Tondee going up against two challengers

District 1 Republican Kootenai County Commissioner Todd Tondee faces two challengers as he defends his first term in office. Democrat Bruce Noble wants the county to hire an administrator and change the commission structure, and Independent Greg Wells feels Republicans have become too liberal with big-ticket expenditures.

The winner will serve a four-year term on the Board of County Comm- issioners.

Tondee, elected to his two-year term in 2006, says work he started still needs to be finished. He wants to expand the jail and improve county buildings by passing the $145 million facilities bond also on the ballot. He wants to update the comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances so the county has a plan to guide growth into the future. He also wants to pass impact fees, hire a county administrator and improve pay levels for county employees.

“That’s one of the things that really amazed me since I took office because I came in and said, ‘What are our facilities plans? What are we going to do in five years? How are we going to grow?’ There was nothing, not even started,” Tondee said. “And I’m like, ‘This is not acceptable.’ ”

Tondee said having a full-time professional county administrator would take the pressure of day-to-day management off the commissioners and free them up to plan for the future.

Noble says his primary reason for running is to push the county to hire a professional administrator. He applauds Tondee’s desire to do so, but said none of the commissioners have pushed to add the position. Noble would also like to see the commission structure changed to five, part-time members.

“Right now we have a three-man management team that is managing the county on a day-to-day basis. All of a sudden, every other January, two of those managers can be gone. And I imagine there’s a pretty long learning curve for this job,” Noble said. “I think having a county administrator will create some consistency. The hiring of an administrator leaves the commissioners the ability to set policy and make real astute decisions as opposed to managing the county departments.”

Noble said his years as a professional surveyor and engineer in the county give him solid experience to make the right decisions on the biggest issue the commission faces — land-use decisions.

“I see myself as a person to set policy and render decisions as opposed to a person who checks to make sure we have the right number of snow shovels,” Noble said.

Wells, however, doesn’t think the county needs to expand its jail or hire an administrator. He said those are ideas that come more out of a liberal ideology than a Republican ideology. He said he’s been a Republican all his life, including when he last ran for commission in 2000 and was defeated in the primary. He thinks criminals should be offered voluntary deportation instead of jail sentences. He said he’s “100 percent” against a county administrator.

“If we can’t do the job with the people we have in this small of an area, there’s something wrong with us,” Wells said, calling an administrator “just another hungry mouth to feed.”

Wells is running because he’s “tired of being a victim.” He cited plans floated for the Huetter bypass, which he said would go right over the top of his house if it’s ever built. And he cited the Government Way reconstruction in Hayden which he said hurt business owners, including his wife.

“That’s part of this liberal ideology in my mind,” Wells said. “These people aren’t real Republicans that are doing this. But they run for office as Republicans.”