Employment, education among topics at town hall

POST FALLS - In a town hall meeting attended by roughly 100 people Saturday morning at St. John's Orthodox Church, community members had opportunities to speak to Kootenai County legislators about their work in Boise and what's happening on the home front in North Idaho.

The two-hour session, hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Party and the North Idaho College Republicans, began with an introduction of members of the legislative panel, who described what committees and projects they are involved with.

The panel was comprised of eight legislators: Sen. Bob Nonini, Rep. Vito Barbieri, Rep. Ron Mendive, Rep. Don Cheatham, Rep. Kathy Sims, Sen. Mary Souza, Sen. Steve Vick and Rep. Eric Redman.

Attendees were asked to write questions on slips of paper and place them in a basket to be randomly chosen. Eight individuals had opportunities to stand at a microphone and communicate their questions and concerns to the panel. Hot topics included federal lands, decreasing government spending, upholding the Constitution, the recently killed "Add the Words" bill, rights of Idaho's citizens, employment and education.

"Where are you going to reduce the state spending efforts?" Dave Olson of Coeur d'Alene asked the panel.

He referred to a 2001 incident where the Environmental Protection Agency got involved and the state of Idaho ended up paying a large settlement when a contractor "took oil and asphalt out and dumped it in Mica Creek" with muddy consequences during a highway improvement project. It was settled in 2006.

"No one was fired, no one was held accountable ... I see this time after time, people screw up in the government, they either get promoted or they move into private industry with a pay raise," Olson said. "Nobody's held responsible."

He said he wants to see government spending decrease before new laws are made and he asked the legislators what their goals are for the next two years.

Barbieri replied that Olson brought up a point many of the legislators already discuss in Boise, while touching on everything from issues with the federal government and the EPA to government contracting.

"This continued increase every year of 3, 5, 6, 7 percent, of every budget, of every beauracracy, has got to stop," Barbieri said. "Now, why the other representatives go along to get along, I cannot say. I do not understand. It's almost amounting to a protest vote that there is one or two saying, 'No, 3 percent is too much' ... The bottom line is, you have to have the worldview, you have to have the mindset that government doesn't need any more money."

Kathy Hunt of Coeur d'Alene asked a question about unemployment and a worker's status as either an "attached" or "unattached" employee. This is something she and her husband have been dealing with, as he has been in construction for many years and it is a seasonal occupation. She was able to speak one-on-one with Rep. Redman when the meeting closed.

"I feel that I was able to speak my mind," she said. "My question wasn't answered, hopefully it will be, and hopefully they will look into it. We'll see."

Reina Rodriguez, 19, of Coeur d'Alene, is the president of the NIC Republicans. She said she was pleased to see the turnout. She has been involved in politics since 2013 and is familiar with how the legislators feel about certain issues. She said she thinks federal lands is presently an important topic and will continue to be in the spotlight.

"That they're going to do anything soon, I don't know, because like they said, it takes the whole legislature, which I think a lot of people misunderstand that they're doing their best, so when they get down to Boise, it takes a group effort to pass a bill," Rodriguez said. "But I think federal lands is really big right now because Idaho has a lot of national resources that we could use, especially in the Silver Valley, and they haven't been used because they're not owned by us. I think that will be a big one, because I agree that Idaho is its own state, but we can be self-sufficient, definitely."