Nine apply for two openings on Port Authority board

Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson on Wednesday, Feb. 21 presented the County Commission with nine applications for two open seats on the recently restructured, five-member Port Authority governing board.

The three county commissioners, who comprise the balance of the board, are scheduled to appoint the two new members at the County Commission’s Feb. 28 meeting.

The applicants are Laura Garner, Jeff Koskela, Janelle Lacefield, Tony Petrusha, Ted Werner, William G. “Bill” Clark (Bill), Paul Bunn, Charles F. McFarland and Dave Etienne.

“(It’s a) great group of folks,” said Commissioner Mike Cole at the Feb. 21 meeting. “That’s really good to see.”

The Commission voted unanimously Jan. 24 to revamp how the Port Authority is governed. On that day the commission signed Resolution 999, which dissolved the previous nine-person, all-volunteer governing body.

The decision followed a series of public discussions the Commission began at its Nov. 29 meeting. On that day, referring to a Nov. 9 meeting about redeveloping the 400-acre Port Authority site and ongoing concerns from residents and potential entrepreneurs, the Commission signaled it was time to restructure how the Port Authority is managed to improve the site’s viability.

Lincoln County created the Port Authority in 2003 to develop the commercial and industrial site now known as Kootenai Business Park, which the county acquired after Stimson Lumber Company left it in 2002.