Smoothly run meetings are welcome improvement

If you would like to see a smoothly run meeting of the Bonner County commissioners, go to their website and access the Aug. 22 meeting through their YouTube connection.

Vice Chair Luke Omodt conducted the meeting. Commissioner Asia Williams was present. Chairman Steve Bradshaw attended via Zoom. There were no theatrics. No histrionics. No heckling. No one was rude to anyone. I can’t imagine how anyone could find fault with the conduct or outcome of this meeting. Thank you, commissioners, for this new leaf.

In his district report, Commissioner Omodt reported that at a recent Idaho Transportation Department's regional meeting, which he attended, he learned that after the I-90/SH 41 interchange is completed at Post Falls, work will commence on "improvements" from SH 41 east to Fourth Street in Coeur d’Alene, expanding that stretch of I-90 to eight lanes. That’s next year.

Further, ITD projects that Kootenai County will grow from 175,000 to 317,000 by 2045. Extrapolated, this could mean Bonner County will reach 100,000 by then.

Our present and future county commissioners will have to deal with multiple and serious matters (think roads, bridges, zoning, solid waste, law enforcement, and more) to prepare us for that.

HELEN NEWTON

Sandpoint