Friday, March 29, 2024
39.0°F

Expanding its operation

by Brian Walker
| March 26, 2010 9:00 PM

POST FALLS - Let work begin on the Idaho Department of Labor. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on Thursday for the agency's $3 million, 17,000-square foot regional office along Interstate-90 in Post Falls between the Highway 41 interchange and the Northern Idaho Advanced Care Hospital.

POST FALLS - Let work begin on the Idaho Department of Labor.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held on Thursday for the agency's $3 million, 17,000-square foot regional office along Interstate-90 in Post Falls between the Highway 41 interchange and the Northern Idaho Advanced Care Hospital.

"We feel that we're not leaving Coeur d'Alene, but expanding our operations to the entire Kootenai County," said Roy Valdez, the Labor's deputy director.

Dirt work for the single-story, brick building on a 2.9-acre lot is expected to start the second week of April. The building is slated to be complete in October.

Jo Ann Edmiston, who manages the local labor office, said the agency is leaving the building it leases at 1221 W. Ironwood Dr. in Coeur d'Alene for several reasons.

The move will be an opportunity for the agency to own its own building, offer more space for events such as job fairs and employer workshops and provide more parking for job seekers, employees and clients at a centrally-located, visible site, she said.

There are 95 parking spots in Coeur d'Alene and there will be 145 in Post Falls. The current location has one conference room that holds 50 people; the new site will have two conference rooms that hold 100 and 50.

Edmiston said job seekers will also have more room to research employment opportunities.

Jerry Morrison, regional director for the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), will work in the agency's building as he currently does in Coeur d'Alene.

"I think we'll be able to reach more people because of the visibility from the freeway," Morrison said, adding that a 50-foot flag pole will be placed out front. "We're along I-90 in Coeur d'Alene, but people can't see us."

The office has 49 employees.

"We're pleased and humbled that the department is coming to Post Falls," Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin said.

The building will be paid with funding that was secured about two years ago through a federal government program that pays for state buildings.

The general contractor is Guho Corp. of Eagle, which plans to hire local sub-contractors for the job, Edmiston said.