Hammond's hopes

COEUR d’ALENE — When Jim Hammond won the Nov. 2 election for mayor of Coeur d’Alene, he didn’t leap for joy. He didn’t pump his fist in victory.

His reaction was a little more subdued.

“What have I done?”

Because for years, he had been enjoying the retired life, spending time with family, friends and hobbies like woodworking. It was a time of relaxation and relative freedom after an extended career in education, government and politics.

That peaceful, easy feeling began to slip away when he was sworn into office on Jan. 4 and oversaw his first meeting on Jan. 10.

It turned into a heated one, with some people shouting and interrupting as they called for the City Council to refuse American Rescue Plan Act funds. Some ignored Hammond's request for civility.

It was a rude welcome for the city’s new mayor and not something he was entirely used to.

“I thought, ‘Holy moly,’” Hammond said while sitting in his office at City Hall, drinking coffee, on a sunny Friday morning.

While subsequent council meetings have also seen some fireworks, with a handful of police officers on hand to ensure peace, Hammond has gradually gained control.

The 71-year-old has utilized his experience as a teacher, principal, planning and zoning commissioner, state senator, mayor of Post Falls and city administer of both Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene.

The mild-mannered Hammond has displayed patience, but also delivered a few threats to have some removed from meetings if they refused to quiet down.

“I began to work through it. I'm not the bravest guy in the world,” he said.

But he told himself, “Jim, you got to stand up to your peers, be brave and be strong.”

Slowly, he is settling into a job he called "a bit overwhelming" to start.

“I stepped into it at a time when people are frightened and angry, and not trusting,” he continued. “And so it's a bit of a challenge.”

His easy-going, but firm approach is working.

At the most recent council meeting on the 2022-2042 Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted Tuesday, Hammond asked the crowd of 150 early on to be respectful and quiet. Nearly everyone was.

“I felt really good because of the way I was able to interact with the group and get them to calm down," he said. "And I'm just going to continue to work with them, to try to develop a relationship in which they feel they can trust me.”

Work to do

Challenges remain and Hammond displays a sense about them.

“I was telling some friends jokingly, ‘I look forward to the point when I don't need to have a bunch of patrolmen of my meetings,'” he said, smiling. “It's as though the level of trust for government is just gone. And that's one of the efforts I'm going to make is to try to bring that level of trust back.”

He believes some of that mistrust is due to misunderstanding.

For instance, he said the comp plan, with guidelines for growth, “is really pretty innocuous.” Yet, many strongly opposed it and believed it to be a plot to turn Coeur d'Alene into California.

“It isn't very tightly drawn. And that's what it's supposed to be,” he said. “Somehow, these people have been informed that it's a much more dangerous document than it is.”

Some have criticized the City Council for accepting the ARPA funds and adopting the comp plan despite vocal opposition. They believe they are being ignored.

Hammond disagreed. He said “sometimes what's right isn't always popular. And sometimes what's popular isn't always right.”

“That's the thing people don't understand,” he said. “Sometimes what they hear and what they feel isn't necessarily the true reality of the situation. And because of that, we appear to not be listening."

Creating trust

Hammond believes he can establish citywide trust and plans to emphasize that at his presentation on March 23 before the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber of Commerce at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

“I think we have a better chance at it than anybody because we are most close to the people, and we have to be talking to them. We have to unify the community,” he said.

It's been done.

He recalled how North Idahoans rallied together in the 80s and early 90s when sawmills were closing, as did the Bunker Hill mine.

“We could have just died, right? Because there were so many jobs lost over probably a decade,” he said.

But business leaders developed a diversification plan and Jobs Plus was formed in 1987 to recruit small to medium businesses to relocate to North Idaho.

It made a difference and jobs came.

Hammond said the area needs to take a similar approach today when tackling skyrocketing housing prices.

“We have to figure out a new strategy to make homes affordable so that our workforce can afford to live here,” Hammond said.

Why run for mayor

Hammond ran for mayor of Coeur d’Alene after being encouraged to do so by his predecessor, Steve Widmyer, and others like former Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem and former City Councilman Mike Kennedy.

Before committing, he took into account his family — he and wife Cyndie have three sons and six grandchildren; and his health, which includes a long-running battle with prostate cancer.

“I am blessed to be in a clinical trial out of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake," he said. "And it keeps it at bay. That's controlling it."

In the end, it was his passion for making a difference, perhaps making life a little better for others, that brought him back into public office.

"I thought, ‘I’ve been given another opportunity at life here. Maybe I should do something. Yeah, maybe one more try. Trying to make things better for this community.’”

Which he said is all he's been trying to do.

"I know that sounds very Pollyannish. But I live here. And I was taught by my dad, 'get involved and make your community better,'" Hammond said.

He laughs when he hears some suggest he and City Council members will benefit from their decisions.

“I have nothing personal to gain from this,” said, Hammond, who has called Kootenai County home for nearly 50 years. “People think you do. I have to convince them that I don't and that the council does not.”

Credibility counts

Hammond considers himself a simple, honest man.

“When I was in Post Falls, it was small enough that people knew me as a person, not just as the mayor or as a city councilman. And so I had that credibility,” he said.

When he was a state senator, there were town hall meetings almost every weekend.

“And I came to every one of those and talked sincerely and honestly with them," he said. "And that's what created my credibility with them."

When he ran for Coeur d'Alene mayor, it was kind of like starting all over.

“I worked seriously at it because I said, ‘People don't know me, I've been gone. And there's a lot of new people in this community. They don't know me from Adam.’ So once again, I have to work on that personal touch, I just have to be who I am.”

Hammond said the reason he was an effective educator is because he was genuine.

“I loved those kids. I loved those teachers, and they knew it,” he said.

As an elected official, he said people have to know he cares, that he is invested in them, that their concerns are his. He won't always agree, but he's always listening.

That’s how he hopes to unite a community.

“But truly, you can only do that … ” he said, before pausing, then adding, “If we're fighting with each other, we're not going to get anywhere.”