Boorman resigns

BONNERS FERRY — After 14 years managing the city of Bonners Ferry’s water, sewer, streets and electric departments, city administrator Stephen Boorman is resigning.

He begins another job in Cheney, Wash., in July.

Boorman’s resignation was announced after June’s city council meeting June 2 and he turned in an official resignation letter to the mayor and city council on June 11.

In the letter, he announced that his resignation would be effective July 4, and that he was taking a position with the city of Cheney as light department director.

“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the City of Bonners Ferry for the past 14 years,” he said. “As I look back I see two great mayors, a lot of great council members, and an even larger number of great employees, working together to complete many great capital projects, and providing efficient and reliable services to our community. I leave comfortable knowing that Bonners Ferry and its infrastructure are in better shape than when I came.

“ I am confident that the City has a talented solid staff that will continue to provide excellent service to our community.”

As Boorman leaves,

See RESIGNS, A-3

RESIGNS

From A-1

Bonners Ferry is seeking a city administrator to oversee $3.5 million in capitol improvement projects.

Those projects include replacement of the northside water tank, rebuild the Moyie power station unit 2 generator, repair and improve the sewer system, especially the bridge over the Kootenai River, and an upcoming Augusta Street pedestrian project.

“The job is more complex than most city administrator jobs,” Boorman says. “You have to wear a lot of hats.”

In addition to normal city operations, Bonners Ferry’s city administrator is in charge of a unique power generation system in the Moyie dam, surface and sewer water treatment, and proximity to a river that is home to a pair of endangered species.

“The learning curve for the job is close to four years,” Boorman said.

The average tenure for a city administrator is around seven years. Boorman is proud to have doubled that in his time in Bonners Ferry, the fourth long-term city administrator in a 90-year legacy of service, he said.

“It was time,” he said. “Our kids are scattered. I’m looking forward to having something a little more straightforward.”

The Cheney electric department is about double the size of Bonners Ferry’s Boorman said, but he will be following a retiree at a very stable organization. Boorman does have a lot he will miss about Bonners Ferry, though, he says.

“I will miss being right in the mountains and high lakes, and the abundance of accessible public property, but more so the great people in Boundary County,” he said. “Bonners Ferry has been a great place to raise kids and Boundary County School District has provided a first class foundation for our children.”

Boorman wanted to especially thank Darrell Kerby, “a boss, mentor and man whose ‘word is his bond,’” he said, also thanking city clerk Kris Larson, “who truly is a saint with an unerring moral compass, a lady of character and compassion,” he said.

With the mayor’s seat and three of four city council positions coming open in the next election, Boorman says the next administrator will have to train a council and mayor that may be just learning the ropes.

“The future of Bonners Ferry really does rest on this community’s citizens ability to balance their virtue of independence with collaboration for the good of the community,” he said.