Mcavoy Chosen For Post Falls Council She’Ll Bring Broad Experience, Chamber Ties, 41 Years As Resident

The next City Council member here will be a woman - the only woman out of eight people who recently applied for the position.

Jackie McAvoy will serve as the newest City Council member, city officials said Friday morning. The all-male council will confirm McAvoy’s appointment at its next meeting, Jan. 16.

McAvoy is retired and has lived in Post Falls for 41 years.

She currently serves on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. She is the director of the Riverside Harbor Homeowners’ Association, and past president and current secretary of the Idaho Women in Timber and a volunteer on the Kootenai County Juvenile Diversion Board.

“She’s going to bring the expertise she gleaned from life to the council,” Councilman Clay Larkin said.

McAvoy also is a board member, legislative committee chair and ambassador with the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.

That experience will help the city with business issues and decisions, said Kerri Thoreson, the chamber’s director.

“You get that mentality in there,” Thoreson said. “She really knows her way around. She’s highly respected in Boise and locally.”

The position opened up after Mayor Gus Johnson was elected to serve on the Kootenai County Commission. Johnson will leave his seat next month, and the next mayor will be selected from within the council by current council members.

Larkin is the front-runner for the mayoral appointment, opening up a seat on the four-member council. Once appointed, Larkin and McAvoy will have to run for re-election in November if they want to keep the seats.

McAvoy is one of few women who have served on the council. Karen Streeter was the most recent councilwoman. She served on the council from 1984 to 1996.

The council’s decision wasn’t based on the fact McAvoy was the only female candidate, but on experience, said Ron Jacobson, council member.

“If she wasn’t qualified, I wouldn’t have supported it,” he said.

It won’t take long for McAvoy to prove she was the top candidate, Thoreson said. But the council was looking for women to apply for the job, she said.

“There was some subtle recruitment of female candidates,” Thoreson said. Yet McAvoy’s experience was top-notch and shouldn’t be “diminished in any way, shape or form” because she is female, she said.

The decision was a tough one, said Larkin, who hopes the remaining candidates will run for office in November. Certain candidates will be appointed to positions on some of the city’s other boards, Larkin said.

“I can tell you anyone who takes that seat is chosen for their capability,” Larkin said.

“It’s too bad we don’t have eight openings.”