The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted Nov. 16 to appoint longtime community member Kris Payne as the new El Dorado County District 2 planning commissioner.

Payne replaces Cheryl Bly-Chester, who was removed from the county Planning Commission in August. Supervior George Turnboo first chose Camino resident and building designer Sue Taylor as his district’s next planning commissioner but that nomination failed to get enough support from the board.

Payne is a retired engineer who worked with county public works and the Department of Transportation as a supervising civil engineer and program manager for 33 years.

Paynes’ career throughout the West Slope and the Tahoe region required him to collaborate with many agencies, including the cities of South Lake Tahoe and Placerville, Caltrans, fire protection districts, the El Dorado County Transportation Commission, county resource conservation districts and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, among others.

Payne chaired the county Charter Review Committee in 2014 and 2018, as well as the Community and Economic Advisory Committee and has sat on the Parks and Recreation Commission previously.

Payne also serves as the vice president of the county Taxpayers Association, is the current president of the nonprofit El Dorado Museums Foundation and served 17 years as the El Dorado County Historical Society president.

Payne is a Diamond Springs resident.

“My experience in participating as a member of Community and Economic Development Advisory Committee, Parks and Recreation Commission and Charter Review Committee, as well as associated ad hoc and subcommittees for those county commissions and committees, and county transportation development, will be invaluable in performing my duties as a county planning commissioner,” Payne wrote in his application.

In his application Payne states he regularly attends Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission and community advisory meetings and follows land use proposals, specifically land development projects.

Payne received a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.

“I have a number of years of experience in this kind of work and I have knowledge of the county, which helps because you have subjects that come up at the Planning Commission where, for example, it may not be District 2 but could be in District 1 or 4 and I feel comfortable in discussing any of those districts just because of my experience,” Payne told the Mountain Democrat after his appointment.