Commissioners find rookie year challenging

New Whitman County commissioners Dean Kinzer and Art Swannack have one year under their belts.

Now that they’ve completed their first year on the job, Kinzer and Swannack both realize they’ve still got a lot to learn.

“We knew coming in that the learning curve was going to be steep and it has been,” Kinzer said.

Swannack of Lamont and Kinzer of Ewartsville were officially sworn in Dec. 27, 2012, in Whitman County Superior Court by Judge David Frazier. The new commissioners officially began their terms Jan. 1, 2013.

Swannack replaced Greg Partch in District 1 that encompasses Tekoa, Oakesdale, Farmington, Steptoe, Garfield, Palouse, northern sections of Pullman, Lamont, St. John, Malden, Rosalia and Thornton.

The Swannack family includes his wife, Jill, and three children who attend St. John-Endicott schools. The family operates a 2,000-acre wheat, hay and sheep ranch outside of Lamont.

Michael Largent of Colfax is the third member of the board.

Kinzer’s District 2 includes Colton, Uniontown and southern voting districts in Pullman.

Kinzer is originally from Genesee and farms land south of Pullman. Kinzer and his wife, Barb, have two daughters.

Kinzer was also recently re-elected to the Pullman School District’s board of directors.

Kinzer and Swannack were elected in a broad rejection of the Hawkins decision that Partch and Patrick O’Neill led that would have had the county paying $15 million toward the Hawkins development along the Pullman-Moscow highway.

Both of the newest commissioners made their opposition to the decision very well known.

The proposed Hawkins development is for a strip mall on the Idaho state line. The county pledged $9.1 million in bonds to pay for improvements in 2008, but then the Hawkins group asked the county for an additional $6 million, a total of $15 million for the project. Former Commissioners Partch and O’Neill voted to approve the $15 million pledge, but Largent voted against it.

Swannack said dealing with the budget has been strenuous.

“One of the more difficult things was dealing with the budget cuts,” he said.

He also said he is learning a lot about running Martin Hall Juvenile Center in Medical Lake.

“We have a good crew and staff at Martin Hall,” he said.

He’s also had a good time being commissioner.

“It’s been fun to go around to see people in the county, although not as much as I’d like to,” he said.

Kinzer said besides working with other elected officials, commissioners also oversee all the other county departments including public works, parks, health department and facilities which includes the fairgrounds.

“It’s been an interesting and challenging year and there’s a lot of challenges ahead of us,” Kinzer said.

“Overall it’s been good, but I feel like I’m just getting started to get to know what’s going on at the state and national levels,” Swannack said. “There’s a lot to learn.”

“We spent the first year doing a lot of research,” Kinzer said. “The most difficult has been dealing with the bureaucracy of state mandates.”

“There’s a plethora of different facets of this job. I have a little knowledge about a lot of stuff. There’s something different every day,” Kinzer said.

“There’s something different every day and I like it,” Swannack said.