Kootenai County makes chief deputy operations role permanent after community development update

Kootenai County Commissioners on Thursday voted to make the county’s Chief Deputy of Operations position permanent following a status update from Community Development leadership.

Director Callahan told the board that division managers support creating the post and “they think Craig is the right person to have in it.” Callahan added that permit review turnaround times have shortened substantially in the three months since the position was created, with review times “at least 5 weeks shorter than it used to be.”

The change to make the Chief Deputy position permanent was presented as an action item and approved by the three-member board. The motion passed with unanimous recorded support from the commissioners present.

Commissioners discussed related budget and accounting work. Commissioner questions focused on whether increased efficiency would lead to fee revenue covering a larger share of Community Development costs; Callahan replied that fees are reviewed annually and said the department expects closer integration between the permitting system and the county’s financial system to improve reporting. Brandy Falcon, the county accounting manager, told commissioners an FY2024 reconciliation between Community Development and the county’s New World accounting system was within about $200, and that further reporting refinements are planned as part of a migration to third-party software (CoreBT).

The board did not attach additional conditions to the personnel decision; the item moved forward as a formal personnel action.

Looking ahead, commissioners asked staff to continue refining performance and financial reporting metrics so the impact of operational changes can be tracked into FY2026.