These volunteers deserve a hand, too

They made Ironman CDA a rousing success.

They labored to put together a spectacular Fourth of July parade, fireworks and holiday weekend festivities.

They are more commonly seen at nonprofits and in the community, doing the work that many others think they are too busy to do.

They, of course, are volunteers. Today we’d like to shed a little light on just such a group that has been laboring for weeks now to do something for our community that could have a very positive impact — yet these volunteers are likely to get little but raspberries from the mob for their efforts.

We’re talking about the distinguished dozen members of the committee who are examining how Kootenai County’s government is structured. At some point, they’ll make recommendations that the Board of County Commissioners then may place before voters.

The Press has been following the group’s public meetings and reporting faithfully upon them. So far, experts from previous panels that examined the current structure — three elected commissioners and six other elected officials (sheriff, prosecutor, clerk, treasurer, assessor and coroner) — have shed light on what they learned and what happened with the information they provided.

Last week, Treasurer Steve Matheson and Kootenai County Republican Central Committee Chair Brent Regan took the stand and shared their views with committee members.

The newspaper’s editorial board has been on one side of the issue for 20 years now but is refraining from an opinion until the panel gathers all its data. Following the process, though, leads to a very clear conclusion: Whatever the group forwards should be respected for its breadth and depth, even by those who might disagree with the ultimate recommendation.

While the panel meets publicly, individual members of the committee have been reaching out to many throughout the county, not just gathering input, but getting as much of a sense of local history as possible.

This is an outstanding public service, and The Press is grateful for the individuals investing their precious time while receiving little thanks for all their efforts.

Volunteering takes many forms. As letter writer Dwight Van Horn recently suggested quite hilariously, Effective Government might be the ultimate oxymoron.

That makes this quest all the more worth pursuing.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

• Brian J. Cleary

• Robert Fish

• Kristen Wing

• Joan Genter, alternate

• Dave Botting

• David Levine

• Phil Ward

• Dr. Cheri Zao, alternate

• Kurt Andersen

• Tamara Bateson

• Bryant Bushing

• Bruce Mattare, alternate