Winter on county's mind at meeting
SANDPOINT — Winter was on the minds of the Bonner County commissioners at their weekly business meeting Tuesday.
Emergency Management asked the commissioners to declare a local state of emergency due to a rock slide on Rocky Point Road near Priest Lake. The rockslide was caused by heavy rain and saturated soil. The county became aware of the active rockslide on Saturday.
Airport Manager Dave Schuck asked permission to advertise for bids for snow removal equipment, which will be paid for with the Leading Idaho Initiative grant funds the department received earlier this year.
Road and Bridge also has requested permission to purchase over $30,000 of mostly winter tires from Elite Tire and Suspension and the Facilities Department brought a motion to contract with Lippert Excavation & Pipeline for snow removal at the Bonner County jail and juvenile detention center.
In addition to preparing for winter, the county also did some housekeeping. Road and Bridge also brought a memorandum of agreement with the Idaho Department of Lands to maintain a 2.5 mile stretch of Eastshore Road. Before the agreement will be adopted, IDl will have to make substantial improvements to the road, including widening a bridge from one lane to two lanes, adding additional gravel, and resurfacing parts of the road.
The Justice Services Department requested approval to destroy juvenile detention records from 1998 to 2009, in accordance with Idaho records keeping code. The commissioners also approved the operating plan, which outlines the expectations of the department and the duties of the director, Ron Stultz. Stultz said such a plan is necessary since he answers to the court as well as the commissioners.
Lastly, Stultz brought up a maintenance agreement for the fingerprint computer and printer at the Bonner County Juvenile Detention Center for a total of $1,600, the same price as last year’s contract.
EMS brought a motion to purchase five new powerload gurneys with a trade-in of the old gurneys for fleet replacement as part of the 2023 capital improvement plan. The cost comes in at almost $125,000. EMS Chief Lindsey said these gurneys have improved hydraulics and can handle up to 700 pounds, while the last could only handle up to 500 pounds. “Oh good it’ll be able to handle me then,” Commissioner Dan McDonald said.
Human Resources amended their employee benefits policy. A portion of the paid time off section was removed, since it addressed the county’s transition from a vacation and sick program to paid time off two years ago. The transition has already been made, rendering this portion arbitrary.
The IT Department asked to advertise in the Bee for a “sole source procurement” to buy hardware for “compute, storage, and disaster recovery” from a reputable seller for a total sum of over $50,000.
Emergency Management received an additional $17,000 from Idaho’s Office of Emergency Management, which department head Bob Howard asked commissioners to allow them to accept into the budget. Howard asked that the commissioners transfer the funds from the 2022 budget to the 2023 budget.
All agenda items were approved unanimously, with all three commissioners present.
The next county business meeting will be held next Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the Bonner county Admin Building at 1500 U.S. 2 in Sandpoint.