Candidate for Treasurer: Pete Brickner

REARDAN-After a considerable amount of thought, Pete Brickner is running for Lincoln County Treasurer.

"I want the citizens of Lincoln County to have a choice," Brickner said. "I don't believe the two choices that were presented were enough. So, I put my name into the hat."

His decision to run was not a spontaneous one.

"I've been considering running for treasurer for a long time," he said. "It wasn't a spur of the moment plan."

Brickner said he would have regretted not running and giving it his best shot.

"Win, lose or draw, at least I tried," he said.

Brickner said his work experience with local schools has been a positive one. The treasurer often works with school districts to authorize bonds and redeem district warrants.

"My relationships with both schools, Reardan school, I was employed for two years," Brickner said. "I was also employed by the Davenport school for 8 years."

Brickner went on to comment on his relationship with the local government.

"I was on the planning committee for Lincoln County for several years, '' Brickner said. "It was a volunteer committee. It was not a paid position."

Brickner recently resigned from the planning committee due to other endeavors, his restaurant Tribune Smokehouse in Davenport being one of them.

Brickner said he thinks the county presently handles monies and funds in a positive manner.

"I am sure it is being handled quite well...managed, distributed, (and) allocated to all the right agencies," he said.

Brickner is confident that any issues are handled within the office accordingly.

"I am sure if there were any problems, if it is not caught now, it would be caught later," he said.

However, there was one issue he would like to see addressed.

"The only issue I see, if I am elected, would be the buy-in of a new person in the office," he said. "They're going to have a new manager and someone who hasn't worked in the office. So just comradery."

Brickner said the highest dollar amount he's worked with was in the millions.

"Well, probably when I was the operations manager on a facility, I opened for CXT in Lakewood Florida, it was well over $50-100 million in revenue a year," he said.

Brickner comes with business experience for the treasurer position.

"In the two manager positions at CXT (LB Foster), I was held accountable for all the scheduling, the budgets, spending and manpower," Brickner said. "It was a Fortune 500 company. So, they're looking at the bottom-line. And all the bottom-line was reflected on my management."

Brickner had one thing in mind when asking what he wanted the office to accomplish.

"Just be team players," Brickner said. "Work together, help each other, I do not know the level of cross training. Very important if someone is missing that another can pick up the slack."

Brickner is running against Emily Lybbert Hansen and Brad Sweet for the Treasurer position.

BIO:

Office sought: Treasurer

Age: 61

Family: Married with seven children

Hometown: Spokane

Current city of residence: Reardan

Relevant experience: Business owner, production foreman