Dan Malcolm knows how to save Lakes Highway District money, he said.

Like carefully pricing projects and equipment. And focusing on road maintenance, to delay the need for costly new installations.

Malcolm, running for the sub-district 3 highway commissioner seat, knows how to do all of that, he said, after 33 years with a concrete and premix company.

"I want to get in there and incorporate my background with safety, construction and bidding," the Hayden resident said. "Just in knowing the cost of equipment, just in using the contacts I've made over the years, would make the district more efficient and more cost effective."

Malcolm, originally from Wallace, worked as a manager and concrete sales manager at Central Pre-Mix and Interstate Concrete before retiring in 2008, he said.

His decades there have groomed him for the commissioner position, he said, by acquainting him with the local road network and the cost of transportation projects.

"My past management experience, being involved in budgeting and the process I went through in the private sector, is probably going to be the key point I can bring," said Malcolm, 67.

Road preservation would be his main focus, he added.

Ensuring roads are built right, he said, and then maintaining them as long as possible.

"There just isn't infrastructure money available to just be building new," he said. "The key point is finding better ways to do our job the first time, and making sure we make the right decisions on repair and preservation."

He will also strive to work around budget shortfalls, he promised.

"I really want to make sure we take a conservative approach, and just do the best job at bottom line pricing," he said.

Prior to his concrete work, Malcolm obtained a barber's license and snipped locks for more than a decade in Lewiston and Moscow.

He has lived in Kootenai County since 1978. He has two grown sons with his wife Carol, and two grandsons.

The highway district elections are scheduled for May 17.

Malcolm is already familiar with many highway district employees and district residents, he said, and aims at keeping up a strong rapport.

"I'm here to serve the people and work with the people," he said.