Councilors Boland, Bonzo bid farewell

Moscow city councilors Jim Boland and Kathryn Bonzo have been a part of plenty of significant and sometimes contentious projects.

The Third Street bridge, downtown restrooms and airport runway realignment come to mind.

The two councilors, who decided not to run for reelection last month, will give up their seats to newly-elected councilors Sandra Kelly and Maureen Laflin at Monday’s council meeting. Councilor Anne Zabala will also be sworn in that night after she retained her seat in November’s election.

Mayor Bill Lambert appointed Boland to the council in January 2015 to fill the last year of Tom Lamar’s term. Lamar vacated the seat to serve as a Latah County commissioner — a position he still holds. Boland then won a four-year term in November 2015.

Some of the projects he said he is most proud of completing during his five-year tenure include: the restroom installation near Friendship Square; the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport runway realignment project; and human-powered transportation improvements like the Third Street pedestrian bridge and the State Highway 8/Styner Avenue pedestrian underpass.

A pedestrian underpass near the south couplet is in the design phase.

“People will be able to get across town on a bicycle without ever encountering a car,” Boland said. “That’s going to be a good thing.”

During Boland’s tenure, the council identified a priority-based budgeting system, or strategic plan, to determine which city projects are most important to pursue. Boland said the plan has led to the completion of certain priorities, such as replacing outdated fire trucks.

He said he would have liked to have seen a few projects through while on the council, such as the pedestrian underpass near the south couplet and the West A/North Line streets project. The latter project is expected to reconstruct A Street from Peterson Drive to Home Street and Line Street from West Pullman Road to Circle Drive in 2020.

“I’d like to be thought of as somebody that thought about things fairly and did what was best for the most people, you know, what was best for the common good,” Boland said. He said he will continue to run Hog Heaven Sausage Works in Moscow and bike, ski and climb in his free time. He has already biked across the country in one month’s time, and he hopes to partake in other rides, including following a bike trail across Canada.Bonzo was also elected to the council in November 2015. Bonzo, who teaches fourth graders at Moscow Charter School, said she partly wanted to be on the council to show people they can still serve while working a full-time job.

She said she felt the huge responsibility every day of representing her constituents and took it seriously by reading all materials, attending meetings and investing completely as a public servant.

Bonzo said she was proud to have been a part of conversations that led to the bicycle share program rollout and recycling efforts.

She said she isn’t concerned about projects that did not come to fruition while she served on council because she knows they will be completed.

“Things always get done,” Bonzo said. “Me being present or not being present doesn’t stop it or start it.”

Bonzo, who also served on the Troy City Council from 1996-2000, said she will continue to teach at MCS and hopes to get involved in politics again when the time is right.

She said she would like to serve in a larger capacity — possibly as a state representative or senator — now that she has eight years of council experience and an understanding of how government works.

Boland said people have encouraged him to run for a state office but he is mostly uninterested at this time because he has enough on his plate.

Both Bonzo and Boland encouraged residents to get involved in city government, such as serving on a commission or on the council.

“Serving is interesting and fulfilling and lots of community members can do it that don’t think they could do it, I think,” Bonzo said.

Without urging from others, Boland said people are reluctant to serve but that anyone who has a genuine concern for the future of Moscow is capable of serving in city government.

In fact, he said he would not have served on the council without Lambert’s convincing.

“You can make the biggest difference there,” he said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.