Turning over the gavel
RATHDRUM – Brian Steele will turn the gavel over to Rathdrum’s new mayor in January, ending 12 years of service to his community.
Citing business reasons for his decision not to seek re-election, Steele is proud of his record and says he will miss working for the city as an elected official “very much.”
Business brought Steele, an avid outdoorsman, to North Idaho in 1990. He relocated from Lewiston to work for Ponsness Warren, an ammunition reloading equipment manufacturer. A couple of years later, an inequity he saw in a proposal to change the way water usage was billed, led him to start a petition. The petition was successful, convincing city officials to hold off on their changes, and he was hooked – on politics. That November he ran for a council position and has been on the council since; serving as councilman for eight years and the past four as mayor.
Making the decision to hire a city administrator and getting the council’s agreement to find a good one, is the accomplishment Steele is proudest of during his term as mayor. As the city continued to grow, Steele began looking into the idea of a full-time administrator. Discussions with city officials in Post Falls and Hayden and the city’s civil attorneys, led him to conclude Rathdrum needed a city administrator.
“The time was right,” he said. “We were at the right size to go to a city administrator – we had the right population, the right number of employees and the right size of budget.” He worked to get the council “100 percent on board;” and once they gave their approval, the city hired a human resources consultant to guide the search process.
“My biggest fear was that we would hire the wrong person,” said Steele. “But that didn’t happen. The consultant did a tremendous job and we were fortunate in hiring the right person, Brett Boyer,” he said with conviction. “Brett has done a tremendous job.”
Hiring a new police chief to replace Bob Moore, who retired after 30 years, was another challenge, according to Steele. But again, “it worked out and we found Kevin (Fuhr). He’s done a great job, too.”
His biggest challenge as mayor, he said, was “trying to keep everybody happy.” After realizing “there are always two sides to every story,” and coming to the conclusion, “it’s not possible to please everybody,” he said he learned to “base decisions on what’s best for the whole,” then wait for the fallout.
“In fact, most decisions are easy,” said Steele. Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie shared that 95 percent of all decisions made by legislators are easy because the decision has already been made under local, state or federal statues.” Just following city ordinances, Steele reflected, made the decision-making process easier.
There were disappointments along the way – and Bridging the Valley, an effort to improve safety at railroad crossings, was a big one, according to Steele. He said the city stopped looking for ways to pay for a Highway 53 overpass after being approached by officials promising to build a similar project using federal money. “They told us we just had to agree, so we did. We moved on to other things … then nothing happened,” said Steele. “And now they want money for the project – money the city doesn’t have.”
Steele said the city still faces some big issues. “The issue of a sewer treatment plant on the prairie is a big one,” he said. “Where to put it and how to pay for it, will be concerns.” He said other likely hot topics will be continued growth, zoning change requests and Area of City Impact decisions.
Steele said he is proud to be the first elected Rathdrum mayor in the last 12 years to complete a four-year term, and he believes he is leaving the city in great hands. “I can’t say enough good things about city staff,” he said. “Brett (Boyer) and Kevin (Fuhr) are both doing a great job and I’m happy with the current staff; our attorneys, Jerry Mason, Nancy Strickland and Tim VanValin; and our department heads – they’ve all been really helpful.”
Although he said he’ll miss his involvement, Steele was upbeat, saying he’ll drop by every once in awhile. He acknowledged he’ll be busy with his new business venture, Steele Components and Ammo, selling components and ammunition to ammunition companies. He’ll be doing a little more traveling for business and is looking forward to spending more time doing his two favorite things, fishing and hunting – especially the dream-come-true, week-long Alaska salmon fishing trip he has planned for this summer.
His advice for the new mayor, Vic Holmes, is practical. “I hope he listens to Brett and lets the people hired to run the city, run the city,” he said. And his final piece of advice to those he is leaving behind, “Just call Brett,” that’s become my favorite saying, he said with a grin.