COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County Commission Chairman David Stewart is looking into the county's hiring of former Commissioner Todd Tondee.

Stewart told The Press Monday he believes four other candidates were also qualified for the job Tondee landed.

"I still haven't come to the conclusion that he's the right person for the job or not," Stewart said. He believes Tondee is qualified.

Tondee now works in the Grants Management Office as a "transit program specialist," earning $21.74 per hour.

Stewart plans to interview Grants Management Office director Jody Bieze, who hired Tondee.

"I have some strong questions for her," Stewart said.

Tondee and the previous board of commissioners created the position late last year.

Stewart said he will ask Bieze whether the other candidates - whose applications he has reviewed - were interviewed and why they were not selected.

The county received 13 applicants for the position. It was open and advertised from Dec. 9 through Dec. 26, but the application deadline was extended to Jan. 9, which also happens to be the day Tondee applied, according to Stewart.

Bieze last month told The Press the deadline was extended because there was little response following the initial job posting.

During a Jan. 21 executive session, Bieze told the current board - which includes Stewart, Marc Eberlein and hold-over from the previous board, Dan Green - that Tondee was an applicant.

"That was the first that we had been made aware of this," Stewart said. "She wanted to know if it was a problem."

He said the commissioners told her they wanted no part in the hiring decision.

"My comment to her was that, 'I can't give you any direction one way or another,'" he recalled saying. "'I can't influence the hiring process on anyone.'"

Tondee started Feb. 9.

On Feb. 13, Bieze emailed the commissioners.

"The CDA Press rang Todd and requested he ring them back," Bieze began the email. Tondee spoke with a reporter, and a story announcing his hire was published the next day.

In the email to the commissioners, Bieze directed the board members to "talking points" on the hire.

"As a former Kootenai County commissioner who has worked closely with the transit department since 2007, and as a former CEO for our federal transportation reporting, he has an intimate knowledge of the intricacies required for compliance reporting and auditing," according to her email. "He has experience providing oversight of the county's sub-recipients and contractors, working with the transit system's fiscal budget, and helping to set the short- and long-term goals for the transit department."

Eberlein, who beat Tondee in the Republican primary, abstained from the discussion of Tondee's hiring, the email said.

Stewart met Monday night with county legal staff to determine how to proceed further in his investigation, which he started Feb. 25.