Two Fair Board incumbents reappointed

After readvertising various Flathead County board vacancies amid criticism that the application process was flawed, the county commissioners this week reappointed incumbent Fair Board members Butch Woolard and Sam Nunnally.

There were nine applicants for the two Fair Board vacancies — the incumbents and Tammy Burkowski, Noreen Cady, Kenneth Huff, Gina Klempel, Inga Lake, Diane Medler and Susan Munsinger.

In December 2015, Fair Board applicants Karen Enger and Nugget Carmalt, who did not reapply for board positions, told the commissioners that new applicants for the board were required to fill out an application form while the incumbents seeking reappointment did not have that same requirement.

Carmalt, a former Flathead County Fairgrounds administrative assistant who last year won a settlement in a gender bias complaint against the fairgrounds manager, told the commissioners that uniformity in the application process was needed to avoid a “good old boy” perception.

County Administrator Mike Pence reviewed the application process and found inconsistencies. Applications for some boards required a completed standardized form for consideration while other forms did not. The county then extended the application process and published further advertisements for applicants to a number of county boards.

Enger and Carmalt also had criticized the commissioners for rarely appointing women to the Fair Board.

When the commissioners reorganized their own committee assignments in early January, Commissioner Pam Holmquist agreed to serve on the Fair Board. Commissioner Gary Krueger’s term on the Fair Board ended Dec. 31 and he chose not to continue on the board. There was discussion about changing the board’s bylaws to keep a commissioner on the board, but not as a voting member.

Krueger made the motion to reappoint the Fair Board incumbents and Holmquist said she supported the reappointments.

Commissioner Phil Mitchell said the reappointments are “fine for this year.

“Hopefully the bylaws get changed to where we can appoint a third person within a couple months if Pam becomes a nonvoting member,” Mitchell said. “It’s been a difficult year and I think we’re getting back on track for the fair.”

In other board appointments, there was a lot of competition for a vacancy on the Airport Authority Board. Kalispell attorney Duncan Scott was appointed to the five-year term. Other applicants included Gary Boe, Don Brummel, Giuseppe Caltabiano, Clifton “Tip Clark, Joseph Jaczinski and Ben Lombardi.

The commissioners made four appointments to the Flathead City-County Board of Health, including incumbents Bill Burg and Aaron McConkey and newcomers Marc Lorenzen and Michael Nicosia.

There were only four applicants for five vacancies on the Health Board.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.