County makes advisory board appointments

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners have finished up their selection process to fill county advisory board seats.

"I appreciate anyone that raises their hand to serve in any form of government," said Dan Green, commission chairman. "These positions are volunteer and sometimes thankless, but their input is important to me when I must make decisions. The boards are often fact gatherers for the (commissioners) and filters, too."

Commissioners interview applicants to the boards before making their selections.

"The commissioners had a good problem this year for most of our boards in that we had a surplus of qualified applicants," Green said. "It was difficult to turn away quite a few people who were qualified. There have been years when the applicant pool was much smaller."

Most of the boards meet at least once per month. Some of the boards may meet two or three times per month depending on the topic.

"There is often homework for individual board members to do in either preparing for a meeting or being tasked with something as a result of a meeting," Green said.

For the Board of Community Guardians — which is unique from other county boards in that it is a service board rather than taking on an advisory role — Suzie McDermott, Ralph Nelson, Terri Radford and Carol Ridge were re-appointed to four-year terms. Recommendations for two remaining open positions are expected to be forwarded to the commissioners and filled soon.

Members of the board serve as the guardian of last resort to individuals who do not have a family member or other person to serve in that capacity.

Other appointments include:

• Airport Advisory Board — John Adams was reappointed for a three-year term. Rich Ronnestad was appointed to the three-year position formerly held by Wally Meyer.

• Aquifer Protection District — Leslie Duncan, Kristy Reed Johnson and Mike Galante were reappointed to three-year terms.

• North Idaho Fair Board — Elise Burton, Joe Doellefeld and Kenneth Renner were appointed to the positions formerly held by Dave Nussear, Christina Petit and Karleen Meyer. Terms are four years.

• Historic Preservation Commission — Skip Fuller, Bill Singleton and Russ Brown were reappointed. Caitlin Shain was appointed to the position formerly held by Evalyn Adams. Terms are three years.

• Natural Resource Board — Bruce Cyr was reappointed. Chris Schnepf was appointed to the position formerly held by Cliff Anderson. Terms are three years.

• Noxious Weed Control Board — Linda Ely and Judd Reed were reappointed. Josephie Jackson was appointed was appointed to the position formerly held by Rob Rider. Terms are two years.

• Snowmobile Advisory Board — Dale Adickes, Steve Powers and Del Kerr were reappointed to three-year terms

• Waterways Advisory Board — John Condon was reappointed. Michael Pelissero and Fred Gabourie were appointed to the positions formerly held by Jim Aucutt and Doug Allman. Terms are three years.

• Planning Commission — Collin Coles and Wes Hanson were reappointed. Terms are three years.