Two candidates with longtime ties to the community are vying to fill a vacancy on the Crook County Parks & Recreation District board May 19. Either would represent the district well, but Kim Kambak has a slight edge.

Kambak, 59, is opposed by Linda Munkres Smith, 67. Kambak moved to Prineville as assistant Crook County High School principal 21 years ago. Smith was born and reared in the community; she and her husband recently moved back there after selling their ranch in Jefferson County.

The two women agree on some key items.

Both would support a new bond measure to build a pool, and one is sorely needed. The current pool is old, its pipes leak, and its plumbing is so bad the district must bring in portable toilets if swim meets are scheduled.

Yet voters have rejected proposals for a new pool twice in the last 13 years, and any new plan would probably have to be very basic, indeed, to gain approval.

Both also see the value of the district and its facilities and programs to the community as a whole. For Kambak, that means finding a way to assure that district programs draw people from all across the community and from all age groups. Smith, meanwhile, specifically mentioned the need for measures that would open some parks up visually, making them less desirable as camping spots for the homeless in the area.

Whereas Smith visits parks and has attended park district board meetings frequently and is active in the community in other ways, Kambak also has been busy. As one example, she was a member of the committee that began working on plans for a new pool in 1998.

Kambak’s past includes an unsuccessful bid for Crook County judge in 2008 and membership on the Crook County Planning Commission. She currently heads the Democratic Party in the county and is active in her church’s community garden.

Both women are bright and energetic. Voting for either one of them is a sound choice. Because voters do have to choose, we give the nod to Kambak. She is more fluent in the district’s challenges.