Boundary County Sheriff Resigns Post Whittaker, In Surprise Move, To Leave Office Sept. 16

Sheriff Bruce Whittaker is quitting his post after five years as Boundary County’s top law enforcement officer.

Whittaker, 43, surprised county commissioners last week with a letter of resignation, saying he will leave office Sept. 16.

“We weren’t expecting this at all,” Commission Chairman Ron Smith said. “He told us he had a career opportunity that was too good to pass up.”

Whittaker is pursuing a customs post at the U.S.-Canadian border, Smith said.

“He’s done a good job and we wish him well,” Smith said, adding that he may want to replace Whittaker, himself.

“I’m giving it some thought and I’ll make up my mind in a week or so,” Smith said. “If it hadn’t been for numerous people asking me to do it, I wouldn’t have even considered it.”

Smith was county sheriff for five years. He resigned in 1987 to run for county commissioner.

Smith’s term on the commission ends in January. Instead of seeking re-election to the county office, Smith ran an unsuccessful bid against Sen. Tim Tucker (D-Porthill) for a seat in the Idaho Legislature.

“I did enjoy being sheriff, but even if I decided I wanted to do it again it wouldn’t necessarily mean I would get the job,” Smith said. “I’ll just be another applicant.”

The Democratic Central Committee will submit a list of candidates to the county commissioners; they will choose the new sheriff at the end of the month. The list will likely include Ron Navarro, chief deputy in the sheriff’s department.

Whittaker, a Democrat, earns about $27,650 annually.

He is staying through September to complete his department’s budget and plans to recommend a replacement once the list of candidates is final.

It’s unclear whether the newly appointed sheriff will face an election this November or in 1996, when Whittaker’s term would have expired.

Whittaker, who was appointed in 1989, said he has mixed emotions about leaving.

“It was a tough decision. I’m going to miss being in a position to help people in the community,” he said. “It will be difficult going from sheriff back to being John Q. Citizen.”

The sheriff said he wants a job that has less stress, regular hours and one that he doesn’t have to campaign for every four years.

“If this works out I won’t be subject to the political whims of voters in a particular election year,” he said.

Whittaker has been credited with modernizing the sheriff’s department, adding new computers, patrol cars and sidearms without tapping the taxpayers.

Most of the new equipment was paid for with fines collected from drug runners arrested at the Canadian border, just 30 miles north of Bonners Ferry.

“Bruce is a good man. I have no complaints about him,” Smith said.