Interim Flathead County Planning and Zoning Director Erik Mack has been hired to fill the director position that was vacated by Mark Mussman in July.

The county commissioners finalized the hiring on Tuesday.

Mack, 40, has been with the county Planning Office for nine and a half years, and will oversee a staff that includes four planners, a planning technician, a code compliance officer, office manager and a new code compliance technician position the county is looking to fill initially as a part-time position.

Mack takes the reins as both residential and commercial growth remain strong in Flathead County.

“It’s busier than it’s ever been,” he said about his years with the office.

The Planning and Zoning Office provides technical planning assistance to the county, assisting in all facets of long-range community and neighborhood planning, zoning administration and subdivision review. The office also administers the Flathead County lakeshore protection and floodplain programs.

A native of Monticello, Minnesota, Mack earned a degree from Iowa State University in community and regional planning, and worked as an associate planner for a private company in El Centro, California, from 2006 to 2011. He then relocated to Kalispell and began a Planner 2 position with Flathead County.

Mack comes from a strong family background of serving cities.

“My grandpa and all my uncles, four of them, all worked for cities,” he said. “My dad worked at the power plant.”

As a youngster, Mack would create model cities out of Legos, and one time in the early 1990s created an entire cardboard city — complete with a functioning water tower fashioned from a pop can — to accommodate his collection of micro machine toys.

“I’ve always enjoyed cities,” he said.

Mack and his wife Erin have two daughters and reside in Kalispell.

News editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 406-758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.