Plass announces candidacy for county commissioner position

Tim Plass of Rathdrum announced his candidacy this week for the County Commissioner District 1 position now held by Bill Brooks.

Plass is a 26-year resident of Kootenai County, where he and his wife raised their 10 children, seven of whom have four-year degrees, said a news release.  

“Plass was elected as a Community Library Network trustee in a heated May election centered on removing obscene books from the minors’ areas of the libraries,” the release said. “Since taking office in June, he has voted to slow the budget growth and reduce taxes while providing recommended salary increases, disassociate from the American Library Association, and helped to create new policies for the selection and removal of library materials, as well as others.”

According to the release, Plass plans to continue to serve his full term as a Community Library Network trustee while also serving as a county commissioner. 

Recently retired, Plass worked 44 years as a radio electrical engineer. He worked for Hewlett-Packard/Agilent in Liberty Lake on cellphone test equipment, as well as the 16 prior years in the Bay Area and in Oregon, the release said.

After Agilent in Liberty Lake closed, Plass worked for General Dynamics – Itronix, NIOSH (former U.S. Bureau of Mines), and Smiths – Transtector in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area and for several military drone companies in Oregon, Insitu and PAE. He worked for Blue Origin for three years designing the radio system on the first stage of the New Glenn rocket before retiring, according to the release. 

Plass earned an Associate of Science degree at the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, Calif., and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at UC Davis. He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.  

“Plass started his own wireless internet business in 2009, VelociMAX Wireless, providing the first Idaho ‘family safe’ internet service,” said the news release. “Working evenings and weekends, without borrowing funds, he built the business to where it serviced hundreds of businesses and residential customers from Hayden and Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum and the Spokane Valley to the Palouse. This network provided critical communication links for businesses and major hospitals in the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane area. After eight years of growth, he sold the business in 2017.”

Plass would like to “give back to the community” by serving as a commissioner, said the release.   

“I want to help Kootenai County regain fiscal responsibility and become an efficient, well-run county. The unexpected cost overruns with the new justice department building and county expansion near the airport are glaring examples that will probably be paid with future tax increases,” Plass said in the release. “Past and present commissioner neglect to adequately plan for the future has brought the county to the point of insufficient staffing of the 911 call center and other departments.”

Plass said in the release that the implementation of impact fees must continue to ensure new development pays for the costs it brings to the county, and that affordable single-family home ownership should be prioritized “since it is what most people want and does the most to commit personal interest to the community.”  

“Our county needs to balance growth in a way that preserves the attractiveness and quality of life that has drawn all of us here,” he said in the release. 

Plass said he feels well-qualified for the position considering he has the necessary academic, professional and business experience.

“Starting and growing a successful local business where he developed many happy customers has given him valuable financial and contractual experience as well as a good pulse on community values and expectations of the county government,” said the release. 

Plass is an active member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Post Falls. He started and led scouting there for seven years, coached basketball teams, was a leader in the Knights of Our Lady chapter, an officer in the Holy Name Society, taught math at the high school for five years and has been an usher for many years.