On Jan. 7, Steve Widmyer will take the oath of office to become the 34th mayor of Coeur d'Alene. A longtime local businessman, Widmyer will soon jump into a part-time job with his typical full-time zeal.

When you were a kid, did you ever dream about someday becoming mayor?

Uh, no. When you're a kid and you love sports the way I did, you automatically believe you're going to grow up to be a pro baseball player. My sports career started at the age of six at Memorial Field. We had the greatest field supervisor back then - Charlie Nipp - and he spurred my interest in sports.

I loved sports, but I was never really great at them.

I was one of those kids who got an after-school job in 10th grade. Then, once I got enough money to buy my first car, that was the end of my sports career.

Do you remember that car?

It was a '67 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Two-door, mag wheels, loud stereo and hardtop - white with a black top. And it had a great 8-track player. Did I mention it had very loud speakers?

I'm sure it was a real beauty. And what did you play on your "very loud" speakers?

I was a hard-rock guy - Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, that kind of stuff.

Now that we know about your first car, tell us about your first job.

My first job was in the restaurant business. I started as a busboy at what was that time the Holiday Inn and is now the Coeur d'Alene Inn. I guess if I'd had a dream back then it was to someday own my own restaurant - a family-type restaurant.

What did you do after high school?

For financial reasons, NIC (North Idaho College) was my only option. I couldn't afford to go away anywhere to school, so I lived at home.

NIC was just a great environment. You're still going to school, but you have a little more freedom than you had before and not as much responsibility as you're going to have later.

I was still working at the Coeur d'Alene Inn, but I'd been promoted from busboy to server and then to the front desk.

And on the academic side?

I took accounting classes and it turned out I had a knack for it. I didn't necessarily love it, but it was something I was very, very good at.

If you're going to go into any business at all, having a background in accounting is important for studying budgets and managing finances.

I finished my undergraduate work in Moscow and ended up with a degree in accounting. I was a CPA but never worked in public accounting, though I was licensed up until 1995.

What happened after college graduation?

The plan was I was going to get this great job and move to a big city somewhere. I was pretty excited about things when I was interviewing on campus.

But when I came home to Coeur d'Alene in December of 1982, I had a degree and no job.

Looking for work, I stopped in at the Western Frontiers office one day because someone I knew from school was in charge of personnel there. They offered me a temporary part-time position in their accounting office. Eventually I became a permanent employee and a few months later Hagadone Hospitality purchased Western Frontiers.

I became part of the opening team of The Coeur d'Alene Resort in 1986. I was comptroller there for 13 years. I combined accounting with my love of the hospitality business.

Were you involved in any other businesses during this period?

When I first got out of college, I started investing in real estate. Since 1983, I've bought a piece of local real estate a year - every year - and sometimes more than one piece.

Did you later turn around and sell?

I didn't sell a lot of it. I started with single-family houses and then bought apartments and, after that, commercial buildings. I accumulated quite a lot of real estate.

In 1996, my wife and I purchased a small business - Marie's - at the Resort. Then a friend and I opened Michael D's eatery at the East end of Sherman.

I manage everything I own.

It's not unusual for a businessman to turn to politics, but what triggered your own interest in government?

When you own a lot of real estate, a big expense is property taxes. So, you begin paying more attention to what's going on in your city and how property taxes are being spent.

I guess you could say that real estate spurred my interest in city and local government, even though I'd pretty much always followed what was going on locally.

What about the similarities between running a business and running a city?

They both do the same thing: they provide services.

Did you just wake up one day and decide you wanted to be mayor?

I didn't seriously think about running for mayor until Sandi Bloem decided she wasn't going to run again. I wanted to give back, but it wasn't until that time that I actually thought about running.

For me, being mayor is a new point in my career. I wanted a challenge and I thought I was up to that challenge.

What are you going to do your first day on the job?

I imagine I'll take a tour of City Hall and meet all the people - learn who everyone is and what they do.

I plan on being very active and involved.

The city of Coeur d'Alene is a result-oriented business. I've always been a big believer that you hire good people, you give them the tools to do their job, and then you let them do it. You monitor what they're doing and stay out of their way as long as they're doing a good job.

What's a priority for you?

Filling the police chief's position is a big priority. Shortly after I take office I plan to put together a search committee for that purpose. I expect a new chief to be selected within three to four months of that. By springtime.

We'll also have to fill the assistant city administrator position. It'll take some time for me to get in and evaluate that one.

What's your mayoral style going to be?

I think I'll be a little different from Sandi - she was the sole proprietor of a small business. I'm going to have a much larger presence in City Hall.

I have cleared my workload in my private business ventures - somewhat passed the torch along to my son - and cleared my slate to prepare for the mayor's office.

It appears that the mayor's job was designed to be a part-time position. What does the expression "part-time" mean to you?

I plan to initially be there 40-plus hours a week - to be in my city hall office working. And I expect to continue doing that.

I'd planned on it from the start. That's why I've been working with my son since deciding to run, giving him increasing responsibilities in my private business ventures.

Do you see yourself as a public or a private person?

I'm kind of a private person and my wife is a private person, too.

This job obviously takes you from the private into the public realm. It opens your life up so that others know what you're doing - not that my life is any kind of interesting book. But when you're a public figure and you're recognized when you go somewhere, it takes some of the privacy away.

This will be a different chapter in my life. And, sometimes you get out of your comfort zone and think, "You know, I'm really going to like this."

What do you want to give Coeur d'Alene?

When I was growing up, Coeur d'Alene still had that small-town feel. We've grown a lot since then and I know we'll continue to grow. An important thing for me is to manage that growth in a way that keeps us from losing our smaller-town identity. I want our kids to continue to feel safe getting up Saturday morning and riding their bikes down to Memorial Field the way I did when I was their age.

You get to a point in your life where you want to do good things for other people and that's what I want to do: make peoples' lives better.