COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County commissioners on Wednesday announced the selection of a new director of the community development department.

David Callahan, who was working in a similar position for the city of Fort Morgan, Colo., joins the county on Nov. 4. His salary will be $71,500.

"I was impressed with his planning knowledge and administrative experience," said Commissioner Dan Green.

Green said Callahan understands that community outreach is a major part of the job.

"It's a high-profile job, and it requires somebody who is comfortable in the public eye," Green said. "I got the impression he is a very good listener."

Commissioner Todd Tondee said, "(Callahan) said it's important to get out into the public and listen and interface with the public."

Tondee liked Callahan's experience as a former elected official.

"His persona is very calming, which I think the department needs," Tondee said.

Callahan was traveling Wednesday and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Callahan is originally from San Antonio and completed the landscape architecture program at Texas Tech University.

He spent the first decade of his career working for the Texas cities of Richardson, Gainesville, Grand Prairie and Dallas.

Callahan was registered as a landscape architect in 1983.

In 1990, he received admission into the American Institute of Certified Planners, where he remains a member in good standing.

Since then, he has worked in Colorado in management positions with the cities of Thornton and Fort Morgan, and Boulder County.

He has processed development review applications, developed and amended land-use regulations and comprehensive plans, and worked with boards and commissions.

Callahan served as a board member for state chapters of the American Planning Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

From 2003 to 2007, he served as a trustee for the town of Erie, Colo. He was first appointed and later elected.

He served as a guest lecturer at the University of Colorado and has given presentations at the Colorado Chapter conferences of the American Planning Association.

In August, Scott Clark was removed from the post and placed in a long-range planner position. Clark was hired in April 2007, coming from Grant County in central Washington where he had at one point held a similar position.

Tondee has been serving as the interim community development director.