Views on three issues set off Lewiston City Council candidates

Maureen Anderson, Rick Eldridge, David Funke and Jim Kleeburg are four of eight candidates seeking seats on the Lewiston City Council this fall.

The top three vote-getters in the Nov. 7 general election will win four-year terms. The other candidates are Jessica Klein, Darlene Lambert, Brennon Leafty and John Spickelmire.

This story includes the views of Anderson, Eldridge, Funke and Kleeburg, shared with the Tribune in emails and texts. A story scheduled for Saturday will cover similar ground with the other candidates.

Anderson, 53, is an employee of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Idaho. She declined to share her party affiliation because she noted that City Council is a nonpartisan race.

She serves on the city of Lewiston Planning and Zoning Commission. She was co-founder of Lewiston SMART, the organization that in 2021 led the successful campaign for Lewiston to switch from a city manager to strong mayor form of government.

As of Thursday, Anderson had raised more than $2,000 for her campaign, more than any other candidate, according to the Idaho secretary of state’s website.

One of the biggest contributions was $1,000 and came from Mike Kingsley, a Republican Idaho state representative from Lewiston.

Anderson’s campaign treasurer is Joe Gish, who was Lewiston SMART’s chairman. He is vice-chairperson of the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport Authority board and serves on Lewiston’s Urban Renewal Agency. Gish resides in Nez Perce County outside Lewiston’s city limits.

Eldridge, 58, a constitutional conservative, is a retired commercial fisherman and heavy equipment operator.

Eldridge is the only other City Council candidate in this race to have raised or spent enough money to be required to file disclosure documents with the Idaho secretary of state’s office as of Thursday.

His largest donations of $400 came from his wife, Ada Eldridge, and Larry and Peggy Kazda, of Lewiston, who made their contribution jointly.

Idaho’s rules require candidates to disclose campaign finances if they raise or spend more than $500, said Chelsea Carattini, a spokesperson for the Idaho secretary of state’s office.

Funke, 43, is an information technology field technician and retail merchandiser who works for a number of employers including Action Link and Crossmark. He describes his party affiliation as “Republican, but not GOP, more so constitutional republic Republican” or “Constitutional Party.”

An incumbent, Kleeburg, 65, is a Republican who works as a contractor salesman at Early Bird Supply.

Some of the most pronounced differences in the candidates’ views involve their positions on the city’s financial support of the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport, how to address the homeless issue and operations of the Lewiston City Library.

The Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport is owned by the city of Lewiston and Nez Perce County. Each entity gets to select two members of the five-member board and the fifth is picked by the other board members.

This fiscal year, the city and county are both contributing about $550,000 to the transportation facility.

That support is separate from the $4 million Nez Perce County used from a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act money in a three-year agreement that helped bring United’s nonstop Lewiston-Denver flights to the Lewiston airport in 2021.

The money the airport is getting this fiscal year from the county and city needs to be viewed in the broader context of the role the airport plays in the economy of the area, Anderson said.

“If the city of Lewiston enacts pro-growth/pro-business policies, I believe the airport has the ability to be self-sustaining within five years,” she said. “From a business perspective, the city will not grow without the airport and the airport will not become self-sustaining unless the city grows.”

Eldridge believes the airport shouldn’t be subsidized with county or city money.

“The airport is supposed to be self-sufficient,” he said. “We should not be funding airlines with our taxpayer dollars to get flights.”

How much money the airport should receive from the city depends on “if we are truly getting our money’s worth … and is the county doing (its) part as well,” Funke said. “It needs to be audited.”

Kleeburg has a different take.

“I think the city’s contribution to the airport authority is just about right,” Kleeburg said.

The council candidates have a variety of views on the homeless issue.

“I don’t believe that low-barrier homeless shelters address the issue in a manner that benefits either the homeless population and/or the city,” Anderson said.

Low barrier homeless shelters generally allow anyone to stay in them as long as they meet minimum criteria such as not posing a threat to themselves or others.

“I strongly believe that lowering property taxes will have a larger effect on the issue as a whole,” she said.

The government needs to remove barriers that prevent charitable and religious groups from aiding the local homeless population, Anderson said.

Eldridge is against potential solutions that help homeless individuals from outside the area.

“There has to be infrastructure support to help our local homeless,” Eldridge said. “I do not believe we need a large shelter or for homeless to be shipped in.”

The 96-beds Union Gospel Mission of Spokane has proposed a shelter it is pursuing on Snake River Avenue in Lewiston, which has prompted some to wonder if it would serve homeless residents from other towns.

Funke backs approaches such as those developed by Union Gospel Mission. That group provides homeless individuals free housing and meals as long as they follow rules such as being drug-and alcohol-free, doing chores to help maintain the accommodation that’s housing them and seeking jobs and education.

He favors laws that require homeless individuals to “get help, go to the shelters, get off the drugs, and off the streets or face jail time,” Funke said.

In spite of lots of suggestions, “no real solutions” have surfaced to address the problem, Kleeburg said.

“I certainly don’t have all the answers,” he said.

Similar to the homeless issue, the candidates have different takes on the Lewiston City Library.

“Our current library meets Idaho statutory requirements and, in my book, goes above and beyond them,” Anderson said. “.... Further expansion falls on my list of ‘wants,’ not ‘needs.’”

The city needs a library, Eldridge said, “but without dumping excess amounts of money into it.”

A smaller branch in the Lewiston Orchards would prevent residents of that area from having to drive downtown to use the library, Funke said.

If such a satellite branch had a meeting room, it could provide another place for the city council to meet that’s closer to Orchards residents. Right now city council meetings typically alternate between the library and the Bell Building, which is also downtown.

“I would have to explore the budget and what we’re spending on that downtown library each year etc.,” Funke said.

Kleeburg supports the library “100%,” he said. “In my opinion, a good library is a great asset to any community and we have a great library.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.