Konzen works final days for county

When the former editor of The Western

News wrote a cutting editorial years ago criticizing local elected

officials for failing to demonstrate leadership, officials were

insulted.

Lincoln County Commissioner John

Konzen, however, didn’t mind. In fact, he agreed with the

assessment.

“If you’ve done your homework, you

should be comfortable that you made the right decision,” the

two-term commissioner said. “If you’re floundering around trying to

make everybody happy, you’re in trouble.”

Konzen, 67, has been a leader most of

his adult life – in the classroom for 12 years as a teacher, 18

years as Troy High School principal and his latest stop, 12 years

as county commissioner for District 2.

Konzen attended his final scheduled

commissioner meeting on Wednesday in Eureka and, at the end of the

month, will hand the reins over to incoming commissioner Ron

Downey.

“I’ll still be in the courthouse

working for the next few weeks,” Konzen said Wednesday, “clearing

out my office and things, but I think that may have been my last

official meeting.”

He’ll miss aspects of the job, but he

had never intended to stay a third term.

“If you come into it for the right

reason, you come into it to serve people,” he said. “It shouldn’t

be considered a lifetime job in my opinion.”

Konzen took part in many projects like

improving Troy through a new rifle range, disc golf course,

pavilion at Roosevelt Park and the activity center. He saw the

construction of two walking paths, parking lots at snowmobile

trailheads, improvements to parks and development of the Port

Authority property.

The commissioner testified in front of

a Senate subcommittee in Washington about asbestos in Troy and

pushed Congress to renew Secure Rural Schools funding.

He took pleasure in good relationships

with countless agencies and clubs, county employees, citizens and

fellow commissioners.

“I’ve enjoyed working with the current

commissioners, Marianne and Tony,” he said. “We get along well, and

we disagree, but it’s always healthy. It’s never personal.”

The key to success, Konzen said, is in

how you treat people.

“I guess I’ve lived by a creed through

education and through this job, is that you’re firm with people,

you’re fair with people and you can also be friendly with people,”

Konzen said. “I use those three F’s as guidelines, and I’ve used

them all along.”

In a close race, Konzen won the seat 12

years ago against incumbent Larry Dozell. He filed to run because

he was ready to try something new and had followed Lincoln County

politics.

When he was a principal, he attended as

many school functions as he could fit into his schedule in order to

form relationships with kids and parents and to keep his finger on

the pulse of the community. Similarly, as commissioner, he’s

attended many meetings and events important to the county

throughout the years.

“In order to do this job correctly, you

could be at three meetings a week at night,” Konzen said. “You

could occupy your weekends. In order to do it right, you have to be

informed and you have to be out and about.”

Konzen plans to stay engaged but will

no longer feel guilty, for example, about ducking out of a meeting

to watch his grandkids play ball. He’s a member of the Port

Authority and St. John’s Lutheran Hospital boards and plans to

continue attending weekly Troy Volunteer Fire Department

meetings.

He also plans to travel with his wife,

sharpen his golf game, coach baseball and help his daughter and

son-in-law build a house. He jokes that if that doesn’t keep him

busy he could become a greeter for Ace Hardware.

“I’ve had some offers to go back to

work, but I’m not sure I want to do that,” he said. “The reason I’m

retiring is so I don’t have to do those kind of things. It’s nice

when you finally get to the age where you can pick and choose what

you want to do.”

Upon looking back at his years as

commissioner, the most constant and controversial topic has been,

by far, the asbestos cleanup.

“Without doubt, it gobbled up the most

of our time,” he said. “We desperately tried to protect the

reputation of the communities – Troy and Libby – and still deal

with the issues that were at hand.”

The commission decided in 2002 that the

top priorities should be to clean up homes and yards, address the

health risks and rebuild the community. The new commission should

continue to hammer agencies to provide resources for the third item

on the list, Konzen said.

Another important issue must be the

budget, he added. Though it has always been tight, the county could

face a detrimental shortfall if the federal government doesn’t

renew Secure Rural Schools.

“If we do not get refinanced to Secure

Schools, our savings account will be gone in approximately five

years and you’ll be looking at issues such as road tax and things

we have never seen before,” Konzen said. “It may be wise to look at

those earlier so people get used to it.”

Konzen said he won’t butt in on the

commissioner meetings, but that he is always available if help is

needed.

“I’ll work with these folks and help

them in any way,” he said, “but I don’t believe in trying to

micromanage from outside.”

There haven’t been many dark hours on

the job, he’s happy to report.

“I think it’s been 11 years and 11-1/2

months of positive,” he said, “and probably two weeks of negative

that I’ve experienced the whole time I’ve been here.”

Leaving now, while he’s still full of

energy, is beneficial to the county, he added.

“The work ethic that I had going into

this was the work ethic I had until the last day I retire,” he

said. “Some people are amazed that I’m still coming to work. I

don’t know anything else to do. When you’re collecting a paycheck,

you work – and when you’re done, you’re done.”