play a role in developing systems that will serve all of our community, not just their special interests.

From my standpoint, my special interests are the taxpayers and the citizens of Spokane.

- Molly, you also have one minute.

- Yeah, we live in a region, we live in a region.

There are five County Commissioners.

There are four municipalities just in District Five.

So we need to have that representation on our boards and we need to be able to work together, because there are so many overlapping issues with planning, with PFAS, with healthcare, with homelessness.

If we cannot come together and just work to appoint people to these boards, there's a real problem.

And that's what we've seen.

We've seen somebody who is not a collaborator, who likes to be in control and not share the wealth.

Well, we need to make sure that our government represents the community that they represent.

We need to have those voices on the board and we need to collaborate.

It's time to set aside our own self-interests, because as a elected, we serve the community.

That is our job.

- We have time for one more question.

It will be full length and then we'll go to closing statements.

- The district includes some remote pockets of the county that are at risk for wildfire, like the one Medical Lake saw a year ago.

What could the county do to better assist those rebuilding or those in areas that might be threatened?

- [Aaron] Molly, you'll start.

- Sure, so yeah, District Five is at extreme risk for wildfire.

We saw it last summer.

We saw it with the Gray and Oregon fires.

But all around the county, and especially in District Five, we had some serious problems.

We had some serious fires, which revealed a lot of issues like evacuation, emergency response issues.

So currently the county is not enforcing their code, their building code.

And there has been a lot of development.

In 2021, the state and the county adopted the International Wildland Urban Interface Code.

That is not being enforced as we are seeing this area be built out.

So what's happening in that area?

Homeowner's insurance.

People are losing their homeowner's insurance.

In the 99224 area code, six insurance companies have pulled out.

We see the rise in insurance rates.

But it's happening all over the county.

In the Indian Trail, in Medial Lake.

I have put together a plan of mitigation, education, and being prepared.

It's on my website, check it out so we can tackle this issue together.

- One minute, Commissioner French.

- Thank you.

So with regard to the wildfires, I mean, a lot of the wildfires are created by either acts of God or failed utility systems, like the Gray fire.

That was a shortage in a light fixture.

There's nothing that you can do to fix that or prevent that from happening other than maintaining your system.

And that's a system that's not controlled by the county.

It's controlled by one of the power co-ops.

So we do work with our citizens, especially in the ones that have been impacted by the fire.

I led the effort to make sure that we could defer the implementation of the new building code to allow these folks to rebuild their homes without incurring the cost of 30 to $50,000 of new construction because of the new building code.

We do encourage people to build with fire resistant building materials, especially for the roofs and for the siding on their house.

And then we do work with DNR and our fire districts to provide not only coordination in the response to a fire, but also resources.

We provided Fire District Three with $175,000 of additional resources to help their firefighters.

- Thank you, Commissioner French.

And that will be our last question.

Time now for closing statements.

Molly, you will go first.

- Sure, I wanna thank you to KSPS, the reporters, my opponent for agreeing to debate.

I'm Lieutenant Colonel Retired Molly Marshall.

My husband and I are raising our two girls in southwest Spokane County.

I am concerned about the health of our district.

I'm concerned because economic development has outpaced our investment in public safety.

We see the results of this as our district is at extreme risk for wildfire.

People are losing their homeowner's insurance because we haven't mitigated this risk.

We are traveling on roads that are failing and disconnected and our neighbors in the West plains are facing a public health crisis with contaminated water.

I stand here today not only as a candidate, but I'm also your neighbor, I'm a mother, I'm a veteran, and I'm a community leader.

I am invested in this community and I ask you to move forward to make District Five a place that prioritizes community needs and safety.

And I would be honored to have your vote on November 5th.

- [Aaron] Commissioner French, you also have one minute for closing statements.

- Thank you, Aaron, and thank KSPS for this venue, and I also want to thank the voters for the honor to serve you over the last several years.

I've worked side by side with our current and past sheriffs and sheriff deputies across the county to keep you and your family safe.

And that's why they've endorsed my campaign in this election cycle.

I've worked to build a strong economy so that we don't have to raise your taxes and pay for inflationary costs.

I've brought new industries and 6,500 new jobs to the West Plains.

I'd rather give somebody a paycheck than a welfare check.

And to do that, you've gotta give 'em a job.

My leadership skills have been recognized all the way to the national level because I produce results, I produce livable solutions.

I'm endorsed by the mayors of Airway Heights, Medical Lake, Cheney, past mayors for the City of Spokane because they know that I work in a collaborative fashion.

I also have the support of the past chair of the Democratic Party because he knows that I will cross lines, party lines to work for community solutions.

Experience matters.

It's been an honor to serve you, and I look forward to serving you for the next four years.

- And that will do it for this debate.

Our thanks to each of the candidates as well as to our journalists, Elana Perry and Eliza Billingham.

This and other KSPS debates are available for viewing anytime at KSPS.org.

For all of us at KSPS PBS, thank you for watching.

(dramatic music)