Candidates emerge for highway district races

With election filings officially finalized, 11 candidates will compete for five highway subdistrict seats up for grabs this May.

The four highway districts — Worley, Post Falls, Lakes and East Side — are responsible for maintaining the local highway systems and county roads. Each maintains budgets ranging in the millions of dollars, with each acting as its own taxing district. The East Side Highway District, for example, stretches along the north-south length of Lake Coeur d’Alene and extends east all the way to the Shoshone County border. The East Side Highway District's 2020/21 fiscal year anticipated total revenue is $3,038,759, less than half of which was generated by property tax revenue.

“I’m about saving money when I can,” Lakes Highway District Commissioner Rod Twete told The Press on Friday. “If it takes putting a little bit of money to get a big project done, I’m all for that.”

Lakes Highway District is running off a budget of just over $10 million this year, a $3 million drop from the year before. Twete, who worked for the highway district for 33 years and has served as commissioner for the past 17, said the job of maintaining county roads is neither easy nor cheap.

“We do everything we can to make things happen with the taxpayers’ money,” he said. “When you look at everything (the district crews) do — they maintain all the county roads, do the chip sealing, the overlaying, they plow the snow — they really have a lot on their plate.”

Oversight of those budgets, the districts’ directions and the districts policies come from the three commissioners per district. Those sub-district commissioners are then given a modest salary for their time. Each district budgets anywhere from $24,000 to $28,000 in total, which is then divided into their three commissioners’ salaries for each year over the four-year rotating terms. The job usually comes with medical benefits, as well.

Twete, a longtime Athol resident, is running unopposed as the incumbent for Lakes Highway Sub-District No. 1 job, but he’s far from the only candidate running for a highway commissioner job this May. The Post Falls Highway Sub-District No. 1 race will come down to three candidates this spring. Kevin Hanson of Rathdrum and David Russell of Post Falls will take on incumbent Terry C. Werner. Voters will have their choice in the Post Falls Sub-District No. 2 race between Coeur d’Alene’s Jeff Tyler and incumbent Todd Tondee, also of Coeur d’Alene.

Three candidates will vie for the East Side Highway Sub-District No. 2 position. Incumbent and Cataldo resident John F. Austin has filed for re-election, going against fellow Cataldoan Tim Day and St. Maries resident Angela Sieverding.

Sub-District No. 2 in the Worley Highway District race will come down to Worley resident Daniel Sneve and incumbent Corinne Feely Johnson, who is running for her second term.

Twete said anyone who assumes the role of commissioner, including the challengers looking to unseat the incumbents this year, should only run if they keep the best interests of drivers and taxpayers at heart.

“If you have something good to offer, and you think you can actually help, you should run,” he said. “It’s about the people, keep in mind. We’re all about making the highways and roads better for everyone.”

Election Day is May 18.