BOISE — The challenging pace of the Treasure Valley’s growth was a major theme during the Ada County Commissioners candidate forum Thursday, hosted by the Boise area chapter of the League of Women Voters.

“The No. 1 issue that really undergirds all of the issues we are facing is growth,” said District 1 incumbent Diana Lachiondo, who is facing Republican challenger Ryan Davison. “The word on the tip of everyone’s tongue is growth, and that affects traffic and housing affordability.”

Ada County is facing a number of major infrastructure needs, with needed expansions at the county jail, courthouse and coroner’s office.

District 2 candidates Rod Beck (R) and Bill Rutherford (D), who are running for an open seat, also said they were focused on getting the budget under control.

“People’s taxes are raised significantly all across the state. … There’s a reason the Legislature has an interim committee to come up with a solution to stop the ever-increasing burden of taxes,” Beck said, referring to a committee that met this summer to discuss tax relief options like the circuit breaker and other, structural policy changes.

Beck is a former Idaho State Senate majority leader and has long been a fixture in Republican political circles, while Davidson chairs the Ada County Republican Central Committee.

Rutherford is a political newcomer, an engineer with 40 years of experience with large projects. Lachiondo has been on the Ada County Board of Commissioners for two years and represents Ada County on the Central District Health board.

Rutherford said he was going to be focused on the budget as well.

“Money is the critical path to everything, you have to set priorities, get into the details of the budgets … and make sure we’re covering our significant services,” Rutherford said, adding that the county had outgrown its infrastructure, and calling for the county to continue supporting Central District Health.

COVID-19 was another major topic of the debate. Candidates differed on how they would respond to the pandemic, with Davidson and Beck calling for a reopening of the county and Davidson and Lachiondo saying science must be followed.

“We can’t sacrifice our economy,” Davidson said, noting that businesses should set their own policies for masks. Davidson also said that because people were meeting in large groups all throughout the county, he didn’t think restrictions about group sizes were necessary anymore.

“We have to look around with our own two eyes and see that the vast majority of population has gone back to normal and the rest are wearing masks and social distancing. … We have to go back to opening Ada County,” he said.

Beck said he had recently attended a 750-person event in Eagle, which included Eagle’s mayor. While Beck said the event was socially distanced, events of that size are not allowed under Central District Health’s gathering guidelines put in place to stem the spread of COVID-19.

“I think we should open this thing up,” Beck said. “Be cautious, wear a mask, be social distanced, and we’re on the cusp of getting it handled anyway.”

Ada County has recently seen a spike in new cases, with 499 cases reported Sept. 20-26, up from 398 cases reported Sept. 13-19, according to the state’s online dashboard.

Idaho as of Friday is showing an 78% increase in new cases over the past 14-days, according to the New York Times COVID-19 dashboard. Across the state, 472 COVID-19 patients have died.

Lachiondo said her decision-making on the Central Health District board and support for masks was based on the data as well as on business owners reaching out to her for help.

“There have been many business owners reaching out to me saying we want to do the right thing but we feel burdened and targeted,” Lachiondo said. “I am always looking at the data and listening to the staff epidemiologist.”

Rutherford said if elected he would listen to the professionals and scientists.

“We can keep this virus from spreading, and keep this area from becoming a hot spot. … I don’t think this should be a political issue, it should be a science issue,” he said. “I think we need to rely on these people who have the education and experience and to fund these organizations and the people on these (health) boards,” he said.