Position not in the budget

COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County commissioners don't plan to designate funding in next year's budget for a public information officer position.

Commissioner Dan Green said Tuesday it's not in the budget right now, though he cautioned the budget isn't final. A part-time intern might be used to provide those services, including boosting Kootenai County's presence on social media like Facebook, Green said.

"We're trying to limit the amount of new-employee requests" as the county's budget process progresses, Green said. "And here we had one ourselves," as it was envisioned that the public information officer would work under the commissioners.

Department heads and elected officials put in requests to the commissioners for 25 new positions, in addition to the public information officer, at the beginning of the current budget process.

"Between new positions countywide and requests for increased overtime, it was $2.2 million in annual increase," Green said. "I think the last number was we were down to $1 million. We've whacked $1.2 million bucks out of that."

That means there are still some potentially new positions that will be in the next budget.

Commission Chairman David Stewart said the county human resources staff members will work to better define the job description of a public information officer, or PIO, in case the county ever seeks one.

A big part of the job will likely be coordinating the county's response to public records requests, along with promoting the county's activities.

"The public records requests have really died off from a couple of months ago," Green said.

Frank Davis, of Allied Bail Bonds in Coeur d'Alene, had been prolific in his number of public records requests, but he has turned off the spigot recently. Green said that has taken the pressure off county employees and reduced the need for a PIO's services.