Candidate profiles

By Kurt Miller

I was born in Idaho and was raised in various cities throughout Idaho including Salmon, Sandpoint, and Coeur d'Alene. I graduated in 1987 from Coeur d'Alene High School and worked on grass seed and dairy farms during the spring and summer months harvesting and bailing hay.

After graduating, I attended Idaho State University on a football scholarship where we won the Emerald Cup in 1988 defeating BSU and U of I. I joined the Idaho Air National Guard and was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi studying Electronic Principles. My interest in electronics led me to a career path in computer technology graduating from BSU, with an Associates in Electronics (Semiconductor Manufacturing).

My first job in the electronics industry was with Hewlett Packard working in the Disc Memory Division as a technician. I was then hired with Micron PC in Nampa, Idaho, a subsidiary of Micron Technology. As an Engineering Technician, I provided customer support for Hewlett Packard, Facebook, and IBM. Within a few years, I was recognized for my leadership and management skills and was promoted to Engineer Supervisor. As my career continued to advance in management, Micron Technology offered me a position as the Product Quality Engineer Supervisor. In this role, I had the opportunities to travel to Germany, Mexico, and Taiwan performing failure analysis support for Micron's major customer base and was with Micron for 25 years.

In 2019, my family made a life-changing decision to move to Pomeroy, Washington after visiting our family, and having a sincere desire to live in a small town. I was hired as a Deputy Sherriff and attended the Basic Law Enforcement Academy in Spokane, Washington for five months.

I have a strong desire to restore a positive leadership role as Sheriff of Garfield County. In the most recent years several deputies and other personnel have left the agency. I want to develop a team that desires to call Pomeroy their home. I know this can be achieved, as adjacent and other local agencies have not experienced the attrition observed at the Sheriff's Office during the last five years.

I firmly believe that the Sheriff's Office, the Fire District, Hospital, and other county entities should be a team working together for the community. Sadly, I have experienced this not to be the case. We have an amazing group of residents that call Garfield County home, and I would truly be honored to be the County's next Sheriff.