A love of community and a commitment to public service are the two driving forces behind my service as your Ada County Commissioner.  After successfully winning my first bid for the District One Ada County Commissioner’s Seat in November of 2006, I proudly took the official Oath of Office in January 2007 and began serving my two-year term.

In addition to serving as County Commissioner, I currently serve in the following capacity:

• Chairman, Region IV Mental Health Board
• Board Member, Family Advocacy Center and Education Services
• Member, Treasure Valley Partnership (Ada and Canyon County Mayors and County Commissioners)
• Board Member, Ada County Air Quality Board
• Board Member, Downtown Boise Policy Advisory Committee for Multi-Modal Facility
• Board Member, COMPASS, Regional Transportation Planning Authority

As Ada County’s newest Commissioner, I join my two fellow Commissioners in setting the County budget, managing Ada County’s 14 individual governmental departments, and ensuring the County’s various ordinance’s adequately meet the needs of Ada County citizens.  I also serve in an important capacity in the County’s land-use decision-making process. With the authority to review, approve or deny proposed development projects, I have the opportunity to help shape the look and livability of Ada County communities.

I began my career as a consulting civil engineer in 1986 in private practice working on a wide variety of public and private infrastructure and engineering improvement projects. My esperience taught me the value of carefully listening to clients’ needs, developing strategies that would accomplish their desired goals, deploying effective communication skills, and above all, always responding with superior service. My strong desire to solve difficult environmental and engineering problems ultimately prompted me to leave my engineering career for a whole new adventure in working on the financial end of these problems. With 12 years of engineering under my belt, I went back to school to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. 

My previous experience made me acutely aware of the financial challenges local governments faced as they struggled to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, and many other federally mandated programs. In 1996, then Idaho Senator Dirk Kempthorne led an effort to create the Environmental Finance Boise State University. This unique center is one of only 10 in the country that is designed to help local governments build better financial capacity for drinking water systems, wastewater systems, Brownfield redevelopment sites and watershed restoration. The training provided by such a highly specialized program, paired with the fact that Boise State University offered one of the northwest’s only accredited Masters programs, solidified my decision to leave private practice and pursue public service. 

After receiving my Masters Degree in Public Administration in 2000, I served as the Associate Director of the Environmental Finance Center where I worked with local governments throughout the northwest to finding funding solutions for water, wastewater, solid waste and open space challenges. My work assisted many communities facing difficult funding situations develop successful long-term funding strategies.

I also began in 2000 and 2001, my involvement as the volunteer chair the Boise Foothills Open Space fundraising campaign. This was a tremendous experience in seeing our community support this vision of open space preservation.  Following the successful passage of the Foothills Levy in 2001, the City of Boise created a 12-member advisory committee appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council.  In January 2002, the City hired me to fill a newly created full-time position aimed at helping the advisory committee identify key foothills locations that were most critical for preservation. Upon leaving the position at the conclusion of 2006, the effort was successful in permanently conserving almost 10,000 acres in the Foothills with a market value of close to $40 million at a cost of only $6 million. While managing the foothills conservation effort, I was also fortunate to coordinate a number of public-private partnerships that ultimately lead to the creation of the Foothills Learning Center in Hulls Gulch.  I also supervised the Ridge to Rivers Partnership between Ada County, BLM, Boise City and the Boise National Forest, successfully adding many miles of new trails for public access.Along with my wife Dawn and son Connor, we proudly invest a great deal of our free time in our community through volunteerism and public service.  As an attorney, Dawn donates her time to the Ada County Child Advocate Program and the Women’s and Children’s Alliance.  I continue to volunteer many hours to participate in a variety of charitable programs.  Aside from our unwavering commitment to giving back to our community and preserving Idaho’s great outdoors, we celebrate the small-town spirit of Ada County and the growing cultural and professional opportunities that it currently offers. Like most residents, we see Ada County as our future — a place to raise a family; a place to retire; and a place for our children, and their children’s children, to carry the cycle on.