Seventeen years of governing experience will be missing in the Spokane County Courthouse when the next board of county commissioners convenes in January. Democrat John Roskelley, first elected in 1995, has resigned already, and Republican Kate McCaslin, first elected in 1996, will step down when her term expires at the end of the year.

Voters need to bear that in mind on Nov. 2 when they decide how to fill the gap. The issues facing the Spokane area are too important to wait for rookies to learn the ropes; we need replacements who have demonstrated their effectiveness.

There are different kinds of experience, of course. Linda Wolverton, for example, knows about county finances and running a county office. She’s midway through her third term as county treasurer and had been a financial manager for the county for four years before voters elected her. She’s served well, and now she wants to replace McCaslin in Commissioner District 1.

Valid as Wolverton’s credentials are, they do not match the breadth of those offered by her opponent on the general election ballot, former legislator Todd Mielke.

Mielke was elected to the state House of Representatives three times in the 1990s. He was an effective and respected lawmaker from the beginning, earning the trust of Republican leaders who assigned him to work on major issues such as welfare reform, health care reform and budget drafting. He also demonstrated a knack for working across party lines to create accord between a Republican legislative body and a Democratic governor.

After leaving the Legislature, Mielke became what he would call a government affairs consultant but his opponent calls a lobbyist. Both terms are accurate, but despite the negative impression created by the latter, lobbying is the way constituent groups present their concerns to government policy makers.

In that role, Mielke has been credited by Spokane leaders with obtaining some $400 million in funding to support such community goals as the Eastern Washington Crime Lab, Mirabeau Point, a north-south highway corridor and the higher education campus at Riverpoint.

He’s meticulously informed about wastewater treatment issues and the daunting obstacles that must be overcome to avoid a building moratorium that would halt economic growth here. He’s an informed, proven advocate for small businesses and the jobs they provide.

Wolverton has compiled an impressive record as treasurer, adopting policies and procedures that ensure the prudent management of investments on behalf of Spokane County taxpayers.

But whoever succeeds McCaslin needs to be geared up to deal right away with a variety of challenging issues, and Mielke demonstrates a better, more detailed grasp of them.

The experience he has accumulated would go a long way toward replacing that which will depart with McCaslin.