Curtis answers questions solo at judge candidate forum

Whitefish Municipal Judge candidate Kristi Curtis shared her views on a number of issues pertaining to the city’s court during a public forum last week at City Hall. Bill Hileman, who is also seeking the position, did not attend the forum.

Though previously announced by organizers that Hileman planned to participate, he claims to not have been invited and out of town while it was being held. A second forum was also announced last week scheduled for later in the month, but Hileman claims he also wasn’t notified about that event either. Organizers subsequently changed the second event to a question and answer session with Curtis.

Hileman said the forums have been set up by Curtis and are not like forums previously hosted by the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce during past city elections.

“I’m not going to be in town and not going to be in attendance,” Hileman told the Pilot Monday. “I wasn’t contacted in any way shape or form about scheduling a forum just like the last one. They’re just a campaign thing of hers that I read about in the newspaper.”

At the Oct. 11 forum, Curtis noted that she and Hileman had discussed a date for the forum earlier when the Chamber of Commerce was trying to schedule an event for the candidates. Curtis said she was under the impression Hileman would still be available.

“I’m sorry that my opponent, Mr. Hileman is not here,” Curtis said at the Oct. 11 event. “He apparently is out of town, I understand, but this day was originally reserved for the chamber [forum] so when I spoke to him the first time, I thought, that he would be here. I’m sorry he’s not here, but we’ll go forward.”

During last week’s forum, Curtis spoke about issues including a new county jail and new programs for the courts during the event, moderated by Paul Sullivan, an attorney for Measure, Sampsel, Sullivan & O’Brien, P.C. in Kalispell, and held at City Hall.

Curtis has served as Whitefish’s deputy city attorney since 2015, and served as the prosecutor for the city of Kalispell before that. She has 30 years of experience in law and was a partner at a law firm in California before coming to Whitefish.

Despite a long career in law, Curtis said running for public office was never something she’d planned on. When Judge Brad Johnson announced his retirement, however, Curtis said she realized how valuable her experience as prosecutor could be as judge.

“I was surprised when [Judge Brad Johnson] retired, and in my 11 years as prosecutor I’ve had so many ideas and I’ve dealt with so many judges — [Kalispell’s municipal judges] Heidi Ulbricht and Lori Adams — and in that experience I’ve seen a lot of different things that I’ve wanted to do,” Curtis said. “So when the opportunity arose with Judge Johnson retiring I thought that would be a good time to test out my theories and see how well I can manage the court and continue my public service.”

When asked about those ideas for improvement in the municipal court system, Curtis pointed to the expansion of jury questionnaires to included more relevant details to save time in questioning potential jurors during trial and using technology to introduce video appearances in court for visitors who live more than 100 miles away and receive a citation.

Earlier in the week the Flathead County Commissioners voided an agreement with Weyerhaeuser to purchase 24 acres and the Cedar Palace office complex in Columbia Falls as a site for a new Flathead County jail after hearing from residents who spoke against the location and Flathead District Court judges who said having the jail away from the District Court in Kalispell presented a safety issue. With overcrowding issues looming, other sites like 40 acres off Willow Glen Drive in Kalispell and 14 acres at the former Kalispell Feed and Grain site south of the city are being considered for the jail.

Sullivan asked Curtis for her thoughts on a new county jail and overcrowding.

“I do think we need a new jail,” she said. “The Sheriff’s Department has done an admirable job expanding the current number of beds. But it really affected the offers I could make as prosecutor when you know people can’t go to jail but they really deserve to go.”

“With the opioid addiction levels and the drugs rising, I just think that’s going to be a chronic problem and a new jail is going to be necessary. As far as where it’s located, I do think the district court judges raised a valid point about security and having the prisoners readily available to them. There are many sentences that require mandatory jail time, and if you take away the ability to send people to jail, I think it undermines the whole system,” she said.

Sullivan also asked Curtis to explain the 24/7 Sobriety Program, which utilizes twice-a-day breath testing and drug and alcohol use monitoring, and whether she would utilize the program.

The program has gotten mixed reviews since its approval by the state legislature in 2010, Curtis said, but she supports using it.

Early in the program, members in the program had to schedule times during the day to be breath tested. Recently, technology that utilizes face-recognition and a Breathalyzer have allowed the monitoring to occur remotely.

“It was the hope that by monitoring them, every day, twice a day at least, that they would be able to break that cycle of addiction, stay out of trouble on their pre-conviction,” Curtis said.

Despite supporting the program, Curtis said she’s also seen issues with how time consuming it can be.

“The difficulty I see as a prosecutor is the judges and the prosecutors spend more time than the defendant sometimes, and it’s really difficult,” she said. “If somebody is really chemically dependent, they’re not going to change, even with monitoring. That’s the sad reality.”

During last week’s event, Lin Akey, Hileman’s campaign co-treasurer, read a statement on Hileman’s behalf prior to the start of the forum.

“I was very surprised last week to see an announcement in the Whitefish Pilot of a public forum not sponsored by the [Whitefish Chamber of Commerce] to be held Oct. 11. I was neither consulted nor invited to intend, and my travel plans prevent me from being there,” Hileman said in the statement.

Ballots for the city election are mailed out Oct. 18 and must be returned by Nov. 7.