Growth Major Issue In Pend Oreille Race Commission Candidates Agree More Time On Job Needed

Two challengers for Pend Oreille County commissioner seats think the people who hold those posts need to spend more time on the job.

Republican Wanda Stenzel and Democrat Sandi Lewis agree the commissioners need to keep office hours at least two days a week in addition to the time they spend elsewhere on the $23,760-a-year jobs.

On other issues, though, Lewis and Stenzel are poles apart.

Lewis, a Democrat, is challenging incumbent Republican Mike Hanson in the district at the south end of the county.

Stenzel, a Republican, is challenging incumbent Democrat Karl McKenzie at the county’s north end.

Lewis believes the unincorporated part of the county can’t sustain its current growth rate without destroying rural lifestyles.

Hanson believes public health and safety are the only justifications for land-use restrictions, and the county’s minimum lot sizes - 12,500 square feet in areas with sewer systems and one acre elsewhere - are adequate.

Lewis, 55, moved from Fremont, Calif., to the Fertile Valley area at the south end of the county in 1990. She and her husband, Dale, a Spokane native, have three adult children. She attended San Mateo Community College and a private business college, and was a partner in an accounting firm for 14 years.

She is secretary-treasurer of Pend Oreille County Fire District 7 and the county Emergency Response Council, and volunteers in numerous other civic organizations.

Hanson, 53, is a lifelong resident of the Diamond Lake area.

A graduate of Newport High School, he attended Eastern Washington University while working nights for Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane. Then he bought the Harbor resort at Diamond Lake, which he and his wife, Karen, operate. The couple has two adult sons.

Hanson is a former Democrat who found the party’s positions on abortion and other issues incompatible with his convictions as an active member of the Peaceful Valley Church. As a Democrat and an independent, he ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in 1976 and for auditor in 1988. Hanson was elected commissioner in 1992 as a Republican.

He is secretary of the nine-county consortium planning a regional juvenile detention center at Medical Lake, and wants another term to make sure the project is completed.

Like Hanson, Stenzel said she would try to convince legislators to repeal the state Growth Management Act. Land-use controls should be local, Stenzel said.

On other issues, she thinks the county could save money by appointing an existing employee to coordinate all purchases.

Stenzel, 59, has been in the real estate business for 20 years and has been a licensed broker for 13 years. She operates a real estate agency in Metaline Falls, where she moved five years ago from Monterey, Calif.

Stenzel and her husband, Bill, have four adult children. She grew up in Texas and attended junior colleges in North Carolina and California.

Her opponent, McKenzie, also opposes the Growth Management Act.

McKenzie, 55, said he is working with the U.S. Forest Service to restore a program of small timber sales, with relaxed regulations, for “mom and pop-type” logging companies.

He has lived in Metaline most of his life. He graduated from Metaline Falls High School and was mayor of Metaline for 10 years.

McKenzie manages the Lafarge cement terminal in Metaline Falls, where he has worked for 18 years. Before that, he was a sheriff’s deputy for 13 years. He and his wife, Yvonne, have four adult children.

, DataTimes