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Vassar confirmed for six-year board appointment;
board selects Blick to serve as vice-chairman

The Idaho Senate this week unanimously approved the appointment of Jan Vassar to the Idaho Transportation Board to a full six-year term that will expire in 2016.

She was selected to fill the remainder of Bruce Sweeney’s term on the board after he passed away of cancer in August. The term formally expired Jan. 31. The former manager of the city of Lewiston assumed the remainder of the six-year term in December.

Vassar represents District 2 (Nez Perce, Latah, Idaho, Clearwater and Lewis counties) on the seven-member transportation board. Members serve six-year terms upon appointment by the governor and confirmation by the senate.

“She’s very professional, she’s very knowledgeable, and she’s going to make an outstanding addition to our board,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John McGee of Caldwell.

”I am very proud that she is going to be the first female appointee to the board,” added Sen. Chuck Winder, Boise, former chairman of the transportation board. “She is highly qualified and will do an excellent job, and it’s nice to break that ceiling.”

Vassar has 29 years of service in the public sector, the last 14 of which were as manager of the city of Lewiston. She began working for the city as an intern at Washington State University in Pullman. She worked on the city’s administrative staff before becoming manager of the city that employs about 250 and has an annual budget of about $50 million.

She retired from the city in 2006.

Last week, the transportation board selected Gary Blick of Castleford to serve as vice-chairman for the coming year. Blick, who represents Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln, Minidoka and Twin Falls counties, has been on the board since 1999. His term expires Jan. 31, 2012.

Blick began Gary Blick Trucking, Inc., in 1961 and two years later entered into a partnership with his brothers, Blick Brothers Farms, Inc. He is active in the Magic Valley area, having served with the Boy Scouts of America, the Twin Falls County Fair Board, the Castleford Methodist Church, the Castleford Men’s Club and Little League baseball.

This represents Blick’s first appointment as vice-chairman. The board chairman, Darrell Manning, serves at the pleasure of the governor and has no defined term.