COEUR d'ALENE - For Jim Hammond, the path toward a life of public service was laid out when someone suggested he get his college degree in education rather than pursuing law.

The western Montana native said he took the suggestion, which led to him moving to North Idaho for what he thought would be two years of teaching elementary school.

But he never left.

Hammond said the area quickly grew on him and throughout his life he was consistently given open doors in the public sector.

"It was just kind of the pathway that was laid out before me," Hammond said. "I've been blessed with some wonderful opportunities in Idaho and Kootenai County to serve people in different ways. It's just a real blessing and I've learned a lot through the years by having these different career opportunities."

He served 16 years on the Post Falls City Council, including 6 years as mayor from 1990-96. Hammond was Post Falls city administrator from 1996 to 2006 and served as a state senator from 2006 to 2012.

"What satisfies me (about working in the public sector) is that I might have had a role in making our local community a stronger community," Hammond said. "By community I mean people working together to support one another and create a stronger cultural and economic environment, which makes it a better place to live overall."

In October, Hammond was hired by the City of Coeur d'Alene as the new city administrator. He was selected from a nationwide pool of 64 candidates.

You've had a variety of positions in government. Were there any that you enjoyed the most?

Of my elected positions, I think serving as mayor of Post Falls holds the fondest memories for me. You could have the most effect as an individual in the position. You were kind of the leader of the community and the spokesman for the city.

It was easier to get people's attention and move the development or growth in a certain direction.

Even more so than as a state legislator?

Well I certainly enjoyed serving in the senate; that was a real privilege as well. I have friends from the senate that will always be friends.

The politics though of serving at that level kind of took a different turn than I wanted to take. So it just seemed appropriate for me to find other avenues to serve than continuing to serve in the senate.

Is there any particular accomplishment, or project you were a part of, that you remember when you look back on your career?

When I was in Post Falls, I am most proud of the fact that we improved the economic strength of the area by building a stronger commercial and industrial manufacturing base.

In the senate, what we were trying to do during those years of what they call the "Great Recession" it wasn't the most comfortable time. But what I was most proud of was that we managed through that without putting an additional strain on the citizens of Idaho by raising taxes.

What are some of the challenges of working in the public sector?

Government cannot always be as responsive as people would like it to be in terms of moving in a certain direction.

Everyone has their idea of what government ought to be and what it ought not to be. Everyone is entitled to those points of views but there comes a point where there has to be a bottom line and you're not going to please everyone. So it gets back to that advice of just doing what you think is right.

Do you think there are any big misconceptions the public has about people who work in government?

I would say that there is allegations of a much higher level of corruption in government than what actually exists.

Quite frankly, and this was particularly true in the state legislature, there are a lot of folks that feel that the lobbyists have much stronger influence over legislators than they actually do. That there's a lot more money that crosses the table than actually crosses the table. I was never once even offered anything close to what I would call a bribe in order to influence my opinion on something.

One of the things I found about a lot of the lobbyists is that they wanted to maintain their credibility with you so if they try to sway you in a certain direction they were usually pretty careful to also show you an opposing point of view. That way you knew the whole picture and were making a sound decision.

You were recently hired as the Coeur d'Alene city administrator and I think myself and some members of the public would ask this question - what exactly does a city administrator do?

That's a fair question. The city administrator is the chief operating officer for the city. The mayor is the chief executive officer, he's the chairman of the board, and he and the council are the board of directors for this corporation called the City of Coeur d'Alene.

They then hire what would be called in a company a president. That person is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the city in terms of making sure that the policy set forth by the mayor and council is executed properly.

We as staff are not to be making policy, we are to be making sure that the policy set forth by council is actually administered.

What do you think are the qualities of a good leader?

The most important quality of a good leader is their ability to interact with other people, to read and understand other people. Mainly to listen and hear other people.

If you're doing all the talking, like I'm doing right now, and none of the listening, you probably aren't an effective leader. At least that's what has worked for me.

Also to never be threatened by people who are more knowledgeable than you. I want people working for me who are much brighter than I am because we all profit from that.

Do you have a particular leadership style?

My style is one where I feel I need to support my staff and get out of their way to let them do their job. But also hold them accountable for the expectations of that job.

You mentioned you enjoy woodworking, how did you get into that and is that something you do to unwind?

I got into it by necessity when I was much younger and had no money. I built some of the furniture that we needed for our home and was also doing rough framing and fine carpentry.

I went to a college preparatory high school so I never had any shop classes. When I first began working with wood, I remember one time building a grandfather clock and when you run your hands over wood it is just a good feeling. It's good for the soul. When you shape wood and create sawdust it just feels good.

When you're in my kind of a job, you often don't get to see the fruits of your labor and there's not often any instant gratification. But when you do a hands-on project like that you can actually step back and see something you did and accomplished.