Longtime Idaho agency director to retire

After nearly a quarter-century of service to planning the sustainability of growth in the Treasure Valley, one agency leader is planning something very different: Retirement.

Matt Stoll, executive director of the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho ( COMPASS ) has announced he will retire in February of next year.

“It is time for me to embark on my next adventure in life,” Stoll said in a statement. “My wife, Silvana, will be retiring from the Boise School District at the end of the 2024/2025 school year, and we have many long-deferred trips planned together. In between those trips, you will find me breaking clays on a skeet field, casting a fly on a river, or following my bird dog in the chukar hills while I contemplate the next phase of my professional career.”

Stoll began his career with COMPASS in 2002 as the director of Transportation and Air Quality and became the executive director two years later.

“Under his leadership, COMPASS has focused on developing and retaining collaborative and cooperative partnerships with communities throughout Ada and Canyon Counties, and with local, state and federal planning agencies,” a release stated. “Stoll’s collaborative leadership has helped the Treasure Valley maintain a high quality of life through explosive growth.”

During his time at COMPASS, Stoll has guided the agency to add a full-time grant writer to bring additional funding to the region, such a $90 million grant to widen I-84 in Canyon County; install and manage a system of pedestrian and bicycle traffic to measure use and quality of pathways; implement a fiscal impact tool to gauge public costs and benefits for proposed developments; develop a Regional Safety Action Plan to reach a goal of no transportation-related deaths; and plan for future high-capacity transportation between the cities of Caldwell and Boise.

Stoll is also credited with working to improve the safety and transportation needs of residents by overseeing five long-term transportation plans, and taking on the management of the Ada County Air Quality Board in 2019, acting as the executive director of that agency until it was legally dissolved.

Though his accomplishments are many, Stoll is quick to credit the collaborative efforts necessary to achieve the goals for the region.

“COMPASS’ accomplishments and successes over the years are the result of partnerships with, and the hard work of, our member agencies, state and national leaders and COMPASS staff,” he said. “No one person can, nor should, claim credit for the efforts of all our partners. I am confident my successor will have tremendous support through the strength of the COMPASS management team, staff and board of directors.”

COMPASS Board Chair and Star Mayor Trevor Chadwick lauded Stoll’s time with the agency, lauding the executive director’s efficiency and efficacy in the planning of the future of the region.

“He will be missed, but his leadership will reverberate throughout the region for decades to come,” Chadwick said.

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