Separate election held for WECRD position

Voters who wish to take part in Western Elmore County Recreation District's first challenged election will need an additional ballot on Nov. 4.

Leanna Whitney is challenging incumbent Mollie Marsh to represent Subdistrict 3 on its three-member board for a four-year term.

The rec district will have a separate ballot available at a separate table at each polling place in the district. All residents of the district can vote in the election, not just those who live in the subdistrict.

The district is roughly the area surrounding Mountain Home and southwest of the city, excluding the eastern and northern parts of the county.

Voters can request an absentee ballot by going to the WECRD office at 140 N. 3rd East in Mountain Home until 5 p.m. Monday and can request a ballot be mailed to them until 5 p.m. today. Absentee ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Marsh was appointed to the board by then Gov. Dirk Kempthorne in 2001, after voters approved the district in 2000. She, like the other two members on the board, has served since and has not had to defend her seat on the board in a challenged election.

Marsh was a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, the forerunner to the WECRD.

Whitney was appointed the chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee in 1998 by former mayor Don Etter.

She is currently the city treasurer and was a member of the Idaho House of Representatives from 1986 to 1992.

Both women have different views on the direction the board should take.

Marsh wants the district to continue on its current path, which she said is close to having Stage I of a facility built debt free by 2010.

"As a candidate for re-election, my main interest is seeing Stage I of the Mountain Home Community Center Complex (MHCCC) become a reality. I have worked long and hard to reach each milestone the WECRD has crossed and I want to continue. I take great pride that the WECRD is at the doorstep of having Stage I be built debt-free when the doors open in 2010," she said.

Whitney wants to reevaluate the direction the board is headed, especially, she said, as it continues to operate without a concrete business plan for facility construction, operation and maintenance.

She said she wants to see the district succeed without dissolving, increase the board's accountability and to engage the community to ensure an affordable facility of which residents can be proud.

"I've always believed wise use of district dollars could make great things happen in this community," Whitney said. "But if the board stays on the current course, I'm concerned there will be a move to dissolve the district. I'm giving the voters a way to change things without dissolving the district."

In 2007, the board changed its taxing structure from a flat per-household fee to a levy and began collecting taxes from businesses.

Whitney has said she'll seek to return to the original fee structure, which she calls, "totally legal, but not totally right," and "a violation of taxpayers trust."