Regulations and review go well together

County Commissioner Marc Eberlein confirmed to some residents that he’s hopped aboard the Flat Earth Express with his desire to do away with building codes for Kootenai County residents wanting to construct their own homes.

Whether his proposal to the Idaho Legislature comprises an anti-federal, anti-regulatory and anti-sanity litmus test is up for others to judge — primarily our state’s legislators. But intentionally or not, Eberlein has reminded people that regulations should be able to endure a variety of tests, and if they come up short, they should be modified or eliminated. That process is particularly important in times of change when new leaders, new sets of eyes and brains, take over, as will happen in January when Eberlein is joined on the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners by newcomers Chris Fillios and Bob Bingham.

An excellent example of the importance of review has been occurring this year in the city of Hayden. There, new leadership has opened the door to building a stronger economic base. As has already been noted in The Press and North Idaho Business Journal, Hayden’s new mayor, city administrator and council have been working diligently to transform the city from the county’s least friendly place for development and economic expansion to one of its most friendly. And it’s being accomplished without sacrificing citizen safety or violating state or federal regulations. Some policy and process changes accompanied by intense focus on customer service has had a dramatic impact and bodes well for the economic future of the city and Kootenai County.

How did they do it? Attitudes were adjusted immediately, but regulations are also being submitted to scrutiny and testing. Those that need a tweak or a bureaucratic kick in the bottom are getting it. Those that hold up well under the bright light of intelligent review are going unchanged.

Our county isn’t alone in seeing significant change. The Idaho Legislature will be even more Republican in 2017 than it was in 2016, and you already know what’s happening at the national level.

This is a good time to assess why we’re doing a lot of the things we’re doing and determine if the reasons for doing those things remain valid.

Whenever we can make life better, we should.