Appointee committed to U.S. 95 fixes
BOISE – Idaho Gov. Jim Risch named a new head for the state Transportation Board on Thursday – former Lewiston state Rep. Frank Bruneel – and pledged to carry out former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s bonding plan to improve highways across the state.
Major improvements to U.S. Highway 95, the state’s only north-south route, are part of the bonding plan.
“Frank shares the passion I have to make this work,” Risch said. “If anyone can make it work, I believe Frank Bruneel can.”
Bruneel replaces Chuck Winder as board chairman. Risch said he had nothing against Winder.
“Chuck has been a good and faithful public servant for many, many years, has done a very good job,” Risch said. “What a chief executive wants is someone that he knows, that he’s worked with, just really has a close relationship.”
Risch said the board chairman’s position is the only one at the Transportation Department that serves at the pleasure of the governor, so it allows him to have his own appointee there. The director of the Transportation Department serves at the pleasure of the board, and the other board members serve fixed terms, none of which are now up.
Bruneel, the founder of Bruneel Tires, said he was “humbled” by the appointment and “pleased to be a part of something I think is critical to the economy of our state.”
He served eight years on the House Transportation Committee and said he long has been interested in road and highway issues “just by the nature of my business career.”
Idaho plans to fund $1.2 billion in highway improvements over the next 10 years by issuing Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles – or GARVEE bonds – which allow the state to borrow against future federal highway allocations.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Bruneel said. “I have been enthused about GARVEE from the get-go. I think it’s a prudent way for Idaho to improve our transportation system.” Right now, he said, is “a prime time to do it, with low interest rates and escalating materials costs.”
Bruneel now lives in McCall and said his son has taken over much of the tire-store business, which extends into six states.
Risch also named a former Boise mayor, Carolyn Terteling-Payne, to be the new administrator of the Division of Human Resources for the state, replacing Ann Heilman.
“She will take office immediately,” Risch said of Terteling-Payne. “She, as mayor, had her own human resources challenges with the city of Boise, which I thought she handled admirably.”
He announced the reappointment of four current agency heads: Agriculture Department Director Pat Takasugi; Water Resources Director Karl Dreher; Department of Environmental Quality Director Toni Hardesty; and Department of Finance Director Gavin Gee.
He named a new deputy director for the Agriculture Department, Phil Bandy, to replace current deputy Mike Everett.
Risch still has several agency directors to name and has yet to announce his pick for a new lieutenant governor.