County planning director leaving for new position
Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake<br>Forrest Sanderson is leaving his job as planning director for the county.
Flathead County Planning Director Forrest Sanderson submitted his resignation on Monday, effective Jan. 3, saying he wanted to pursue a new opportunity in state lands management.
Sanderson accepted a position as planner in the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's Northwest Land Office in Kalispell, which oversees the use and development of state school trust lands in the northwest corner of Montana.
"It's time to get on a different gerbil wheel," he said with a laugh. "For the last 15 years I've been handling applications on a 30- to 45-day planning cycle. With state lands, the cycle will be longer and I'll be doing new and different things."
Sanderson, 42, started his land-use planning career in Lake County in 1989, after serving six years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves.
He moved to Flathead County in 1998 to work for the former Flathead Regional Development Office and was named director of county planning when FRDO disbanded in 2001.
During his tenure, the valley has experienced one of the strongest growth periods in its history. Sanderson said the flood of applications and the controversies generated by many of the projects contributed to his decision to leave.
However, the primary reason was that he wanted to learn new things and explore new directions.
"This is arguably one of the most desirable planning director positions in Montana," Sanderson said. "But the flip side of that is that it's also one of the most controversial. Sooner or later, that starts to wear you down. My desire was to get out before it wore too far. I just couldn't see myself doing this for eight more years and staying sane.
"But the biggest reason [for leaving] is that if I stay with the county, I'm not going to do anything or learn anything new. With the state, there are aspects of trust lands management that I know little about. This opens up new opportunities to learn."
There's sure to be speculation that the upcoming change in the board of commissioners prompted this exodus, but Sanderson said the November election results had nothing to do with it.
"The public can assume what it likes, but this decision was purely personal," he said.
It's unclear at this point what the interim plans are for administering the planning office. The county commissioners could not be reached for comment.
It's also unclear whether the county will be able to find a new planning director who has the same qualifications and level of experience as Sanderson.
He was making about $53,000 per year - a high salary for Flathead County employees, but much less than for similar positions elsewhere in Montana. That raises the question whether the commissioners will have the same trouble filling this opening as they're having finding a county administrator. That position has been vacant since February.
Reporter Bill Spence may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at bspence@dailyinterlake.com