COEUR d’ALENE — Before he was once again voted in as president of the Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday, Councilman Woody McEvers had a few questions.

“I’ve been this council president guy for a while,” he said.

But despite his 10-year tenure in that post, he said he wasn’t quite clear on the specific duties of the council president.

“When you aren’t here, I run the meetings and when you’re on vacation, I sign checks,” he said to Mayor Jim Hammond.

McEvers said it’s not an issue the council has discussed and he questioned if they should.

“Is there more to that? Should there be more to it?" he asked. “Does the council see it differently?”

McEvers, first elected to the council in 2002, is the longest-running council member. 

He said despite being reelected five times, "politicking" is not his strength and he continues to learn about government operations.

"I've never been really good at it," he said Wednesday.

He said he was interested in a “fresh perspective" from his fellow council members.

"Really look at, 'Can I do something to make things better,'" he said Wednesday.

That led Councilwoman Kiki Miller to ask, “Are you thinking we might need legal to weigh in to say what the actual obligations of the council president are?”

“I never thought of that,” McEvers said.

City Attorney Randy Adams said the council president takes the position of mayor when the mayor is absent, and “such other duties as council may assign.”

Mayor Jim Hammond, who took office in January 2022, rarely misses a meeting, and McEvers' colleagues didn’t have much to say about council president duties, nor did any of them express a desire to be that person.

There is no extra pay involved.

“I can see the enthusiasm here is overwhelming.” McEvers said.

Councilman Dan Gookin said he watched a Boise City Council meeting and when a new item was introduced, the council president read it.

“They’re a little bit more formal there,” Gookin said. “We don’t have to be that way.”

Hammond wasn’t wild about doing that.

“That seems to me to unnecessarily add length to a meeting,” he said.

Miller asked McEvers the question everyone was waiting to hear: “So, are you interested in continuing?”

McEvers said he was.

“Yeah, I’ve been practicing a lot of years now,” he said.

McEvers was unanimously elected to serve as council president for another four years, which he is happy to do.

"I learn stuff along the way," he said.