'A tremendous honor'

COEUR d’ALENE — At the end of this month, when Steve Widmyer wraps up eight years as mayor of Coeur d’Alene, it will be his last City Council meeting.

There’s been a lot of them.

“That will be 192 City Council meetings that I've done,” he said, smiling. “But I’m not counting.”

Others were. And his contributions, perseverance and dedication to this city of about 50,000 people were highlighted when he was named the Citizen of the Year during Thursday night’s 109th annual Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber of Commerce awards banquet before a packed house at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

“When you think of all the people that have been citizens of our city, to win this award is a tremendous honor,” he said.

Several awards were presented during the program.

“So many amazing people to celebrate this evening,” said Linda Coppess, chamber president and CEO.

The Ed Abbott Volunteer of the Year went to Ann Thomas of Mountain West Bank for her efforts on behalf of the chamber.

“I've only been here nine years. But when I moved here, I knew I was here to stay. Immediately, I could feel a sense of community and I wanted to be a part of it so badly,” she said. “I wanted to help it and promote it and improve it and keep Coeur d’Alene the magical place that it is. So this is an honor and it's just been fun. I mean, it doesn't even feel like work.”

The Nonprofit of the Year went to Heritage Health.

“Our whole goal is just to be that place that provides hope and inspires change and extends life and our team shows up every single day and makes that happen. They work so hard to get everything done,” said Heritage Health CEO Mike Baker. “I'm so proud of the work that happens here within this organization and seeing the impact that we have in our community.”

Small Business of the Year went to Advanced Benefits, which has been in business 28 years and has 26 employees.

“This recognition is not for me, it’s for my team members," said Mark Fisher, CEO, president and founder of Advanced Benefits.

Large Business of the Year went to Northwest Specialty Hospital.

“I’m all about this community, I want to help people out,” said NWSH CEO Rick Rasmussen,

When he started, they had about 100 employees and were seeing 5,000 patients. Today, it's about 650 employees and 275,000 patients.

“I want to be here for our community and our kids to come back and I want us to have great health care,” he said. “And again, it starts with our team. We have some of the best managers, best staff. It's a family and I'm blessed every day to work with some great people.”

Chamber Committee of the Year went to the Education Committee chaired by Rocky Owens.

He said they believe in advancing education outreach so students will develop skills and stay in North Idaho.

“If we can attract talent back, that is our mission central,” Owens said.

Coeur d'Alene Press Managing Editor Mike Patrick, last year's winner of the Citizen of the Year, highlighted the mayor's role during challenging times as the city's top elected leader.

His humorous proclamation read, in part, that the mayor was recognized for being a public servant "who has for eight years led his community through a pandemic, growth challenges, political extremism, assault-rifle toting, toilet paper hoarding, personal and professional threats, inane questions from reporters and his beloved Seattle Mariners coming up just a run or two short of the playoffs."

A surprised Widmyer said he grew up here and remembers walking down the railroad tracks to school. He pointed to two community giants who died this year as huge influences: businessman Duane Hagadone and former mayor and longtime councilman Ron Edinger.

Both loved Coeur d'Alene, Widmyer said.

“Those two men stick out to me. And I was blessed to know them and learn from them,” Widmyer said.

Hagadone grew up here and lived here for 88 years.

“He believed in this town,” Widmyer said. “And he invested in it.”

Widmyer and his wife, Marie, were part of the team that opened The Resort in 1986 that under Hagadone’s leadership became a world-class destination.

“I always brag to people that we had the greatest team of people, and those people were in a lot of cases handpicked by Duane Hagadone and he built Coeur d’Alene economically to where we are today.”

Edinger served the city for half a century.

“Can you imagine serving your community for 50 years? And how many meetings Ron went to and how many times that I spent on his front porch talking about stuff,” he said. “And he built this community, government-wise, city-wise.’

He credited Hagadone and Edinger for laying the foundation for where the city stands today.

“And they passed the torch to us, to all the leaders in this room, to the people that aren't here today, our hospital workers, our educators," Widmyer said. "So they've passed the torch. And we have a huge responsibility to carry that torch.”