Leadership on display

They've whacked a failing program, ostracized a bunch of kids and parents, cut here, consolidated there and, in all likelihood, succeeded in getting every single employee to do his or her best work.

That's what we call leadership.

The Kootenai County commissioners - Todd Tondee, Dan Green and Jai Nelson - are cutting expenses because that's the mandate they got from voters. They aren't waiting for the next budget; they're saving money right now.

They're also tossing political caution to the wind by considering an unpopular step like eliminating county extension programs, including the popular 4-H program. They bit their bottom lips and put a figurative bullet in the feel-good, accomplish-little pre-trial services program. They lopped positions here and there in several departments, consolidating responsibilities wherever possible and rewarding the employees who are doing more work with pay raises.

Now that's a novel thought these days: Cut public jobs, particularly where workloads have declined or don't justify a full-time position, pay someone else a little more to do the extra work and then put the savings back in taxpayers' pockets.

Anybody listening out there?

We're not gloating because popular programs are being pared and austere spending on wages and benefits might continue. But we do believe that political leadership today requires making hard and sometimes unpopular decisions - to employees and to constituents. Leadership involves separating needs from desires and standing up to the entitlement mentality. As the commissioners are showing us, it also places a premium on analyzing departmental functions, determining if that function is necessary or could be better handled in the private sector, and then having the courage to take appropriate action.

While other leaders are making headlines because of increased spending, Kootenai County's leaders are in the news because of cuts, cuts and more cuts.

May it be contagious.