Avista manager ends 40-year career

To friends of Paul Anderson, the words integrity, dedication and selflessness immediately come to mind when asked about the Coeur d’Alene man’s long and illustrious career in the public eye. For Anderson, however, there’s a more defining description on the tip of his tongue as the year draws to a close: retirement.

At the start of the New Year, Patricia J. Shea will take over Anderson’s post as the Coeur d’Alene-area manager for Avista Utilities, marking the end of a 40-year livelihood that has taken him around the Idaho Panhandle. Anderson has also served on more boards and chaired more committees that, if taken together, could fill volumes of books chronicling his public service. Still, for the 65-year-old grandpa, it’s all been a part of the job – and a pleasure at that.

“I’ve loved every minute of it,” Anderson said about his job and extracurricular community activities since moving to the area in 1984.

As an employee with Avista, Anderson’s done almost as much off the clock as he’s done on the job. Some of his off-the-job highlights include serving as president of the Coeur d’Alene Rotary, the St. Maries Kiwanis and the Kettle Falls, Wash., Lions clubs; chairman of the Governor’s Idaho Economic Advisory Council, Jobs Plus, Kootenai Medical Center Foundation, Idaho Panhandle Boy Scout Council, the EXCEL Foundation; and is currently vice chairman of the Kootenai Medical Center board of trustees, with two years remaining in the elected position.

Though that legacy of community service is exceptional, it might never have been had Anderson moved to California like he’d originally envisioned.

“I thought I’d end up in San Francisco or some larger town like that, probably working in a bank,” Anderson recalled, while sitting in his office a few weeks prior to his departure.

The Spokane-area native got his start in the Inland Northwest’s public power inner workings while on a hiatus from the University of Montana in the 1960s, when as a junior economics major his father was diagnosed with cancer. He decided to drop out of school and come home to help his family, while working in the interim for the then-Washington Water Power in a temporary position.

After his father died in the mid-1960s, Anderson once again returned to Missoula, this time receiving an economics degree in 1967. At that time, and as is a common post-college custom, Anderson was running only on financial fumes. So when his old boss asked him to return to work for Washington’s public power company, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I was really broke, so that sounded good,” Anderson recalled. “That was not the way I planned it, but looking back on it, I tell you what, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

After bouncing around the Inland Northwest through various Washington Water Power positions, including 12 years in the Spokane and Colville communities and St. Maries, Anderson took a position in the Silver Valley’s mining district in the early 1980s. It was there, through an economically devastating turn-of-events, that Anderson learned the importance of economic development.

In 1981, the Bunker Hill Mine shut down, purging its several-thousand-strong workforce along with it. “That was a horrible hit for that community. Two thousand really good-paying jobs shutdown overnight,” Anderson recalled, adding that seeing many of his customers who couldn’t pay their bills or afford basic necessities for themselves and their families took a heavy toll, so much so that it spurred him to act.

“That really made a believer out of me that economic development was something I wanted to be involved in,” Anderson said.

And involved he’s been. The first group Anderson helped to form was Silver Valley Forever, which sought to “bring some economic vitality to the community,” he said. Signs of that group’s successes are still evident in the Valley, with tourism taking off, the gondola still a popular attraction and a thriving housing market. About the Silver Valley Forever’s original goals, Anderson said “I think that’s really coming into fruition now. It’s exciting to see what they’ve done over there. That feels good to have some part in that.”

Once he’d made the move to Coeur d’Alene in 1984, Anderson’s commitment to the community blossomed even further. “At that time, the economy in Coeur d’Alene and around the area was really bad,” he explained. With the help of similarly far-sighted individuals, Anderson established Jobs Plus in 1987, an economic development agency for all of Kootenai County, which has brought in 70 businesses and more than 4,000 jobs through the years.

It was with that group that Bob Potter, then-Jobs Plus president, was introduced to Anderson. Speaking about their 20-year friendship and Anderson’s service through the various groups, Potter said “It’s hard to keep up.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a man that had a higher integrity level,” said Potter, who even though is a retiree, serves as the recruiter for Inland Northwest Economics Alliance, a group dedicated to bringing in businesses to the area. “A guy like him comes along once every generation, or more. You don’t find guys like that very often, and he will be missed. … You could count on him in a business relationship and as a friend.”

Anderson’s other career accomplishments include being part of the formation of the Inland Northwest Partners, a regional nonprofit economic development organization co-founded by the Avista Corp. that offers educational meetings, programs, and seminars for professionals and nonprofessionals alike. Anderson’s community service has also garnered honors that include a lifetime achievement award from the Inland Northwest Partners, a Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award from the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce and a Post Falls Citizen of the Year Award from the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.

For those who’ve worked with Anderson over the years or been longtime friends, his countless altruistic examples set standards to live and work by.

“He is as honorable, selfless and hard-working a man as I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with,” said Steve Griffitts, president of Jobs Plus. “I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I have had to be able to work with him at different levels. … I’ve found him to be always above board, hard working and without exception, having strong character and great integrity.”

For Anderson, retirement will mean more time with his grandchildren, playing piano and overseeing construction of their new home. Though he’s not disappearing from the public eye, the rest will certainly allow reflection on what he said is his greatest reward: a healthy local economy that will support generations to come.

“I think that when you look back at your life, you know that there were a lot of people who contributed to make your life better. You might not know those people, but you know that they were there. So that feels good to know you helped out,” Anderson said. And, he added about the Avista Corp.’s support for those undertakings, “It’s wonderful to have worked for a company that encourages its employees to be involved with the community.”