Allison 'granted' her retirement

Colleen Allison didn't mind when lack of offices required moving her work space into an old darkroom in the Kootenai County Administration Building.

Just paint it yellow and throw down some carpeting, she asked, to make the 12-by-8 foot space a little cozier.

She spruced it up with a photo of a window, since there wasn't the real thing, and became accustomed to the noisy printing machines for the reprographics department immediately outside her door.

"It's a great department. The fellas down here are really friendly," Allison said with her usual relaxed grin. "And I get things printed quickly."

That about sums it up for Allison, the county grant writer who is retiring at the end of the month.

She's adaptable, tough, in fact, and can keep a merry attitude in a (literally) tight spot.

"I guess I'm a person who handles stress well," the 83-year-old said with a shrug, sitting in her cheery closet on Thursday. "You have to be, in the grant writing field."

Boasting 12 years with Kootenai County, Allison has endeavored to keep the vast, complicated machine of grant writing humming at the county.

Her office crammed with books and reports on available grants, she has hunted down available federal and private dollars, read the fine print, and monitored the tsunami of paperwork accompanying every application.

In often 40-plus hour weeks, Allison has ensured deadlines are met and obligations followed up on, earning the county an A-plus rating from the federal government.

"She's been an asset to us," said Commissioner Todd Tondee, adding that the commissioners are still discussing how to manage grant writing after she leaves. "She's managed over millions of dollars of grants, and made sure the county was in compliance with all of our assurances and those types of things. She'll be missed."

The fruit of Allison's efforts have included gaining grant funding for several new Sheriff's deputies, as well as a new child predator tracking for the Prosecutor's Office.

She landed stimulus funds to reroof several buildings and provide cost-efficient equipment for the Sheriff's Department, a grant she's still following up on today.

"I hope the federal government is doing as much on other federal stimulus (grants) as ours," she said, hanging up after a call about the matter on Thursday.

Allison helped rally community support for the $12.5 million jail expansion over a decade ago, too.

She still regrets, she admitted, that efforts for another expansion were unsuccessful. But so it goes in chasing after dollars - sometimes, the hunt just leaves you tired and empty handed.

"It's something you have to have a passion for," she said.

Sheriff Rocky Watson is still happy with her results through the years.

Besides just being a sharp lady, he said, Allison has demonstrated general omniscience about grant dollars available and how they can be used.

"I'm very comfortable we've never missed an opportunity to get grant money, whether private or public," Watson said.

Her true value, he added, lies in the fact that she has been around for the reign of several commissioner chairmen, so she knows the history of what ideas work and what are worth scrapping.

"She offers that to a lot of department heads and elected officials," he said. "Which really speeds up the learning curve."

Not to mention, he added, her breakdowns of complicated matters are always delivered with effusive warmth.

"That's probably going to be the biggest thing I miss," he said. "She's got that non-threatening way to talk to people. But she's also got the corporate history, so she knows why we are where we are."

But then, the dance of bureaucracy is Allison's fine point. Originally from Chinook, Mont., and holding a bachelors in communication from the University of Minnesota, Allison was secretary for the superintendent of schools in Columbia Falls, Mont., for 10 years. She was also a city council member and mayor there for 20.

That's why she was eager to help start a grant writing department at Kootenai County, she said, after moving here and starting a job at the commissioners' office.

"I asked them, 'Have you seen my resume?'" she said of when the grant writing department was created. "'I'd be happy to apply, because I've been writing grants for about 50 years.'"

But it's about time to slow down, said Allison, looking to celebrate her 84th birthday in November.

Once she retires, she plans to focus on her memoirs, visit her sons in Seattle and Colorado Springs, and meet up with her two grandchildren serving in the armed forces.

She won't let go entirely, though. She still plans to assist local nonprofits in churning out grant applications.

"They've called already," she said with a laugh. "I said, 'I will help, but give me time to catch my breath.'"