Johnson or Johnson for Worley Highway District seat
Dave Johnson and Corinne Johnson — no relation — are vying for the Worley Highway District No. 4, Sub-District 2 seat in the Taxing District Election, to be held on May 16.
Incumbent Dave Johnson has lived at Rockford Bay for 12 years with his wife, Connie. The couple will celebrate 48 years of marriage in August.
Johnson attended school at Plummer High, graduating in 1963 before enrolling at North Idaho College for five semesters.
He has been employed in the timber industry since he was 19, first as a machine operator and then a wood superintendent for Pacific Crown Timber, starting his own business in 1978. His company — Johnson Contractors — logged and built logging roads for Bennett Lumber, Potlatch Corp., McFarland Cascade Pole, Bell Pole and others. They have since sold off the machinery and closed the business, but Johnson still works in the woods, doing odd jobs as a non-essential employee for Mark Harris Logging.
“I have never been sentenced to ‘community service,’ but try to help my friends and neighbors in things that I am qualified to do,” Johnson said. “I have been managing people, dirt and water for over 50 years.”
Johnson was a Benewah County commissioner for eight years and was responsible for the county roads in District 2 (Tensed area), along with helping in Districts 1 and 3.
“I felt that now I have the time to contribute and have experience in this field,” Johnson said. “I was appointed to serve starting in April of 2016. Having now been a commissioner for a full year and gaining more knowledge with each meeting. My goals are to add a fresh set of eyes to each situation and continue to give taxpayers a good return for their tax dollar.”
Johnson also serves on the board of directors for Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho (ALC) and is an adviser on the board of directors of Associated Loggers Exchange, an insurance company, owned by the ALC and has spent time in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the ALC and American Loggers Council.
Corinne Johnson is a Coeur d’Alene High graduate and went on to earn both an undergraduate and master’s degree in adult education at the University of Idaho, teaching as an adjunct at North Idaho College and Shoreline Community College in Seattle.
She has been spent 16 years in a management/hiring capacity for two different companies prior to working for the Department of Health and Welfare as the community resource development specialist in Region 1 (Coeur d’Alene). In that capacity, she coordinated the regional advisory board on Substance Abuse and Region 1 Mental Heath Board for the five northern counties. She was also a board member for Idaho Drug Free Youth, and was board chair for the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council. Due to legislation, her position with Health and Welfare was eliminated in 2014.
Corinne is currently semi-retired, working part-time for Harborview Estates Water Sewer District as a licensed operator since 2001, and part-time licensed Responsible Charge Operator for Kidd Island Bay Sewer District since 2011.
“I was encouraged to run as a candidate by my father, Tom A. Feely, who spent 19 years as a WHD commissioner,” Corinne Johnson said. “I grew up in my dad’s wood shop — my mother thought I would never learn to cook — am very mechanically inclined, and have a sound understanding of construction. I like to believe I inherited my common sense and customer service skills from my dad. If elected, I believe I can bring that common sense and experience with budgets, fiscal responsibility, customer service, grant-writing success, employee relations and years working both with and on different boards to this position.”
If elected, the position is paid with insurance benefits.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 16.