New symposium shines highs, lows of elected office

For those thinking of running for Coeur d’Alene City Council this November, the message from Monday’s meeting was clear: Know what you’re getting into.

A dozen potential candidates and campaign organizers converged on City Hall Monday night for the city’s first-ever election education symposium, an opportunity for city staff and elected officials to explain the opportunities, challenges and best practices of the job to would-be City Council members.

“Just the fact that you are doing this for me is a big help,” Lacey Moen told city staff. “This is something that I think will really help me going forward.”

The 12 members of the audience briefly introduced themselves to begin the evening agenda, where some stated their candidacy, some said they were mulling their options, and some showed up simply to better understand.

Three seats are up for grabs this November. Incumbents Dan Gookin and Dan English are running for re-election, and Ron Edinger is retiring at the end of his term.

“I sat on the sidelines for quite a long time,” attendee Roger Garlock said. “But after sitting on the sidelines, I’ve been called to serve. So here I am.”

“I’m running for City Council,” Elaine Price said, “because I have a passion for the city. I always have. Now I’m here to listen, and I hope to learn.”

City clerk Renata McLeod explained the steps and requirements for filing a candidacy, the necessity of appointing a political treasurer, and an overview of Idaho’s Sunshine Laws, which will change the filing process in the new year. She discussed loans, deadlines and fees, as well as signage specifications. She ended her portion of the presentation answering frequently asked questions, such as the ability to campaign during Election Day itself.

“Keep in mind,” she said, “campaigning in a polling place — or near a polling place — is a crime. Electioneering is a criminal offense, so make sure to stay at least 100 feet from a polling place.”

City Administrator Troy Tymesen explained the complexities of the city’s budget process, including revenues, different funds, and larger city expenses, such as capital projects. Tymesen then broke down an organizational flow chart of the city government.

“What’s important to remember,” Councilman Woody McEvers said, “is that, as a member of the council, nobody works for you. You represent the people when you serve, but nobody works under you. So when you sit on a [city commission], you’re there to listen and to understand, so that you can bring the information back to council.”

McEvers and fellow council member Kiki Miller then discussed the minutiae attached to the various committees, including the process for finding a home on a board. Both agreed that, while vocalizing his or her passion is important, candidates should also expect to fill whichever committee seats are available once the musical chairs of a new council is decided.

“You’re going to be the rookie on the council, just like I am,” Miller pointed out. “You might not always have a say in where you land.”

The discussion then transitioned to the daily grind that comes with winning an election.

“People ask me,” Miller said, “‘What can I plan on?’ And I say, ‘If you work a nine-to-five job, tell your boss you’re going to be gone at least twice a month, period. You’re going to be gone at some point during the day. You’re going to have a workshop, or you’re going to have a meeting. And you’re going to be away from home ... You’re going to be working on this 15 to 20 hours a week, and half of that is going to be during the daytime.’”

McEvers and Miller then talked about the need for collaboration, including the importance of finding a syncronicity with other council members.

“When I go over every line item [of expenditures],” Miller told the crowd, “I’m going to have questions. But I know that Woody, he’s kind of become the unofficial watchdog on some of these items, so I have a little bit of a level of comfort when I’m following all these line items, because he has a little more in-depth [perspective] than sometimes what I have. But then he knows I’m following other things, like what’s happening with the Atlas Outreach ... So we work with each other’s strengths and knowledge.”

After a question-and-answer period with the attendees, McEvers shared his experiences the council faced — and continues to face — when dealing with public issues. He cited the most recent parking concerns, when the city raised parking rates in May, as an area where he felt he and the council didn’t fully listen.

“It wasn’t something where we were trying to hurt somebody or do something wrong,” he recalled. “After the fact, when everything kind of broke loose and all these people came out, we [realized], ‘Oh, God, we impacted a bunch of people. So what can we do?’

“Well,” he continued, “now it’s going back through [the Parking Commission] so we can fix it. The decisions we make are based on information we gather. We think we’ve covered everything, we asked for input and then you make the decision. A lot of time this happens, we go back to the drawing table and fix it.”

McEvers finished by citing a 2011 judgment against the city from a wrongful termination lawsuit to illustrate how, even when grounded in their resolve, circumstances don’t always end in the council’s favor.

“I remember the worst thing that ever happened to us [in my tenure],” he said. “We had a policeman who wasn’t being honest, according to the information we were getting. When the police comes to council and says, ‘We’re going to fire this guy because he hasn’t been honest,’ we say, ‘You got it? You got pictures? You got data?’ ‘Oh, yeah, we got everything.’ So we say, ‘Go after him.’ Well, then he sued the city, which is normal. So sometimes we make decisions as a compromise, and that’s what happened here: We sue him, he sues us, it goes to court, goes on for years, we keep bringing back information about him, and nothing’s changed from this dishonest thing. But his wife cries in court, and it costs us $3 million. $3 million. So when you make a decision if you’re elected, [and you’re] thinking of your people, saving your people money, doing the right thing doesn’t always work out.”

In the end, McEvers said the loss made him a more experienced council member, a lesson he wishes he didn’t have to learn.

“That’s the point,” he said. “We all stood tall, said we were going to support this, but we lost. We lost three million dollars of our taxpayers’ money ... You can’t always be right. That’s one of the things we learned in this job. You’re doing the best you can for the right reason, but it doesn’t always work out. I don’t want babies crying, I don’t want mom’s crying. That was brutal. Brutal. And so, sometimes your best efforts are going to come back and slap you.”

McLeod said the symposium appeared to her to be a success, but time would ultimately tell before the end of the month.

“I think it went really well,” she said. “It was more [of a turnout] than we were hoping for. People were coming here for education and information. Come Aug. 26 [when the period for declaring a candidacy begins], we’ll see if we anybody’s has sparked their interest enough to file a declaration.”