Mayor who led fast-growing Idaho city through major changes dies | Opinion
I was sad to learn of the death of former Kuna Mayor Dean Obray, who was the mayor from 2004 to 2007. He was the mayor when I first moved to Idaho and took over the Kuna Melba News in 2006.
I will be forever grateful for the patience he showed me as I asked dumb questions about sewer ponds and water mains. I still remember the exasperated look on his face when this city slicker from back East asked him what the irrigation water system was. (In New York, the irrigation water system was called “rain.”)
Obray died May 26 at the age of 82. I first learned of the news from a post on Facebook by the city of Kuna about flying the flag at half-staff in Obray’s honor. That was a very classy thing to do and a nice way to recognize someone who chose to serve the city.
In the months before my wife and I bought the Kuna Melba News, I would read seemingly constant attacks on Obray in the paper, and he was under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office at the time following a complaint by a resident about abuse of power or conflict of interest or something like that. I had to admit, I was a little intimidated by the thought of meeting him for the first time.
Man, I had nothing to fear. He was nothing but kind and patient with me and the learning curve that comes with a new job like that.
It wasn’t long before the paper carried the story of how the Attorney General’s Office cleared Obray of any wrongdoing in that investigation. He was jubilant when it was over, but you could tell it took a toll on him.
Dean (almost always) treated me well. He did call me up one time to yell at me for something I had written that he didn’t like. “You’re in way over your head. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he shouted. I don’t think I was that far off the mark, but I didn’t take it personally, and we maintained a professional, even cordial, relationship after that.
I was at the City Council meeting that night in April 2007 when he resigned as mayor. I had already put that week’s issue of the paper together and hadn’t planned on writing anything from the meeting. Gary and Fern Drake’s retirement was the main story planned for the front page that week.
After an executive session late into the night, council member Rich Cardoza came over to me and said, “Did you hear the mayor resigned?”
It was 11:30 p.m., and I was ready to go home and go to bed. I asked Dean if I could ask him a few questions about his resignation, and he brought me into his office and explained that his daughter was facing health issues and that he was tired of the rigors, complaints and attacks from being mayor. I could see how tired he was.
I went back to my office, wrote a new story, completely redesigned my front page so that the story with the 60-point bold headline “Kuna Mayor Obray resigns” was stripped across the top of the page (I had to move the story on the Drakes down lower on the page) and resent that week’s issue to the printer for printing at 8 a.m. I think I got home at 2 a.m.
I was exhausted, but I was the only news outlet in the valley with the scoop.
Dean had his critics, and it was kind of an ugly time in Kuna politics. He had defeated longtime incumbent Mayor Greg Nelson, and that spurred a lot of animosity and infighting. In addition to the attorney general’s investigation, Obray was the target of a recall campaign that eventually fizzled.
He was a real estate agent and very much in favor of fast growth, in a city that more than doubled from 5,000 residents in 2000 to 13,000 by 2006. He pushed for a bond that would have traded city land for a recreational center and a golf course. The bond failed, but not by much.
He was mayor during the 2006 flood caused by gophers digging holes in the canal banks, which broke and flooded several neighborhoods south of town.
He also pushed for a controversial local improvement district for a new $30 million sewer plant that doubled the city’s land size and eventually led to a lawsuit.
But he was a champion for a Kuna Boys & Girls Club, which finally was built in 2024. He had an infectious laugh that filled City Hall.
One thing was certain: He cared about Kuna and did what he thought was best for the community.
Scott McIntosh is the communities editor and columnist for the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for his free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way.
