County PIO job is already open
Taylor
BRIAN WALKER/Press A driver navigates northbound Spokane Street in Post Falls on Monday morning with his lights on. Blossom Mountain, normally visible south of the Spokane River from this vantage point, can’t be seen.
Wildfire smoke creates a solemn feel on the Spokane River at Kiwanis Park in Post Falls on Monday morning. (BRIAN WALKER/Press)
Signs, such as this one posted in Kiwanis Park in Post Falls, remind residents of fire restrictions due to dry weather. (BRIAN WALKER/Press)
Fillios
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — Sam Taylor's decision over the weekend to rescind accepting Kootenai County's public information officer position has left the job in a state of flux.
Commissioner Chris Fillios on Monday said the three-member board will now need to discuss the future of the position, whether to seek external candidates or fill it internally.
"I'm still committed to filling the position whether it's internally or externally," Fillios said.
The county on Friday afternoon announced that Taylor, Coeur d'Alene's former deputy city administrator, accepted the job. He was slated to start on Monday. Fillios said Taylor was identified as the right person for the position after he was the runner-up to Nanci Plouffe for the new senior business analyst position, which was filled in June.
However, Taylor said he instead decided to accept an administrative position for a property management company in Big Sky, Mont., working for his former boss and the ex-city manager in Morro Bay, Calif.
Taylor said that after visiting with county officials, he questioned how secure the PIO job would be in the future amid the political climate and two new board members starting in January.
"I got the sense that this position is unsafe; it feels like a political litmus test," he sad. "I can't risk that with four children in the house."
The PIO job in the commissioners’ office arose after it was decided to not fill an administrative secretary position in that department. The PIO position has been discussed for several years and officials believe it would be the first of its kind in the commissioners’ office. The sheriff's office has its own PIO.
Fillios said he understood Taylor's decision to accept the job in Montana instead.
"We knew he had an offer in Montana that was substantially more money," Fillios said. "If I was him, I probably would have made the same decision."
Taylor would have made $48,000 per year as the county PIO.
Taylor resigned from Coeur d'Alene after nearly two years in February after he was arrested for DUI. He said he has learned lessons and is ready to move on.
Fillios said that as of early Monday afternoon, a follow-up meeting to discuss the future of the PIO position hadn't been scheduled.