Dinning honored by Congressional Delegation

BONNERS FERRY — Boundary County Commissioner Dan R. Dinning was honored by members of the Idaho congressional delegation Nov. 21 for his 20 years of service to the county.

A letter honoring Dinning, written by the delegation members, was read on the U.S. Senate floor in Washington, D.C. Karen Roetter from Sen. Mike Crapo’s office and Caleb Davis from U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher’s office presented Dinning a copy of the speech.

“Dan is a man of high moral character,” Senator Crapo wrote. “In all of his achievements, we hear that you would cite his family as his greatest accomplishment. […] Thank you, for your service to your beloved community, county and the entire state of Idaho. We look forward to continuing to hear your stories, and you sharing your deep, deeply valued thoughts and perspective with us on how to continue to strengthen our great state.”

Rotter said that since the letter honoring Dinning is a Congressional Record, it will be in the permanent record of the United States.

Dinning began serving as commission in 2001 and is the longest serving commissioner in Boundary County. The letter writers said this is no surprise given Dinning’s deep commitment to Boundary County. They highlighted the many groups and boards that Dinning has served on and led including the Idaho Association of Counties, Kootenai River Valley Initiative, Idaho Department of Environmental Equality and many others.

Natural resource issues can be controversial, they wrote, yet Dinning has not shied away from those challenges and always reminded attendees when a meeting got contentious, “We all care about the same things just disagree on possible solutions.”

The delegation wrote these productive characteristics have been instrumental in his leadership and in his starting and sustaining the Kootenai Valley River Initiative.

Many community members, current and former county staff and elected officials were present at the recognition ceremony for Dinning.

Dinning told the Herald he did not know he had received the honor and he had been surprised, just as the event organizers had hoped he would be.

Dinning steps down as commissioner in January 2023.