Parks department stands by decision

COEUR d'ALENE - The relationship is solid, officials on both sides said Wednesday.

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation office said it stands by its decision to send 32,000 letters to registered Kootenai County boaters about the possibility of closing the Third Street boat launch, but doesn't have plans to send any follow-up notes.

It will, after communicating with Coeur d'Alene officials and touring McEuen Field this week, stay in touch with the city as the project's planning moves forward.

"What we want people to take away from the whole thing is we're in communication, both sides are working in sync," said Nancy Merrill, IDPR, director. "That's the reassurance we want the boaters aware of."

The brevity and reach of the IDPR letters, sent Dec. 29, caught city officials off guard.

On Tuesday, representatives from the National Parks Service and state Department of Parks and Recreation were in Coeur d'Alene for a presentation of the project, and toured its grounds.

The meeting was to help get the state and city on the same communication page when it came to the park.

"I think the communication pipeline part between us and the state is a whole lot better today after the meeting, especially compared to earlier on in the project," said Doug Eastwood, city parks director. "There's been enough miscommunication to this point, I thought the best thing was to bring them up and show them everything."

The city had originally invited the representatives in the fall.

Merrill said the state appreciated the chance to tour, and there's been a lot of dialogue between the sides this week. She answered questions about the letter to the Senate Resources Committee earlier in the week, a committee before which she regularly appears for parks and recreation discussions.

Merrill said she was doing her job notifying boat owners - especially since boater fees pay for the site's upkeep - of the potential close, she reiterated on Wednesday.

The letter, around 13,000 of which went out of state, notified boaters of the potential closure, contact info for the McEuen Field website and parks department, and the date of the Jan. 6 public meeting. The city didn't know how far those letters would go, and wished they had included information on the promise to replace the launch should it move.

The city said it felt out of the loop, while the state said it kept in contact with the city. The state e-mailed the city prior to sending the letter.

Both sides said that's behind them, but Merrill is meeting with Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, this morning to discuss the state's role regarding a Coeur d'Alene city park, what authority the state had to spend the $11,000 it did, as well as how to better keep the communication pipeline open.

Goedde did not request the committee meeting, but wanted to talk to state representatives personally.

"I am not an advocate for the changes at McEuen; I have not taken a position on it one way or the other. I am concerned about process," Goedde told The Press regarding the letters.

"I'm disappointed that they did that without establishing a line of communication," he said.

Merrill said the state had been in communication, and is more than willing to keep in touch moving forward. As far at the letter, it was only doing its job. The office has received thank you calls from some of the letter recipients.

"We're very much on board and very supportive," Merrill said. "We don't have any problems with the McEuen project, it's a beautiful project."