By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

John Grimm wants to be sheriff in Kootenai County in 2020.

Grimm, a Hayden business owner who started a machining company in Hayden 15 years ago, has little law enforcement experience.

That sets him apart from the other five candidates who took part in a forum Tuesday in Hayden presented by the Kootenai County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Since Sheriff Ben Wolfinger announced earlier this year that he won’t seek re-election in 2020, six candidates have already joined the field to replace him, allowing their campaigns to begin.

Similar to all but one of the candidates, Grimm built a resume somewhere else before moving to Idaho. He hails from California, just like Bob Norris and Mike Bauer.

John Green, an attorney and legislator for Idaho’s District 2 Seat B in Post Falls, has failed in a couple other bids for the county’s highest law enforcement office. He and sheriff’s candidate Richard Whitehead both moved to Idaho after working in law enforcement in Texas.

Kim Edmondson has worked for the sheriff’s office for almost 30 years.

In front of a crowd of 150 mostly law enforcement affiliated audience members at Centennial Distributing, the six candidates answered questions for more than two hours, advocating higher pay for deputies, changing the culture of the department from a management to a leadership-based organization, and providing more training and equipment.

Grimm, who served as a reserve deputy in Bonner County for six months, said his model for the candidacy is based on his experience as a successful business manager.

If there is a change that needs to be made at the sheriff’s office, Grimm said it had less to do with deputy pay — an issue that has been at the forefront of a retention debate at the department — than poor management.

“I know that pay is not the No. 1 reason people leave,” Grimm said.

Most studies show that inadequate pay ranks three or four, he said.

“People don’t leave a good organization,” Grimm said. “They leave bad management.”

He promised to spend more time with employees across the board to learn their strengths, weaknesses and grievances.

The philosophy was flipped on its head by candidates including Robert Norris, formerly of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, who serves on the Kootenai County Search and Rescue Team.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” Norris said. “Instead of making managers we have to make leaders.”

When deputies move up the pay scale and enter administrative roles, Norris said, the focus should be less on turning them into administrators, than into leaders whose skills will be developed through training opportunities, while maintaining close ties to the men and women on the line.

“We have to create an environment where people want to come to work and look forward to coming to work,” he said.

Bauer, a Harrison resident who has 33 years of county-level law-enforcement experience, and who retired as a sheriff’s captain for Los Angeles County, said the discrepancy in pay between clerks, deputies and the command staff, and between administrators and the sheriff should be tightened.

“I would change the salary depression,” he said.

Some department employees are paid less than $30,000 annually, he said.

“I would make sure employees feel they are getting their fair share,” he said.

When asked how he stands out from the other candidates, Bauer said his honesty is irrefutable.

“I will be the most honest candidate you’ll ever get,” he said.

Richard Whitehead, whose law enforcement career spans 33-plus years in Texas, including 20-plus years as a business owner, owns a public-safety training and consulting firm.

If he took the helm, he would make training the cornerstone of the department. By increasing pay, providing solid training and equipment, Whitehead said, morale would climb, and stem the attrition rate.

“I’d let them know we have their backs,” Whitehead said.

Listening would be part of the program, he said.

“People will listen a lot if they know you care,” he said.

Green, also a former Texas lawman who has as a mission stemming the overreach of government, faces charges of failing to pay taxes in federal court. He said one of his goals as sheriff would be to listen to every man and woman in the department, to share their jobs and responsibilities and be open to their concerns.

“I would be on every shift with them,” Green said. “I would let them do their jobs.”

Letting employees know their value and instilling value would increase department morale, he said.

In addition, he said, he would be the stopper for the buck.

“My biggest thing,” he said. “I’ll take the blame.”

Kim Edmondson, a captain who worked her way through the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office ranks, has served as interim sheriff and undersheriff in addition to heading the detectives and being a jail sergeant. She is currently assigned as the Investigations and Professional Standards Division commander.

Edmondson concurred that morale problems exist in the department, along with pay discrepancies, but the department is also made of high-caliber professionals who do their jobs well, she said. She wants to bring a vision to the department that may have eroded.

“There are problems, there are morale issues,” Edmondson said. “We need to have an understanding of what the vision is and we’re all going to build that vision, and that mission together, so we all have buy-in.”

Edmondson said the department hasn’t done well in reaching out to the public and letting the public know what’s happening at the sheriff’s office.

As sheriff, she would build inroads into the community, she said.