Growth, community highlight county forum

SANDPOINT — Eight candidates are seeking two Bonner County Commissioner seats this year and five of them spoke Monday during a county candidate forum on what their goals are if elected.

For the District 1 seat currently held by Steve Bradshaw, three residents — Brian Riley, Brian Domke, and James Burroughs — have announced candidacy under the Republican party. Burroughs did not attend Monday’s forum. Meagan Yeats is running under the Democrat party uncontested and was also not present at the forum, which was for candidates of contested races.

District 3 will see incumbent Luke Omodt run against fellow Republicans Dimitry Borisov and Ron Korn. Glenn Lefebvre is also campaigning for the seat, but is running as an independent and will only show up on the November ballot.

District 1

Brian Domke said he has focused his time in Bonner County on reaching the community through acts of service.

“I want to help protect our own community,” he said. “I want to help preserve it for the future and continue to allow future generations to enjoy and flourish here.”

Domke said he would like to continue his service to the county by becoming a public servant, inviting public comment on all agenda items as he’s interested in what residents have to say about all county business. He also hopes to bring back sub-area committees if elected, wanting to hear from different groups of residents on their various needs based on their location in the county.

He believes responsible growth in Bonner County will come from good data and research. According to Domke, county staff should be wanting people “to use land in an effective manner without causing harm to their neighbors,” and figuring out ways to uphold the property rights of everyone residing here.

Domke said that getting along with others he doesn’t agree with starts with having respect for each other no matter their views. People should be focusing on the issue at hand, not on the other person presenting a different opinion or idea. Being open to listening to others’ opinions could positively influence his own decision, he said, helping him come to a better, more well-rounded conclusion and understanding of the issue at hand.

“We need to focus on the issue, treat one another with respect, and then vigorously debate until the truth comes out and good decisions are made,” he said.

Brian Riley, who has been a Bonner County resident for nearly 40 years, said he is happy to call this place home. Throughout his years here, he has steadily worked his way up the ladder at Idaho Forest Group, and in 2015, became one of the site’s plant managers, which he said has provided him with ample skills that he can bring to the county.

“I have 170 employees and I manage a budget of about $2 million a month,” he said. “A lot of those skills are very transferable to the commissioner’s seat.”

Riley said allowing public comment in meetings is a great way to earn the public’s trust in believing that those elected officials will make the right decisions. It also helps reinstate that they are open to listen to other voices and widen their understanding of the county’s issues.

“Everybody’s perspective is their reality and everybody’s a little bit different,” he said. “So we need to hear a different side of things. As you get comments back, it helps to make decisions. It helps you make sure you made the right choice.”

Riley believes one of the solutions to responsible growth is building more affordable houses for locals. Additionally, he believes a lot of the county’s issues would be resolved if more residents were involved in the inner workings of the county’s boards and commissions.

“The best way to improve something is to get involved with it,” he said.

Part of being a leader is having to work with people you don’t necessarily get along with, Riley said. The best way to work through things is to address them right away, don’t let them fester, and talk through them. Riley said this will ensure that the parties “will find a way to find a balance.”

“In the end, we’re all neighbors,” he said.

District 3

Dimitry Borisov is a first-generation immigrant from the Soviet Union, making his way to Bonner County in 1999. Borisov said the reason he is running for county commissioner is to see promises that have been made to residents finally be brought to fruition.

“What I saw [with the commissioners] is that a lot of promises are given to outlying communities in small towns in the county, but none of them ever get delivered,” he said.

Borisov said he has become disheartened and disappointed with what he sees at the current commissioners’ meetings and wants to make a change for the county.

He believes “county business is the business of the people” and wants to incorporate as much public comment as possible into his decision-making process. In terms of responsible growth, Borisov does not feel like the county has a plan for it, but hopes to implement one himself. Again mentioning public comment, he said county officials need to “implement the will of the people, not just the developers.”

Borisov believes that the hearing examiner position needs to be removed from the county, as he deems it unfair that one individual should be making the final decision on many contentious county issues.

Additionally, he described the current commissioners’ office as tumultuous, saying order needs to be restored and accountability needs to be taken.

“Accountability feels like an attack when you’re not ready to acknowledge how your behavior harms others,” he said, quoting author Tamara Renaye.

If elected, Borisov said he would work to restore trust between the commissioners and the people because “the business of the county commissioners is the same as the business of the people of Bonner County.”

Ron Korn became the president and commander of the Bonner County Search and Rescue team many years ago, and he believes being in charge of over 150 volunteers has provided him with experience that will help him successfully lead the county.

“I do bring unity, I do not like division,” he said. “We’re more divided now than we ever have been in the past … I would like to bring us back together.”

If elected, Korn said he wants to reinstate biblical and constitutional principles in the county, which he believes have not been present for a while. He also plans to give the “people’s voice” back to residents by reinstating public comment on every agenda item.

“How else are the commissioners supposed to make an educated decision without public input?” he asked. “The three people sitting up there don’t know everything that’s going on in the county. But the people do, the neighbors do.”

Korn believes a key to responsible growth is building more houses that allow young adults who have chosen to stay in the area the opportunity to move out of their parents’ homes and make a life for themselves, rather than creating more unaffordable vacation housing that is not truly benefiting the local community.

The District 3 candidate would like to reintroduce sub-area committees’ opinions to the decision-making process, saying “the voice of the people needs to be heard.” Korn also said he would entertain putting the Planning Department and Zoning Department back together into one department if he felt it would better benefit the county.

Korn believes he is the best choice for the District 3 seat because of his dedication to the community. He works for the residents, he said, not for the assessor, the sheriff, or any other county department. If elected, he said he will always put the people first.

Incumbent Luke Omodt said he believes he has been successful in his time as a commissioner thus far. A logistician before he became a commissioner, he said the two jobs are very similar.

“It’s about who gets what, where and when,” he said. “As a county commissioner, you have law, ordinance, policy. I am happy to say that is how this board of commissioners has been operating.”

In regards to public comment, Omodt said that only listening to the 20 people who show up to the meetings and talk loudly would “disenfranchise” the other roughly 32,000 registered voters in the county, who are the overwhelming majority. Responsible growth is being addressed by the current board, he said, with new updates to the Bonner County Comprehensive Plan — the first updates in decades.

Like a road, Omodt said there are “bright lines of responsibility” when it comes to being a commissioner. The responsibilities of the commissioners, he said, have been closely safeguarded from other elected officials who have tried manipulating those “bright lines.”

Omodt said what he has learned as a commissioner so far is that one of the only constants is that time changes. The other constant, he said, is that no one can please everyone all the time; if just a handful of people are pleased, then he thinks he’s done a pretty good job.

“The world is tough, folks,” he said. “Public service is tough. You hire us to make decisions. I believe we have made good decisions. They’re painful. But I’m here to serve.”

Both commissioners’ seats will be up for vote during the May 21 primary elections.