Saterfiel announces re-election bid for Hayden City Council

Longtime Hayden City Council member Roger Saterfiel announced his candidacy for reelection.

Saterfiel has lived in Kootenai County for more than 60 years and in Hayden for 34 years. He has served for 16 years, with 10 as council president.

“I feel I am and will continue to be a steward of our great city and citizens. I have many years of experience in government. I have over 40 years of management experience. I was the Kootenai County Solid Waste director for 12 years and was named Manager of the Year twice during my career,” Saterfiel said in a news release announcing his candidacy.

During his time as the county’s solid waste director, Saterfiel was involved in the conception of the Ramsey Transfer Station, Fighting Creek Landfill and the Prairie Transfer Station.

“One of my proudest accomplishments is the Methane Gas to Energy project at Fighting Creek,” Saterfiel said.

He was president of the Idaho State Solid Waste Association, on the Fair and Rodeo Board for 10 years, and served as president of the Idaho Association of Fair and Rodeo. He currently serves on the sewer board.

“I have and continue to work with many other mayors, city councilmen, senators and legislators, governors, etc.,” Saterfiel said.

He shared many other accomplishments he says were a collaborative effort with city staff, other council members and the mayors he has served with.

“We passed the levy for more law enforcement to keep our citizens safe. We have some of the lowest taxes in the state. We worked on the current comprehensive plan, which actually reduced density. We have completed grants for recreation and roads, we have established a transportation plan and we recently did a citizens survey to hear what the people of Hayden wanted from us,” Saterfiel said. “We have obtained property for the city’s future maintenance facility. We settled a long, ongoing lawsuit. We negotiated with developers for parks, the charter school, greenspace and EMS land for fire or law enforcement.

“We are partnering with Urban Renewal for a future community center and senior center. We have developed an equipment plan to better serve our citizens with modern equipment. We have responsible growth with 1% to 3% in the last 10 years. We have brought many businesses to Hayden that created jobs to help serve the people of Hayden.”

Saterfiel said they continue working on the city’s comprehensive plan to lower density further, and they are looking at impact fees to help with growth.

“I will continue to help keep taxes low. I will continue to work with the state to synchronize the traffic lights on Highway 95 to relieve traffic on Hayden city streets,” he said. “We are currently working on connecting Ramsey Road with Lancaster Road to divert traffic from neighborhoods. We are also working on future roundabouts at Hayden and Ramsey road, Honeysuckle and Ramsey road, and Atlas and Hayden Ave. Staff and council are working to relieve the traffic congestion at Honeysuckle and Government Way.”

One of his passions, he said, is to obtain the old farm house and 10 acres on Miles and Maple for a future park and for the Historical Society. Saterfiel noted there are not many old homesteads like that left, and he does not want to see 30 or 40 houses built there.

“I hope that my experience, passion and love for the city of Hayden will give the voters confidence in me for the November election,” he said, in the news release. “I would appreciate your vote as we don’t want Hayden to become a chaotic mess like NIC and the library.”