COUNTY: Watch your spending

Dear Mr. Green,

I thought you campaigned on saving us money. Now I see this huge spending proposal for all these new buildings. Are these really necessary or just NICE? A new parking garage at the courthouse would be nice, but if you filled in that huge hole in the middle of the parking lot and told the EPA to jump in the lake it would add at least 20 spots and a lot cheaper. If Mr. Hayes thinks the treasurer’s office could be robbed by an outsider then move them to the Commissioners’ third floor and move the BOCC into their office. (Don’t know if any county has ever been robbed by an outsider in recent history. Usually this stuff happens from a family member, and moving won’t help that problem. A robber would have to be pretty stupid to try to rob a county office.)

Best solution I know of is selling that prime property to some condo developer along with that white elephant on Fourth Street and moving the whole campus to the fairgrounds, then moving the fairgrounds further out in the country. Lots of room there for all the county offices, including Justice, parking, close to the sheriff’s office and centrally located.

The fairgrounds really should be moved out of town. You could leave some of the buildings that get used most weekends and move the livestock barns and stadium. This would be a long-term solution to your crowding problem and I bet you could get enough from selling all that downtown, lakeview property to build brand new.

Think about Stockton, Calif. They opted for nice and went broke.

N. DOLPH

Kootenai County