Plass announces run for library network board position

Tim Plass of Rathdrum announced his candidacy this week for the Community Library Network board of trustees position.

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

He has worked over 43 years as a radio electrical engineer. He worked for Hewlett-Packard / Agilent in Liberty Lake for 12 years designing cellphone test equipment, as well as the 16 prior years in the Bay Area and in Oregon. After Agilent, Liberty Lake, shut down by 2009, Plass worked for General Dynamics — Itronix, NIOSH (former US 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 the past three years designing the radio system on the first stage of its New Glenn rocket.

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, which, according to the news release, provided the first Idaho “family safe” internet service. 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 lakes, Rathdrum and the Spokane Valley to the Palouse.

“His network provided critical communication links for businesses and the major hospitals in the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane area,” the release said.

After eight years of growth, he sold the business to Ptera in 2017.

Plass said in the news release that “he would very much like to help realign the Community Library Network direction to reflect the values of the community. The current board of trustees have shown little consideration for the voices of the community.”

“For the last 18 months, citizens have come forward with public comments informing the CLN trustees of the obscene and pornographic books being added to the youth shelves of our libraries. In meeting after meeting, testimony is presented to the trustees explaining in detail the material being promoted to the minors in our county, yet they do nothing,” Plass said, in the release. “The time has come to change the policies to remove these books which meet the definition of obscene material in Idaho statutes. If it weren’t for an exemption granted to libraries by the early ‘70s criminal laws, the libraries could be prosecuted. The libraries are taking advantage of this loophole, but we in Kootenai County do not have to endure this, even if our legislators are unable to cure the law.”

Plass wants to see policies corrected and these issues addressed, the news release said.

“Plass feels well-qualified for the position considering he has the necessary academic and professional experience and a good deal of experience as a Community Library patron over the years of raising his children,” said the release. “Starting and growing a successful business where he developed many happy local customers has given him valuable financial and contractual experience as well as a good pulse on community values and expectations of our libraries.”

Plass is an active member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Post Falls. He started and led scouting 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 there for many years.

This story has been updated to reflect a correction. The story originally said, as per the news release, "For the last two years, citizens have come forward with public comments informing the CLN trustees of the obscene and pornographic books being added to the youth shelves of our libraries." Mr. Plass requested it be corrected to say "18 months."