EDITORIAL: Invest 2 hours for future of community

An important contest will take center stage tonight, and to the victors will go inestimable value to the community and its college.

Representatives from Kootenai County’s four chambers of commerce — Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Rathdrum — have joined forces to help ensure voters know whom to support in the Nov. 8 NIC trustee election.

The Press will closely cover the event, but if you can, we strongly encourage you to attend in person — and bring your manners and your respect for all six candidates trying to convince you that they have the best ideas and plans for the college’s students and its future.

Inaccurately, some people have claimed NIC’s nightmarish trustee leadership under Todd Banducci and Greg McKenzie has been blown out of proportion or made up altogether. Don’t believe them for a minute. NIC’s very existence is in jeopardy, thanks to Banducci & Co., as numerous accurate reports of accreditation complaints and investigations have documented.

Tonight, from 5:30 to 7:30, you will hopefully hear from all six candidates for three openings on the NIC Board of Trustees. Because this is a chamber-sponsored event, it’s our hope that questions will help reveal the motives behind each candidate’s desire to lead. Boosting local businesses and providing excellent jobs for NIC grads and certificate holders should be paramount in discussion and consideration.

“[NIC] is the talent pipeline for many of our businesses,” said one of the joint chamber committee leaders, Lauren Benedict. “We need to vote this November for candidates who will support NIC’s faculty, staff and accreditation. Every vote matters in these local elections.”

As an active citizen, it will be hard to find greater value for two hours of your time than what tonight’s forum offers. Because it’s in Schuler Auditorium with lots of seating, there might still be room for you if you haven’t already registered. To do so, go to: https://bit.ly/3SFxORO