Boorman takes over at Cheney Light Department

"The lowest possible cost for the highest possible service."

It's the mission statement Cheney's new Light Department Director Steve Boorman adheres to as much as possible. It's one that operates on a logarithmic curve, a balance between "lowest cost" and "highest service."

"We try to hit that sweet spot," Boorman said.

Originally from La Grande, Ore., Boorman spent his junior and senior high school years in Frenchtown, Mont., about 17 minutes west of Missoula on Interstate 90. When college called, instead of covering the 17 minutes to the University of Montana, he went east another three and half hours to Bozeman and Montana State University.

"Bobcat, not a Grizzly," Boorman said.

Boorman earned a bachelors degree in electrical and electronic engineering at MSU and then headed west, again down I-90, about 11 hours to the Puget Sound and a position with Boeing on the 767/747 jetliner program. Of those six years in Seattle, three were spent on project work and three in customer service.

"Customer service for Boeing is the complaint department," Boorman said.

It was a position different than the customer service one might expect from a cable or phone company, for example, in that Boorman and others were working with customers who were buying multi-million dollar airplanes. It was a position requiring a lot of research to answer questions - especially when those questions got weird.

"Some snakes got lost on a plane and we can't find them. How do you kill them?" was one such question, Boorman said.

Boorman eventually left Boeing and again headed east on I-90, this time just as far as Missoula for an engineering position with the Missoula Electrical Cooperative. After five years there, he, wife Cyndy and their three children moved again, and back west on I-90, but only as far as Coeur d'Alene where they made a 90-degree right turn and came to rest in Bonners Ferry.

Boorman worked the first year as the North Idaho city's electrical supervisor, but was subsequently elevated to city administrator, where he spent 13 years before coming to Cheney last month as the new Light Department director. The job of city administrator is challenging, Boorman said, in that it requires a lot of digging into details to determine if things can and can't be done.

"I have a fair bit of respect for Mark (Cheney City Administrator Schuller)," he said. "It's a tough job."

With elected officials terms fluctuating in Bonners Ferry, Boorman felt it was time for a change this past spring, which was when Cheney was searching for a replacement for Light Department Director Joe Noland, who retired in June after 30 years with the city. Noland and Boorman knew each other from years of service on various boards, and when Cheney approached him, he decided to make the move down I-90 and a little east.

"Joe did a great job," Boorman said. "He's got a solid system with solid people. No Pandora's boxes, no land mines, no messes."

Boorman does see challenges moving forward, and most of those revolved around one word - growth. There are system needs required by expansion as well as the financial health of Cheney's utility, which is in good shape now but will need watching when it comes to the relationship between demand and rates.

"Those conversations are there," Boorman said. "It gets down to what you want and what you are willing to pay for."

There will also be larger issues with regional power acquisition. Boorman said Noland and the city have done a good job of anticipating current future loads, but with power prices tied more closely to oil and natural gas production, the need to determine usage requirements well in advance will become more challenging.

"That's part of the crystal ball," Boorman said. "What will Cheney see in 20 years?"

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].