Board appoints planning examiner

SANDPOINT — The county has a new hearing examiner after Tuesday's Bonner County commissioners meeting.

Among the items addressed by the board was the appointment of Jacqueline Rucker as the Bonner County Planning Department’s hearing examiner. After advertising for the position for some years and receiving no applicants, the board appointed Rucker at the recommendation of the Assistant Planning Director Jake Gabell. This comes amid "a significant increase … of planning files" over the last couple of years.

In her role as planning examiner, Rucker will oversee petitions relating to "subdivisions, variances, conditional use permits, planned unit developments, and tier three home occupations and special use permits," Gabell said. 

Commissioners also voted to update the county’s "telecommuting remote policy" for their employees, effective June 21. The telecommuting worker policy states the norms and expectations for employees who "may be telecommuting because they live out of the area," said Cindy Binkerd of the county's human resource department. Binkerd also noted the need for a separate personnel policy manual for county employees who live in Washington state. 

In addition, Binkerd asked the board to begin recruitment for the positions of public defender attorney, sheriff records clerk, and sheriff driver’s license clerk. The board approved recruitment for these positions to begin on June 21.