Winter, as you might imagine, is a busy time for the Road Crew in Spirit Lake East.

Weather tracking, planning, budget proposals + approvals and coordination are needed to lead the management of our roads.

As Road Chair / Superintendent of our 30 miles of roads—that’s 60 lane miles to be maintained— here in Spirit Lake East), I’m charged with running the roads program including all expenditures including critical equipment repairs year-around.

In winter, that includes coordinating with the Road Crew all staffing, plowing, sand purchases, trucking + distribution as well as communication with the HOA Board of Directors and community of 300+ homeowners (both proactive + reactive).

Residents need to know when plowing will be done or once it has been done and if there are conditions that we need to work through while the weather changes or when sand will be or has been distributed and where or why we need to wait.

There are so many aspects to this volunteer position and homeowner communication often can be the most complex.. Management and public speaking skills are also required to report on the roads and interact with the public at semi-annual meetings.

It’s no different than running commercial or residential build in collaborating with teams, subs, clients and investors, except there are more people to contend with in this position than I have ever needed to before even on the largest of builds I’ve run over the years!

But, winter is just the start of our busy season. Then, comes spring cleanup. To learn more about this phase, see Project Management page HERE.

When we found our fixer-upper in Spirit Lake, it was a bigger project than I originally planned to take on. But it was worth it.

What was unexpected, however, was getting involved in our rural HOA.

We’ve always poured into our communities and looked out after our neighbors. But, we wanted nothing to do with the homeowners association where we lived before.

Here in Spirit Lake it’s different.

Without our volunteer Board + Committees the community would cease to exist.

So, serving as Chairman in two key positions (first as Architecture Chair for 15 months and now as Road Chair for the last six), my focus has been on establishing + streamlining processes to more easily pass the torch.

If you want to attract volunteers, you have to make it easier.

As Architecture Chair, my general contractor skills were used to manage all new construction (reviewing plans, guiding residents through the application process + approving builds). I also answered questions about county regulations + SLE guidelines.

This has kept my construction management skills sharp, and has been a welcome challenge. It also acclimated me to building here in North Idaho beyond my own home renovation in Spirit Lake.

Then came the Kootenai Electric and Intermax (fiber Internet) projects. Increasingly, my work as ARC Chair crossed into collaborating with the Road Crew given the impact of the construction on our roads.

Ultimately, the Board asked me to oversee + lead approvals on the final phases of the Intermax implementation. This included meetings with their project manager and subs, walking the job sites, and negotiating additional repairs, to see the work to a successful (and timely) conclusion.

The Intermax project led to a transition to Road Chair, which has put my superintendent + project management skills to work on a whole new level.

The SLE Road Chair leads the management of 60 lane miles of unpaved roads from all strategy, planning, hiring, staffing, budget proposals, materials purchases and equipment maintenance and repairs to coordinating trucking, plowing, sanding, grading, spring cleanup and our big picture project: rebuilding the crown in our roads.

My leadership skills have also been tested in heading-up (with a great deal of diplomacy) communication with 300 property owners.

Maintaining majority approval among 100’s of stakeholders is the ultimate client challenge!

Now, along with spring cleanup of our roads, I’m also collaborating with IDT in concert with our Road Crew and Board of Directors to lead the most anticipated project yet: bringing our two main entrances up to code after 50 years of use and finally tying them into our existing roads the right way with higher elevation, improved drainage, etc., so they can be properly maintained by IDT moving forward.

The roads, as you’d imagine, are the most important issue for our community members here in SLE, right above building. So, getting to serve as ARC Chair and Road Chair has been a gratifying use of my free time while looking for the right fit in construction.

When you step into leadership, and meet the moment with action, opportunities follow!

While our Facebook + NextDoor groups are closed to the public, you can catch up (and get a glimpse at the breadth of the volunteer projects completed while working a full-time job) on our blog HERE.

The most complex and time-intensive part of the Road Chair position is grading, particularly during the “spring cleanup” phase of the year.

No one likes potholes, and if you’ve ever lived off of unpaved roads, you’ll know this is a season in North Idaho all onto itself.

For those who’ve always enjoyed paved roads, Pothole Season is when winter subsides and dirt roads begin to thaw and come undone before they’ve thawed enough to do any meaningful repair.

Try getting the owners of 300 properties through this in-between phase after they JUST paid their annual dues!

Bottom line: the permafrost can’t be exposed or dirt roads will turn to mud with more rain. See “under grader” pic as an example of how little grading can be done in this phase.

Photos and detailed explanations for the community have been instrumental in earning trust and support of our efforts, particularly through spring cleanup!

This is the equivalent of having client buy-in.

The Road Chair must also coordinate rock distribution projects including seeing through board approvals all drafted budget proposals, and then coordinating with the Lead Operator + Road Crew on staffing + timing of projects with respect to weather + road conditions, and sometimes, even collaborating with the paving company on materials + negotiating pricing, all to maximize the impact of our investment, and stretch every dollar.

Then, progress and wrap-up of projects must be communicated to residents with care, and still, questions must be fielded with even greater care.

If you’d like to learn more about what goes into rock + grading projects to get a glimpse into the planning + execution required of the Road Chair & Crew, CLICK HERE for a great blog by our President.