COUNTY: 936 reasons to change

It is time for a change! The Kootenai County Commissioners voted on 936 motions during 210 of their meetings in 2013. Of these, all 936 motions passed, and 926 (99 percent) of them passed unanimously. There were 2,326 “aye” votes, and only 10 “nay” votes. I have never known even two people to agree that consistently on anything. It appears the issues may actually have been decided behind closed doors before the public meetings were held.

The same three people met as the Board of Equalization where they heard 263 appeals during the year. They affirmed the assessor (same political party) in 95 percent of the appeals, although the average value reduction on the other 13 was a whopping 31 percent. Lucky 13. And again, 820 of 825 votes were “aye,” and only five were “nay.” What an amazing level of agreement.

The mismanaged and wasteful contract with Kendig Keast Collaborative to prepare the Uniform Land Use Code (ULUC) was defended by all three commissioners, although it cost the taxpayers almost $500,000 by the time it was finally discarded. As the problems with this proposed code became known to all, the commissioner from my district wrote me a letter saying, “I did not vote for hiring the firm Kendig Keast. I was in the minority on this decision.” But wait. She not only voted to award the initial $311,500 contract on May 17, 2011, she was the maker of the motion that was approved. She later voted in favor of two amendments which increased the contract by $151,345. On Oct. 29, 2013, when the Kendig Keast contract was finally terminated, this commissioner was absent from the meeting. And she was absent from more than 30 commissioner meetings during the year. Her profile on the commissioner’s own website shows that she has two other jobs. Perhaps that is part of the attendance problem.

On Oct. 8, a Planning Commission member asked the two county commissioners present if they were “married” to Kendig Keast. The commissioner from Post Falls danced around the question without giving a clear answer. The commissioner from my district then left the meeting without answering.

Our commissioners demoted a staff member who had been at the center of this ULUC project, then later gave him a $30,000 benefit package when he resigned. No explanation was provided for that unusual gift.

The taxpayers deserve commissioners who will communicate with them regularly and honestly. We need to know where they stand on important issues and not be forced to second guess their positions based on unreliable inferences. Communication is easy these days but is poorly used by our commissioners. Replacement seems to be the only option. We can start with two of them this year. Make sure you vote in the primary election on May 20.

JOHN McFADDIN

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